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

Huaxing Records.

Fang Yihua and Chen Shufen were having a meeting in the conference room.

Chen Shufen was a little uneasy. Since she joined Huaxing in 73, she had always worked diligently. This sudden inspection by the leader caught her off guard.

Fang Yihua took a sip of tea, looked at Chen Shufen who was still somewhat flustered, and couldn't help but fall into memories.

Initially, Capital Artists was merely a subsidiary of TVB, responsible only for organizing concerts and releasing records. It never competed or sought personal gain, and was able to perform its company duties admirably.

However, at the beginning of this year, Chen Shufen submitted a business plan to Shao Daheng.

Basically, it's about persuading the company to sign singers and hold a singing competition.

Shao Yifu had always coveted the girl group under Li Jiangbo's command, so how could he not be interested when his subordinates suddenly submitted such a plan? That's why he sent Fang Yihua to inquire about it.

Fang Yihua was also very interested in this plan.

Due to her misjudgment, the cinemas returned to a state of economic revenue without Li Jiangbo's films.

So she wanted to look at other aspects and see if she could overtake others by taking a shortcut.

Thinking of this, Fang Yihua coughed twice. "Shufen! I've looked at your plans from the beginning of the year, and they're not bad. However, signing celebrities and organizing singing competitions also have costs. So, Sixth Brother asked me to ask you if you've considered the revenue aspect?"

When Chen Shufen heard that it was about the plan she had submitted, she immediately felt relieved and began to talk at length about the benefits of signing singers and holding singing competitions.

"Manager Fang, I believe that signing singers can boost our company's brand, and holding singing competitions can expand TVB's influence..."

Chen Shufen spoke for almost ten minutes.

Fang Yihua remained silent throughout, listening attentively until Chen Shufen finished speaking, at which point she asked a question.

"Shubun! Do you think our company can create a group like Time Girls?"

Chen Shufen pondered for a moment, then said, "Manager Fang, I can't guarantee that, but I think that as long as we sign more singers and put on a good show, their talent won't be inferior to the Time Girls!"

Fang Yihua nodded in satisfaction, "Great! Get started on the preparations, the company will give you its full support."

"Thank you, Manager Fang! Thank you, Manager Fang!"

After receiving Fang Yihua's consent, Chen Shufen was overjoyed and thanked Fang Yihua repeatedly.

Fang Yihua then changed the subject, "By the way! What do you think of the music videos our station has been airing lately? Are there any lessons we can learn from them?"

After pondering for a moment, Chen Shufen said, "I heard that the cost of filming those three music videos was equivalent to the cost of recording an entire album. I think that's a bit too expensive."

Fang Yihua thought this made sense. If too much is spent, it will be difficult to recoup the costs, which would be counterproductive.

She thought for a while before saying, "We can shoot a music video for one of the title tracks from each album, and then have it broadcast on TVB for a long time. That would be a way to make money!"

Chen Shufen said in surprise, "That's a great idea. Let's just shoot one song. It's not expensive, and we can use it as publicity."

After chatting for a while, Fang Yihua left.

Before leaving, she repeatedly urged Chen Shufen to consider the matter carefully.

TVB is planning a singing competition, while RTV's situation has collapsed.

On March 10, a news article in the Time Daily began to spread in Hong Kong.

The news is that John Bull's Limited has sold all of its 61.8% stake in RTV (Rediffusion Television) in Hong Kong to three consortia from Australia.

When Hong Kong residents saw this news, they merely discussed it briefly without making any further connections.

In their view, as long as there is a TV to watch, they don't care whose TV it is.

The nervous ones are everyone at RTV (Rediffusion Television), who are worried about whether there will be layoffs, deductions in wages, bonuses, and performance bonuses after the change of boss.

The door to the general manager's office was tightly closed, but the sound of a phone call could be heard continuously coming from inside.

"Why weren't we notified beforehand? We didn't even know about the negotiations! This kind of thing should be discussed by the board of directors!!!"

The person on the other end of the phone calmly replied, "This is a decision made by the head office's upper management and has nothing to do with the Hong Kong branch. The new shareholders will send representatives to Hong Kong in three days; just cooperate with them."

Huang Xizhao cursed under his breath, "Damn it!" and then slammed the phone down.

He sat back down in the boss's chair, panting heavily. He wanted to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves, but found that his hands wouldn't obey him and he couldn't light the lighter no matter what he did.

Huang Xizhao sighed and threw the cigarette and lighter in his hand onto the table.

We can't just sit and wait to die! We need to prepare ourselves early.

Thinking of this, he immediately called his arch-rival, Chung King-fai.

Chung King-fai was his arch-rival; the two had some competition a few years ago. However, he won.

Huang Xizhao believes that at this critical juncture, Zhong Jinghui will make the right choice.

Soon after, Chung King-fai arrived at Wong Sik-chiu's office.

As soon as Chung King-fai arrived, Wong Sik-chao got straight to the point: "King-fai, have you heard the news that the company sold its shares in the TV station?"

Chung King-fai nodded. "I've heard about it, and I also know that the parent company's investment failed, forcing them to sell their shares."

Huang Xizhao was slightly taken aback; he had never heard of this news before.

Such top-secret information, his mortal enemy actually knew it! This completely disrupted his plans.

He thought for a long time before speaking, "Now that new shareholders have arrived, we don't know if they'll interfere in the television station's affairs. Furthermore, we don't know anything about these three conglomerates. So..."

Before Huang Xizhao could finish speaking, Zhong Jinghui interrupted, "Old Huang, I understand your concerns. Don't worry, I'm definitely on your side. As for what will happen next, I think you're overthinking it."

Huang Xizhao was stunned. He hadn't expected the matter to be so simple, and Zhong Jinghui to agree so readily.

But what Chung King-fai said next left him somewhat confused.

He hurriedly asked, "What do you mean?"

Chung King-fai gave Huang Si-chao a meaningful look but said nothing.

Huang Xizhao was now in a state of panic, and hurriedly asked again, "Ahui, do you have any ideas?"

"Hey! Old Huang, you seem to have forgotten something."

"That is, according to the Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Ordinance, if a television organization wants to appoint senior managers, it must apply to the Authority and obtain approval."

He paused for a moment, then added, "The application process is very complicated and tedious, and only people from Hong Kong can be named."

Huang Xizhao's eyes lit up as he listened, and he added at the end, "In other words, they can't fire us! Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to find suitable managers."

"Yes! However, I think we still need to be cautious. We need to contact the remaining shareholders as soon as possible, and then win over another shareholder after the consortium arrives."

Huang Xizhao nodded, "That's right! Then let's split up, hold a meeting first to reassure the employees, and then find the other shareholders."

"no problem!"

Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

The three consortia convened a shareholders' meeting immediately upon arriving in Hong Kong.

The seven shareholders present at the meeting were: Hunterson Company, CRA Company, Friendly Trading Company, Xu Family, Guo Family, Jardine Matheson, and Standard Chartered.