A world of shared experiences
Our interview with Hsu takes place at SELF Oasis, a bar on Taipei’s Rui’an Street.
It is just one of Hsu’s ventures, which include three companies and two bars.
But his goal with the bar isn’t simply the achievement of his ambitions. It’s also about fulfilling a promise to film lovers.
Sharp-eyed fans of The Last Thieves will immediately spot the S-shaped artwork in a corner of the bar: it was an important prop in the movie.
SELF, Hsu’s other bar, will also be familiar to fans of the film: protagonists Yin Tzu-hsiang (Yen Tsao) and Hsu Ching (Megan Lai) performed many of their scenes together inside its walls.
Hsu never intended to start up companies aimed at making a single movie. His every work, company and bar fits into a larger blueprint.
Under the industry’s usual business model, once a company finishes making a film, it is dissolved. At most, the company continues to manage the film’s rights. “If the producers of Cape No. 7 had planned for it, they could have used the film’s sets for music festivals after the movie’s theatrical run. If you properly establish the [production] company’s direction, strategy and target audience, you can keep many things running after the film is complete.”
It’s not like this is a new idea. Studios such as Disney and Universal do much the same thing. They first make an original film, then create all kinds of spinoff products and sensory experiences connected to the film. Each of these elements reinforces the others and creates revenue streams for the company. Meanwhile, real-estate and other investments turn it into a complete business ecosystem. But no one in Taiwan has pursued this model.
The companies in Taiwan’s film industry don’t have the financial resources to do this all at once, but they may be able to unlock the future by making effective use of the Internet and cryptocurrencies.
Using the blockchain for crowdfunding isn’t difficult. Hsu says: “Basically, I wrote up an agreement and put it on the chain. It said, ‘I want to work with you all to create an immersive entertainment ecosystem with a market value of US$100 million.’”
Hsu issued SELF through one of his companies, enticing like-minded people to buy the cryptocurrency to fund the film, and then began working towards fulfilling his commitment. He has been building the venture step by step ever since, finding ways to use box-office receipts, filming locations and rights to create a corporate ecosystem that will be worth more than US$100 million in the future.
Each link in this business chain connects to the next. As Hsu explains it, the process begins with the original story, which is broadened and expanded by its translation to film. He sees The Last Thieves as the first film of a trilogy, each film of which can be enjoyed individually or in relation to the others. Meanwhile, his conversion of filming locations into businesses creates a sort of deconstructed urban multiplex that moviegoers can “tour” and interact with, transforming them from viewers into consumers.
Many people have told Hsu that he’s too ambitious, that what he hopes to achieve is too difficult. But for all that he admits that he’s under pressure, he’s never considered giving up.
“If you think something is right and feasible, then do it! Otherwise, what are you living for?” asks Hsu. “Everything that lives is going to die. Do you want to sit around waiting to die, or throw yourself into living?”
Progress may be difficult, but we’re duty-bound not to give up. To that point, the film quotes Voltaire:
“Man is made for action, just as fire rises and stones fall. For a man, not acting is the same as not existing.”
Jack Hsu believes that the fictional and real worlds will someday invert, a thought he incorporated into his film.
Eric Tseng (right), a film-industry veteran who was impressed by Hsu’s ambition, not only agreed to act in Hsu’s film, but also produced it and invested in it.
Jack Hsu and his young team are hoping to change the world via his three companies. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
Sharp-eyed fans of The Last Thieves will immediately spot the S-shaped artwork in a corner of the SELF OASIS bar: it was an important prop in the movie.
Jack Hsu has declared his ambition to create immersive entertainment in hopes of injecting some commercial vigor into Taiwan’s film industry.
A former film set, SELF Bar has its own unique vibe.