Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

Over the next few days, Li Jiangbo did not rush back to China, but stayed in Sydney.

Zhao Dong showed him around the waste paper business and also the Sydney Friendship Trading Company.

Li Jiangbo, along with Brian, Davidson, and CRA, acquired shares from the parent company of Rediffusion and finalized the press release date and the move-in date for the three companies.

Li Jiangbo returned to Hong Kong exhausted, but he still had to keep an eye on the promotion of "Taken".

Although his team is already well-established, he's ready to do something different this time.

This is mainly because it's the first time the Time Girls have appeared in a movie, and he has to take it seriously. The popularity of these four girls is crucial to his future money-making plans.

He also needs to buy a few villas, otherwise it would be too awkward if the women he's with bumped into each other.

However, Li Jiangbo plans to buy the villa in the middle of this year, when it will be the most cost-effective time.

There have been quite a few things happening in the Hong Kong film industry recently, the most famous being "Security Unlimited" directed by Hui Koon-man, in which the three brothers all starred, giving Golden Harvest a great start to the year.

"Modern Bodyguard" was released on January 30 and ran until March 7, raking in a whopping 17.76 million at the box office.

Although it is nearly ten million less than last year's box office champion, "A Better Tomorrow," this is still Golden Harvest's best box office performance in recent years.

However, Shaw Brothers released martial arts films for three or four consecutive months.

Hong Kong moviegoers had had enough and fled Shaw Brothers cinemas, causing the attendance rate to plummet.

Although Shaw Brothers nominally handed over Shaw Brothers Studio to Fong Yee-wah, he did not abandon it.

When he saw the cinema chain's financial statements plummeting, he called Li Jiangbo.

To his surprise, Li Jiangbo wasn't there, so Shao Daheng could only hang up the phone in frustration.

When Li Jiangbo returned to Hong Kong, the two sides quickly finalized the release date for "Taken"—March 26.

Shaw Brothers originally planned to release "Taken" on March 6th to take over the release date of Shaw Brothers' "The Lion King".

Li Jiangbo knew that a good film needed good promotion, and since Time Pictures hadn't shown any films in Shaw Brothers theaters for a long time, it was bound to be a flop.

Li Jiangbo absolutely refused to reimburse himself for the money he spent in Australia.

Shao Daheng had no choice but to change the date to March 26, giving Li Jiangbo ample time to promote the film, and promised TVB that he would cooperate with Time Media's promotional efforts.

Li Jiangbo also began to promote it extensively.

First came the price war, with Li Jiangbo directly reducing the price of the Time Daily from 50 cents to 30 cents.

Then they provided two thousand newspapers free of charge to every newsstand in Hong Kong every day.

This led to a surge in subscriptions for the Time Newspaper, boosting its newspaper sales to new heights.

Next, Time Magazine started promoting "Taken," and as usual, they continued to use Time Girls' beautiful photos to launch their campaign.

This sparked another frenzy among collectors in Hong Kong.

Discussions about Time Traveler and Taken can be heard everywhere.

This made things difficult for the four girls, who had been busy from morning till night ever since Li Jiangbo returned.

He's either on his way to practice singing or on his way to take photos.

Li Jiangbo is also brewing a big move, which is the promotion of the MV.

This move not only revived Time Girls' record sales but also promoted "Taken," making it a win-win strategy.

At that time, music videos did not exist in Hong Kong, so Li Jiangbo can be considered the first person to try it.

He approached Lai Siu-tin to discuss filming a music video for the four women.

When Lai Siu-tin heard that Lee Kong-bo was going to make a music video for the four women, he was immediately stunned.

Lai Siu-tin quickly reminded him, "Boss, are you planning to shoot a music video? There aren't many families in Hong Kong with VCRs these days, and there's not much of a market for music videos. Plus, the production costs are ridiculously high."

Li Jiangbo nodded. He knew the situation and that making a music video would cost a lot of money.

After all, music videos nowadays are all shot on film, unlike later digital cameras which can be used to shoot freely.

But he doesn't plan to shoot the entire album; he'll just choose three songs from the ten.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo smiled and said, "Hmm! Just choose three songs from 'A Thousand Songs,' 'Song of the Setting Sun,' 'The Road of Life,' and 'Tomorrow Will Be Better.' After filming, we can broadcast them directly on TVB."

Lai Siu-tin asked with concern, "Even if TVB gives us the rights to broadcast it for free, the filming costs are still considerable."

"I know what you're worried about. This money will be included in the record promotion, and the company will cover it. Besides, you understand the principle that the fewer resources available, the more valuable they are, right?"

Li Xiaotian looked at Li Jiangbo with a blank expression, his eyes filled with ignorance.

Li Jiangbo sighed, "Just make ten copies. Put some in Bingfeng's lucky draw prizes, and keep the rest as a keepsake. They'll definitely fetch a high price when we sell them later."

Li Xiaotian shook his head, looking like he understood.

"Is the boss filming this to make it more valuable due to its scarcity?"

Li Jiangbo smiled without saying a word.

Just as Time Daily was selling like hotcakes, the location for Time Girls' music video shoot was also decided.

Li Jiangbo was only nominally the producer this time, and he handed over this simple task to Gao Zhisen.

Gao Zhisen did not disappoint Li Jiangbo; he built three different scenes in just two days.

At the strong request of the girls, Li Jiangbo finally chose "Song of the Setting Sun", "A Stroll Through Life", and "Tomorrow Will Be Better".

Li Jiangbo felt that the filming of three songs could be completed in a single day.

To everyone's surprise, Clifton Ko took a meticulous approach to filming, insisting on getting the shot to his satisfaction before calling "cut."

This period caused the four girls immense suffering.

What should have been a one-day task was taken two days by Gao Zhisen.

Gao Zhisen also had his own ulterior motives.

He used to be an assistant director at TVB, but now at Time Pictures, he's become an assistant director.

With the annual meeting of Time Group in hand, seeing others receiving box office revenue sharing, how could he not feel envious? How could he not want to become a director?

So, in order to seize this opportunity, Clifton Ko listened to the three songs many times.

Li Jiangbo didn't care about any of that; he just spent his days on set watching Gao Zhisen shouting and yelling.

When filming the last song, "Tomorrow Will Be Better," Clifton Ko actually brought in a lot of white doves.

They also invited Leslie Cheung and Teresa Teng to participate in the filming.

Actually, this song was originally famous for its chorus performances, so Li Jiangbo wasn't surprised that Gao Zhisen could think of this.

This surprised Li Jiangbo. Was Gao Zhisen planning to use romanticism to make "Tomorrow Will Be Better"?

By the time we finished filming the last take, it was already dark.

Clifton Ko told people to pack up the equipment. Rosamund Kwan and Cherie Chung were so tired that they sat down on the ground, while Anita Mui sipped water, as if this level of exertion was nothing to her.

Just as Li Jiangbo was about to leave, Zhu Lin walked over.

"Boss..."

Li Jiangbo looked at Zhu Lin with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong?"

Zhu Lin lowered his head. "I heard you like noodles, so I made some fried sauce for dinner. Would you like to try some?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Okay! In the dorm?"

Seeing that Li Jiangbo had agreed, Zhu Lin nodded excitedly and then skipped away.