Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"et Alien's box office exceeded 200 million US dollars, continuing to set the fastest box office record for a U.S. movie."

Ronald watched the weekend box office review program on television. "et Alien" has been in theaters for more than two months. The weekly box office of a single theater is more than 10,000 US dollars, and the number of theaters showing it has expanded to more than 1,700.

"Fast-paced Richmond High School" ranked second, but it is getting further and further away from et Alien.

Family portrait movies still have much greater box office potential than movies focusing on teenagers.

"Ronnie, when are we going to watch the US Open? Did your friend make it to the main draw? Who did he face in the first round?" Helen Slater asked Ronald from the inside. She had just passed away from her mother. Come over there and talk to your cousin Donna.

"Yes, he entered the main draw at Wimbledon in June. This time the US Open is in his hometown." Ronald replied.

Vincent Van Patten, the male protagonist of "Rock and Roll High School", has been on the rise since entering the professional tennis world and is now a regular participant in the ATP Challenger League.

He also defeated compatriot John McEnroe, who was ranked number one in the world, and won the championship at the Seiko Challenge held in Tokyo. This time at the US Open, he was ranked in the same half as McEnroe. Ronald was going to cheer up his old friend.

Those who are capable can do anything. This Vincent guy, in addition to being handsome and able to play the leading role in movies, did not expect that tennis is also a real professional level.

The heroine of "Rock of Ages" PJ Soles has already called and wants to ask Ronald to go to the scene to cheer Van Patten when he faces McEnroe again in the third round.

Ronald knew she also wanted to find opportunities for her husband, Dennis Quaid, who had starred in several of her movies and was still missing a starring role.

I am very willing to help these old friends, but a role is a role after all. Ronald could not give away such a big opportunity for no reason.

"Ring, ring, ring..." Ronald answered the phone and called to Donna, "Donna, the telescope you ordered has arrived. Little Douglas is calling."

"Really? Let's go get it quickly. I heard that astronomy enthusiasts all over the world are looking for traces of Halley's Comet. It is said that there have been unconfirmed sighting reports. It would be great if I could be the first to see it. "

Donna ran out happily. Her high school focused on cultivating scientific knowledge. Donna became interested in astronomy and wanted to buy an astronomical telescope to see the stars.

Ronald searched several stores but couldn't find any.

Few people buy this kind of thing, and Macy’s doesn’t even carry it.

When Staten Island landowner Douglas Hanson III, a good friend from the high school wrestling club, came to visit, he learned about Donna's hobby and boasted that he would buy it for her.

"He said he would bring it to you."

"Doug, do you really have the goods?" Donna took the phone and started chatting with Doug.

After a while, Douglas Jr. delivered the astronomical telescope that Donna wanted to buy to his home as promised.

"Donna, you are getting better and better, and you can also observe comets? I am most interested in comets."

"Of course, did you know that a comet that returned recently split, and the original comet became two very close to each other. According to the return cycle, Halley's Comet will pass perihelion in 1986, and this year it will be eight It should be visible through the telescopes of astronomers in the second half of next year."

Ronald looked at Donna's serious look and found it interesting. Many key middle schools in America are like this. They offer many elective courses to talented high school students. As long as you are interested, you will develop knowledge in this area.

Helen hugged Donald from behind who was sitting and watching TV, "Shall we find something to do too?"

Ronald touched Helen's arm, knowing that she had been helpless recently. The agent introduced by her father often screened out audition opportunities with Gerald without telling her before recommending them. The agent introduced by my mother was a talent scout and did not have many connections in the industry.

Helen has only acted in one TV series and has not tasted the taste of a movie actor.

Ronald thought he might be able to help Helen fulfill her wish.

I should also start preparations for my next movie. Richard had a slew of offers for teen exploitation films, but no particularly great synopsis.

Hollywood is unwilling to change the formula for success. Since Fast Time became popular, Ronald has been getting books with themes such as sexual embarrassment, adults, high school students, or valley girls.

This made him a little helpless. Fast-paced success is not necessarily due to these superficial elements. Can you replicate a successful movie by taking apart the elements of a blockbuster and then putting those elements back together?

If you continue to make movies like this, you may not be able to meet the box office expectations given to you by major studios. Ronald couldn't explain why "fast-paced Richmond High School" was such a hit.

This has something to do with the fact that it happened to have a few good actors, the script was interesting, Brooke Shields' popularity helped it, and it had nothing to do with the fact that there were no competitive films of the same type when it was released.

Ronald began to seriously consider whether to find Roger Corman to make another type of low-budget production. Now that he has just been proven to be able to make youth sex comedy films, I am afraid that the seven major studios will not give him the opportunity to practice in other types of films.

Only a boss like Roger Corman was willing to give Ronald the green light for his small production. This would just give Helen a role and let her do explicit scenes in an exploitation film, which she didn't want to do.

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any signs of dreaming about new movies recently.

"Let's practice meditation later." Helen thought of something to do.

Ronald and Helen have been practicing meditation recently, which is quite popular among middle-class families in New York, or among artists.

Since the last time he practiced Jane Fonda's aerobics and dreamed of the movie "The Kid", Ronald often practiced women's aerobics without fear of others' ridicule. But it didn't trigger any dreams after that.

After thinking carefully, he felt that maybe it was the dream caused by the cross-legged and deep breathing exercises during the final tidying up exercise.

So after seeing the meditation postures Helen practiced, I felt that they were similar to the final postures and breathing rhythms of Jane Fonda's aerobics, so I started practicing them too.

But apart from numbness in my legs, it had no effect.

"No, I'm going to the screening club at New York University. Some old friends invited me to meet them."

"Then let me go together." Helen and Ronald recently happened to be at a time when they didn't really want to be separated.

"Okay, let's go together." Ronald replied, "Spike Lee, who shot your commercial last time, and Kathryn Bigelow are both here. Their screening club organized a symposium tonight and invited me to go. Let’s talk.”

"Then let me go too. I'm most interested in movies." Upon hearing that Kathryn Bigelow was also going back, Douglas Jr. immediately expressed that he wanted to go together to see her.

The three of them drove to the Screening Club of New York University, where Spike, Bigelow, and the Chinese graduate student Li Ang were waiting at the door for Ronald and others to arrive.

A year later, Ronald took the first step and the movie was released in theaters.

After entering the club, there were many new students waiting for Ronald to come and talk to them.

"It cannot be said that Coppola is still the most capable director in America. His "Old Love, New Love" is one that the audience does not understand."

"I watched your movie and I didn't like it. It's too Hollywood. Movies are not just a tool to make money, they should also be art that leads the direction of social thought."

“Why would you make an exploitation film like this?”

Ronald did not expect that instead of congratulating his alumni on his success, these NYU classmates began to accuse him of his Hollywood tendencies.

"I also want to make the kind of movie you mentioned, but the movie market is not booming now. Only by finding a film director who can sell movies can I continue in this industry.

If you don’t believe what I say, you can ask Spike, Catherine and the others. "

"I think that scene with Stacey shouldn't be shot like this..."

"Why not have a long shot at the beginning?"

Next came some technical questions, and Ronald answered them one by one.

Many times it's not that the director doesn't want to take good-looking shots, but that due to budget and shooting deadline constraints, he can only shoot in a quick way. Long takes are one of the best ways for a director to show off his skills, but they are difficult to shoot, and a small mistake will result in reshoots.

Actors who shoot long shots are also under a lot of pressure, fearing that one of their own mistakes will delay the overall progress.

For a small production worth more than three million US dollars, the most important thing is to ensure that the number of shots is shot on time and on schedule.

This practical answer dissatisfied the students at New York University Tisch College. A director of blockbuster films who doesn't have much artistic creation and talks all about schedule and budget is no different from a Hollywood producer who smells like copper.

Ronald, who smiled wryly, finished answering the questions and sent the students away.

Only Spike Lee, Leon, Kathryn Bigelow and a few other friends understand how difficult it is for Ronald to complete a theatrical film.

They also gave Ronald some technical suggestions, but as everyone has made movies, they know that shooting is constrained by many artistic and unexpected factors, and in many cases the director has no room for improvement.

Therefore, the suggestions from these close friends are all from a feasible perspective.

Everyone exchanged techniques and experiences on directing actors' performances for a while, and everyone gained something.

Film directing may be one of the professions with relatively few people in the world. It is also a blessing for Ronald to be able to criticize each other's works with several directors in the circle. Many times, other directors will not speak directly to each other like a few young directors in New York, out of politeness or jealousy.

As for those students who have never made a film, their minds are full of art and they cannot make any feasible suggestions on the craft of directing.

"I used to be like them, with my mind full of art. I knew it after shooting my graduation feature film. Finding money, shooting, and then negotiating with distributors are the most time-consuming tasks for a director."

Spike Lee recently received some money from the Black Charity Fund. His graduation film has been filming on and off for more than two years. It has recently started shooting again and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Li Ang also began to work as an assistant director for him while preparing his own works. It seems he was able to apply for some official funding from the Communication Association and start writing a script.

Kathryn Bigelow was in the worst situation. Her first feature film, "The Loveless," which she finally managed to get financing for, was not picked up by anyone after it was completed, and no distributor was willing to release it.

The film's negatives are in a warehouse, and I don't know when they will be seen again.

"Maybe I can only try my luck at the film festival." Ronald said.

"Maybe, I've participated in two small film festivals, and no buyers are willing to try their luck." Bigelow could only shrug and leave everything to God.

"I'll keep an eye out for you." Douglas Jr. still hopes to help Bigelow's movie get released.

Ronald took out the Burger King commercial tape he had shot, put it into the VCR, and showed it to several friends.

"This is the commercial I shot recently. If you have time, you can help me shoot some. My agent Eddie often does business in this area."

"Oh, you're still doing these simple close-ups." Spike laughed out loud when he saw another commercial with a girl talking to a close-up.

Ronald still likes to play simple and direct.

"This actor is good." Bigelow commented.

"I don't know how my acting skills are. I heard from the teacher in the acting class that people's expressions will be magnified a lot on the big screen, which is a special test of acting skills. Many performances that cannot be seen as flawed on TV will show up on the big screen. question."

Since the acting teacher at the Acting High School played the role of the teacher in "Famous", he has a deeper understanding of the acting skills of movie actors, and Helen also chose his course to learn acting.

Helen accompanied Ronald after the exchange and went home together. When she heard Kathryn Bigelow praising Leigh Thompson's acting skills, she also had some comparison thoughts in her heart. If she could be in this advertisement, she should be no worse than her.

"I watched the TV series you filmed for ABC TV. There will be no problem with your acting skills on the big screen." Ronald comforted.

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