Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"This is very unusual, Ronald. Generally speaking, MPAA rarely overturns previous classification decisions. This must be someone targeting us." After receiving the news, two producers, Lin Sen and Azoff, rushed to the editing room. Show your support to Ronald and discuss a solution.

"The MPAA's rating description is very clear. They received a joint letter of protest from many industry insiders, so they re-examined the grading decision.

This time they 'carefully' discovered that there were frontal and full-body exposure shots, which did not meet the R-rated regulations. As long as we reprocess the footage, it can be submitted for review again.

If you're lucky, you can get level R again. "

Ronald spoke slowly, calling up frontal shots of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Romanus on the editing table. It took a lot of effort to make it.

"Good luck?" Agent Richard was also by his side and asked Ronald.

When CAA learned that the movie was rated X, Richard stayed with Ronald throughout the day, buying him food and helping with some chores.

At this time, he was worried that Ronald would be under too much pressure. Since the X-rated movies began to be classified as such, they are generally considered to be adult movies by the audience.

If it hadn't been revised, Ronald would have kissed goodbye to his dream of a box-office success with his first movie.

"Have you forgotten? At that time, Zeffirelli's 'Endless Love', starring Brooke Shields, was submitted for review because it was PolyGram. It was reviewed five times in total before the X rating was removed and it got an R."

"You have a good mentality, Ronald. This is not a problem of your editing level at all, but of Mount, the bastard, who has connected many old stubborns in Universal's top management to cause trouble."

Producer Lin Sen knew very well that the film he produced was involved in a high-level struggle and was used as a stick by the two presidents to attack each other.

The box office of "ET" has broken many records. The number of theaters showing it has increased from more than 1,100 at the beginning to more than 1,300. The calls for more copies are still coming from the front. came.

Tom Mount opposed ET's project establishment and filming. If he didn't catch a point to fight back, he would be kicked out on the day ET successfully completed the first round of screenings.

Of course, a CEO of a major studio would still hold a golden parachute even if he was laid off. Millions, tens of millions of dollars in severance pay, plus investment in opening a production company of their own, and finally signing a film underwriting and distribution agreement with their new company for more than five years.

There are too many bad things going on in the film industry, and these hush money payments have become industry management. Mount is no exception.

"We will unite and fight against those old diehards. They are all old men who had great success before the 1950s. They have no understanding of today's film market. They don't know what kind of movies can attract audiences."

Azoff, as a producer in the MCA faction, stood firmly in Sheinberg's shoes.

"Yes, Mr. Spielberg will also speak for you." Richard also agreed.

"But what are you going to do about this censorship opinion, Ronald?" Lin Sen is still a director, even though the box office failed. But he knew that this specific review opinion was not easy to bypass.

We must make honest revisions, coupled with the efforts of Sheinberger's faction within Universal, to publicize the MPAA, in order to regain the letter R.

"Reshooting is impossible. The male lead Romanus has found a new job and started filming a TV series. And Jennifer is in mourning. Now calling her to shoot an explicit scene is equivalent to giving Mount the opportunity to exploit Jewish girls. False words."

Ronald said softly, twisting the control knob of the editing table in his hand and watching this piece of film repeatedly.

One of Tom Mount's excuses for getting the old diehards together was that he took advantage of Jennifer Jason Leigh's eagerness to debut and forced him to take off his clothes and make a teen exploitation film.

Now that Vic Morrow has suffered a violent death, he must stand up for his daughter. We cannot let a young director do such a thing to a beautiful Jewish girl who is as precious as a treasure, the future Barbra Streisand. Originally, there were not many beautiful girls from this ethnic group.

"What should we do? Cut it?" producer Azoff asked.

"I have thought about it. Of course, the advantage of doing this is that it can pass the MPAA review immediately, but this is the core of the two characters Stacey and scalper Mike. If they are cut, these two characters will not be established."

"Relax, you will always find a way." Producer Lin Sen came over and poured Ronald a glass of water. "We are going to have a meeting with Niceta and Ovitz of CAA, and we will join forces with Steven, who is now popular, to counterattack them at a higher level.

Make sure that this modification of yours will not be messed with again. Steven is grateful that you fought back against Landis and didn't let him spread the rumor that Steven was there. "

Ronald took the water and nodded. Continuing to look at the footage at the editing table, "Close the door for me, Richard, I need to concentrate."

No matter how the two producers discussed it with the CAA people. No matter how they took advantage of Spielberg's et al sales and the advantage brought to Shenberg, they tried every means to counter Mount's offense.

Ronald is still fighting in the editing room. He watched this scene over and over again and finally came up with some idea.

In the reexamination opinion of the MPAA, the reason for the rating of x was clearly stated. This scene shows high school students having sex, and they have frontal nudity from top to bottom.

Although this scene was shot to show Stacey and Mike's nervousness and loss of control. After watching it, the audience will only feel a sense of fear in their hearts about young men and women trying the forbidden fruit. It will never give rise to longing thoughts.

But rules are rules. After receiving collective complaints, MPAA cannot turn a blind eye to movies produced by Universal and other seven major companies as usual.

Just like Spielberg's previous film "The Lost Ark of the Covenant", there are obviously a lot of violent scenes, as well as gun battles, sword fights, etc., because it was released by Paramount, produced by Lucas, and directed by Spielberg. I randomly gave it a pg rating.

pg is the level recommended for parents to accompany the movie, so that children can watch Harrison Ford shoot down the villain Chief with one shot, almost die while being chased by a boulder, and kiss a woman passionately. In order to save America's movie box office, MPAA is actually not so strict in front of the seven major studios.

So the problem now is that Ronald has to give an explanation to MPAA, an explanation of "I followed your review and revised it sincerely." Then look at Sheinberg.

MPAA clearly states which parts do not meet the rating. The main problem with being rated X is that the male and female protagonists are completely naked from top to bottom. In fact, as long as the lower part of the screen can be deleted, the x rating can be avoided.

The problem is that if you delete part of a shot, it will not be consistent with the original negative. The audience will notice that the viewfinder of the deleted scene suddenly jumps and then becomes smaller, and then realizes what the director has done. It is difficult not to be surprised.

Reshooting the scenes between the male and female protagonists is also an option, but it is difficult for the actors to regain the original feeling. This kind of scene was filmed by the two actors after the scene was cleared, with a kind of worry about gain and loss, which just fits the mood of the characters.

It would be great if we could cut out the off-duty scenes from this part of the film, then re-expose it and combine it with the original negative. In this way, the picture that the audience sees is like cropping the original camera viewfinder and then zooming back into the original frame. The audience will not feel that the picture is out of place.

"Huh? I really want to see a machine that can achieve this kind of function somewhere." Ronald seemed to have a hint of inspiration in his heart, but he didn't catch it. He was so anxious that he stood up and spun around.

"What's wrong with you? Ronald." Richard, the agent who accompanied him in the editing room, looked at him and thought he was too anxious. "If it doesn't work, our CAA will come forward to help you hire actors to reshoot. We can say that those are the redundant scenes that were shot at that time."

"No, reshoots cannot reproduce the actor's performance state." After more than two months of advice from Coppola, Ronald knew very well that he did not have much experience in directing actors when filming "Fast Pace" , this shot happens to be one of the few shots that was shot very well by accident.

"I was just thinking about a machine that could help me solve the problem of picture editing. I must have seen such a machine somewhere, but I just can't remember what it was called."

"What impression do you have? I can help you think about it together."

"I remember being with Roger Corman. But not at New Age Productions."

"Who else was there at that time?"

"It seems like I remember Johnny Carson's voice."

"Johnny Carson? Are you watching The Tonight Show with Coleman?"

"No, there should be someone next to me."

"By the way, he is the cultural counselor of the Soviet Union Embassy. Please help me find it. At last year's Oscars, a technology award was awarded to the inventor of a machine. What was that machine called?"

Richard immediately called the CAA mailroom and found the list of winners from last year's Oscars.

"That device is called an optical printer."

"Yes, it's called an optical printer."

Ronald remembered the name and immediately approached producer Lin Sen to coordinate the rental of a film optical printer for editing.

"First make a copy of this part of the film, then crop out each frame of Mike's lower body in proportion, and finally use a film optical printer to copy it to the original size, and finally replace this part of the film."

Ronald told the film editors and special effects workers his requirements in Universal's film editing room.

"You have a good idea, but I can't help but think of tailoring it like this."

The special effects artist smiled bitterly. This machine was originally intended to be used to create special effects composite shots of the TIE Fighter vs. X-Wing Fighter in "Star Wars". Now being used to cut out sensitive parts of an actor.

"Hahaha, I can't help it." Ronald laughed.

The new film that was replaced was re-edited. Universal remade a copy as quickly as possible and sent it to the MPAA for re-examination.

At the same time, Shenberg also received a call from Spielberg, asking him to escort Ronald's movie this time, obtain an R-level rating from the MPAA, and release it on time.

"This kid helped me again. Landis is like a mad dog right now, biting anyone he catches. He can no longer be allowed to wreak havoc with Tom Mount. I heard he has also gathered a bunch of old guys from Universal." Write joint letters and complain everywhere. What do they want to do?"

"Steven, it's the National Day weekend soon. et Alien is at a critical moment. The box office is expected to exceed 100 million soon. We are stepping up printing copies and may increase the number to 1,500 theaters next week.

According to this momentum, et's box office is very likely to exceed that of your friend George's "Star Wars A New Hope", making you the highest box office holder of a single film in America again.

At this time, it is best not to cause unnecessary problems. As for Mount, I already have a plan to deal with him. "

Spielberg was silent for a while, "I don't want Ronald to get hurt in any way. He is a good young film director. If his first film fails at the box office, I'm afraid he will lose confidence."

remember? Sidney. When I was shooting Jaws, I was over schedule and over budget. If it weren’t for your support…”

"I understand, Steven." Shenberg didn't expect Spielberg to have such a high opinion of Ronald. "I will try my best to ensure that his movies are released as scheduled."

"It just so happens that all the major studios are transitioning into making teen movies. Disney's 'The Decker' and Paramount's 'Grease 2' are all part of this trend. That's fine, just take a look. This Ronald is a great director." Shenberg said to himself after putting down the phone.

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