Rebirth of Siheyuan starts in the 1980s

Chapter 373 A story and a song

You may have to ask, Chi-keung Chiu has been busy with a lot of things recently, especially his current main focus is still releasing records, so why is he thinking about making movies again? Is this too hasty?

Frankly speaking, Cao Zhiqiang never thought about making a movie, at least he didn't originally consider entering the film and television field in the near future, but who made the plan change so quickly?

In fact, the root of making a movie can be traced back to a dinner party five days ago.

At that time, Cao Zhiqiang had just finished recording all the songs for the album "Blooming Life". It was the most relaxing time, so he planned to take advantage of that time to deal with the matter of Qinghong's father Wu Zemin, that is, to get him

When he went to Shanghai, he wandered around the capital every day, preventing him from getting together with Qinghong.

But since Cao Zhiqiang had nothing to do in Shanghai, he could only go to the leaders in Beijing to see if there was any way.

In fact, the best way is to ask Yu Deshui for help, but Yu Deshui has a special relationship with him. He has always regarded Cao Zhiqiang as his prospective son-in-law, so it is not easy for Cao Zhiqiang to find Yu Deshui.

It would be terrible if Yu Deshui knew about Wu Zemin and then through Wu Zemin about Wu Qinghong.

Although Cao Zhiqiang has not really confessed to Yu Yuanyuan yet, he can be regarded as hiding Yu Yuanyuan in the golden house. Moreover, Yu Deshui has always regarded Cao Zhiqiang as a prospective son-in-law, and always thought that Cao Zhiqiang would not openly follow Yu Yuanyuan for the time being.

The relationship is for the sake of career.

Therefore, Yu Deshui did not know about Qinghong, and conversely, Wu Zemin also did not know about Yu Yuanyuan.

It's best if the two families don't know each other. If the two families know each other, it will be a real Shura field.

Therefore, Cao Zhiqiang could not find familiar city leaders through Yu Deshui's connections. Instead, he had to ask Secretary Dong of the Machinery Factory for help to see if there were any leaders he knew who could help him.

Then one day, Secretary Dong suddenly found him and asked Cao Zhiqiang to attend a dinner party with him. He said that he had invited a director of the Ministry of Culture to dinner and he could help him.

During this period, when looking for someone to do something, it was usually done at a dinner party while talking, so when looking for someone to do something, it was to treat guests to dinner.

In this case, of course Cao Zhiqiang readily agreed.

For this reason, Cao Zhiqiang specially asked his sister Cao Jiajia to book the largest private room in "Food is the Sky", and also gave some high-end ingredients such as abalone, ginseng, wings, tripe, hump bear paw, etc. to Shazhu to prepare in advance.

On the evening of the dinner party, Secretary Dong indeed called the leader of the Ministry of Culture.

However, the leader did not come by himself. There were two men and one woman accompanying him.

The two men were fine, but Cao Zhiqiang recognized the woman at a glance. Wasn't she the king of the daughter country Zhu Lin, who was called Yu Di's brother?

After that, everyone introduced each other first, during which Cao Zhiqiang discovered that the woman was indeed the actor Zhu Lin.

Zhu Lin is now considered a famous actor, but of course he is not as famous as he was later.

The most famous young actress in mainland China now must be Cong Shan who played Li Xiuzhi in "The Wrangler", followed by Ding Lan who played the shepherdess in "Shaolin Temple", and then Pan Hong and Gong Xue.

To put it simply, during this period, the five golden flowers from each of the four major film studios were the most dazzling female stars of this era.

As for Zhu Lin, he is still not very popular right now and can only be said to have just emerged.

It can be said that during this period, except for Cao Zhiqiang, not many people really valued Zhu Lin. Even in the Beijing actress circle, the Five Golden Flowers of Beijing Film Studio and the Five Golden Flowers of Bayi Film Studio were more famous.

By the way, Liu Xiaoqing, one of the five golden flowers of Beijing Film Studio, is currently filming the movie "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" in Beijing. He is still a liar co-produced with Xiangjiang and is now considered a famous actor.

Of course, although Zhu Lin is very good-looking and belongs to the role of Hua Dan who wins for her appearance, in Cao Zhiqiang's view, her appearance is just that.

Anyway, in Cao Zhiqiang's opinion, Zhu Lin's appearance is not as good as Qinghong and Yu Yuanyuan, even Hao Shuwen is not as good, and she is only better than Jin Xiuying.

In addition, Cao Zhiqiang is already a little worried about the relationship between men and women, so he has no idea at all about her.

If we were to say that the domestic female stars of this period were really good-looking, or really prettier than Qinghong and Yu Yuanyuan, they were probably Gong Xue and later Tao Huimin.

As for others, including the most popular ones at the moment, Cong Shan and Ding Lan, they may be more famous, but in terms of looks, Cao Zhiqiang is not impressed at all.

Of course, this is just talking about China. If you want to include Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, there is no way to tell.

In short, although actress Zhu Lin's appearance at the dinner attracted Cao Zhiqiang's attention, that was all.

Simply speaking in terms of status and net worth, Cao Zhiqiang and Zhu Lin at this time were already in the same place, not in the same class at all.

Not to mention anything else, Cao Zhiqiang can use his status as a host to chat and laugh with Director Liu of the Ministry of Culture, but Zhu Lin can't. She was dragged in as a companion at first sight.

To put it more bluntly, she is just a flower vase who eats, drinks and socializes with others.

As for whether there are other matters, it's hard for Cao Zhiqiang to ask, but I guess it shouldn't be the case.

After all, the mainland film and television industry in the 1980s was relatively clean, mainly because of its conservative style and strict censorship, and the film studios were all state-owned enterprises, so the protection of actresses was still in place.

Therefore, unless the actress herself is not clean, unspoken rules were still rare in the mainland at least in the early 1980s, because once they were found out, it would be over.

Not to mention finding out the truth, even a little unsubstantiated rumor can ruin an actor.

For example, Gong Xue later had to leave her hometown when her career was at its best because of some unfounded rumors.

Of course, in this current time and space, it's hard to say whether Gong Xue can still be involved in that turmoil.

Therefore, Zhu Lin's appearance at the dinner this time is probably not because he was forced to eat and drink with him in the traditional sense. It is more likely that he is really here to socialize normally.

Because these days, no matter how famous the mainland female stars are, their income is actually just that, they are all paid as dead wages, about fifty yuan.

As for the box office share, what do you think? Mainland actors are not eligible for any box office share at this time. At most, if the box office is good, it will be good to give you some bonuses.

It was the 1990s and the 1980s when mainland female stars really started to rise. Well, it can only be said to be an era of accumulating fame. Don’t think too much about making money.

Therefore, mainland female stars during this period really made money through other ways, such as shooting magazine covers, calendar covers, etc.

It is precisely because of this that the mainland female stars of this period were actually more proud and could really make their own decisions.

It can be seen from this that Zhu Lin's appearance at this dinner was probably not forced, but willing.

In short, after everyone met and introduced each other, they started eating and drinking, and talking about things while eating and drinking.

As the host of the treat, Cao Zhiqiang naturally had to talk about his affairs first.

So Cao Zhiqiang quickly told Director Liu that he wanted to ask Director Liu to help a friend of his, Wu Qinghong's father, be transferred to Shanghai.

After listening to Cao Zhiqiang's request, Director Liu was very easy to talk to. It was easier to talk about this matter than anything else, but it was still very easy to transfer someone to a certain movie theater in Shanghai.

This is not because he is bragging, but because he really has this energy.

At this time, the Ministry of Culture had great power. It could be said that everything related to culture, including book publishing and the cinema system, were all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture.

It was only after 1986 that film management was transferred to radio and television management.

Including movie theaters in various places, they also have to listen to the Ministry of Culture at this time.

Therefore, the director said that it was not difficult to transfer Wu Zemin to work in a movie theater in Shanghai.

But after talking about this matter, Director Liu began to take the initiative to introduce a middle-aged man who was almost forty years old to him.

The middle-aged man who looks very young is called Xu Qingdong. It is said that he was born in the United States. His parents are both real senior officials. You can't say that kind of thing.

Then, this Xu Qingdong is a top student in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy. After graduation, he worked in the Ministry of Culture. Later, because he liked movies, he was transferred to work in Beijing Film Studio.

Although Xu Qingdong has a great background and is said to be quite talented, and is a versatile director who can both write and direct, he is still a complete newcomer in the film and television industry.

At present, the only work he can produce is a movie called "Awakening", but the impact is just that.

This time, the reason why Director Liu agreed to help Cao Zhiqiang and transfer Wu Zemin's job was, to put it bluntly, to help Xu Qingdong.

In other words, Mr. Xu Qingdong from Beijing Film Academy was very restless and wanted to make China's first musical film, similar to "The Sound of Music", so he approached his boss at the Ministry of Culture, Director Liu.

help.

Director Liu understood Xu Qingdong's background very well and was willing to help.

But one thing is that the domestic film industry during this period was also based on seniority and had its own unique circle.

Even though Xu Qingdong’s parents have an amazing background, they are not from the film and television industry after all, so this background will not bring him much help.

To be more precise, with Xu Qingdong's qualifications, if he wanted to make a movie, regular film studios would never give him a chance.

Just kidding, today's film studios have very limited funds, so if they want to film, they have to film big directors first, and it's not the turn of a newcomer like Xu Qingdong.

Although Director Liu is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Culture, with a very high position, rank and power, he cannot directly intervene in the internal planning of the film and television industry, especially the internal planning of the film studio.

So Director Liu wanted Xu Qingdong to simply make a music video to try out the water.

This theme of music video has never been done before in China, so you can definitely give it a try.

And making TV is easier and less expensive.

No matter how easy it is, it still requires money and sponsorship from an organization.

As for the Ministry of Culture, although it has great power, when it comes to money, it really doesn’t have much.

Then Director Liu suddenly thought of someone who had been taken advantage of, no, a big benefactor, Cao Zhiqiang, whom he had met once before.

By chance, Secretary Dong found him. When he heard what Cao Zhiqiang wanted someone to do, he felt that he could handle it, so he had this dinner.

To put it bluntly, this is a deal.

Director Liu helped Cao Zhiqiang arrange for Wu Zemin to work in Shanghai, while Cao Zhiqiang wanted to invest in Xu Qingdong's TV series to fulfill his dream of becoming a director.

As for what Director Liu can get, of course he gets Xu Qingdong's favor.

Xu Qingdong's favor is that of his parents, which carries a lot of weight.

What's more, it was impossible for Cao Zhiqiang to treat him badly during this period. A big meal and some small gifts were also necessary.

Anyway, after all calculations, no one lost money, and Director Liu felt that he made the most profit.

When he heard that he wanted money to make a TV show, Cao Zhiqiang breathed a sigh of relief and then asked how much it would cost.

As a result, Xu Qingdong, an old man, hesitated for a long time and came up with the number of 300,000.

After hearing this number, Cao Zhiqiang almost spit out his wine.

Damn it, Cao Zhiqiang is no longer a young boy now, and he also knows the actual purchasing power of RMB today.

Three hundred thousand is definitely not a small amount of money in this era. It is enough to make a serious movie.

But Mr. Xu Qingdong only wants to make a short TV series, which is initially expected to only last about sixty minutes.

This is a bit excessive. The cost of making a TV show is completely different from that of making a movie.

If you were to make a fantasy drama like Journey to the West, I wouldn’t say anything else. If you were just to make a modern musical, it would only last about 60 minutes and require a budget of 300,000 yuan, which is outrageous.

In fact, this is nothing, the main reason is that Cao Zhiqiang is not optimistic about Xu Qingdong's script.

Because the musical TV series Xu Qingdong is filming is called "Golden House".

The play mainly tells the story of a young woman named Wen Jing who loved music so much that she opened a music restaurant "Golden House" with her companions. Through hard work, she realized her dream of being a singer and gained love.

Not to mention that the story is extremely vulgar, but the key to this kind of musical TV series is that music is very important, so you have to have a reliable music producer to make some reliable music.

As a result, the music producer named Wang that Xu Qingdong found was unknown. The key was that he brought out the theme songs and interludes that had been written by someone else. Cao Zhiqiang frowned when he saw it.

Moreover, according to Xu Qingdong, this drama is a musical. If you have to dance if you don't agree with someone, and sing if you don't agree with someone, this is a bit excessive.

This country is not India, and there is no singing and dancing atmosphere. If you try hard, you will only become a laughing stock.

It's okay to let Cao Zhiqiang invest, but he is not the one who is taken advantage of, and he will not get 300,000 yuan in vain.

Just kidding, I just transferred Wu Zemin to a job. With Cao Zhiqiang's current strength, he can't even use 50,000, let alone 300,000.

In this era when a household with 10,000 yuan is considered a rich person, 300,000 yuan is really not money at all.

But the most important thing is that this movie is a bad movie at first glance. If Cao Zhiqiang casts it, this will be an indelible stain.

Although Cao Zhiqiang was very resistant, after all, it was the leader of the Ministry of Culture who initiated the initiative, so it was not easy to refuse directly.

So Cao Zhiqiang simply came up with an original idea and said that investment was okay, but he didn't like the script. If he wanted to film it, he had to film what he wanted to film.

Xu Qingdong was not happy at first, thinking that Cao Zhiqiang did not understand drama.

As a result, Cao Zhiqiang first emphasized his identity as a famous poet, and then criticized his script on the spot, which made him blush.

Just when Xu Qingdong was so angry that Cao Zhiqiang wanted to leave, Cao Zhiqiang changed his tone again and told the story he wanted to film.

This story is very simple, but it captured Xu Qingdong's heart immediately.

Not only Xu Qingdong was very interested after listening to it, but also everyone present was very interested after listening to it.

So what is the simple story Cao Zhiqiang told?

It's very simple. Cao Zhiqiang just slightly modified the story content of "The Garden of Words" by Makoto Shinkai in his previous life and told it in his own language.

Not only that, after he finished telling the story, he also took out his harmonica and played the melody of "Rain", the theme song of "The Garden of Words".

In this way, one story and one song directly conquered everyone present.

(End of chapter)