Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The absurd comedy "Lights Out," starring Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise, in which military cadets resist real estate developers demolishing their houses, has completed editing of the entire film and has begun internal previews.

Based on feedback from test screenings, 20th Century Fox does not have much confidence in its box office prospects and does not want to compete with big productions such as "ET" and "Rocky 3" for next year's summer slots.

President Shirley Lansing took the initiative and scheduled the production with a budget of 14 million for the Christmas period at the end of the year, urging the director to make a second revision based on audience feedback.

"Texas", which is invested by Disney and produced by Zinnemann, has been filmed in Tulsa, a rural town in Oklahoma and the hometown of original author Se. Hinton.

Disney expects the film to receive a PG rating because it includes scenes of heroine Meg Tilly getting up in low-cut pajamas, some strong language, and a scene in which the suspect uses a gun after escaping from prison.

This is in great conflict with Disney's principle of always being G-rated and attracting children to watch. Disney's president, Ron Miller, spent a lot of energy to suppress the opposition of a group of veteran officials and insisted on releasing the film.

However, as he took charge of Disney as a son-in-law, he had to make certain compromises with the conservatives led by Roy Disney Jr., his wife's cousin. "Texas" does not use the Disney logo in the title, but uses the publisher's brand "Buena Vista".

Ron Miller decided to make this movie, which was later increased to a production cost of 6 million, as a test of the transformation direction of Disney's youth live-action movies, and put it on the big screen in July at the end of next summer's summer season.

Paramount's teen movie, "Grease 2," the sequel to the hit musical, is a mess. Director Patricia Birch lacked experience, and the people below were scheming over the casting and stuffing their own people into this 12 million-dollar production.

Those with power competed for leading roles and supporting roles, while those without power could join in a few singing and dancing groups, and casting meetings were held every day with great excitement.

Except for the heroine Birch, who has already settled on Michelle Pfeiffer, the selection of male protagonists has already been fiercely contested. Birch almost lost control of the show, and as the show was about to begin operations, the two producers were still arguing over the male lead.

The script began to be further revised to accommodate different candidates for the male lead. If this chaos continues, the script may not be finalized when filming starts in November. Director Birch's hair has turned gray.

Universal Pictures' teen movie "Fast Richmond High" was a small $3 million production. Including the American burger brought by the young director and the sponsorship of Vans canvas shoes, the production budget is exactly 3.1 million.

Assistant director Albert came to the production office to meet Ronald, the young and over-the-top director. The director chose him over him and two other candidates, which was a bittersweet experience for him.

Albert had just entered the industry not long ago. Because of his serious and responsible work, he once served as the first assistant director in "Urban Cowherd". The movie was a box office hit and he got more job opportunities.

The job of the first assistant director is to help the director manage all people and processes on the set, so that the director can focus on directing the performance. Whether the box office is good or not has little to do with him.

However, Albert's next three films all failed at the box office. Albert had no long-term director. Others thought he was unlucky and could not find a good job for a while.

It happened that Universal's small production was recruiting people, and the director chose him. He had a job and could support his family. But he is also afraid that the film will fail to be released, which will have a worse negative impact on his resume and cause problems for his future work.

"Hi, Al. The director is losing his temper with the producer." The person calling him was Matthew, the crew's director of photography, and the two were familiar with each other before.

"Go to the office and wait, Ronald is waiting for you." Matthew reminded him and walked out.

Al added a layer of worry. Not only was this director young, but it was his first time making a film. If he got angry with the producer Lin Sen... he was recommended by Lin Sen.

Many studios will provide young people who become directors for the first time with an experienced first assistant director to help them get started smoothly. But this Ronald Lee...why did he have a conflict with the producer before filming started?

He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Al pushed open the door and heard Ronald talking loudly to producer Lin Sen.

"It's not fair, why do we have Dolly Parton product placement for her movie in the movie and she doesn't have product placement for us?"

Lin Sen chuckled, he was used to Ronald's fussy style.

"orge on, Ronnie. Our 'Up' is a period drama and it's not normal to have a poster of the main characters in front of the movie theater where they work. Dolly Parton's 'Best Chicken Room in Texas' It’s a period drama, how can we insert a story that takes place in the present?”

"Fair, fair, Mr. Linsen. They can't just instruct us to do that for free just because Ms. Mona from Texas got a budget of 30 million." Ronald replied.

Ms. Mona is Dolly Parton's character in the movie, and she runs a chicken room with many beauties.

He met Dolly Parton at an Oscars party, not that he had any problem with her personally.

"Okay, I'll go talk to the old guys and ask their theaters to add some trailers for us. But you can't expect too much."

"I know, something is better than nothing." Ronald knew that for a small production worth 3.1 million yuan, there was no room for reciprocal exchange with the other party.

"Ahem..." First Assistant Director Al cleared his throat.

"Oh, Al, you're here. I just gave you the finalized script. You can start decomposing the script next Monday." Ronald handed over an all-white copy of the script. If you want to modify the script in the future, just The white paper in the modified part will be replaced with blue and other colors.

All these trivial matters are handled by Al, the first assistant director, and his team of assistant directors. Usually, a woman will be appointed as the second assistant director to be responsible for this kind of delicate documentation work.

Al took over the script, with the title "Fast-paced Richmond High" written on it, and a line of small words on the lower right, the final draft.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

I don’t know the capable person in front of me. Many new directors, even big directors, have made this mistake. The delay in finalizing the script made other departments of the crew, such as costumes, scenery, lighting, photography, etc. unable to work, and it became a mess after the production started.

Ronald is very organized and finalizes the script at the first meeting, leaving others free to work. In fact, the finalized script can be revised later. He and the producer were not arguing, but fighting for the benefits the crew deserved.

What kind of novice director is asking for his help? Isn't this just a copy of the urban legend circulating within Universal?

When Spielberg directed for the first time, a novice director in his 20s, he acted like an experienced director as soon as he started.

Seeing Al flipping through the script, Ronald added, "Next Monday will be the four weeks before filming starts. You first find candidates for the assistant director team, and try to use experienced people who have worked with them before.

Then we start to break down the script and create a shooting schedule. I will take you to the set office first, and then to the costumes and props. Finally, there is my office, which is huge. You will work with me there. "

With that said, Ronald led Al out of the producer's office. The crew is gradually taking shape, and the original preparation office is no longer enough and has been turned into an accounting department. Now that the number of people is increasing day by day, Universal has allocated a lot of new offices for the production crew to use.

Al followed Ronald through the sets, props, and costumes. Ronald and the person in charge were very familiar with it, especially the costume department, and he even selected pictures of two sweaters for the protagonist Stacey and asked them to make them.

This made Al think highly of Ronald again. Many directors with a background in fine arts, such as David Lynch, spend all day hanging out with costumes, constantly selecting and making exquisite costumes. Word has been circulating around Hollywood about his new title, chief costumer.

Another type of director who pays attention to performance has not yet met with the costume department when filming started. When filming started, he was not satisfied with the costumes and could not change them immediately, which was very troublesome.

"This is Cameron Crowe, this is our first assistant director Al, he will be in place next Monday." Ronald finally led Al to the office of the screenwriter and director.

Al looked at his desk, which was the largest. It seems that Ronald is not a director who only pays attention to the hierarchy on the set, but has flexibility. The assistant director team has a lot of paperwork, and it is very convenient to have a large desk where papers can be spread out and sorted slowly.

He took his leave and left. It must be comfortable to work on such a crew. Although the budget is not high, the boss is knowledgeable and all departments prepare early, so that the filming can be carried out in an orderly and rapid manner.

However, this type of director may be less artistically creative, and Spielberg is a special case after all. But why think so much? Can an exploitation film with a budget of 3.1 million still expect to win awards?

Ronald sent Al out and turned to Cameron Crowe and said, "The producer gave us a job to plant a character in Dolly Parton's new film in the movie theater scene at the beginning of the film. Advertisement. Think about what to do.”

"Is that the nerdy 'mouse' Mark who works at the movie theater to check tickets? Then let them come up with a poster and we can put it up next to Mark's ticket counter."

"To add some spice, we have to get serious. How about adding a line to Mark's friend, the scalper Mike? Let's just say..." Ronald gave Crowe an idea.

"Hahaha... you have such a sense of humor." Crowe laughed and started typing on the typewriter.

"I've always been a little curious. The countdown will start soon. Aren't you nervous?" Crowe asked while typing.

"I'm not nervous. I'm very excited. I can finally realize my dream. Cameron, you will also feel this when you become a director in the future."

The fourth to last week...

The first assistant director Al finished breaking down the script and took out a preliminary shooting schedule to discuss with Ronald.

"There are two nude scenes here. Have the contracts been processed?" Al reminded the director.

"Yes, the actors are all adults and signed the consent form. We informed each other at the beginning of the audition and the Screen Actors Guild checked."

"There are scenes with two children on the first day of shooting. Do you need to move it to two days later? After all, scenes with children are difficult to direct."

Ronald took the shooting plan and looked at it. Al's reminder was necessary. Hollywood legend has it that children, animals, and water are the three subjects that directors are most afraid of. Their common characteristic is disobedience.

It is often easy to waste time and delay the shooting process. This makes it easy for associate producer Heikelin to catch him.

But he flipped through the shooting schedule and shook his head, "I have no choice. The shopping mall scenes have to wait until the shopping mall closes at 9pm to shoot the night scene. After that, the shooting schedule is very full, and there are union regulations for children. You can't take photos too late. It's against the rules after 11pm.

We only have a relatively empty schedule on the first day, which allows them enough time to make mistakes. "

All said and done, the budget was still too small and it was impossible to set up scenes for filming inside the mall.

The third to last week...

First Assistant Director Al and Ronald went to Sherman Oaks again. This week, we will check the shooting scenes one by one according to the shooting progress, and work with the art director and photography director to ensure that each scene can be shot as expected.

"We will find a way to hide the lights here, consistent with the lighting system inside the mall, so that it can illuminate the scene without looking like a real mall." Photography Knows Matthew took Ronald to see the lights layout.

"The first week of shooting will be in normal tones, showing what the human eye sees on film as it is. Then when you switch to shooting other scenes, I will be here to keep an eye on it and decorate the mall into a Christmas atmosphere. We’ll shoot the Christmas scene for another week when you guys come back.”

"Does the mall agree?"

"They are very happy that they can save themselves the expense of decorating the Christmas atmosphere. Anyway, it's almost Christmas after we finish filming."

"very good……"

The third to last week...

Ronald is having separate meetings with the actors to discuss the performances of each character.

"How are you getting along with Robert Romanus, who plays Mike?" Ronald asked Jennifer Jason Leigh as she put on a sweater for a fitting.

"He is a very good person and has done a lot of work for our family. My mother couldn't bear to see him leave after filming." Jennifer laughed.

"How about this set? The neckline was specially modified to match her double ponytail hairstyle." The costume took a double ponytail wig from the hairstylist and put it on Jennifer.

"Very good, just order this set. Find her another one that matches her shawl hair." Ronald ordered.

Jennifer had two passionate scenes, and Ronald specifically asked him what it was like to get along with the actor. However, Jennifer comes from an acting family, so Ronald is not particularly worried.

He was more worried about Phoebe Cates. She was angry because the "Paradise" crew edited her revealing scenes of a body double. Publicly accused "Paradise" in newspapers of plagiarizing "Blue Lagoon".

This made him a little worried whether Phoebe would be averse to "fast-paced" exposure scenes.

Among the other leading actors, Judge Reinhold's conversation with Ronald was neither salty nor cool, but it seemed that he still favored Heckerling. Judge's acting skills are still up to standard, and Ronald hopes to calm them down when the camera starts, so that the filming will go on the right track.

The only thing that left him scratching his head was Sean Penn. He had a stage show in Chicago and had not returned to Los Angeles yet. And I heard from Tom Cruise that Sean is a Methodist. When an actor like this plays with a non-Methodist, it’s best not to cause any problems.

The penultimate week...

"All shooting schedules have been confirmed, and this is a notice broken down to each actor." The first assistant director Al was very helpful, and the documents were organized in an orderly manner.

Ronald picked up the notice and handed it to producer Lin Sen and associate producer Heikelin. On the last weekend before the start of filming, they met to check all preparations and prepare for the start of production next Monday.

"All the extras have signed the consent form. All-American Burger has also agreed to open its back kitchen to us. This is the consent form..."

Each item was checked and confirmed, and the crew was waiting for the official start of filming.

"Wish us success." Ronald shook hands with everyone. When I held Heikelin in my hand, I saw her smiling too. The two of them smiled and said goodbye, just waiting for the show to begin.

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