Said that the salary of Hong Kong performing arts staff is extremely high, mainly refers to those blockbuster directors and popular movie stars. ±,

For example, the films directed by Wang Jing are often sold well, and he not only gets a high director's salary, but also often gets a share of the box office; another example is Liu Dehua, although he is not the most famous in Hong Kong, but he is very popular in Taiwan, so he is getting his current salary. 8 million, catching up with Zhou Runfa, Zhou Xingchi and others, and even surpassing the brothers Xu Guanwen and Xu Guanjie.

As for those second- and third-rate directors and actors, although their incomes have increased significantly than before, it is because of the prosperity of Hong Kong films, and the remunerations these people receive are quite reasonable.

Taiwanese filmmakers complained that Hong Kong entertainers' remuneration was too high to raise the cost of the studio, but they were actually responsible, because the remuneration of Hong Kong stars was coaxed up by these guys, and now they want to accept it, but they can't take it anymore.

In another time and space, the result of the second round of negotiations between the two parties on the issue of remuneration was to have Xiang Huaqiang as the convener to coordinate the reasonable remuneration of Hong Kong performing arts staff. But even with Xiang Huaqiang's background as a gang leader, it's still a matter of coordinating, how much money can you control the sky and the earth?

The two sides were arguing with each other for a while. The Hong Kong producers did not speak much, and the focus was on Xu Guanwen, the president of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Association.

Xu Guanwen said: "I can't do this kind of thing. When the association was established, everyone chose me to be the president because of their trust. My responsibility is to fight for the rights of Hong Kong entertainers, not to help third parties to pressure their remuneration. ."

"It's up to Mr. Kang to make the decision." He Guanchang suddenly said.

Everyone looked at Kang Jianfei, waiting for his final statement.

When it comes to resolving contract disputes, it is an advantage that Kang Jianfei has a large number of artist resources. So in coordinating the salary of the entertainers, Kang Jianfei is facing a troublesome problem.

So many directors and actors are signed to your company and follow you. Are you embarrassed to help outsiders press their pay?

As long as Kang Jianfei agrees to do this, it doesn't matter whether it is successful or not. He will offend a large number of directors and movie stars. Those people may not dare to say anything on the surface, but they will definitely feel unhappy in their hearts. It is a sure thing to talk and curse behind their backs.

Kang Jianfei has long been an old fox. How could he do such a thing that would offend the public? With a playful smile on his face, he said, "Do you think the cost of Hong Kong films is driven up by the salaries of popular movie stars and directors?"

Yang Dengkui said: "It's obvious at a glance. Now that we invest 20 million in Hong Kong films, the remuneration for the starring and director alone is more than 10 million. If there are two or three popular supporting roles, the labor cost will already exceed 15 million. What else can the remaining 5 million do? The director can only make shoddy films to fool the audience."

"Wrong!" Kang Jianfei shouted suddenly. Shocking everyone in the conference room, he laughed, "I think it's not just a problem of directors and movie stars, investors and producers need to take more responsibility!"

Wu Dun asked in confusion: "What is this saying?"

Kang Jianfei continued: "Why does it happen that labor costs account for more than half of the total movie budget? The most fundamental problem lies with you. You want big stars, big casts and big directors. You don't read the script, you just recognize your face, who's red? Just invite anyone, for the sake of the box office, this is understandable, but this is actually driving up the star's salary."

Wang Yingxiang said, "What am I invited to do if I'm not a star?"

Kang Jianfei said: "If you regard filmmaking as an ordinary commercial investment, then your behavior is to only look at the raw materials of the product, but ignore the production process and process of the product, and even when you invest money, you don't know the final product. It looks like. Then consumers buy products of substandard quality, and they don't buy them anymore. There is a backlog of products that can't be sold. At this time, you complain that the raw materials are too expensive. This is putting the cart before the horse! What is a movie? Movies sell content, not Just a star. Can't you be more cautious when investing?"

Cai Songlin retorted: "You can't say that..."

"Take Boss Cai's scholar company as an example." Kang Jianfei directly interrupted Cai Songlin's speech, "Wang Jiawei has several star film contracts and a plan to adapt Jin Yong. You can get tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars in investment from you. Did you really think carefully before investing? You don't even know what kind of film he wants to make. What happened? In the end, Wong Kar-Wai didn't make a movie for half a year. Instead, he spent more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars. The budget has run out, can you blame movie stars for being paid too high?"

Cai Songlin blushed when he was told, and this matter has been regarded as a joke by the insiders. The solution finally negotiated was: Wong Kar-wai brought his friend Liu Zhenwei into the crew and used the original cast to make another comedy film, which was later called "East and West".

In just one month, Liu Zhenwei's "East and West" has been completed, while Wong Kar-wai's "Evil in the West" is still progressing slowly, and it is estimated that it will take a year and a half to see the final film.

"Cough, this is a special case." Yang Dengkui coughed and cleared Cai Songlin.

Kang Jianfei sneered and said, "This is a special case? Among the ten Taiwan-funded Hong Kong films, at least six were released without a script. As long as the producer signs a contract for a star film, you dare to invest!"

The eight major filmmakers in Taiwan could only be silent, because what Kang Jianfei said was true.

Everyone looked at each other for a while, before Wang Yingxiang said: "Mr. Kang is also telling the truth, we should pay more attention in the future. But it is useless to say these things now, the most important thing is how to suppress the inflated star salary. ."

"It's not too late to make amends. How can you say that it won't help?" Kang Jianfei refused to accept the hot potato of lowering star pay, he said, "Look at Hollywood, how rigorous the process of making movies, which Hollywood director is Can you sign a few star movie contracts at will, and dare to ask producers and investors to pay without even having a script or even an idea? I think it is only a small matter to lower the star's salary, and the more important thing is to standardize the future movie production process. At least, everyone When investing money, you have to know what the director is going to shoot, right?"

No one said a word, everyone was thoughtful. Others showed disdain.

Kang Jianfei continued: "Take Wong Kar-wai's "Evil in the East" as an example, does a play really need seven or eight first-tier movie stars? One or two is enough! Don't pay the audience as if they only recognize the star's face You're a fool. Big casts have a way to shoot big casts. Judging from the current production cost of Hong Kong films, if you want to make big casts, you need to invest at least 30 million yuan. If you invest 20 million, you can shoot big casts, and of course star pay It accounts for more than half of it. If you invest 50 million, then the 15 million star salary is a piece of shit! If you want to get together with stars but refuse to pay enough money, of course the film will be a big bad movie. It is not that the star's salary is too high, but The money you invested is too little! If you want to make only 20 million, then you can honestly make a film with a medium cast, and invite one or two big stars to be the signboard. It is enough to think about the script and improve the quality of the film. The movies that come out are not necessarily lower at the box office than those with big stars."

Kang Jianfei made his words very clearly. When Taiwanese filmmakers invest in Hong Kong films, they want to buy good products but don't want to pay enough money. How can there be good things that are cheap and beautiful in this world?

The eight major film producers who control the film sources of the entire Taiwan market are sitting in the conference room at this moment, like a grandson being reprimanded by Kang Jianfei. Some people must be unhappy, but they have to admit that Kang Jianfei is right, and at the same time, they are thinking about whether they should change their investment ideas in the future - after all, the Taiwanese audiences are becoming more refined, unlike before when they saw Hong Kong stars starring. Silly money to go to the theater.

Kang Jianfei's remarks are not only for Taiwanese filmmakers, but also for Hong Kong filmmakers such as Chen Rongmei and Luo Jiecheng, who are halfway through their careers. They don't understand movies at all. Holding the theater chain in his hand, he blindly invested in the filming, and also only watched the stars and not the script. The director paid for the big casts when he fooled around, which eventually led to the current bad situation of bad films.

Kang Jianfei has completely dominated the talks at this time. He said: "I propose that the Hong Kong Film Industry Association should regulate a Hong Kong film production charter. This charter is not mandatory, but is a reference for producers and investors. Resolutely resist the kind of director who cheats investment by making appointments with star films. Most of you here have a family and business, and those directors can take advantage of the prosperity of Hong Kong films to get a vote and leave. But you and I have a production company and a theater company, and after the whole market was ruined. In the end, the biggest loss was Who is it? It's you, it's me, it's all of us!"

Now it's Hong Kong's producers' turn to ponder, Kang Jianfei's words are really thought-provoking, and even they themselves have thought about it before.

Even if Kang Jianfei did not appear, the poor box office status of Hong Kong films in 1993 also alerted a large number of Hong Kong practitioners. They wrote to the British Hong Kong government one after another, requesting the Hong Kong government to set up an additional film bureau to regulate the chaotic Hong Kong film industry with official power. .

Kang Jianfei continued: "The salary of a star can't be suppressed. We set a salary of 5 million for a certain star. Will he be honest and obedient? You really paid according to the standard of 5 million, but another company paid 600 yuan. For the price of 10,000, who do you think he will promise to act for?"

Speaking of this, Kang Jianfei changed his tone again, "Of course, everyone has seen what happened to the local box office and overseas box office of Hong Kong films this year. The three words are 'recession', and the low box office will suppress the actors' remuneration, which is also very important. Reasonable, this is the same as increasing the actors' remuneration when the box office is prosperous. Our Oriental Entertainment Agency will negotiate with the Hong Kong Performing Artists Association as soon as possible to formulate a reference price list for actors' remuneration. But this is only for reference, not compulsory Execution, no one can force a star to accept the movie at which price."

Hearing that Kang Jianfei finally let go, the eight major film companies in Taiwan are also much more relaxed. They all know that this kind of thing cannot be done overnight, and it is very rare to be able to come up with a reference price list for Hong Kong star remuneration. in accordance with.

In the end, on the issue of commission issuance, we could not reach a satisfactory result for both parties. In the end, we could only cooperate according to our wishes. Since some Hong Kong producers are reluctant to take a commission for distribution, that's fine, DreamWorks and Golden Harvest are willing, we won't buy your films in the future, we will only buy these two companies, the film source is not big enough to put old films to support the scene.

Don't think that Taiwanese filmmakers can't do this kind of thing. In another time and space, after the second round of negotiations between the two sides collapsed, they did not buy Hong Kong films for half a year, and many Taiwanese cinemas had to repeatedly show old films to cope. In the end, the production company in Hong Kong couldn’t hold it anymore, and a large number of films went bankrupt within half a year. The film and academy companies in Taiwan also suffered heavy losses. The two sides had to sit together again for the third round of negotiation.

However, after the boycott of Hong Kong films for half a year, the Hong Kong film industry suffered heavy losses and nearly half of the production companies and theaters closed down. Later, although the two sides negotiated a settlement between Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Hong Kong film industry has since declined.

Fortunately, with Kang Jianfei's intervention, everyone did not directly talk about the collapse this time. Although there are still problems to be solved, they have made due compromises on the main issues.

At the end of the negotiation, Taiwanese filmmakers and Hong Kong filmmakers reached a settlement and decided to establish a long-term mechanism for this negotiation, stipulating: "Relevant organizations in Hong Kong and Taiwan hold a meeting once a month to discuss issues such as film investment, production, and distribution. exchange of opinions" and reached a number of agreements such as "data must be available for commercial evaluation of films, and appropriate adjustments should be made if they are unreasonable".

A total of three related institutions were born in this meeting, namely ~lightnovelpub.net~ responsible for cleaning up and coordinating the old contracts of film investment between Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is only a temporary institution;

, responsible for formulating the reference price for the remuneration of Hong Kong directors and actors;

, responsible for holding regular meetings to coordinate conflicts between the two sides and discuss development plans. At the same time, production companies that must join this committee are only eligible to sell films to Taiwan. Members pay an annual membership fee to maintain the normal operation of the committee, and the committee is obliged to make funds to make the group a long-term body.

This meeting was destined to be written into the annals of Hong Kong film history, and even the history of Chinese-language films. Later, it was called the "Tseung Kwan O Agreement" because of the place where it was held, and it was called the "April 21 Agreement" because of the time of the meeting.

Kang Jianfei didn't want to be the savior of Hong Kong movies, but his appearance did save the decline of Hong Kong movies to a certain extent. At least Hong Kong movies didn't die so badly in another time and space.

At the same time, whether they admit it or not, under the influence of Kang Jianfei, the major production companies in Hong Kong have strengthened the standardization of the film production process. (To be continued..)u

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