Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

Chapter 92: Filming of "Shanghai Bund" wrapped up; "Chasing Girls" in pre-production (4 more chapters, 10,000 words, please subscribe)

(4 updates, 10,000 words completed.)

The dinner was not held at Mr. He's home, but at a hotel under his name.

However, Mr. He was too busy to show up, but he had the hotel manager come over, toast them, and then left.

"They certainly have quite the airs."

Zhang Shuai'an chuckled softly, but he wasn't angry.

Zhao Yazhi sighed softly, "He is the head of a powerful family, and he is very busy. It is normal that he doesn't have time."

Zhao Zhenqiang said with a forced smile, "It's already a great honor that they sent someone to invite us to a meal. Today, someone saw us getting into the He family's private car, so naturally, those gangsters in Macau won't dare to mess with us anymore."

That's true. Apart from tough guys like Brother Hao, there aren't many people who would dare to mess with the Ho family in Macau.

After finishing their meal, they took a taxi back to the hotel.

Sure enough, all the unidentified people surrounding the hotel disappeared.

Over the next few days, filming continued as usual, and within a week, all the outdoor scenes that could be filmed here were completed.

Including the scene where Xu Wenqiang and Feng Chengcheng meet in the snow and take a walk under an umbrella, which was also reshot several times.

At that time, there were no snow machines. Instead, blowers were used to blow white foam debris, and the ground was covered with white lime or even white plastic sheeting.

However, the effect of this scene was extraordinary.

Under the swirling snow, a handsome man and a beautiful woman walked side by side under an umbrella. Their height difference was just right, and even a casual glance between them was as beautiful as a painting.

It's easy to imagine that after this drama airs, Zhang Shuai'an will become the white moonlight of countless girls, and the trench coat and white scarf he's wearing will definitely sell like hotcakes.

After filming their scenes, the crew of "Shanghai Bund" quickly left without giving them any time to enjoy a proper vacation.

Back in Hong Kong, we filmed for a few more days at the Clear Water Bay studio to fill in any gaps in our filming schedule.

"I hereby announce that filming for 'Shanghai Bund' has wrapped!"

On the day before New Year's Day, after filming the last scene, Zhao Zhenqiang said to everyone, "We'll have a three-day holiday starting tomorrow."

""

After filming wrapped, the group went to see Shao Yifu for a final summary report.

"Boss, this filming lasted a little over a month and a half, a total of 48 days, and all the scenes have been filmed."

Zhao Zhenqiang held a piece of paper in his hand, which was densely covered with data and summaries: "The filming cost for each episode this time was around 60,000, and the total cost for 30 episodes was 1.97 million."

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"That means it cost two million, plus Andy's three million salary."

Fang Yihua rounded down the amount, her tone quite dissatisfied, and said, "This drama cost over five million in total. I'm afraid we'll lose money."

"Don't worry about that," Zhang Shuai'an said calmly. "As long as the ratings go up, the GG fee will skyrocket, and TV stations in Taiwan and Southeast Asia will come to buy the show. We'll only make money, not lose money."

"The cost isn't actually that high," Shao Yifu said calmly. "The cost of one episode of 'The Legend of Chu Liuxiang' exceeded 100,000 yuan, that's a bit much."

(The production cost of each episode of "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" in 1979 exceeded HK$100,000)

Since Shao Yifu had said so, Fang Yihua naturally dared not have any further objections.

Zhang Shuai'an suddenly spoke up, saying, "I do have an idea about the theme song for this TV series."

"You have another idea?" Fang Yihua looked surprised and muttered, "Your musical foundation is clearly terrible, how come you always manage to write songs?"

Zhang Shuai'an tapped his head: "It's probably something God put in my brain; it would be a waste not to let it out."

Shao Yifu said softly, "I don't care about that. You can go find Huang Zhan and Gu Jiahui yourself. The price will be the same as theirs."

These days, the price for songwriting is quite low. Compared to Zhang Shuai'an's million-dollar film remuneration, it's just a drop in the ocean, so Shao Yifu didn't skimp on this aspect.

However, Zhang Shuai'an simply had the Cantonese and Mandarin versions of the lyrics, along with the sheet music, handed over to Huang Zhan and Gu Jiahui. He had no ideas about the subsequent arrangement and performance, leaving it entirely to Huang and Gu to decide.

In less than a day, James Wong received the lyrics.

Right now, he's sitting on the toilet, relieving himself terribly, and unconsciously reciting lyrics: "Waves surge, waves flow, the mighty river never ceases—"

"This kid's lyrics are so damn timely."

Wong Jim couldn't help but burst into laughter as he looked at the lyrics: "He must have written it while he had diarrhea. This kid is one of us."

Then, after looking at the written musical notation, he shook his head and said, "It's a mess. You can tell at a glance that the person hasn't studied music. What a pity."

After resolving the issue, they went to Gu Jiahui's place. Together, they reorganized and rearranged Zhang Shuai'an's lyrics and music, completing the task in three days. After a brief discussion, they decided on Ye Liyi as the singer.

Take advantage of the holiday.

Zhang Shuai'an took his adapted script for "Chasing Girls" to Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest. This film was a co-production between his company, Tianxia Pictures, and Golden Harvest.

Knowing his purpose, Zou Wenhuai called over Deng Jingsheng, Wu Yusen, and Hong Jingbao, all of whom had unique insights into screenwriting.

"This is the script Anzai submitted." Zou Wenhuai handed it to Hong Jingbao: "Sanmao, and you two take a look and give your opinions."

Hong Jingbao read it very quickly, finishing in just a few minutes: "There are no problems. The subject matter is very novel, and the plot is also very exciting. It has a high probability of becoming a hit."

Deng Jingsheng read it several times and nodded, saying, "It is indeed a very good subject. Nowadays, young people are worried about getting married, and there are quite a few older single men who can't find wives. It's a good social topic that we can film."

Wu Yusen was the slowest reader. Sometimes he would stop mid-reading, look up, and mutter to himself. After finishing, he would look down again and continue reading.

Zou Wenhuai asked Wu Yusen, "Ah Sen, what do you think?"

"I haven't finished watching it yet," Wu Yusen replied.

Zou Wenhuai smiled and didn't ask any further questions. He simply looked at Zhang Shuai'an and asked, "Are you confident that this film, 'Chasing Girls,' will gross at least six million at the box office?"

"It should be more than that." Zhang Shuai'an's expression was quite confident: "My expectation is that it will break ten million in box office revenue."

Cai Yongchang laughed and retorted, "Why are you so arrogant?"

"That's absolute confidence," Zhang Shuai'an replied.

After thinking for a moment, Zou Wenhuai said to him, "The production cost of this film is not too high. It can make a profit with a box office of six million. To be honest, I don't have that much expectation for Ah Long's 'Junior Brother Takes the Field'."

Zhang Shuai'an said calmly, "It all depends on human effort, and human determination can overcome nature."

"Good, good ambition!" Zou Wenhuai clapped his hands and laughed. He really liked this energetic young man. He was a bit arrogant, but he was also really capable.

Ho Koon-cheung asked a substantive question: "When do you plan to start filming this movie?"

Zhang Shuai'an replied, "We can start filming after the Chinese New Year."

Zou Wenhuai asked with concern, "Why don't you rest a bit more?"

"No need." Zhang Shuai'an has boundless energy right now. "We'll need Golden Harvest's help to get the production crew together."

"Don't worry, we'll definitely send top experts to you."

Zou Wenhuai actually wanted to bring Zhang Shuai'an under his command, but Shao Yifu interfered.

Zhang Shuai'an suddenly said, "If I can get this film, 'Chasing Girls,' released in Shaw Brothers theaters, will Boss Zou be angry?"

Zou Wenhuai paused for a couple of seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Doing business is all about making money. Who wants to make the most money?"

That's true.

In the original timeline, Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers also put aside their past grievances and jointly screened each other's films, but that was to counter the then-dominant Cinema City!