Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Diane Lane and Laura Dern were dubious about Ronald's claim that he could cut the film "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Magic Band" and release it.

"Do you think he can really cut it? Diane?" Laura and Diane went to the hotel booked by the Golden Globe Awards organizing committee to play together, still thinking about whether her first movie would be released.

The Golden Globe Awards had a viewership rating of 15% last year, and the annual broadcast costs are millions of dollars. Compared with less than a hundred judges, the organizing committee has a lot of money. Therefore, Laura, who served as "Miss Golden Globe Award", was also given a large room in a five-star hotel, which was located at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel where the event was held.

"I don't know, but you see Jane Fonda respects him very much, and even invited him to her home for a talk. Maybe he is really a bit of a genius?" Diane didn't know much about Ronald's directing and editing skills, she only knew He won an Oscar for his lyrics.

"It makes sense, artists can't use common sense to infer." Laura thought.

Coming from an acting family, she knows that the level of a film artist does not depend on time and experience. It often happens in the film industry that young people who are just starting out can defeat their old masters with one punch.

Among the series of film director biographies on her father's bookshelf, there was one by the young genius Orson Welles. Orson Welles directed the radio drama "Martians Invasion of the Earth" at the age of 23, fooling half of America into believing it was true.

"I have to call my mom and ask her to help me ask." Laura Dern said, unlike Diane, she has already had several film credits. Laura is still looking forward to the early release of her first movie.

A week later, Ronald finally waited for the test audience that Universal paid for. In a Hollywood movie theater, more than a hundred viewers were invited by phone to attend a test screening of an anonymous "teen comedy".

"Go to the women's restroom later and listen to what the female audience members think." Before the show started, Ronald hid at the door at the back of the theater and whispered to his manager Paula Wagner.

"Women's bathroom?" Paula nodded in agreement.

"Can you help me go to the men's bathroom and see what they are saying?" Then Ronald assigned a task to Richard Lovett, the youngest of the three.

"What job are you giving me?" Rick Niceta, who has the highest status in CAA, looked at Ronald and asked with a smile.

"Don't you have something to talk to me about? Oh oh..." Ronald reacted and quickly thanked Paula and Richard, "Please help me, I really don't have anyone else who can help.

I'll go to the foyer later to listen to the audience's reaction. thanks, thanks! "

Niceta smiled and pulled Ronald out of the screening room.

"Do you think Ronald is getting a little..." Richard said to Paula Wagner, who made a rare appearance.

"Confident, sensitive, aggressive?" Paula smiled.

"Artists treat their creative works like this. They are full of confidence, but also afraid of criticism. This is Ronald's first directorial work, and it is considered to be his film launch. It would be abnormal not to have this kind of ambivalence. How many of you You know that when you’re dealing with artists.”

With a "swish" sound, the theater's automatic door swung twice, and finally stopped in the closed position. A globe logo appeared on the screen, and the preview of Universal's "Fast-paced Richmond High" began.

The brisk opening music quickly brought the audience into an ordinary department store in Southern California...

Richard and Paula stopped talking, found a place to sit down, and started reading.

Niceta was talking to Ronald outside the door. He wanted to see Ronald for something.

"Paramount executives personally called and asked if you could help see their movie 'The Amazing Dirt Band.' The ending of this movie has never been cut. If it can't tell a story, it has to be abandoned." It’s locked in the film library.”

"Huh? Are they really looking for you?" Ronald was surprised. Laura and Diane passed on what he said?

"Yes, but I don't recommend that you take over the editing. It's okay to help look at the copy. But Lou Adler is not a simple director, he is also the boss of the record industry. We don't know what he thinks."

"Then you arrange for me to meet with him? If he really wants help from others, then it won't be too late for me to take action. Otherwise, I'll just look at other people's works."

"Don't you take a vacation? There are still six months until the release. You can take a long vacation before starting to prepare for a new project. I know your hands are fast. Six months is enough to write the script of the next movie. ." Niceta replied.

"Write a script?" Ronald repeated the sentence, "I don't know, Rick. I've been very nervous recently. I can't write any quality scripts, and I have no inspiration at all. On the other hand, I can't completely Stop and rest and always look for something to do.

I seem to have become accustomed to the fast-paced life of less than five hours of sleep a day, filming, watching samples, editing, rewinding... This movie made my own life pace faster. I felt uncomfortable as soon as I stopped, but I was not in the mood to write a script. "

"Why don't you travel abroad, Ronald? Many directors will fall into this kind of anxiety after completing a work. What they need is to find a girl and go to a resort with them for two months.

I’m not asking you to waste time on vacation, but timely rest and adjustment are needed. If you need, I can also give you a few invitations to the party, as long as you don't indulge in it..."

Niceta saw that Ronald had a tendency to be anxious and became concerned about the client's mental health.

"I don't need to pay to find a girl to accompany me, hahaha." Ronald laughed and said haha. He didn't really like the kind of parties that Niceta mentioned. Drinking and having fun can easily make people lose their minds.

Moreover, there is a lack of real high-quality beauties there. They are all those who want to enter the entertainment industry but cannot get in.

He continued, "Hey, I also know that I may have ordinary life syndrome. The fast and dramatic story rhythm in the movie assimilated me, but the ordinary rhythm in life made me feel abnormal."

Ronald also vaguely felt that his mental state was a bit too excited. He was eager to work but could not calm down to write a script that required forward and backward planning.

As for the girls, they couldn’t find a suitable partner for a short-term vacation for a while. After filming the movie, all the beauties on the crew scattered to find new jobs. At the moment, the prosecutor who can skip testing and communicate directly is far away in New York, and the girl he wants to date is also auditioning constantly in New York and has no time to come to Los Angeles.

"I think I'd better use work to adjust my status. Do you have any short-term job offers?" Ronald asked.

“Except for Paramount’s ‘Stain Band’ asking you to see if there was any way to remedy the editing, there were only a few sporadic script offers, but you said you couldn’t settle down to write the script.

I actually don’t recommend that you immediately invest in writing scripts commissioned by studios. After your new film is released and gets some good reviews, the asking price for such commissioned scripts will be higher. "

“What about jobs other than screenwriting?”

"There is a job opening for the trainee director of Coppola's new film... But that requires competition with many people from the Directors Guild. Based on your qualifications, it is actually a bit too strong. You have already directed a feature film, so you don't need to compete with other directors. Learn from others to increase your qualifications.”

"Isn't Coppola's new movie not released yet? That 'Old Love, New Love' starring Natasha Kinski? Is there a new movie coming out so soon?"

"It's a long story. Paramount was originally going to release his new film, but Coppola released his own edited version in Los Angeles without Paramount's consent, and was terminated from the distribution contract.

Columbia, which was acquired by Coca-Cola, took over distribution at the last minute. But Coppola also faced a heavy financial burden because of this. He signed a gambling agreement with Colombia...

Now he can only continue to take on new jobs to solve his bankruptcy crisis. "

Ronald nodded. If he had this opportunity at the beginning of last year, he would definitely fight for it. "How is the quality of Old Love and New Love? Have you seen it?"

"No, but it will premiere soon. You can go and see it for yourself. I heard that it is a breakthrough in technology, but the format is a bit old. It is an old-fashioned musical."

"Also, director Peter Bogdanovich would like to meet with you."

"What is he looking for me for? I don't know him?" Ronald asked curiously. This famous director who made "Paper Moon" frightened him after his girlfriend Dorothy Stratten was killed some time ago. It was so embarrassing that he disappeared from the circle for a long time.

"Maybe it's about his dead girlfriend Stratten. You used her poster in the movie. I heard that the copyright of many of Stratten's portraits is now in his hands."

"Then let him talk to the producer. I'm not interested." Ronald had seen Bogdanovich's movies, but he didn't have a strong desire to communicate with him.

"Why don't you go in and watch your own movie?"

"To tell you the truth, I've watched it hundreds of times in the editing room. Now I can't feel the charm of the movie itself at all. It's all about the scenes when I was shooting and editing. And it's so dark inside that I can't even feel the charm of the movie itself." I don’t know the expressions of the audience, so I’m here waiting for them to come out and score.”

"Okay, then I'll go in and watch." Niceta carefully pushed away the people in the screening room to prevent him from making a sound, and then got in.

Today is the first time that Ronald's client's film will be screened in front of an audience, so all three of his agents are here.

The name is help, but it actually also means evaluation. Look at Ronald's performance and potential, and then consider how much resources to invest in him and what kind of opportunities we will strive for.

Ronald waited at the door for the show to end, bought a bag of popcorn and a glass of Coke, and started eating and drinking by himself.

For the past six months, it has been really hard for me to do nothing and just wait. Every day I am thinking about how the movie will do at the box office after it is released. Just like a defendant waiting for the judge's decision, only when the gavel falls can he stop being on tenterhooks.

"If I don't have any job, I can go back to New York and help my aunt sell leg warmers. It might be better to spend time with my family." Ronald thought while eating.

More than an hour later, the door of the screening room was pushed open with a bang from inside, and many viewers who had finished watching the movie walked out one after another.

Universal staff set up a stall at the door. There is paper on it for viewers to write ratings and comments.

Ronald stepped in to help with the distribution and retrieval, and listened to the audience’s feedback.

"The scene that impressed me the most? It was Linda at the swimming pool... haha."

"What do you think the filming was not good enough? I think the love story between Stacey and Mark is not very good. Why does Stacey fall in love with him?"

"Am I willing to accept a return interview by phone? Yes, I'll leave my number."

…

Ronald looked at a lot of audience ratings, and many people gave them relatively high scores. The average score might be between b+ and a-.

"What do you think?" After the two agents came back from the bathroom after listening to the feedback, Ronald quickly asked them about the feedback they heard. Queuing in the bathroom is often the moment when viewers reveal their truth.

"Girls generally admired the daydream episode played by Phoebe Cates. Although it was a nudity scene, they didn't find it offensive." Paula Wagner said. "Maybe they also have a fantasy complex. Ronald, you just made the actor who played Brad in the dream scene very handsome."

"What did they say about Stacey's scenes?"

"I didn't mention that scene. Maybe it was too real?"

Ronald nodded. In the scene with Stacey, scalper Mike became a fast shooter, and finally Stacey became pregnant. The ending of this plot was not very good. The audience may have selectively forgotten.

"What did you say there?" Ronald turned to Richard.

"A lot of people like Spicoli, and the male audience members are talking about how he ended up dating Brooke Shields, was on Letterman's talk show, and invited Van Halen to sing for his birthday." Richard replied, "Maybe Everybody wants to be Spicoli, play all day and get a high school diploma and become a winner in life.”

"He was the only character who received applause when the character's ending was revealed at the end of the movie," Niceta added.

"Can I keep a copy of the phone numbers of the viewers who left their phone numbers so they can call back?" Ronald asked the Universal staff who was sorting out the scoring and evaluation papers after watching the audience leave.

"I need to organize these first and discuss them with the company's senior management. Then I can send a copy to you, Director Ronald."

"Can I leave you your phone number? I'm his agent and I'll contact you when the time comes." Richard quickly took out a pen and wrote down his phone number.

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