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

Li Jiangbo tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table without stopping.

He was desperately trying to recall the details of the movie "The Young Man's Fear".

However, he was quite certain that while Clifton Ko's film "The Young Man's Fear" had the same basic structure as later films, it lacked a high density of jokes.

Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that Huang Baiming was the first screenwriter for the later novel "The Young Man's Fear," while Gao Zhisen only suggested an idea and wrote a framework.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo said, "Ah Sen! The plot of your script is good, but the jokes aren't frequent enough. Polish it a bit more, and it'll be there."

Gao Zhisen was not discouraged, because he knew that he was facing Li Jiangbo, who had won the box office championship for three consecutive years.

He nodded. "Understood, boss. I'll revise it again."

Li Jiangbo nodded and picked up Chen Xunqi's script to read it again.

Turning to the first page, the words "I Want a Rich Husband" are written in large characters.

Just by looking at the name Li Jiangbo, you can tell this is a film that's bound to flop.

Because in his mind, he had never even heard of this movie, so how could it possibly make money?

The story is also quite cliché: it tells the tale of a young girl from Changzhou who goes to Hong Kong to stay with her brother-in-law, a hairdresser, and how they overcome societal prejudices together.

It looks quite professional, but Li Jiangbo is certain that the film won't have much of a market.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo closed the script and said:

"The story is too cliché. By the way, why did you decide to make a film of this kind?"

Chen Xunqi felt a chill run down his spine; he had his reasons for writing the script.

His dream was to be a hairdresser, and now that he couldn't be one, he naturally wanted to try filming it.

For this reason, he also brought in his friends Chen Huihong and Wang Jiawei to write together.

To everyone's surprise, the boss immediately rejected it.

However, he still mustered up the courage to explain, "This film doesn't have a high budget; I only need to invest 400,000..."

Before Chen Xunqi could finish speaking, Li Jiangbo waved his hand to interrupt him.

Okay, give me a day or two, I'll write a script for you, and then you can direct it.

Chen Xunqi and Gao Zhisen were both a little stunned; they hadn't expected their boss to take action personally.

Chen Xunqi immediately stood up, "Thank you, boss! Thank you, boss!"

Li Jiangbo waved his hand, "Don't thank me yet. I'm preparing this film to open up the Taiwan market. So, you'll have to film there. How about it? No objections?"

"No objection, why would I have an objection!"

Li Jiangbo then looked at Gao Zhisen, "Ah Sen, why don't you go and be Old Chen's assistant director? You two can also discuss the script you have."

Gao Zhisen quickly stood up and nodded, "No problem, boss."

With a wave of his hand, Li Jiangbo and the two men understood that their boss was kicking them out, so they turned around and left the office.

After the two left, Li Jiangbo took out paper and pen and began writing the script.

This time, the script he chose was "Wrong Carriage".

In Li Jiangbo's memory, the most famous part of this play is the song "If There's No Wine to Sell".

As for the plot, he had long forgotten it. Luckily, he had a cheat code: he had saved up quite a few scripts.

As for the song, let's see if Anita Mui can sing it. If not, we can find the original singer.

However, Li Jiangbo still doesn't know where the original singer, Su Rui, is.

That said, this film was a major production for Cinema City to open up the Taiwanese box office market, and it just so happened that Time Pictures was able to open up the Taiwanese market as well.

There seems to be a little story behind this film; it's said that Huang Baiming only took three days to write the script.

Li Jiangbo was even faster; he finished the script and the song in just four hours.

Just as Li Jiangbo closed his pen, there was another knock on the office door.

"Please come in!"

The door was pushed open, and the receptionist walked in.

"Boss, a lady surnamed Xu wants to see you. She says her name is Xu Anhua."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Please let her in."

The receptionist nodded, turned around, and went out to lead the people away.

A short while later, the secretary brought Xu Anhua to Li Jiangbo's office.

Li Jiangbo stood up, extended his hand, and said, "Director Xu! What a rare guest! Please have a seat."

After shaking hands with Li Jiangbo, Xu Anhua sat down opposite him.

"Director Li, I hope my visit is not intrusive and will not disturb you?"

Li Jiangbo waved his hand, "Director Xu is joking. I wonder if he's here this time..."

After pouring water for the two of them, the secretary left.

After the secretary left, Xu Anhua spoke up, "Director Li, I came here today to ask for your help."

Li Jiangbo remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

"I have a booklet and would like to ask you to invest in it."

After saying that, Xu Anhua took out a notebook from his bag, placed it on the table, and pushed it forward.

Li Jiangbo picked up the script and started reading. When he saw the name, he realized that Xu Anhua wasn't there for his investment, but for Cherie Chung!

The film is called "The Story of Woo Viet," and it is one of Cherie Chung's representative works.

The story is quite tragic, telling the tale of a young Vietnamese-Chinese man who fled to the Xiangjiang River after the Vietnam War.

As far as he could remember, the film seemed to have won an award, but he didn't know exactly what kind of award it was.

Xu Anhua felt uneasy seeing that Li Jiangbo remained silent for a long time.

"Director Li, I know this kind of art film might not sell well, and the investment is risky. But I really want to make it, and the budget isn't high, around one million..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Jiangbo put down his notebook and jokingly said, "Director Xu, you probably didn't come here just for the investment, did you?"

Xu Anhua was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Li Jiangbo meant.

She thought to herself how clever he was, and then said, "Director Li is indeed amazing! I actually wanted to ask your actress, Cherie Chung, to play the role of Shen Qing. I did approach President Pan privately, but her price was too high."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "I understand. No problem."

Xu Anhua was stunned for a moment, then stood up excitedly, "Thank you, Director Li."

Li Jiangbo smiled knowingly, "Then does Director Xu still need to invest?"

Xu Anhua smiled awkwardly and remained silent.

Li Jiangbo stopped asking questions and directly called Pan Yingzi, explained the situation, and then asked Xu Anhua to contact Pan Yingzi.

......

Meanwhile, in a screening room in Yanjing.

Director Chen Wen sat trembling in his chair, knowing he had messed up this time.

After finally managing to film a movie, he twisted his own foot, and the health of the crew members also suffered.

None of that matters; what matters is that the leader didn't take a liking to him.

If the leadership doesn't approve, it means the company is not satisfied.

Half an hour later, the leader left the screening room without changing his expression.

After seeing that leader off, the leaders of Xinlian Film Company couldn't sit still any longer.

He took his people directly to the conference room for a meeting.

Among them are Chen Wen, Wu Gang, and Zhang Xinyan.

The company leader flew into a rage as soon as he entered the meeting room, giving Chen Wen a thorough dressing-down.

After a long silence, the leader, panting heavily, leaned on the table and asked, "What do we do now?"

Everyone looked at each other, none of them daring to speak.

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Finally, Zhang Xinyan spoke up: "Should we change the director?"

The leader's eyes lit up, and he asked urgently:

"Who should we replace them with?"