Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Are you ready?" Agent Richard met Ronald at the departure gate at Los Angeles Airport and asked him with a smile.

"What are you getting ready for?" Ronald wore a dark blue top, gray pants, and polished brown leather shoes. He carried his suitcase and waved goodbye to several beautiful blonde stewardesses in uniform.

People rely on clothes. Ronald's body shape that he has been exercising all year round, coupled with the hand-made suits by Red Gang tailors, makes the flight attendants of Pan Am Airways take the initiative to talk to him.

However, when they learned that he claimed to be a movie director, the beautiful flight attendants who frequently flew to Los Angeles and New York all thought that such a young Ronald was joking to catch them, so they said goodbye to him cheerfully without leaving a note.

"Are you ready to compete for the 'fast-paced' director?" Richard took Ronald's luggage with a smile and put it in the trunk of his car.

"Do you even need to ask? Otherwise, why would I come to Hollywood?" Ronald sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt. Richard's new car is a Japanese white Corolla. He bought it with the commission from serving Ronald. It looks small from the outside, but it has a lot of space inside. Position is related to the success or failure of the movie's box office. It is also related to my income and my future in CAA. This is your first time competing for the director position. I want to ask about your mental state. It seems that you have a good mentality."

"I've been preparing for this day, don't make me nervous, Richard." Ronald joked.

Richard turned the steering wheel, got on the road, and said: "The situation is very interesting. David Lynch has delayed Tom Mount for a long time and also fooled us. Now he has taken over the Italian producer Raffaella ·De Laurentiis’s projects——

Script and director for the film adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction "Dune." "

"Isn't he not interested in science fiction movies?" Ronald still remembers the reasons Lynch publicized after he turned down the director's job of the next Star Wars.

"Lynch said those were not his words. He said his words were, 'I'm not interested in any science fiction movie unless it incorporates other deeper human elements.'"

"Ahem," Ronald laughed so hard that he choked himself. Didn't this make George Lucas even more uncomfortable? Alluding to the fact that Star Wars has no deeply human elements.

"Anyway, that's his choice. And he said something similar when he turned down Universal president Tom Mount's invitation to direct 'Rush Richmond High.' I heard Nicita say, …”

"What he said is that the script is quite interesting.

But not my thing. "Richard drove the car directly to CAA's office, and Niceta asked Ronald to come to the office for an interview first.

"Then Lynch wished everyone present good luck, said nothing else, and without giving Tom Mount a chance to stay, he drove away in his Volkswagen Beetle."

Niceta shook her head. This kind of maverick artist style is really annoying sometimes. The tactful and flattering way in which Hollywood stars reject each other's speech is the most normal approach in the film industry.

"I still don't quite understand what's going on. Didn't Lynch express great interest? Why did he suddenly refuse?"

"Producer Rafaela De Laurentiis gave his 'Dune' movie a production budget of more than $30 million, and the writing and directing rights were given to Lynch."

"Oh", that's it, Ronald understood. "Fast-paced Richmond High" is just a teen comedy with a budget of $3 million, only one-tenth of the former. Moreover, for this kind of studio project, the director’s power is not that great and will be restricted by the producer.

"This Italian Laurentiis is very courageous." Ronald was very envious of Lynch for being able to work on such a big production.

"That's not true, he also has some last resort difficulties." Niceta shook her head and explained to Ronald.

It turns out that Laurentiis bought the rights to adapt Dune from another producer. At the end of this year, the adaptation rights will expire, and if it is not filmed, it will automatically return to the hands of the author Frank Herbert.

Laurentiis originally found Ridley Scott to direct the film in 1979, but the production of such a large science fiction film was complicated and took a long time to prepare. In addition, the funds were not in place, so there was no auction.

After Scott sold the hit "Alien", he wasted two years on this project and ultimately achieved nothing.

The schedule for his next project "Blade Runner" was approaching, but the director had no choice but to give up on Dune.

In order to prevent the adaptation rights from being automatically transferred back to the author for $0, Laurentiis had no choice but to negotiate with him to extend the adaptation contract. The author Frank Herbert demanded a larger filming budget before he would sign the contract. In the end, Laurentiis had to offer a high price to renew the contract, and by the way, he also signed a contract for the adaptation of the two sequels of Dune.

This project taken over by David Lynch is actually a trilogy.

"Lynch calls this an adult version of 'Star Wars.'"

Okay, now I offended Lucas again. Fortunately, I am open-minded and not as knowledgeable as you. Ronald thought.

"So who are my competitors?" Ronald asked.

"Tom Mount seems to have someone he likes. We are still inquiring." Niceta tapped her fingers on the table. "However, this is not the biggest reason why I invited you here today."

Ronald leaned back to make himself more comfortable, and raised his hand to signal Niceta to continue.

"This year, major studios have begun to realize the importance of youth films, and many studios will start filming youth-themed films in the second half of this year."

Niceta placed a diagram drawn by her secretary on the table and turned it over for Ronald to see.

"Disney's 'DZ Man' is an adaptation of SE Hinton."

Ronald nodded and found the film on the chart that had been approved for production. Produced by Zinnemann, the film tells the story of high school students in a small town in Oklahoma. The male and female leads are people he knows, Matt Dillon, and Meg Tilly.

"20th Century Fox's 'Lights Out,'" Niceta continued.

Ronald's fingers slid downward. The cadet movie, which Fox president Shelly Lansing personally gave the green light to, is the story of a cadet resisting developers from demolishing the cadet. Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise also star.

"And Grease 2," Niceta continued.

"What, has Grease 2 started again?" Ronald slid his hand down and asked.

"Yes, after Universal gave up, RKO Records' boss, Streetwood, decided to invest 6 million US dollars himself, and found Paramount to invest 6 million US dollars as well, and started the project again."

This is another high school-themed movie about high school students in the 1950s and 1960s, the sequel to the hit movie.

"Why are there so many themes about high school students?" Ronald moved his finger downwards, and the next one he wanted to fight for was "the fast-paced Richmond High School."

"And that's not counting the slew of other teen movies that aren't about high school life. This is the year of the high school movie, Ronald."

"So?" Ronald is not afraid of competition. To a certain extent, this phenomenon of clustering shows that major studios are beginning to pay attention to this subject, predicting that this subject will explode in the market next year. If you can direct well, the market prospects are very good.

Niceta smiled. He liked Ronald's attitude of not being afraid of competition. With a nomination for Best Screenplay in hand, Ronald was barely qualified and was looking for opportunities as a director in the eight major studios. .

No, now there are only seven.

"I have no doubt about your ability. Paula, Richard, and all my colleagues at CAA have confidence in you. Maybe except for a few axxholes." Niceta said.

"I mean, we are willing to do our best to help you get this director position, but this year's situation is indeed a bit special. You may not know that United Artists is about to be acquired by MGM."

"What? Why?" Ronald was surprised. United Artists was a studio founded by comedy master Chaplin. It was known for giving directors the greatest artistic decision-making power. MGM was played by a Las Vegas tycoon. is dying, why is it now trying to annex United Artists?

"This has a lot to do with director Michael Cimino." Niceta handed him a newspaper.

Ronald took it and saw it was the Hollywood Reporter. There was a column on it that Niceta had specially highlighted with a red pencil so that Ronald could see it more easily.

"This week's box office?" Ronald looked at it doubtfully.

"Look at this year's box office results. This is the first time in America's history that the weekly box office of a movie is published in a newspaper."

Ronald lowered his head and took a closer look. It was almost the summer season this year, and there was no movie with a total box office of more than 35 million US dollars. The western movie starring Diane Lane was also among them. It failed miserably at the box office and only cost over $500,000.

"Heaven's Gate" is slightly better, with $3 million already. But considering its production budget of 44 million...

"Michael Cimino calls for re-edit of Heaven's Gate to be withdrawn, once again flopping at the box office. Now with this weekly box office reveal, audiences are looking at the rankings to pick the movie, so no one will go see it." .

Pan American, the parent company of United Artists, has decided to sell the studio that has made the company a laughing stock, just because MGM is interested in its distribution network."

"Did Cimino bring down a movie studio by himself?" Ronald shook his head, which was considered impressive.

Niceta was very serious, "The bad things this fat man did not only sentenced him to death in Hollywood, but also had a great impact on the entire film industry.

On the one hand, this year's movie box office has been terrible, but on the other hand, newspapers have added fuel to the fire by publishing weekly box office results. Movie theater chains are becoming more picky about studio films.

If the box office performance last weekend was not good, the film schedule will be cut immediately this week, and there will be fewer theaters showing it.

They now also announce box office results on TV. Many American families look at the box office rankings on TV to decide whether to drive to the cinema to watch a movie. "

Niceta said as she turned on the TV and pressed the play button on the VCR. A box office form popped up, with a host briefly commenting on each movie.

"I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked.

"Because the film market is shrinking rapidly, the box office this year has dropped by more than 40% compared with the same period last year. This method of announcing box office figures has put more pressure on studios. The result of this pressure is that directors are particularly harsh.

Especially if you are a new director, if your debut film does not do well at the box office, it may be difficult for you to have the opportunity to direct movies in the future. "

"I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked again.

"There are several reasons. The first is because ticket prices have increased, and there are no blockbuster movies this year, and the economy is not good and people spend less on movies. In fact, there are more movies released this year than the same period last year. This That is to say, the market has more stringent requirements for film quality.

And your worst case scenario is that of the four high school movies made this year, the fast-paced Richmond High had the smallest budget.

Grease 2's budget of 11 million may be increased. Lights Out's budget is 14 million. Even the poorest Disney-invested dz guy has 6 million, which is twice as much as you. "

"Maybe I didn't express myself clearly, Mr. Niceta," Ronald said.

"I understand the 'fast pace' of my screenwriting, the budget disadvantage among several films with similar themes, and I also know that if the box office is not good, my future career as a director will be difficult.

But which year is it not difficult to be a director? No matter who it is, even in the golden age of Hollywood, if the film is not a hit, there will be no chance to make it.

All these difficulties will not dampen my passion for directing a film.

So, so what? "Ronald spread his hands, showing that he was not afraid of the challenge.

"Very good!" Niceta stopped talking, clasped her hands together and placed them on the table, "So you are ready, Ronald."

"I'm ready, what about you?"

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