It's very different in Hong Kong. I went back [to HK] and got to know some people from the film industry because HK is such a small island. There is no system at all in HK. Everybody knows everybody. From then on, I started doing what people needed. If they needed a grip, I'd be a grip. If they need someone to carry a bag, I'd do that. It was mainly to [develop] my networking.

And eventually, I got to do some art direction for commercials and music videos. I got to know more people and started doing directing work.

Actually, I started off by being an art director. It was very comfortable; you can do two or three jobs a year and get paid. It was a good life. But after a year of that I thought, “Wait a minute, this is not where I want to go. This road doesn't lead to being a director.” There is one job in HK which no one is doing, and they are paid shit - well, we are not actually paid and don't get respect - that's a screenwriter. Whatever the director says, you write down. And the next morning you come up with a script or a theme. Nobody wants to do it but you are involved in the creative process. I've been doing that for the past 10-12 years. Eventually people got to know me.

The script for the movie Gallants was done ten years ago. I tried to sell it to producers and directors but nobody liked it or wanted it. It's about a bunch of old geezers fighting - who wants to watch that? It's crap. I tried to sell it for the first five years. I just gave up because nobody wanted it and I got rejected over and over again. Three years ago I met with my producer, Gordon Lam, who happened to also be a first-time producer. His boss is Mr. Andy Lau.

I was pitching him a few story ideas but he didn't like them. Right when we were leaving, I said I had one more, and I told him the story of Gallants. He said it sounded pretty interesting. I gave him the story outline, the treatment, and he passed it on to Mr. Lau. And for some reason he liked it a lot, and said “let's make it”.

So I guess the answer to your question is: to persevere. Just keep trying. It's tough. You know, I cried so many times on set because people were yelling at me. The longest I've been yelled at was five hours straight, in a conference room. So yes, I guess you have to persevere. And don't lose your sight. Do what you really want to do. Somehow it will happen, I guess. But you don't know how.

It's like the story of Sylvester Stallone. He used to be a porn actor [Ed.: in Morton Lewis' soft-core The Party at Kitty and Stud's / Italian Stallion , 1970]. He was rejected on every other film. At one audition he was rejected again but on his way out he told the director that he also writes. The director told him to send him something he thought was good. And that's how Rocky got made.

In HK it's chaotic and there is no system. My thought is, when everyone says “it's right, we have to do this,” I don't do it. When people say “it's a dead end, don't go there, it's not gonna happen”, I go the other way.

Clement Cheng attending the masterclass organized by the Terracotta Far East Film Festival (photo by HKCinemagic.com).

When you are scared of doing something, just keep trying. Chances may lie in dangerous places. There is a novel called A Tale of Two Cities [by Charles Dickens] , the first two lines are “This is the worst of times. This is the best of times.” [Ed.: The book starts with It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... ]