Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After packing his luggage, checking his passport, traveler's checks, and newly printed New World Publishing business card, Ronald jumped into a taxi to the airport.

Roger Corman temporarily gave Ronald the title of film buyer and asked him to go to the film festival held in Montreal, the capital of Quebec, Canada. He specifically talked to Ronald about how to buy movies, and he came up with the following two points.

First art films are different from art films. Some art films are based on a good story and add the director's strong personal style. As long as the purchase price of this kind of art film is cheap enough, you won't lose money.

Another type of art film is the director's innovation of audition language. This kind of art film has no solid story foundation and no major dramatic conflict. Instead, the director attempts to break through the boundaries of film art. Maybe people in the industry like this type of art films more than the audience, so it's not appropriate to risk buying copies.

Secondly, there are many films made by good foreign directors, but due to the cultural gap with America, they have not been introduced and screened. Whether American audiences can understand the movie and immerse themselves in the story depicted by the director determines whether the introduction will make a profit or a loss.

Some directors are good at capturing human nature, family affection, love, revenge, and other common human emotional experiences. Even if there are some cultural barriers, it doesn't matter. Some directors are very focused on the culture of their own nation, so the experience of American audiences may not be good.

In short, Ronald made a surprise visit to New World Company and watched the art films of famous foreign directors that Corman had introduced before, such as "Desu Uzala" co-produced by Akira Kurosawa and Sovereign Alliance, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" roughly knows Coleman's bottom line and size.

Montreal and New York are in the same time zone. After a long flight, Ronald's feet were already a little swollen in his shoes, making walking a little uncomfortable. Carrying a big box in his hand, he queued up to wait for customs clearance.

"Are you coming to Montreal to study?" The staff member looked at the photo on the passport and then looked at Ronald's young face.

"I'm here on a business trip to attend a film festival."

"Ah, Bienvenue au Festival; du Film de Montréal" the staff knocked on an oval entry stamp.

Ronald picked up the suitcase and walked to the airport arrivals hall. Why did it seem like the signs were all in French? The staff just now also spoke French.

There were two fat men wearing Jewish hats in front of them, and they seemed to have the same doubts as him. They grabbed a staff member and asked in English with a strong accent from who knows where, "How do we get to the official venue of the film festival? The film festival,

Motion pictures? do you understand? "

"Going out from this exit is the taxi waiting area." The staff replied in English.

"Don't you speak English?" The slightly older fat man looked unhappy.

"Minahan, stop arguing. Let's go to the venue quickly. The copies we brought have to be delivered first." As they spoke, the two pushed the heavy luggage cart, with reels of film films stacked on top of each other.

Ronald followed two fat guys who were also coming to the film festival and found the waiting point. I took out the official invitation letter from the film festival and showed it to the taxi driver before I got in the car and headed to the hotel near the Art Square.

"Ah, are you here to attend the film festival?" the driver asked in English.

"Yeah, why do people here speak French?"

"Ah, Messieurs. Quebec is the French-speaking area." Looking at Ronald with a puzzled look on his face, "Americans?"

"Yes, how do you know?"

"Only Americans are careless enough to think that Canada is an English-speaking area. After the Montreal Olympics, Quebec adopted the French Charter and made French the official language of Quebec.

"So that's it," Ronald thought, thinking of America's boycott of the Moscow Olympics. "So, do you have TV coverage of this year's Olympics?"

"Yes, but it has ended. You can't see it in America. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) will broadcast the entire event."

"Yes, it's a pity. Our commander-in-chief asked NBC and ABC to boycott the broadcast, so we can only watch the news."

When he arrived at the hotel he had reserved, Ronald found that the two fat Jewish men were also staying in the same hotel as him, and the older one was unloading movie films from the car.

"Do you need help?" Ronald looked at them all and asked aloud.

"Thank you so much. These films are too heavy. They are all our hard work and our masterpiece. I tell you, this film has been selected as the opening film of this film festival and is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar."

"Ah, really." Ronald was stunned by the fat man's familiarity. "Where are you moving to?"

"Put it here, put it here. People from the organizing committee will come soon, and we will escort it to the main venue."

The fat man kept chattering, watching Ronald's movements with his eyes. Seeing that he was very strong and could lift the film very steadily, he felt relieved.

"I have to be careful. You know, I only brought this one copy from the lab in West Germany. If something goes wrong, the Montreal audience will miss this masterpiece."

"Minahan." Another fat man, who was younger than him, guided a car to approach from a distance, "The people from the organizing committee are here."

"Ah, thank you, what's your name?" Fatty Minahan held Ronald's hand and shook it a few times.

"My name is Ronald, and I am America..."

"Ah..., ah... Yoram... bring two tickets for tomorrow's movie." Minahan turned his head and ordered the other fat man in a loud voice.

Then he took the ticket from Yoram's hand and turned around and handed it to Ronald.

"Hold it, hold it, this is a rare opportunity. The opening film of the film festival is very popular. The organizing committee told us that the tickets are sold out. You should learn the art of our movies. It will be good for you. This is A very difficult opportunity.”

Ronald took the two movie tickets and watched the two fat men walking to the organizing committee's car and supervising the staff to move the film.

"This neck is almost as thick as my forehead."

Ronald looked at Minahan's back, complained secretly, picked up his luggage and went to check in.

After taking a hot shower and putting on comfortable sneakers, Ronald walked out of the hotel and headed to the Place des Arts in search of delicious food.

Dusk has fallen, and the streets are full of movie-loving moviegoers, using various signs to ask for tickets. Ronald walked past a beautiful blonde and saw her sign that said "Please take a picture of the opening movie."

The beauty saw Ronald's momentary hesitation and immediately came forward, "Do you have tickets for the opening movie? I can buy them for twice the price."

"I'm just going to have dinner. If you can take me to a delicious place to eat with me, I will sell it to you at the original price." Ronald took out two movie tickets and flashed them in front of the beautiful woman's eyes.

"It's simple, our Montreal favorite is Schwartz's smoked meats."

The beauty threw the sign away, stepped on Ronald's arm, and walked towards a store on the street next to the Art Square.

There was a long line of people at the door. When Ronald smelled the smoked meat, he knew he was in the right place. This kind of delicious food requires the guidance of locals.

"Is this your Montreal specialty?"

The beauty shook her head, "No, this was opened by a Polish Jewish family when I was a child. It tastes very good, so more and more people eat it."

"Jews, it seems that people from Eastern Europe are not very taboo about pork."

Ronald watched the team move slowly and orderly, and took the opportunity to chat with the beauty about the movie, "Is the opening movie tomorrow good? Why do you want it so much?"

"Don't you know? Where did you get your movie tickets? The main venue is covered with their posters." The beauty was very surprised.

"Two people who came to the festival gave it to me, maybe the producers of the film that opens tomorrow or something."

"Wow, isn't that a good seat in the front row? That's great." The beauty yelled exaggeratedly while holding Ronald's arm.

"This is an epoch-making musical. Let me tell you, it is even more powerful than 'Grease' two years ago. I heard that the movie tells the story of the origin and future of mankind. In short, it is very powerful."

"Ah, ah, really." Ronald came back from the smell of smoked meat. "Why do you speak English so well?"

"Not all the people in Quebec speak only French. English is also a basic subject in our schools. Only those French people who want to be independent are clamoring to set up French schools to teach only French." The beauty explained.

The two of them got in line and bought two large portions of smoked meat and bread. After one bite, the taste was not very salty, but had the aroma of maple wood. Ronald ate very happily and ordered two more portions to be packed. take away.

"So you come to my hotel and wait for me tomorrow evening, and I will go to the main venue with you." Ronald said to the beauty.

"Okay, don't you need my tour guide service tomorrow? You can offset the ticket price."

"I'm very willing, but I have to register with the organizing committee tomorrow. We can go there later. Anyway, the film festival will last for ten days."

"So you're here to participate in the film festival?" the beauty asked him with her eyes wide open?

"Yes, I'm here to buy the film on behalf of New World Production Company in America." Ronald handed a new business card to the beauty.

"New World? Never heard of it." The beauty turned over the business card and shook her head while looking at the red sun-shaped company logo on it. "I'll come to the hotel to find you tomorrow."

Ronald returned to the hotel with the smoked meat and turned on the TV. CBC was still replaying the Olympic highlights and the real-person art puzzle of group gymnastics at the closing ceremony. The real-person held up the drawing board and spelled out the mascot, a little bear named Misha. She I also shed a tear dynamically, regretting that some athletes from boycotting countries could not participate in the Olympics.

"This is absolutely amazing."

The next day, Ronald took a break in the morning and was jetlagged. In the afternoon, he went to the organizing committee to register and pay. With a buyer's badge issued by the organizing committee, he could watch all the screenings.

Ronald returned to the hotel and waited for yesterday's beauty. The two walked into the main venue together, waiting to watch the so-called masterpiece.

"What is this?" Ronald walked into the screening room, and the ticket inspector handed them two large square envelopes.

"This is the original mini-disc of the movie. You can play it on the record player when you go back," the ticket inspector replied. "The restroom is on the left, and the smoking room is on the second floor."

"Watch a movie and get a DVD?" Ronald thought to himself, this is quite unique.

Standing in front of the poster at the entrance and looking at it, Ronald realized that what he was about to watch was a musical with many special effects. No wonder the fat man named Minahan boasted that he would be nominated for an Oscar yesterday.

Musical films were America's biggest hit in the past two years, and the special effects were also the main selling point of the two box-office miracles of Jaws and Star Wars. If this movie can be combined into one, it is indeed worth looking forward to. I will find a way to talk to Minahan later, and maybe it can be introduced to the United States on behalf of the new world.

Minahan seemed to have said yesterday that it was filmed in West Germany, right?

By the way, what's the name of this movie?

Ronald's eyes moved down. On the poster, a beautiful woman was wearing a sci-fi outfit, holding a laser gun similar to Star Wars, and below was the title of the film.

“The Apple”

There is also a line of small print below:

"In 1994, the power of rock and roll saved the planet."

Why does this smell so much like a Roger Corman movie?

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :