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 In
Taichung First Senior High School, he wore flops to bookstores.
Producer Jimmy Huang said, “I was poor and vulgar, wearing slippers and
underwear to bookstores." He stood there to read Sartre and Camus. It is
impossible for us! He felt happy when reading. He said, "Because we are
living in this world. Feel the world with your hearts, and you’ll know
what you like."
The
president of Society was arrested
Jimmy studied in the Department of Foreign Languages of Tunghai
University. At that time, he joined a very interesting society --the
Dongfeng society. Poet Mu Yang and the Formosa magazine editor Chung-Hsin
Chen also joined this society. The editor’s word in "Formosa magazine"
was written by the chief editor, Chung-Hsin Chen, but the printed name
was "Chun-hung Chang”. Society president Chung-Hsin Chen believed that
intellectuals had social responsibility, but he was regarded as a black
sheep in the martial law era. Later, he was arrested along with Fu-Chung
Chang. These two were detained together in a Formosa magazine photo.
This event affected Jimmy Huang, who took over the job of president when
he was a sophomore.
Engage in Arts
It was not easy to watch movie, so they went to education institution or
cultural centers to borrow blurry classic movies of masters, such as,
Bergman, Bunuel, and others. They often played these films in the
school, even after graduation.
At that time, societies were prohibited from not politics, so Jimmy
engaged in arts. They had cultural salons to discuss films after
watching. Only intellectuals watched movies. Jimmy Huang was affected
and understood movie than others.
Took four hours of military training course because of being Dongfeng
president
Jimmy Huang studied in the Tokai University from 1982 to 1986, but the
martial law in Taiwan was lifted in 1987. Dongfeng society often invited
some intellectuals to give speeches, so it was regarded as the "rebel
party". Therefore, Jimmy Huang was often summoned to instructors’
office, and took four hours of military training course when others took
two hours. School instructors often spent two hours talking to Jimmy
individually, and asked if he was engaged in rebel activities.
Jimmy Huang became president of the society when he was a sophomore,
because the former one was arrested. He also wrote an editorial, which
caused problems, and he almost could not graduate.
Starting
from the politics
After graduation, Jimmy Huang did not know what to do for a half year.
Graduated from Department of Foreign Languages, he did not want to be an
English secretary. After the lifting of martial law, Jimmy Huang began
to engage in the student movement, even earlier than Wen-Jia Luo.
Jimmy’s first work was an assistant of Legislator Rong-shu Xu. He said,
"the society was changed and open." Thus, Jimmy wanted to change his
career plan.
An
encounter with “A City of Sadness”
Once, he visited Jiufen and Chinkuashih and saw a handsome actor. Later,
he learned that the man was Tony Chiu Wai Leung. That movie is "A City
of Sadness." A friend told him, "there is a job of watching movies with
pay." He carried and played film copies in the Golden Horse Awards.
From the
Influence magazine to Central Pictures
After the Golden Horse Awards, Jimmy Huang joined the "Influence"
magazine, to write the film's thematic topics. He started to get the
whole picture of movie. During this period, he knew the director of
"Double Vision," Kuo-fu Chen, who used to be the "Influence" magazine's
editor-in-chief. Although the magazine sold well, it closed down because
the conflict of business beliefs. Jimmy joined Central Pictures to read
scripts and write reports, and he watched a lot of classic
black-and-white movies.
He got acquaintances with director Ming-liang Tsai, Kuo-fu Chen,
Chin-yen Yee, Cheng-sheng Lin, Xiao-Li Wang, and so on. Later, Ming-liang
Tsai and Jimmy Huang cooperated on "Vive L'Amour." Jimmy Huang has been
committed to the work of producer.
The runway in life, not too late before thirty years old
Jimmy Huang was very humble and told us: "I am not good enough. You
still have time to choose in 30s. I feel that I have no difference with
others." Jimmy Huang worked happily in Central Pictures. Among 400-500
people, Jimmy Huang was late for work all the time. Only director was
later than he. The one better than he was the computer programmer
(accounting system). However, three people had a great contribution to
the company.
Making a movie is like selling pre-sale house
Mr. Huang said, "film is really burning money.” "Burning money" is the
common-used term in the movie industry. Jimmy said, "Making a movie is
like selling pre-sale house, meaning that I have to solicit investment.
If you need 16 million, you can start shooting when you have 9 million,
and then looking for investors. If the budget keeps growing, it would be
a big problem for the investors."
Wish to produce a documentary film on the Erhlin sugarcane farmers
Incident
In fact, Jimmy Huang had noticed the Erhlin sugarcane farmers Incident,
and thought it is a great theme. It needs investors to shoot the film.
Producer's
ability
The qualities for the job as a producer are: resistance to stress,
communication and coordination skills, and foreign language skills.
Legacy and
talents
Jimmy Huang is now looking for some young people, and wants to pass down
his experience. He believes the talents must be resilient to stress, and
a rare quality—having taste, because a good producer must have vision
and invest in best-selling movies. In 2000, Jimmy Huang cooperated with
the director Te-sheng Wei and found his talent. Jimmy Huang fully
supports Director Wei’s dream of movies!
Start with
“imitation”
immy Huang found that young people care too little about learning from
"imitation".
"Imitation" means learning from professional techniques, for example:
shoemaker, carpenter, and blacksmith, while young people like to be
"masters", for example: lighting engineer and cameraman. Jimmy Huang
encouraged young people to accumulate experiences for years through
imitation, and then move to be masters. It needs patient to cultivate
the trust of others.
Many
changes are fun
We were very curious about all these things Jimmy had to deal with:
different people, different scripts. Are a lot changes annoying? Jimmy
Huang said, "In fact, it is fun. I learn a lot in this process, so I am
relaxed to face them. I believe that there will be a way."
No time
for frustration
When we asked Jimmy Huang how he deal with frustration and relieved
stress, we were surprised by his replied: "There is no time for
frustrating because making a film is one thing after another. Time is to
be used to resolve problems." We admired him even more!
Director is like a desperate beast.
In fact, Jimmy Huang had the opportunity to be a director, but he
declined. He believes that director should be a desperate beast. In the
production, producers and directors will always encounter hundreds of
problems: actor, scene, time, equipment, atmosphere, and so on.
Sometimes they have to struggle with dreams, money, and budget. The film
industry is an industry of conflicts! Directors need to have ideas and
courage to decide, because the results of those decisions will affect
the budget of several million dollars. That is why Jimmy Huang is not
fit for a director’s job. |
