Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 453 Double Ten Golden Eagles [Part 1]

After October arrived, Zhang Yan was extremely busy. First, there was the preparation for the Golden Eagle Awards. Although he was not on the organizing committee, no matter what was going on, his support was indispensable.

Moreover, he must always be on guard to prevent those 'fairness party' members from making any underhanded moves.

On the other hand, internal affairs within the Dream Realization Project also erupted in a concentrated manner, with the number of film crews in preparation or already in production reaching an unprecedented five.

With Wang Jinghua heavily pregnant, Chang Jihong was too busy to handle everything, so naturally Zhang Yan, the boss, had to step in.

Then there's the wrap-up work for "In the Heat of the Sun".

According to current statistics, including overseas revenue and domestic box office revenue sharing, the production company has recouped around 3200 million yuan. After deducting filming and marketing costs, the net profit is around 1900 million yuan.

Zhang Yan wasn't in a hurry for box office revenue sharing; he wasn't relying on the more than ten million yuan, including principal and interest, to make a living. But Dong Ping was frantic, wishing she could drag Zhang Yan to the optical company every day to urge them to pay.

Before 91, if film producers wanted to get a share of the profits, they had to outwit and outmaneuver distributors and theater chains. It wasn't until 91, when Optoelectronics established a special fund office to coordinate the redistribution of all box office revenue, that the wrangling between the three parties finally came to an end.

Instead, there was a lot of wrangling between the eight major film studios and the optoelectronics industry.

This is actually not much better than the original situation, since the film studio is the superior unit of the optoelectronics department, and they can always find various reasons to take advantage of it.

As for "In the Heat of the Sun," the Special Fund Office originally intended to treat all films equally and take a cut, but Dong Ping, Wen Xie, and even Liu Xiaoqing were not happy about it.

If you're exploiting the public, it's like the meat rots in the pot (meaning the benefits stay within the government), but how can the government continue to use the same old rules when dealing with the people?
Zhang Yan was willing to contribute some money to the photovoltaic industry, but it couldn't be done according to precedent; otherwise, the money would be wasted and people wouldn't appreciate it.

So he would occasionally travel to Beijing to negotiate with Dong Ping, Jiang Wen, and Liu Xiaoqing at the State Administration of Optoelectronics—and incidentally, he was also taken advantage of by Aunt Liu twice.

Adding in some miscellaneous things, he was busy day and night until the evening of the 9th. Zhang Yan turned off his mobile phone and slept for more than ten hours to recover his energy.

The next afternoon, he brought Chen Hong to the company building, where they saw that the opposite side was already decorated with lanterns and colorful banners, and the sign for the 12th Golden Eagle Awards was hung up.

With a few hours to go before the awards ceremony, Zhang Yan first went to the company to meet the film crew sent by the TV station. Then he pulled out a stack of photos and said, "These are all representatives from Hong Kong Island. It would be best to take pictures of them during the live broadcast and label them with their identities. If you can't take pictures, use these photos instead."

These photos were taken secretly by the front desk staff.

Because every representative from the Hong Kong entertainment circle wanted to first pay a visit to the "local gang" of Dream Fulfillment, the task was completed quite easily.

It took Long Wu's men quite a bit of effort to identify these people.

If the Golden Eagle Awards are to truly break out of their niche, a grand gala alone is not enough. At the very least, the audience needs to be given the impression that the Golden Eagle Awards are widely anticipated and attract the attention of Hong Kong people.

This can be considered three ways to cook a fish.

The head of the film crew received the task and excitedly went to make arrangements.

Zhang Yan flipped through the documents on the table and found that the suggestions from various departments regarding the crossover martial arts genre had already been submitted.

After watching Zhang Weijian's live demonstration, some people with conservative views expressed their inability to accept it. However, since the dream-fulfilling project is mainly aimed at young people, most departments ultimately voted to use Zhang Weijian's performance as a template to revise the script for the martial arts variety show again.

Firstly, the cost of modification is not high—Zhang Weijian's style does not require others to cater to him; on the contrary, his unique style can better reflect the contrast.

Secondly, knowing that Hong Kong films were about to be released to the public, everyone felt that Hong Kong dramas would only be entering the mainland on a large scale within the next year or two. If they could take this opportunity to thoroughly understand the formulas of Hong Kong dramas in advance, they could use Hong Kong to control Hong Kong in the future. Zhang Yan agreed with this idea of ​​using Hong Kong to control Hong Kong, so he planned to invite two screenwriters from Hong Kong to rework the current martial arts drama scripts.

Just then, Zhang Yan was making comments on the documents when the receptionist called to inform him that Andy Lau had brought Hong Kong and Taiwan singers who would be performing that evening and wanted to visit him.

A total of six singers were invited this time: Liu Huan and Yang Yuying from mainland China, Andy Lau and Faye Wong from Hong Kong, and Wakin Chau and Sally Yeh representing Taiwan.

In fact, Wakin Chau is also from Hong Kong Island, but he became famous in Taiwan and only recently returned to Hong Kong Island to develop his career; Sally Yeh is a native of Taiwan, but she is currently also developing her career in Hong Kong Island.

The reason these two were able to come was because of Andy Lau's connections—and for that reason alone, Zhang Yan was willing to give Zhang Weijian a chance.

Before long, Andy Lau and the others went upstairs. The first to enter the office was Faye Wong. She casually threw herself onto the sofa and exclaimed, "The building you built is no less impressive than the one on Hong Kong Island. When we met at the Sports University Hospital, I never imagined that you could achieve such success in just a few years."

"Aren't you a big singer now?"

Zhang Yan stood up and shook hands with Andy Lau, Emil Chau, and Coco Yeh, expressing his welcome and gratitude on behalf of Tianjin and the Golden Eagle Awards.

Zhou Huajian was visibly reserved, probably because he had read a lot of fabricated Hong Kong news; Ye Qianwen looked at Zhang Yan with curiosity and scrutiny, as well as a hint of eagerness.

Both of them brought songs released this year, while Andy Lau prepared a new song that has not yet been released, called "Chinese People"—the song he recorded when he went to the Great Wall to shoot a music video.

As they were chatting, Liu Huan and Yang Yuying arrived.

Although visiting Zhang Yan was not on today's official itinerary, not only them, but also many industry peers chose to visit Zhang Yan before the awards ceremony.

So much so that his office was constantly in turmoil from noon to evening.

Besides Wang Fei, the person who stayed the longest was Ouyang Changlin from Hunan TV. He highly praised Zhang Yan's speech at the Broadcasting Institute and believed that variety shows were the best way for provincial satellite TV stations to rise to prominence.

After all, it requires less investment and yields quick results, and adjustments can be made at any time based on audience feedback, unlike TV dramas, where even if you mess it up, you can only grit your teeth and finish airing it.

"Our station is currently looking for outstanding young hosts. If we find someone like Cao Ying, Mr. Zhang, please consider Hunan TV. We'll definitely offer better terms than Shandong TV!"

"From what Brother Ouyang is saying, it seems Hunan TV is about to make some big moves in the variety show sector?"

"Hehe, it's nothing major."

Seeing that he had revealed his true intentions, Ouyang Changlin didn't hide anything: "It was mainly inspired by you that I'm planning to create a variety entertainment program. The main content will be inviting popular celebrities to play games on the show."

This must be "Happy Camp", right?
Zhang Yan didn't know when "Happy Camp" originally appeared in history, but judging from Ouyang Changlin's words, it must have been brought forward under his influence.

As for shows featuring celebrities playing games, it seems there are a few potential hits in the future.

Zhang Yan hesitated whether to borrow two examples, because in twenty or thirty years, such programs would be considered big productions, with the salaries of the stars alone reaching tens or hundreds of millions.

However, the appearance fees that celebrities receive for appearing on variety shows are now very limited, making it the most cost-effective option.

(End of this chapter)