Chapter 239 Academy Awards

"I've heard something about it." Su Yun said as he invited people into the small garden.

To be honest, setting up a sufficiently important and iconic award for Hong Kong, and then using it as a basis to drive the all-round development of Hong Kong's film-related industries - this is also an important part of her future plan, but to achieve this, she must first lay a solid foundation of personal connections in the local area.

Even though she now has the support of Zhao, a giant in the film and television industry, she is still just a girl under the age of 18. Even if she tries to get an award, she still doesn't have much popularity: such an award ceremony needs big-name guests such as celebrities, wealthy businessmen, art stars and influential filmmakers as embellishments to make it a real event.

To achieve such a grand event, it must be initiated by Zhao Rifu, who has certain connections with bigwigs from all walks of life.

Therefore, after hearing Zhong Jingwei's intention, Su Yun smiled and replied: "Mr. Zhong, logically speaking, you should talk to Uncle Six or Miss Fang about this."

Zhong Jingwei is also a drama star with a certain status in the art world. Next year, he will be hired as the founding dean of the Drama School of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. He is a recognized acting talent by the public, so he must have some friendship with Zhao Rifu.

"The people from Biweekly have approached Sir Zhao, but unfortunately he has been busy with Zhao's film production recently. He is also planning to hold a project called the 'Golden Song Awards Ceremony' next year, which will involve the quarterly selections. So he has no plans to start another project for the time being," explained Zhong Jingwei.

The so-called "Biweekly" refers to the "Film Biweekly", which is engaged in reporting and commenting on the film industry. Since its establishment in 1979, it has always been loved by the general public for its high quality and timeliness. It can be said to be a rising star in the magazine industry in recent years.

"Last year, Mr. Shi and Mr. Chen from Biweekly, while working on the magazine, began to think about the problem of Hong Kong's lack of an official film organization." At this time, Zhong Jingwei looked like a teacher who patiently taught and answered questions for students. "With a sense of concern and responsibility for the development of the film industry, they referred to those well-known international awards and came up with a project plan to organize film-related practitioners and then select and award the annual outstanding films and outstanding filmmakers."

"However, due to factors such as lack of funds and the lack of a fixed organizing committee, the first Hong Kong Film Awards was only co-organized by Hong Kong Radio at the Shouchen Theater in the Arts Center. The venue and members were relatively simple." Zhong Jingwei said, and explained the data files he brought to Su Yun one by one, "This Y-shaped human-shaped trophy with an open hand is the trophy of the first Hong Kong Film Awards - it is called the 'Golden Image Awards'. As the name suggests, the founder also hopes that this award can become the Oscar of the Chinese film industry in the future..."

Su Yun frowned as she read the information: from the name to the award settings, to the refusal to accept commercial sponsorship for the sake of fairness and justice, and the meaning of the name, etc.... it is not difficult to see the ambition of the founders.

However, the photos in the data files still show obvious funding limitations, which makes Su Yun, who is used to international award ceremonies, feel that everything from the trophies to the on-site layout is quite "backward" and "rustic".

Especially the metal human-shaped trophy, compared with the goddess-shaped trophy of the Hong Kong Film Awards in later generations, which was designed by a famous designer after ten revisions, it is not only outdated and rustic, but also exudes a crude and petty air.

Of course, the most difficult of all is this: if you want to organize a grand awards ceremony, you need venues, funding, and connections; and if it is related to film and television, it requires even more publicity to the general public.

If you want to promote it, either the big guys start it and others follow suit, or you spend money and use your connections to hire someone to make it big - all of which require a lot of upfront investment to build a tall building.

But the founders refused to accept commercial sponsorship.

If it is a long-established classic event or competition, there is no shortage of television stations willing to pay for the live broadcast or rebroadcast rights, even if it means paying for it. On the first night of TBB's launch, it took into account the common tendency of Hong Kong people to try their luck in going over to the mainland and went to great lengths to get a live broadcast of the Grand Prix in Australia.

The live broadcast in the 1960s was a dimensionality reduction blow compared to places where there was not even a radio.

Unfortunately, such a live broadcast of the racing championship failed to please the audience group, which mainly consists of housewives, and the results on the first day of broadcast were not ideal.

So TBB management hurriedly held a meeting to discuss the issue, and then improvised a gala on the second night, inviting a group of stars who could only be seen in cinemas and theaters to come on stage, singing, dancing, playing games, singing Cantonese opera, and performing plays, and they managed to carve out a niche for themselves with this lively atmosphere.

This gala is TBB's most classic variety show, "Happy Tonight", which has been produced so many episodes that it has been included in the world record for longevity.

Obviously, Biweekly also intends to use live TV broadcast for publicity and use the copyright income from live TV broadcast as a source of income.

This is a difficult dance performed on the basis of being bound by shackles.

However, if this dancer wants to reach the other side of glory, he still needs a sucker who will throw money into it without complaint no matter how much he loses...

There is no doubt that after failing to get any good deal from those old foxes, "Shuangkan" began to target Su Yun, a newcomer with a unique investment style.

Thinking of this, no matter how good his acting skills were, Zhong Jingwei felt a little ashamed of his behavior of seducing a newbie. He had to continue talking about something less important, and then waited quietly for Su Yun's reply.

"To be honest, the efforts you two have made for Hong Kong films and filmmakers are truly astonishing and admirable." Su Yun carefully read the documents in her hand and shook her head. "But such an unrealistic dream is unlikely to impress Uncle Six and Miss Fang."

Zhao Rifu's character of "If I can make ten commercial films that make money, I will never make nine commercial films and then add an art film that loses money but makes money", and Fang Mona's practice of cutting the budget in half as soon as it is received; the reason why Su Yun was able to secretly operate "Blade Runner" and "The Rooftop Post" to success was that she used the information gap as a cover, and the other was to please Zhao Rifu's desire for international awards.

Zhao Rifu is not afraid of temporary losses, but he is afraid that this "loss" is not the basis for future "profits".

Therefore, a new organization like this, which was just established locally and was small-scale, would definitely not catch Zhao Rifu's eye.

"Although I can try my best to help put in a few nice words, if you want to succeed, you still have to let everyone see what it can bring." Su Yun took a pen and simply marked a few points, "First, you have to make a document with sufficient data to prove how much benefit a successful award ceremony can bring to partners..."

"Secondly, make a detailed and accurate plan to let them know how much they will get out of the cooperation and how much they will put in. This will help them prepare themselves mentally in the early stages so that they don't go back on their word halfway through..."

"Third, although TBB's training class has only been open for a short time, it has already produced many graduates. However, there are only a limited number of plays released each year in Taiwan, and it is difficult to get acting contracts outside. Many new graduates can only play minor roles and participate in various performances and premieres to get a chance to appear in public. We can fully utilize the popularity of Biweekly among the general public and cooperate with TBB. We can use the method of helping newcomers to discuss the issue of resource replacement with Uncle Six..."

Similarly, when speaking in front of Zhao Rifu, Su Yun also modified the words slightly, changing the subject of the speech from the Academy Awards to Zhao's family, and then used it again.

"You should know that our TV station will be holding the Golden Songs Season Selection and Awards Ceremony next year. From talent to funding, everything is quite tight, right?" Fang Mona frowned as she saw the budget.

"Although the initial investment is a bit troublesome, such award ceremonies usually have a strong aftereffect, and since it was founded by people from Biweekly, I believe that in time, it will surely become an annual regional event." Su Yun argued, "So, we must be the first to sign the exclusive broadcasting rights before it grows up, so as to avoid the neighboring station secretly using some means to compete with us in the future."

This is not Su Yun's nonsense, but a real example: After the Hong Kong Film Awards became the annual event of the Hong Kong film industry, TBB and the renamed A-Movies competed for the co-production and live broadcast rights of the awards. Not only did they delete the acceptance speeches of each other's artists, they also issued restrictions and ordered their own artists not to attend the awards ceremony held in Taiwan...

When the three words "next station" were mentioned, Zhao Rifu and Fang Mona were vaguely moved: to them, Su Yun's rhetoric was not very sophisticated.

The main problem is that after the failure of its "Thousand-Sailing Action" last year, the mass exodus of artists and stagnation of production have not sunk Liying like they did Jiayi. Instead, the stock price has fallen due to such a storm, attracting the attention of real estate tycoons.

If Li Ying is really bought by the wealthy Qiu, and if he invests a lot of money to produce programs to attack the rivals, there is no guarantee that the resurrected Li Ying will make another move...

Having fought with Liying for so many years, when it comes to cooperating on a show, naturally they can do without it but Liying absolutely cannot!

After leaving the office with the approval document signed by both Zhao Rifu and Fang Mona, Su Yun happened to meet Zhao Liming, who brought his younger brother Zhao Lizhong to familiarize himself with the work.

"Oh, it's you. Is the school closing for summer vacation so early?" Seeing Zhao Lizhong, who had been chased by kidnappers together with her in the past, Su Yun pretended to be a freshman but greeted him like a senior.

By the way, she got to know her master Lu Shaolong through the introduction of this fanatical dragon fan.

"Yes, it was just summer vacation, and my eldest brother brought me here to have a look." Zhao Lizhong also looked reluctant to inherit the family business. "You know, before, King He sent his two daughters here for internships, and my father followed suit and arranged for me to come here as well. It was clearly agreed that I would be arranged here after I graduated from university, but after only one year of study, I came back for vacation and..."

"That's good. As a young man, there's no harm in learning more things." Su Yun spoke in a sophisticated tone, which made the two brothers very confused.

However, after his eyes fell on the documents in Su Yun's hand, Zhao Qiming couldn't help but hold his forehead and asked: "What kind of 'complaints' did you make to them again?"

"Holding an award ceremony can give newcomers more opportunities to appear, and we can also invite some 'old hands' to consolidate our relationships—" Su Yun said, and then turned to look at the inexperienced Zhao Lizhong, "My master has recovered well recently, so it shouldn't be a problem for him to attend a red carpet gala..."

Seeing the light suddenly shine in his brother's eyes, Zhao Liming subconsciously covered his face with helplessness.