Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald's red-eye flight arrived in Los Angeles. He was eating breakfast in the departure hall of Los Angeles Airport, waiting for his agent Richard to pick him up.

When he just got off the plane, the waiting hall announced someone was looking for him. Ronald heard his name and went to the public phone to answer the call from CAA's secretary. He knew that Richard was delayed in answering the phone before departure.

Ronald took the last sip of coffee, picked up the "Variety Weekend Edition" he bought at the newsstand, and turned to the weekly box office column.

"No. 1 Superman 2, 14 million. This is the second film adaptation of Superman comics.

The second place is Cannonball Speeder, 11.7 million, invested by Golden Harvest Company in Xiangjiang.

The third lost Ark of the Covenant 8 million..."

"The box office of The Lost Ark of the Covenant is very strong. The third week was only 4% lower than the first week. It seems that it will enter a long-term run."

Ronald put down the newspaper. In the new week's box office, "The Lost Ark of the Covenant" was only surpassed by two new films and ranked third. It seems that Hollywood will pursue Spielberg, the genius director who dropped out of college.

At this time Richard came over and greeted Ronald. The two walked out of the terminal and got into his Corolla car.

"Spielberg's assistant Catherine called and said that Steven has signed a contract with Universal to produce ET movies. He also wants to hear your opinions on the latest version of the script. Please go to his house to chat at night."

"Why? I'm afraid I can't give you any new opinions, and in his spectacle movies, all the secrets are in Steven's own mind, and the script is actually not as important as other feature films.

Besides, I have to work on my own movie. Can you think of a way to push it away for me? Richard. "

"This time Mr. Spielberg invites you to his home and office, which is the big house that Universal built for him after the success of 'Jaws'. This is equivalent to a personal invitation. If you have some personal relationship with him, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for you." It will be very beneficial for your future career.”

"But I will be really busy, casting, scouting, interviewing directors of photography and art directors. I would really like to be a guest, but evaluating the script will take up a lot of my time, and my subsequent work will be very trivial. , it will be very troublesome.”

CAA was keen on the matter and Spielberg was reluctant to sign them. If Steven had a personal friend in CAA, it would be beneficial whether it was to add actors to his movies in the future or to seek opportunities to offer to sign him again.

Ronald himself had little interest;

He has already obtained the position of director, and his new social connections will be of limited help to him for the time being. The most important thing for his career as a director right now is to make a movie with a high box office.

"He is, after all, Steven, the owner of the highest-grossing film in America. Having a personal relationship is important to you in the long run. At least don't reject him right away. Go meet him and try to turn him down later. The work of script evaluation.”

Richard is more sincere to himself than other agents, and his words are quite personal. Ronald nodded, "Okay, I'll think about it again."

"By the way, how do you respond to the director of photography, Mr. Dean Candy, whom I asked you to invite?" Ronald could not forget Candy, the director of photography for the first movie he participated in, "Rock of Ages". The low-budget production is well shot, with high image quality and a consistent style.

"Kandee is still filming the sequel to 'Moonlight,' and there are a lot of film appointments after that. He said he would like to work with you, but has already decided on other jobs. Universal has given you three recommendations. You can meet them then. They. Teen comedies don’t have high requirements for photography.”

"But Dean Candy is one of my own," Ronald thought to himself. The crew is a disorganized place. If you work with people who know the basics and have worked with you, your efficiency will be much improved.

"We'd better go to Universal's project office first, and then I'll take you to the hotel. This morning, Art Linson, one of the producers, will introduce you to the executive producer of the crew. The accountant will also come to your office. She reimbursed all the crew’s expenses during the preparation stage.”

The two soon arrived at Universal Studios, and Atlinson specially waited for him at the door. "Hi, Ronald, hello. Did you just get off the plane?"

The two hugged each other affectionately, and Lin Sen handed over a key, "The office belongs to you during this period. Another producer, Mr. Azoff, and I will come to visit often, and sometimes we will just stroll over after lunch." , very close.”

"Thank you, I hope you'll come and see me often." This is what it should mean. There are very few experienced producers like Coleman who, after confirming the director's level, just let it go.

He looked around and found no trace of anyone else. "Is the executive producer not here? When will he arrive? I want to talk to him about casting and scenery planning earlier."

"It's morning now. People in the film industry are not used to getting up early. You should be able to see her soon... But I want to correct your two mistakes. It's her, not him. She will serve as associate producer. I The crew basically comes to the set every day, so there is no need to have a permanent executive producer.”

Well, it seems that Art Linson has not given up on his dream of directing. This time he has made it clear that he will stay on the set permanently to see more of how he is filming, and to have some supervision.

In this case, unlike those busy producers who need an executive producer to keep an eye on the scene and report any problems at any time. It is normal to arrange a named associate producer in this way.

The associate producer of the crew has a big name, but the actual power is not certain. It can be a relative or friend of the producer who names the film and adds subtitles. It can also be the acting producer's power, which varies depending on the crew.

Anyway, it won’t be the executive producer’s way of getting into every shooting detail. For me, it’s one less constraint from the crew.

The two waited in the office for a while, and a woman wearing sunglasses came in, "Hi, Art. Hi, Ronald, we meet again." It was Amy Heckerling, who failed in the director competition. .

"Hi, Amy," Ronald greeted Heckerling, who failed to compete with him. "Is your new movie confirmed? Is Art also the producer?"

Although Heckerling did not get the directorship of "Fast Pace", her personal relationship with Tom Mount was still known by the industry. Rapke, an agent at CAA, signed her and helped her sign a directorial contract with Universal.

Richard told him about this. Back then, Lapke used tricks to trick Richard who wanted to climb out of the mail room, and the two had a grudge.

Ronald heard the news from Richard that Heckerling was digging for gold in Universal's script library.

"No, I haven't seen any good scripts that can compare to 'Fast-paced Richmond High', so Mr. Mount and I requested to be an associate producer on the 'Fast-paced' crew. I want to be this part of the movie.

"Huh?" Ronald was wondering why Heikelin didn't find a script to start a project and join his own crew.

"I can help you in many ways, Ronald. For example, I am very familiar with rock music. When I read the script, I paired music for each plot. I also drew up a song list, and each song was It is irreplaceable..."

"This woman is really bold. With the support of Tom Mount, she just forced her way into the crew and wanted to usurp her own power?"

Ronald felt resentful in his heart, "Tom Mount is also a pig. He put himself and Hecklein on the same crew. Is he preparing to find fault with himself and replace him with Hecklein?"

"I just got off the plane and have to go to the hotel. Let's talk in detail tomorrow." Ronald didn't appear to have a seizure, but he didn't go to pick up her playlist. He turned around and said hello to the producer Lin Sen, and talked to the manager. Chad is gone.

"Go to CAA, I want to see Niceta." Ronald ordered Richard in the car.

Richard didn't know that Heckerling had such a plan waiting for Ronald and started the car. He looked at Ronald's face. Apart from being too serious to smile, he couldn't tell whether he was angry or not.

"Nisita, can you let Hekelin leave?" Seeing Nisita, Ronald made his request straight to the point.

Niceta didn't know what was going on and looked at Richard. After listening to the brief introduction, he picked up the phone to negotiate with Lapke.

"His secretary said he was out of the office."

"I want to see Ovitz." Ronald said calmly.

"Calm down, Ronald," Niceta stood up, took two steps, and said to Richard, "Can you give me and Ronald some space to talk?"

Watching Richard exit the office, Niceta looked at Ronald and said:

"I know you are very dissatisfied with me, but I don't know about Heikelin. I will definitely stand by your side and protect your interests, which is to protect my own interests."

Then he squatted down slightly and approached Ronald who was sitting, "There are some things that I won't admit I said outside of this office.

You have to know that Heikelin is of Jewish descent, as is Universal's president Sheinberg. Although he selected you, he still admires Heikelin, who is also Jewish, and is happy to see her succeed. "

"And Ovitz too."

Ronald glanced at Niceta with a questioning look in his eyes.

"I'm Italian."

Ronald thought to himself that Tom Mount was probably taking advantage of Sheinberg's ethnic psychology. Now that Spielberg had brought ET to the world, if he was really replaced by Heckerling due to lack of ability, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to What will be said.

"I still want to see Ovitz, I must express my attitude." Ronald thought for a moment and said to Niceta.

Niceta put her hands on his shoulders, "Are you ready? Hollywood is a colosseum."

"certainly."

"Welcome to the industry." Niceta turned around and called Ovitz's secretary's office, "Yes..., yes... he is very angry, and I can't stop him."

After giving Ronald a hint, the two went to Ovitz's office together.

"Didn't you say that CAA's culture is like a big family? Why did Rapke betray me, your client?"

Ovitz seemed not to have expected the extent of Ronald's anger. He handed the crying baby in the cradle next to his desk to his secretary, "Take her to another room, don't scare her, and change her into a disposable diaper." "

"It's my little daughter. My wife complained that I didn't take care of her enough, so I had to bring her to the office."

"I'm sorry, she's beautiful." Seeing that the baby was frightened, Ronald also put down his angry expression.

"This is too much, but Ronald, this is just a small thing for the president of mca, to trouble Mr. Sheinberg for this... On the one hand, he is not available, on the other hand, he will not I won’t interfere with this for a while.”

"Lapke knew that I was also a client of CAA, so why did he support Heikelin regardless of the conflict of interest?"

"To be fair, Ronald, Heckerling was a good customer, and Rapke didn't know this was going to happen when he signed her."

"Heikelin must want to squeeze me out of the crew. If I fight back and squeeze out Heikelin, whose side will you take?"

"Of course I support you. I will tell Lapke that we must pay attention to conflicts of interest between clients in the future. I promise."

"Tell him to go eat shit." Ronald stormed out of Ovitz's office.

"There is a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict, where is the benefit?" Ovitz chuckled secretly and told his secretary, "After changing the diaper, bring my baby in."

After entering Niceta's office, Ronald no longer looked angry. Instead, he found Niceta's wine cabinet, opened the most expensive bottle of whiskey, and poured a glass for himself, Niceta, and Richard each.

"You impress me, Ronald." Niceta praised.

"I think we can't let Hecklin leave in a short time. This is a long-term battle. I need you to do a few things for me." Ronald took a sip of dry whiskey without ice and faced Ni Sita said.

"Please say."

"First, I want to know about any new developments of Heikelin. I know you have this ability."

"Can."

"Second, contact Cameron Crowe and ask him to come and talk. I would like to invite him to join the crew as a screenwriter and original author. I need more allies."

"no problem."

Ronald turned to Richard and said, "Reply to Mr. Spielberg's assistant. I'll be there tonight."

In the afternoon, Ronald made an urgent call to Gale, the new producer of New World Company. Ask her for advice on how to play the power struggle on the set.

"Power does not come from being appointed. In addition to appointing a new superior and giving him a letter of appointment, a powerful person must also convince everyone in the team so that they will obey your orders."

Gale has also worked on several crews, and has seen directors who responded to everything, and directors who were collectively despised by their subordinates.

“How do you get this kind of authority?”

“This can only be achieved through little efforts. If they obey your instructions and the daily sample shots are wonderful, they will gradually obey you.

As you said, Heikelin took the initiative to take on the soundtrack work, just to show his abilities to his superiors through things.

She won't compete with you in everything, but she will definitely shine in casting, scoring, and other things that can show her abilities in front of producers.

She would not necessarily come to such practical and unattractive work as reviewing the scene and breaking down the script, because she could not leave a deep impression on her superiors.

Just like Jim, the stunt model he did in Jamaica was so good that the producers fired the original director and asked him to take over. This is the benefit of knowing how to present in front of superiors. "

"Thank you, Gail, I think I know what to do."

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