Chapter 229 Hearing the News
From the film going to the countryside in 1977 to the implementation of the first phase of the road construction plan in 1982, this reply after more than five years made Su Yun's hands tremble as she held those photos.
However, considering the gap between the rich and the poor and the advantages and disadvantages of different regions in mainland China, most of the funds for the first phase of Su Yun's road construction plan were placed in remote and poor areas. The purpose was to improve those "dirt roads" that were difficult for ordinary people to walk on into "roads" that were convenient for everyone to travel.
After all, most of the roads built around those famous provinces and cities already have government-supported roads. Building roads around these places is just to serve as branches. But with the current development speed of the mainland, the roads built by the state are basically sufficient, so there is no need for Su Yun to help spend money and effort to build new roads as diversions.
The only thing is that the country cannot take care of the remote and poor areas for the time being, so it will accept financial investment from patriotic businessmen and provide policy support to help build an easily accessible road in the remote and poor areas: among the "dirt roads" in those remote and poor areas, the dirt roads that become muddy and difficult to travel in rainy and snowy weather are still the best situation. If an accident occurs, at most people will fall a few times, and rarely will their lives be endangered.
The "dirt roads" such as ladders and cable bridges in mountainous areas and water towns are so dangerous that ordinary people can hardly imagine them. Traffic accidents often directly take away a life. Therefore, even when there are times when the project volume is larger and the cost is higher, Su Yun still insists on using the main funds and efforts in these areas.
This is the core point of her road construction plan, and the fundamental reason why "Suyun Road" can flourish everywhere in this special era. With the development of the motherland, the once poor and remote areas have gradually become rich, and more and more new roads have been built in the surrounding areas. But in the memories of the generation from the 1970s to the 1990s, Suyun Road near their hometown leading to various places in the outside world is the first sunny avenue that allows them to glimpse the vast world of the outside world.
At the same time, it was the only main road for local people to travel for many years.
Although roads will age and become damaged due to various reasons such as changes in the earth's crust, and will gradually be forgotten by people as new roads are built, at a certain period of time, they are indeed the only way for many places and many people.
Therefore, even though donating money to build roads is not as profitable and long-lasting as donating money to build schools, judging from the current economic development situation, the benefits that building roads brings to the general public are much more rapid and obvious than building schools.
Children represent the future, while adults represent the present; therefore, only when the vision and thoughts of the previous generation are liberated and they understand things, can their next generation truly achieve the greatest development.
It is good to look to the future, but unfortunately we still live in the present.
Teaching by example is always the most useful way of educating children: children's starting point never depends on themselves, but on the family around them, especially their parents.
Of course, Su Yun was mainly engaged in the cultural and entertainment industry. Building roads as a way to promote economic development was established as the foundation for the development of the cultural and entertainment industry. Only in this way could she bypass the system's requirements and help the motherland.
Otherwise, these behaviors that are almost like giving away money will be rejected by the system as "not doing your job properly".
That's why Su Yun was so excited after learning about the success of the first phase of the road construction plan.
Although Zhao Liming didn't know how difficult it was for Su Yun to accomplish all this, he knew that Su Yun, who almost ruined her career at a young age because of disaster relief, had a standard red heart; therefore, after seeing Su Yun's excited expression at this time, he also expressed an understanding expression.
After telling Su Yun all the news he had received, and waiting for Su Yun to calm down, Zhao Liming began to talk about his speculation: "Having said that, with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange developing at such a speed, some things are inevitably affected."
When Zhao Qiming said that many ancient buildings in Shenzhen were regarded as obstacles to the development of the times and were often demolished and smashed, Su Yun sighed: "In order to speed up development, this is often done when there is a shortage of money. It is not only ancient buildings, but also natural and historical gifts such as green mountains and clear waters. However, in the future, when they have money, they want to spend money to repair them."
"This is also a point worthy of attention, but there may not be much relevant information like this..." Su Yun searched through the Zhao film library that he had browsed during this period in his mind and shook his head: most people now focus on "development" rather than "environmental protection" and "commemoration", so it is quite difficult to find such film and television information.
"Well, after I finish the things I have on hand, I will try to make some videos and movies about this subject," Su Yun said finally.
Zhao Qiming nodded: "Okay, then I will go and review the reshoots for Blade Runner first."
Su Yun waved goodbye to him, then slowly walked to a nearby restaurant she often visited to have lunch.
However, I didn't expect that just after I sat down and ordered the food, I was approached by a man who looked to be in his twenties.
Su Yun's expression changed slightly: It seems that I was being watched.
Considering that the man holding a large stack of papers did not look like a paparazzi, Su Yun calmed himself down and finally did not run away.
The man introduced himself very quickly: "Hello, Mary Sue, my name is James Cameron, I'm a director and screenwriter - I have a script I'd like to show you."
It turns out he was trying to solicit investments... No wonder, not only in Hollywood, but even in Hong Kong, one can often hear news about someone stalking certain bigwigs in order to solicit investments.
The fact that Zhao invested an additional sum of money to reshoot "Blade Runner", which had encountered numerous problems, is another classic example of people in the industry being stupid and having a lot of money. It is not unusual to encounter people who come to the film just to attract investment.
Wait, wait! What's this guy's name?!
Su Yun took the stack of papers with a serious face and took a look - yes, it was indeed "Terminator".
This series is also a super profitable IP. The first film did not require high costs and most of the costs were spent on special effects. In addition, Su Yun could significantly reduce the special effects costs, thereby further compressing the production costs and expanding the pure profit. It just so happens that it can be used to make up for "Blade Runner", a time-defying movie that is unparalleled in its entertainment value, but whose box office figures are about to become a tragedy of the times...
Moreover, in order to guarantee that he would be the director of "Terminator", Cameron, a young director who had only made one movie, only asked for $1 for the script!
After hearing the price, Su Yun quickly took people to find Zhao Qiming to start arrangements for the new film project.
"Another science fiction movie?" Zhao Qiming was very troubled by "Blade Runner" recently. When he saw the theme of "Terminator", his brows immediately frowned.
"Believe me, this script is absolutely good, and I think it has a high chance of making a lot of money at the box office," Su Yun assured.
"Although I believe in your vision, this is not something I can decide on my own." Zhao Qiming put down the script, "You have to let me inform Hong Kong. After all, "Blade Runner" really took up too much time and energy... I don't think my father may want to invest in another science fiction film for the time being."
As Zhao Qiming expected, after the news was passed back to Hong Kong, Zhao Rifu quickly responded: there is no plan to invest in another science fiction film for the time being.
Looking at Zhao Qiming's apologetic eyes, Su Yun shook her head and sighed: Well, since the old man's vision is so "accurate", she will not be polite.
So Su Yun brought Cameron to CAA, found Ovitz, who was her true friend, and put the "Terminator" movie on the future plan.
Ovitz was already used to Su Yun's behavior of buying things on a whim. After looking at the details and finding out that it was indeed a science fiction movie with a low investment cost, he included it in the company's future plans: Su Yun was particularly fond of science fiction themes and had a close relationship with Industrial Light & Magic, so he didn't have to worry about the cost and schedule of special effects production.
Anyway, this plan was funded by Su Yun herself, so if you think about it, the company is actually taking advantage of Su Yun, the boss...
After confirming that Ovitz had arranged for "Terminator", Su Yun signed the contract with the excited Cameron with satisfaction and planned to start preparing to return to Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, after the news that Su Yun had invested in an unknown little director spread in the circle, perhaps as the conventional truth that once there is a first, there will be a second, someone else came to the door with a script.
And the middleman was Spielberg, Su Yun's old friend who indirectly helped her move behind the scenes.
As luck would have it, the script this time is another science fiction story: "Back to the Future".
Spielberg sighed and introduced his friend Zemeckis while telling Su Yun about the twists and turns of the script: this "Back to the Future" was rejected by all major Hollywood studios after the draft was completed because of its alternative plot of a mother mistaking her son who traveled through time and space for a hero and developing a crush on him.
Zemeckis was afraid that people would think that he got the job because of his friendship with Spielberg, so he never dared to ask his famous friend for help. He was afraid that if this movie project failed, it would drag down Spielberg and become box office poison.
It was not until Zemeckis put Back to the Future on hold and instead made the film Emerald for Fox, which became a success and made him a promising new director, that Zemeckis had the courage to approach his friend Spielberg to help promote the film.
Then Spielberg and Michael Douglas, one of the stars of Emerald, gave him a promising name: Mary Sue.
The situation of exchanging information in the circle based on personal connections like this reminded Su Yun of the time when she gave some information to Michael, who played the villain police officer in "Leon", so that he could quickly decide on the starring role and planning project of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
In such a society where relationships are important, relationships do play a very important role in the communication of information.
After hearing from others that Su Yun once again paid for a science fiction film, Zhao Qiming was speechless: "What is the charm of this subject that makes you spend money on it again and again?"
"Don't worry, I've asked someone to calculate the problem of the capital chain. It won't affect our business in Shenzhen. On the contrary, after these two movies make money, it will be able to better promote the development of our business." Su Yun hastily comforted him.
"But you don't have to buy two films with the same theme at once!" Zhao Liming said.
"How are they the same? Although both stories are about time travel, strange love stories, and science fiction themes..." Su Yun found that the themes were indeed somewhat similar, so she quickly changed her words, "Although both stories are science fiction, because the plots have different focuses, they allow me to show my speculations about future civilian technology and future military technology respectively..."
In later generations, Su Yun's title of "leader" not only refers to the donations he made to build a large number of roads, but also to the fact that he led people to find a new path in terms of ideas: from stealth fighters, drones, and modular weapons in the military field to personal computers, smart phones, and mobile payments in the civilian field... From the settings to the "real objects" in the movie, everything is so reasonable and logically self-consistent.
For people in the 1980s, these themes were science fiction, but for Su Yun, they were realistic themes.
After a series of science fiction films such as "Blade Runner", "Terminator" and "Back to the Future" entered people's vision and gradually became reality with the development of time - the name Marie Sue was also recognized as the second "God of Science Fiction" after Jules Verne.