In the name of the father (Mum too)
Between Paper Windmill and Greenray, Lee has become a capable pitchman. Laptop in hand, he heads off to one corporate fundraiser after the other. Though the results he achieves vary, it's certainly not due to poor salesmanship. He's crafted a killer opener designed to pull at the heartstrings of his listeners:
"Where is your home? Where did you grow up? Has it been a while since you last saw your parents and the place where you were brought up? Paper Windmill needs your help to bring a performance to your hometown."
He then goes into the stanza of his well-rehearsed pitch: "If we make it to your hometown, you can give your donation receipt to your mother, so she can see the show for free. Just think what that would mean to her...."
At one social event, he took the then-deputy chief editor of the China Times, Zhang Ruichang, aside and launched into his promotional spiel. Zhang stopped him before long and produced three NT$1000 bills from his wallet saying, "Please help me to fund Wuri-that's where I'm from." Two days later, the newspaper ran a front-page story on Paper Windmill's ambitious project.
The press conference that formally launched the "319 Townships" series was a gathering of prominent cultural figures including Xiaoye, Wu Nien-jen, Wu Jing-jyi, Ms. Weiwei, and Jian Jinghui. The business sector was represented by ChungHwa Telecom, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd., and Taian Insurance Co., Ltd., companies that lent early support to the project by underwriting specific performances. Once the series had commenced, the Liberty Times made sure to list information for the following day's show.
However, once the performances were underway they found themselves having to make constant revisions. They initially budgeted NT$600,000 for each performance, a figure that covered equipment, personnel, and transportation, which eventually slid to NT$450,000 and then again to NT$350,000. The lack of funding resigned cast and crew members to relatively inhospitable accommodations, seeing as they were only allotted NT$500 per night. With the operating budget greatly diminished, Paper Windmill was losing NT$100,000 each performance. The strain was more extreme when traveling to the outlying islands of Penghu, Jinmen, and Wuqiu, for which they had to spend upwards of NT$100,000 just in boat or plane fees to move the 80-90 people involved in the production.
The folks at Paper Windmill get the biggest satisfaction from seeing kids laugh (left photo, Green Island, Taitung County). Kids have even donated pocket change at the performances (right, Xiaying District, Tainan City).