Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Spielberg's big house, not far from Universal Studios.

After "Jaws" saved the American film industry and created a summer miracle, Universal built Spielberg this large house with a market price of $1 million, including a studio, entertainment room, and resting place. .

Spielberg sat on the sofa in the living room, took out the latest version of et's script revised by screenwriter Melissa Matheson, and handed it to Ronald who came to visit in the evening.

Ronald took it and looked at it. Some pages were pasted on the right side of the script with sticky notes. After flipping through it, he saw that these were the pages that had been replaced with blue paper, which were the changes in the latest version of the script.

Ronald quickly finished flipping through et's new version of the script, which removed many dramatic conflicts and instead added a lot of friendship between children and et aliens. There are not many violent conflicts and there are no bad guys in the whole film. It can be said to be a warm story.

Of course, there are aliens in the story. I don’t know whether they look vicious or kind. Children should still be very curious about such unknown creatures.

"What does et look like?" Ronald asked.

"That's the million-dollar question," laughed Spielberg, and Ronald, a young man, got right to the point.

"Carlo Lamberti, the special effects modeler for 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', is doing the model for ET, and all I can say is that he is an ugly and intelligent creature, like a cross between Hemingway and Einstein. .”

Universal's modelers have spent US$700,000 on this et model. Spielberg was completely dissatisfied and asked his old partners to remake it. McA president Sheinberg is very supportive. The current model already has some looks, which are ugly but gentle.

"Pfft", Ronald couldn't help laughing. Spielberg had a great sense of humor, Hemingway was known for his ugly face, and Einstein was the smartest man on the planet. Putting the two together, isn't that...eh?

“Isn’t that Master Yoda from Star Wars?”

"Hahaha, yes, George said that too." Spielberg also laughed. George Lucas's first reaction was the same when he saw this description, so he asked Lucas for Master Yoda's copy. The copyright allowed him to make a cameo appearance in the movie.

He has a very close relationship with Lucas. When George Lucas finished editing "Star Wars", the special effects of the X-Wing Fighter vs. TIE Fighter at the end had not been added, and they were replaced with air combat documentaries from the World War II era.

Among the several directors who watched the test screening, he was the only one who insisted that it was a movie that would be a hit.

Ronald said at this time, "Steven, thank you for inviting me to evaluate the script. But I don't think I have any opinions to offer. The charm of your movie lies in the wonders and monsters that give people real feelings."

I can't tell from the script. I'm afraid only your own head can know what it will look like after filming and editing. "

Spielberg nodded. This was also true, so he had to keep the et model absolutely confidential. Even the name of the crew's office became "A Boy's Life" to confuse the outside world.

"Your last assessment was very interesting, so I asked you to come and have a chat to see if you can give me some inspiration."

Ronald looked down at the script, pointed to a place and asked, "I saw a plot where children lured aliens out and sprinkled chocolate beans along the way."

"Yeah, do you think this is bad? Do you want to do it differently?" Spielberg asked.

"No, I just had a whim," Ronald said, "Why not let Mars or Hershey's chocolate beans appear here and give a close-up shot? Just like 007 Bond's Alfa Romeo car, every He always gave his car a lot of close-ups.”

"What a genius idea, how did you come up with it?" Spielberg turned around and called his assistant, "Catherine, Catherine, could you please come over here?"

"I filmed a Hershey's chewing gum commercial, and there was a short plot. I just thought this plot looked like an advertisement." Ronald replied.

"It's a good idea. In the past, only car companies and airlines were willing to pay to have their products appear in movies. No fast-moving consumer goods company has done it yet, so we might as well give it a try."

"Katherine," Spielberg said to the assistant who came in, "send a memo to Mr. Sheinberg and say that I want to try selling an advertisement for... Mars M\u0026M chocolate beans."

Catherine quickly jotted down Spielberg's ideas and then began drafting the memo.

"Really great inspiration and a million dollar idea. Ronald, what do you want?

If you have a new script, you can send it to me. I recently registered my own studio, Ann Bolin, and am in the process of acquiring scripts. If investors are satisfied, I will have the opportunity to direct.

You know, Robert Zemeckis, they all say he was my apprentice. He recently gave me a script, and I asked him to go back and polish it before pitching it to studios. "

"Spielberg also wants to be a producer." Ronald thought to himself, but he had already got the opportunity to direct. "Okay, I will consider it if I have a new script."

"I've always loved your movies, Steven. So when my little production 'Fast Richmond High' starts filming, could you please be there? I think that would give me a lot of affirmation and encouragement. "

"What, what trouble are you in?" Spielberg had heard about Ronald's new project and quickly guessed Ronald's true intention.

"Yeah, I'm in a little bit of trouble, so I was hoping you'd be there to give me some support," Ronald admitted.

"Katherine?" Spielberg turned back to ask Catherine, "My schedule?"

"The plan is to shut down in late October." Kathleen Kennedy gave the date.

"My movie booking starts at the end of October."

"Okay, Catherine, mark the time and remind me then. I will go to your set to have a look."

"Thank you, Steven." Ronald didn't expect that his main purpose of coming today would be achieved so easily, and he quickly thanked him.

"I'm very happy today. I'll show you around my entertainment room and studio." Spielberg stood up and took Ronald to visit the big house.

"This is the latest arcade game, little bee, come and play it." Spielberg opened an arcade machine and put two coins into it. Invite Ronald to play.

Spielberg's character is like a big boy. In his eyes, the movie is a game. Of course, due to his Jewish genes, his business experience is also very good. He treats business and movies as games, and he is still able to stand out from the crowd. He is really a genius.

Ronald held the joystick with his left hand and pressed the button with his right hand to fire. There is an airplane at the bottom of the screen. You can dodge bullets from the enemy planes at the top of the screen left and right. You can also press the button to fire bullets and shoot down the enemy planes.

Ronald seemed to have played this before and got started quickly. He skillfully dodged bullets by moving left and right, knocking out many enemy planes above him.

"Oh, have you ever played that before?" Spielberg exclaimed.

"No, I just think it's easy. This is a matter of attention distribution. You can't dodge and aim at the enemy aircraft and fire at the same time. You have to find a main direction to allocate your attention."

While talking about the game, Ronald was not paying attention and was killed by the enemy's bullet.

"Hahaha." The two laughed.

"You broke my record," Spielberg said, pointing to the subtitles on the screen.

"Aha, let me leave a name." Ronald controlled the joystick and typed the six letters "ron lee" on the screen, leaving his name on the high score record of this game console.

Spielberg looked at Ronald and truly felt that this young man suited his taste. When other people came to visit the big house, they walked up to the playroom and didn't think much of it. Many people complimented him perfunctorily for maintaining a childlike innocence.

In fact, when Spielberg was a child, he was a lonely child with few friends. Only these toys and game consoles were his childhood "partners".

Only Ronald really liked these toys. Looking at his level of playing with "Little Bee" and how quickly he picked it up, he must be a die-hard player.

The two continued to visit the big house.

"When I was at Universal TV, I waited a long time for my first directing opportunity. I loved movies, so I sneaked into an empty office at Universal, pretended to be a manager, went in and out of the studio, and taught myself a lot of things."

Spielberg chatted with Ronald about his history along the way, "I was eventually discovered and kicked out of the set. It was Mr. Shenberg who gave me a chance. When I was 22 years old, I directed the first film in my life. The short film was Ann Bolling, which is why I used it as the name of the studio.”

"This is my work room. It's very messy inside. Don't touch the location of my things, or I won't find them."

Ronald looked up and saw that the room was filled with various props left behind by Spielberg from filming the movie, and there were many scripts piled on the big table.

"I started directing TV series at the age of 23 and started making TV movies at the age of 27. George Lucas also waited a long time to make his first movie. The first work is very important and really needs support. You start it. Remember to inform Catherine in advance, I will be there."

"Thank you, Mr. Spielberg." Ronald sincerely thanked him again. With Spielberg's support, especially when he had just made the blockbuster movie "The Lost Ark of the Covenant."

This is tantamount to using his own fame to endorse himself. As long as Steven appears on the set and says that Ronald's filming is good, no one can shake his position on the crew.

"Is this the script you collected?" Ronald was grateful and saw a few piles of scripts on the table.

"Yes, this is the Zemeckis script I just told you about." Spielberg took out a copy and handed it to Ronald's hand.

Ronald took it and saw a very strange name on it, "Back to the future."

Ronald opened the script and flipped through a few pages. He felt that the name was very familiar, and he was about to continue and take a closer look at the content of the script.

"Ronald!" Spielberg shouted, and Ronald came back to his senses.

"You seem to like this script very much? You might as well take it for a look and give me an evaluation opinion. I will forward it to Zemeckis."

"Okay, no problem." Ronald took the script and followed the owner out.

Walking back to the living room, Ronald was about to say goodbye and leave. Finally, he remembered the crash course in directing that Coleman had given him, and wanted to ask Spielberg for some tips.

"I don't have much know-how. Movies are as natural to me as eating and drinking. Maybe it's because of my poor reading comprehension skills. I have liked to use images to tell stories since I was a child.

All I'm saying is, don't forget your original idea. There are a lot of distractions and inspirations during filming, and it's easy to go off track. At this time, try to think about your original intention of making this movie, and you can get back on track. "

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