Chapter 349: The Right Treatment

After giving out the sweet promise of "no need to worry about funding for filming", plus the promise of a series of future historical films, Su Yun could clearly see that Li Xuexiang's expression had changed a little.

There is no doubt that he was moved.

But this cannot be blamed on my lack of willpower, but because of Su Yun - she gave me so much...

According to Su Yun's historical records, most of her films are co-productions, the kind that are intended to and can enter the Hollywood market.

Therefore, Zhao Rifu, who knew that it was difficult for local Hong Kong films to break into the Hollywood film production level because of their style of saving as much as possible, gave Su Yun an astonishing amount of money to set up a crew: his intention was to make a big production and make big money, just like the amount he resolutely invested in nearly a year's worth of Hong Kong film shooting, and put it into "Blade Runner".

So, although it is the Zhao family, especially Zhao Rifu, to be frugal and save as much as possible, once the Zhao family is determined to be ruthless, even Hollywood will call him a fool with a lot of money...

For example, after missing out on Lu Shaolong, Zhao Rifu once wanted to pay a whopping HK$2 million to bring back Lu Shaolong, who had created box office miracles one after another, from Jiahe. At that time, Lu Shaolong's net worth was just over HK$20,000. In order to have more freedom in his films, he was given a discount, and only received HK$15,000 for two films...

If Zou Yunhua had not rushed to launch the satellite company plan that Lu Shaolong desperately needed, allowing Lu Shaolong to ruthlessly give up the sky-high salary for the freedom of film production, perhaps Zhao's move would have directly snipeed Jiahe's glorious period in the 1970s.

After all, whether it was Jiahe then or Jiahe now, its foundation cannot withstand the impact of huge losses.

That is to say, Zhao was able to handle "Blade Runner", a huge pit of the century that only gained a little reputation, but the rest of the situation was a complete failure.

However, every loss has its own gain. Zhao, who had missed out on Lu Shaolong and Su Yun and always made wrong investments, finally gave up his prejudice in the late 1970s and used a conditional exchange method that was almost like "political asylum" to rediscover Su Yun, the long-dormant box office storm.

Since Su Yun, the special production consultant who can control the fusion of Chinese and Western styles to the greatest extent, took over, Zhao's co-productions immediately turned losses into profits. The "small profit" in the North American box office market, converted into Hong Kong dollars, is a number that is not enough to match the box office of several other Hong Kong films combined.

With the added bonus of overseas markets, especially the North American box office market, even if Su Yun occasionally returns to Hong Kong to make Hong Kong films, the amount of investment she can get is basically as high as she can get. This is caused by, firstly, Su Yun is a true friend of Zhao, and secondly, Su Yun herself has money. If she can't get any money from Zhao, she can still scrape together enough money to shoot a movie that can be considered a big production in Hong Kong and a mid-level one in Hollywood.

"You really don't look like Boss Zhao. You look a bit like Boss Lu." Seeing such a straightforward and decisive attitude, Li Xuexiang naturally thought of Lu Yuntu, the boss of the Lu Group who had supported him in leaving Zhao, who was also very rich and powerful.

"My father is a self-made man, while Boss Lu is a successful second-generation man, so their approaches are naturally different." Su Yun responded with a smile, "Although the Zhao family is not as successful as the Lu family, my state of mind and vision are closer to those of the second-generation man."

"Interesting." After hearing Su Yun's explanation, Li Xuexiang couldn't help but nod in agreement: Indeed, the generation that started from scratch will always habitually "save as much as possible", while the second generation, who have never lacked money since childhood, will have endless confidence and "do as much as possible".

However, he himself felt that Zhao Rifu was too stingy and too harsh, so he broke his contract and left Zhao. With the support of Lu Yuntu, he went to Taiwan to set up "Guo Lian" Pictures and spent a lot of money on the construction of the film studio.

As for the advice Zhao Rifu gave him before he left, "You have to plan carefully in every aspect of your own company and never increase the expenses. The smaller the expenses, the easier it is to turn around," he threw them out of his mind.

As a result, facts seem to prove that position always determines thinking.

Even Lu Shaolong, who was so angry at Zhao's price-cutting that he switched to Jiahe to compete with him, began to understand the constraints behind the leadership after he set up his own company.

Li Xuexiang asked himself, he was a lucky but unlucky person: although he could not be like director Luo Wei, who was admittedly not as lucky as him but was very lucky, who picked up one Lu Shaolong and then another Chen Xuanlong; but at least he did not get on the crashed plane that directly sent Lu Yuntu and his family away because of his schedule.

Without Lu Yuntu's financial support, although he lost his big backer and the company's finances were in deficit, after fleeing back to Hong Kong from Taiwan, he happened to encounter the time when Zhao and Jiahe were fighting each other, which prompted Zhao Rifu to put aside their past grudges and let him return to Zhao to direct movies.

"Then after filming for a few years, you broke your contract again and fled to the inland to engage in literary creation..." Thinking of the "on and off" relationship between Zhao Rifu and Li Xuexiang, Su Yun was also relieved.

"My father paid for your heart surgery, but as soon as you recovered, you ran away without even saying hello."

"Later, I went back and told Mr. Zhao that I still hoped to return to the inland area to shoot films with cultural heritage - and he finally agreed!" Li Xuexiang said this with great confidence, like a bachelor who thought, "Anyway, the final ending is right, so the process can have some twists and turns."

After finishing this explanation with full confidence, Li Xuexiang suddenly thought of something and asked cautiously, "You are not going to imitate Boss Zhao and do the 'three captures and three releases' on me, are you?"

The first time he left was because he felt aggrieved about the difference in treatment that year. Zhao Rifu was unable to grasp his soft-hearted personality, so he used the contract to force him and asked Zou Yunhua, who had already secretly developed "rebellious intentions" at the time, to be a lobbyist... So, Li Xuexiang turned around and relied on Lu Yuntu, a big backer, and directly paid the penalty for breach of contract. He also poached more than 20 of his partners who worked at Zhao's company to go to Taiwan to develop together.

The impact of this rebellion was no less than that of Zou Yunhua's departure to form Jiahe. It can even be said that it indirectly led to the Zhao family's reputation as a "training base for Hong Kong film front- and back-stage personnel." Zhao Rifu later fought with Li Xuexiang for several years, and only stopped attacking Li Xuexiang when Li was in trouble.

Li Xuexiang was also very adaptable. After Taiwan's development was unfavorable, he returned to Hong Kong to work for Zhao to make comedies and erotic films. In the middle of the process, he left again for his dream. After he ran out of funds, he had the audacity to go back from the mainland and sign a two-year contract with Zhao. In the end, no one knew whether Zhao Rifu was nostalgic or was too lazy to care about this guy who kept jumping back and forth. As soon as the two-year contract was over, he let Li Xuexiang take the funds and return to the mainland to pursue his dream.

Recalling his "struggle history" with the Zhao family of Hong Kong, Li Xuexiang looked at Su Yun who came to invite him, and he had some doubts in his heart: After the old man's "three captures and three releases" were over, could it be that his little girl still wanted to play with him?

Su Yun waved her hands repeatedly: "I don't have the patience of my father, and I have more cards in my hand than he did back then. It would be best if you could come, so I don't have to find someone else..."

"If you can't come, I don't need you..."

Not to mention those from the distant past, just take the other three “Four Great Directors of the Zhao Family” who were as famous as Li Xuexiang back then, they are all connected to the Zhao family!

In other words, Li Xuexiang's style is similar to Su Yun's, which can minimize the initial adjustment period, so he became her first choice.

Su Yun's move of retreating in order to advance was to turn Li Xuexiang's originally cautious expression back into his previous entanglement.

After a long while, he finally spoke: "I was promoted by Boss Zhao and followed him to conquer the world. In terms of age, I can be considered your great uncle."

"So, I'm not afraid to tell you the truth - I'm really short of money recently."

His movies were not primarily commercial, and were banned in Taiwan. He also did not have the same influence as Su Yun, so not much of the box office profits went back to him.

With his current wealth, not only can he not get the copyright to adapt "My First Half of Life", but he can't even make the small-budget movies he has on hand.

"My First Half of Life has been picked up by Bertolucci, who plans to contact multiple parties to create a super international blockbuster, The Last Emperor. I really can't help you with this." Su Yun shook her head, "Not to mention the lack of funding, but also the lack of connections, policies and other aspects."

During this period, relevant departments still valued foreign talents, and if Bertolucci was the director of the film production, this co-production blockbuster could compete for an Oscar with the advantage of being a European film.

In this case, no matter how much policy inclination Su Yun has and how much goodwill his compatriots have, he cannot compare to this natural advantage.

"I also understand this problem, so I didn't plan to compete for the right to film a movie. Instead, I took a step back and chose the display method of the TV series..." Li Xuexiang sighed, "But now it seems that instead of having to settle for the second best, , it would be better to give up the obsession with adaptation and try to make a work of your own again..."

No matter how flexible a famous director is, or how used to making movies and working on the big screen, it is difficult for him to accept the idea of ​​retreating to the small screen of TV series.

Not only might there be problems with acclimatization, but Li Xuexiang himself is also aware of his tendency to pursue quality without paying attention to budget. If he runs out of money halfway through filming, it will be very troublesome...

"Who are you then?" Su Yun raised his eyebrows.

"After I finish filming this movie, I will return to Hong Kong to sign a new contract," said Li Xuexiang.

As the saying goes, he would go back to Hong Kong to work for a few years. It would be best if he could use other people's money to make movies and pursue his dream. If the ideas were not in line with his own, he could still make some money. Then he could come back to the mainland to continue pursuing his dream. With Li Xuexiang's gossipy personality, he could naturally find out that the treatment given by Su Yun had always been relatively fair.

"Okay, I'll wait for you in Hong Kong." After a long talk, they finally achieved their goal, and Su Yun raised his glass to toast.

After reaching a simple verbal agreement with Li Xuexiang, Su Yun took advantage of the remaining time to go to the athletes' dormitory building to visit those who had returned from Los Angeles.

Seeing Su Yun coming over, Liu Xiangchun was very happy, and his spirits also improved a lot: "Thanks to you, I can finally see the red flag of my motherland raised at the Olympic Games!"

Su Yun repeatedly said that she did not do anything and that it was all the result of the athletes' own efforts.

"It is precisely because of your logistical support that they can face the competition in the best condition." Liu Xiangchun has suffered losses in terms of condition, so he thinks that supporting Su Yun is so important: without Su Yun, who is considered half of the organizer, the Chinese team will still suffer some small losses in secret.

This is not because our own people are too unguarded, but simply because outsiders are too treacherous. They want the benefits of their support but are unwilling to give any benefits in exchange.

Su Yun talked with Liu Xiangchun for a while, and then followed Liu Xiangchun, who had retired and been promoted to Mr. Liu, to the dormitory building.

In addition to receiving a lot of warm greetings and hugs, Su Yun got into the car with her hands full of bags of local specialties and gifts that filled the back seat. In the end, she could only squeeze into a corner with difficulty and waved goodbye to Liu Xiangchun and the athletes who were warmly seeing her off.

When getting off the car and "unloading" at the hotel entrance, Su Yunyao saw Zha Lan and the translator uncle riding back to the hotel.

Compared to her usual confident and passionate self, Zha Lan today looked a bit like a peacock with its feathers plucked, looking depressed.

"What's wrong with him?" Su Yun looked at the translator.

The translator shrugged and briefly told Su Yun that Zha Lan wanted to apply to go to another place to see pandas, but was rejected by the relevant department because of her foreign identity.

Remembering that Zha Lan likes animals very much, Su Yun reached out and fumbled around in the gift, and finally found a few tickets for a wild animal forest tour given by an athlete from the mountain city of fog...

And printed on these admission tickets was the adorable image of the fat black and white man that Zha Lan had been dreaming about.

Seeing that there were still ten days left before the TBB Taiwan Anniversary, Su Yun greeted the dejected Zha Lan and said, "Hey, I have a way to take you to see the pandas..."

"I'll call my agent tomorrow and ask him to adjust our schedule and draft a contract. After we see the pandas, we'll go sign together!" Zha Lan squeezed into Su Yun's car in an instant, as if she was afraid that she would regret it if she was a second slower.