1980 My literary era

When Chinese moviegoers of later generations think of New Year films, the first thing that comes to mind must be Feng Xiaogang's films. In fact, it is not accurate to say this. It should be said to be a "Feng Xiaogang + Wang Shuo" movie. Rather than saying that Feng Xiaogang's movie is "Beijing flavor", it is better to say it is "Wang Shuo flavor".

Before Wang Shuoer, there were writers with a strong "Beijing flavor" in the Chinese literary world. For example, Mr. Lao She, the Beijing accent in his works was much stronger than Wang Shuo's.

The most outstanding thing about Wang Shuo's novel is that he brings to life a group of marginal and down-and-out people in Yanjing City. They are the most restless class in this society.

They urgently seek to improve their situation, but due to insufficient education, narrow vision, various difficulties in survival and development, and the coercion of the secular society, they can only become a cynical and carefree group. , euphemistically called "Stubborn Lord" and "Old Paoer".

In Wang Shuo's novels, there are rigid-minded parents, hypocritical moralists and writers, neighbors who are good at snooping and interfering with other people's privacy, cheating businessmen, crazy and ignorant obsessives, and vulgar and complacent ordinary citizens. Characters form the lowest level of ecology in the city of Yanjing.

Wang Shuo uses text to depict these images, and their obscene, ugly, and embarrassing features are all revealed one by one, which can be called a collection of social ugliness. This is also the most important aspect of literature and ideology reflected in Wang Shuo's works.

But after adapting it into a movie, Feng Xiaogang and Wang Shuo adopted a gentler approach and used soft lighting to treat the "evil", making them appear somewhat cute and humorous.

This is of course a clever approach, and judging from the results, it is also in line with the laws of modern business operations.

Feng Xiaogang became famous because of this, and Wang Shuo gained great fame in drama creation after encountering obstacles in his literary career. They became golden partners and brought fresh vitality to the development of the Chinese film industry.

On the night when "Party A and Party B" premieres, there will be a roar of laughter within two minutes in the screening room of the Capital Cinema. In a sense, the audience's laughter has laid the foundation for the success of this movie.

The movie was only 87 minutes long. When the credits rolled, the lights in the screening room came on and there was thunderous applause.

Feng Xiaogang, who had just stepped onto the stage, was filled with excitement and bowed to the audience repeatedly.

At this time, he was not the movie fanatic who said, "If I don't make movies, what will the Chinese audience watch?" He was flattered that the movie had such good "laughing results" at its premiere.

Of course, "Party A and Party B" is not a masterpiece in film history. When many people here watched this movie, they even felt that this movie was not called a movie at all, but should be called a collection of sketches.

But the biggest advantage of this movie is that it can make the audience laugh unbridled in the cinema.

For a commercial film, this was a huge success.

On December 24, 1995, "Party A and Party B" was officially released in major theaters across the country.

Of course, this "country" is very wet.

Since the film reform in 1993, Chinese films have been experiencing pain. One of the most obvious features is that film distribution companies in various regions are fighting on their own, theaters across the country are fragmented, and the film market is a mixed bag.

Lin Weimin proposed the propaganda concept of "Lunar New Year stalls" and "Lunar New Year films". People are leaders and can just talk, but it is impossible for the people below to not break their legs.

Since Yu Dong arrived at Wenhua Film and Television, the company's staff has rapidly expanded to 12 people, and these extra people are all employees responsible for publicity and distribution.

These people were all made acquainted by Yu Dong during more than a year of work, dealing with distribution companies and theater chains from various places. Winning so many people over at once also made several senior members of Wenhua feel dissatisfied with the new general manager. Watch with admiration.

Being able to code people is also a kind of ability.

In one and a half months, from the film's schedule to promotion and release, Yu Dong and several distribution staff traveled to major cities in the country.

In the past, when I was at Yan Film Studio, their distribution business was to sell copies. One copy per glass of wine. How many copies could be sold all depended on the drinking capacity of the distribution staff.

The situation is different now. What the company wants is a share of the box office. The film reform has just been implemented in the past two years, and the policies are favorable. The share ratio is basically negotiated by the film studio and the theater chain. 6:4 is the norm, and the later share ratio of movies that have been screened for a long time may be Make adjustments.

However, after it was decided to introduce 10 imported blockbusters in 1995, these imported films were divided according to the ratio of 35:17:48 between production, distribution and theaters.

That is to say, this year, domestic films such as "Red Cherry" also began to implement box office accounting based on the same ratio. This time the accounting ratio is determined, it will not have much impact on film companies with distribution capabilities, but it will have a great impact on some film companies that are purely engaged in production.

Although Wenhua Film and Television was founded not long ago, it has a close relationship with Yan Film Studio. The two industrial links of production and distribution are tightly held in its own hands without affecting its profits.

"Party A and Party B" is the first theatrical film controlled by Wenhua Film and Television, and it is also Yu Dong's first major test after becoming the general manager.

In more than a month, he took several employees to 20 large and medium-sized cities in China. His stomach almost bled from drinking, and he signed contracts with multiple theaters in 20 provinces and cities to provide services for the screening of "Party A and Party B" A broad stage.

If this was a movie by Cheng Kaige or Zhang Yimou, it wouldn't require so much trouble at all. Distribution companies and theaters from all over the country would have to rush to sign a contract with Yu Dong.

On the day of the premiere of "Party A and Party B", Yu Dongren was in Hunan. He had just finished a heavy drinking session with Mr. He from the CS City Film Distribution Company. He smelled of alcohol and his subordinate Zhang Guiyou who was following him was not feeling well either. Where to go.

After seeing Mr. He off, Yu Dong and Zhang Guiyou stood on the side of the road and took a taxi. Not long after they got in the car, the car stopped. Yu Dong staggered out of the car, squatted on the side of the road and vomited. .

The taxi was waiting impatiently, so Zhang Guiyou could only pay the taxi to leave.

He patted Yu Dong's back and waited until he was almost done vomiting before helping him up.

"Mr. Yu, how do you feel?"

"No...it's okay."

In the wine party just now, Zhang Guiyou drank more than half a catty of liquor, and Yu Dong drank at least one and a half catties. It was not easy for him to still be able to speak.

He was afraid that he would be too drunk and make a fool of himself in front of his subordinates, so he said, "Lao Zhang, let's go for a walk."

"good."

The two were walking on the road in Changsha. Yu Dong was swaying and Zhang Guiyou was supporting him.

"I really drank too much today."

"You are just too down-to-earth. Look at Mr. He, he looks like a cunning old man at first glance. He drank with you all night and probably didn't even drink a pound." Zhang Guiyou said.

Yu Dong smiled and said, "We are in the business of hairdressing. He is the boss, so we can't wait on him, okay?"

He asked again: "How are you? Are you still used to it after running with me for almost half a month?"

Zhang Guiyou is from Xi'an. He is in his early thirties. It turns out that Yu Dong, the distributor of Xi Film Studio, met him on a business trip. More than half a month ago, Yu Dong successfully attracted him by virtue of his reputation as "Lin Weimin" and "Zhang Yimou". The scammer came to Wenhua Film and Television, and as soon as he came, he ran all over the country.

"What's wrong with you? I've been working in publishing for more than ten years!"

"Thank you for your hard work." Yu Dong said.

"It's not hard, as long as the money is available."

Zhang Guiyou previously worked at Xi Film Studio. The reason why he was willing to switch to Wenhua Film and Television was partly because studios around the world were in decline, and some studios responded to national policies by laying off workers. On the other hand, it was also because of the salary promised by Yu Dong. treatment.

When Zhang Guiyou came to Wenhua, he was still engaged in distribution, but his salary was 150 yuan more than when he was at Xiying Studio. Not only that, he also received a daily subsidy of 20 yuan for business trips. If he traveled all the way out for a month, that would be 600 yuan, which is more than his salary. Still high.

For those who are engaged in distribution, business trips are commonplace, but they cannot travel at any time. Their job is to pave the way for new movie work. If there are new movies, they will have the opportunity to travel. If there are no new movies, they will have the opportunity to travel. No chance for business trip.

In summary, Zhang Guiyou switched jobs from Xi Film Studio to Wenhua Film and Television. Although he gave up his iron rice bowl of a state-owned enterprise, his comprehensive income doubled. Moreover, he resigned on his own initiative, which is much more honorable than his colleagues who were laid off passively.

"Haha, please don't call me Lao Zhang from now on. I'll call you Lao Qian. I'll give you money!" Yu Dong joked with a smile.

"You haven't married yet, so you don't understand the hardships of middle-aged people like us." Zhang Guiyou sighed, and then said: "I really envy you. You became the general manager at a young age."

"I also met a noble person."

"How come others haven't met you? If the leader didn't find your shining point, how could he entrust you with such a heavy responsibility?"

Zhang Guiyou flattered him without any burden, and Yu Dong laughed, "The leader is not allowed to be wrong?"

"Just because of your drinking capacity, the leader didn't misjudge the person."

The two chatted and laughed, and walked all the way. They were not far from the hotel where they were staying. Yu Dong said, "Let's just walk back."

"Listen to you."

"Alas, "Party A and Party B" will be released today." Yu Dong suddenly sighed.

Zhang Guiyou felt the heavy pressure from his sigh and said: "Our distribution task this time has been completed very beautifully. The scale of the release is at least larger than that of most movies."

Yu Dong shook his head, "That's not what I'm worried about."

A successful movie is indispensable for production, promotion, and distribution. No matter how good the promotion and distribution are, if the film production level cannot keep up, it will be in vain.

"Our films are of good quality, don't be so unsure."

"It's not that I don't have confidence. I'm just looking forward to..."

Zhang Guiyou understood what Yu Dong meant. Although he became the general manager at a young age, how could he convince the public without any impressive results?

"Party A and Party B" is the first time that Yu Dong has taken the leading role alone. For this promotion and release, he drank a lot of wine and stayed up many nights. If the box office results are not satisfactory, it will definitely be a heavy blow for him. blow.

"Don't think about it, it's useless. Just do your best and obey fate." Zhang Guiyou advised.

Yu Dong nodded. He had already done what he could do, and it was useless no matter how much he thought about it.

When Yu Dong returned to Yanjing, three days had passed since "Party A and Party B" was released.

Returning to Yanjing, his first concern was of course the box office performance of "Party A and Party B" in the past few days.

There is no box office statistics system these days, and box office statistics rely entirely on information aggregation from local distribution companies.

However, because it has not been released for a long time, information from distribution companies in various places has not been fed back to Wenhua.

Yu Dong wanted to inquire about the movie box office, but he could only inquire about the local box office results in Yanjing.

It was already afternoon when he returned to Yanjing. He went straight to the office without even returning home. After making a few calls, he sat in the office waiting for a reply.

After more than an hour, the phone on his desk finally rang, and he couldn't wait to pick it up.

"Manager Xu, how are you doing?"

The person on the other end of the phone was Manager Xu from Yanjing Film Distribution Company, "Haha, guess what!"

"My brother, please don't embarrass me and speak quickly!" Yu Dong urged.

"Young man, I'm impatient." Manager Xu said, paused for two seconds, and then said a number.

After hearing this, Yu Dong's expression and movements came to a standstill, and he asked in disbelief: "Are you sure?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Is it fun to tease you?"

After being scolded by Manager Xu, Yu Dong didn't show any anger at all. Instead, he smiled happily and said, "Thank you, brother. I'll treat you to dinner in two days!"

"It's definitely a treat to have dinner with guests. This celebration banquet is indispensable." Manager Xu said with a smile.

Yu Dong chatted with him for a few more words. After hanging up the phone, Yu Dong couldn't help but let out a silly laugh.

At this time, there was a sudden knock on the office door.