Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"415-xxx-xxxx..." Ronald returned to Los Angeles and dialed the order number that director Adrian Lyne gave him during the last preview of Flashdance.

"Hey, do you sell them here... Um, wait a minute." Ronald forgot the name of the new editing tape. "Yes, it's called n-vis-o tape?"

"Ah, yes, are you using it for film editing? It's twenty dollars per roll. You send us a check for a deposit, and then we'll send it to you after we finish it, and you pay the balance." A woman's voice said on the phone. .

"Hey? Don't you have any in stock? I'm in a hurry to use it."

"Sorry, this tape is handmade. If you buy ten rolls, we will also come with a special machine to fix this tape. It is very easy to use. You know this tape is very narrow. Normal editing tape covers about Eighteen frames of film, ours only has one and a half frames..."

The woman started selling the benefits of "n-vis-o" tape.

"Hey, listen, I bought this thing because I knew it would work, so you don't need to give me any more sales talk. I'm in a hurry to use it. Can you hurry up?"

"If you want to rush it, it's thirty yuan a roll..."

"Okay, okay, give me an address and give me ten volumes first. I'll use them for editing the movie."

Ronald hung up the phone angrily, "It's simply robbery. If it weren't for this editing tape, which allows the work copy to be cut and used directly for test screenings, I wouldn't be immune to such blackmail."

Standing in the editing room facing Ronald was Kathryn Bigelow. She came to Los Angeles from New York to promote her film "The Loveless" and stop by to see old friends.

Poor Bigelow had already shot this debut feature film in 1981, and it was only released on a few occasions, and it never got any attention from the studio.

This time at the Los Angeles International Film Festival, she and her male lead Willem Dafoe tried their luck carrying heavy copies.

Both of them made their film debuts, but no one was paying attention to them. Bigelow Needless to say, Dafoe's scenes in "Heaven's Gate" were all edited out by Fat Boy Cimino, and the film in which he was the leading actor was never released, causing him to be laughed at in front of his friends.

"This cutting tape,

If only I had known this when I was filming Loveless, I wouldn’t have had to spend a fortune going to a lab to get a response copy based on the editing results. This money could have been used to participate in international film festivals, maybe there was The International Film Chamber of Commerce took a fancy to it. "

When Kathryn Bigelow heard about the extremely cost-saving editing tape that Ronald had ordered, she was a little disappointed.

"Although it's not cheap, it's still much better than attracting a whole movie. If you add in the modifications after the test screening, you can still save a lot of money."

"Sit", Ronald pointed to the sofa and asked the editing assistant to pour two cups of coffee.

"Is this your new movie?" Willem Dafoe asked, pointing to the "Girl Just Wants to Have Fun" music video on the monitor?

"This? This is the MV I shot, and I plan to use it as an interlude in the movie. I gave them the director, and they authorized me to use it for free." Ronald simply turned the knob to the play position and let his two friends take a look. work.

"Hmm... the rhythm of your MV is very interesting. It is so dense that it doesn't hinder the audience's understanding." Bigelow found it very interesting.

Ronald spread his hands and said, "There is only more than three minutes and there is a storyline, so this is the only way to do it. After watching too much, I feel that the content is a bit too dense, but there is nothing I can do about it."

Ronald took the coffee and handed it to the two of them, "By the way, do you have anything to ask me for today?"

Bigelow and Dafoe looked at each other and asked, "Our film reels have been lying in the warehouse for two years. I heard that you are also working on independent production projects and do not seek distribution from major studios, so I wanted to ask. Is there any way you can help us sell it to theaters?"

"Hey, if I had my way, I wouldn't edit here slowly." Ronald sighed, "Atlantic is also a very small company. All their resources can only guarantee the release of one movie, and I'm still here When their new movie 'Valley Girl' comes out, if that movie fails, I will have to find another distributor to sell it.

So I'm also trying to figure out how to participate in film festivals in Europe. Are there any opportunities here? "Ronald asked rhetorically.

"The chances are not great. Several major film festivals lack opportunities to participate. We can only try our luck at small film festivals in Brussels and Spain."

"Hey, we are miserable in making movies. An independent film may not be sold for two years. It may take a year or two to go back and forth with five or six vice presidents of a large studio. It is better to make TV series." Luo Nader was also full of complaints.

There was no way to meet Ronald, so Kathryn Bigelow could only say goodbye. Not many buyers at the Los Angeles International Film Festival were interested in domestic films. They mainly came to buy foreign films. The quality of domestically produced films can be imagined if they do not have the means to participate in this foreign-film-dominated exhibition.

"By the way, this is the poster of my movie. If you have the chance, please help me introduce some distributors. We are willing to accept any conditions."

Before Katherine Bigelow left, she took out a poster and handed it to Ronald, and then gave him some business cards. Now she is not thinking about recovering the shooting costs, but rather not letting her hard work go to waste. As long as it can be sold and released in theaters, there will always be more opportunities for new films in the future.

Instead of being like this now, if you make a movie but fail to sell it, in the eyes of the producer, it's worse than never making a movie. If you haven’t made a movie, it might still be in the rough. If you’ve made a movie and it can’t be sold, then it’s very likely that it’s not good enough.

This is even more true for Willem Dafoe. No one saw him in either movie. When his agent handed over his audition photos, he was too embarrassed to write his resume on the back. Otherwise, when others opened his mouth, they would ask why the movie was not released.

"Okay, I will." Ronald sent the two away and opened the poster. On it, Willem Dafoe was wearing a leather jacket and nothing underneath. He had an evil aura mixed with a handsome look. .

"The poster is pretty good, but I don't know if it will work as a movie."

"Ring ring ring ring..."

Ronald picked up the phone and said, "I'm Ronald."

"Hi, Ronald, I'm Walter, do you want to buy my editing tape?"

"Walter? Hi, Mr. Mersey. What, this editing tape is your business?" Ronald heard that he was his editing master, Oscar nominee for best editing and sound design, Walter Mersey .

"Yeah, it's a little invention of mine. I heard from my assistant that someone was ordering it, and I saw the name was you. What? You've made another movie? It's really enviable. My 'Return to Oz' is also Wallowing in planning hell.”

Walt Mersey was spotted by Disney President Ron Miller and invited him to participate in Disney's young director program. However, the script he submitted was repeatedly rejected and rewritten by several executives, which was also very painful.

"Walter, if possible, don't try to make an independent film. I went through all this and it was really painful. I had to do everything myself. I just discovered how relaxed and happy the last movie was. .”

Ronald joked a little with the teacher. Although Walter was in pain now, when he gets the green light for the project from Ron Miller, he would be like an emperor when he makes a movie. There will be professionals to help with all kinds of things. , just take pictures yourself.

"I didn't expect you to ask for it. Let's do this. I still have ten rolls of tape at home. I'll send it to you first. You just have to pay me the normal price." Walter saw that it was his apprentice who wanted the tape, so of course he gave it to him first.

"Oh, really? That's great. I'll give it to you at the expedited price. After all, it's a movie project and can be offset. Anyway, it's you who did it, so I'll send you a check for the full amount. Please hurry up Send it out, I’m waiting to use it.”

"No problem, I'll send it to you first. I need to purchase the raw materials and then make it by hand. It's quite troublesome. I'll give you the inventory first."

"Handmade? The amount of this thing should be very large, right? Why not make it by machine?" Ronald was a little confused.

"I'm an artist and craftsman, so I don't understand that. The supply exceeds demand now anyway, and I don't do any advertising. I rely on word-of-mouth promotion. I don't have the money to purchase in large quantities, so everything is customized on demand."

"Is that so? If...forget it, let's talk about it when we have a chance in the future. Thank you Walter."

Ronald originally thought about cooperating with Walter to open a small factory to make tape. But I also thought that this thing is only used in the film industry, not in television production. It seems that there is no need for industrial production, and not many people will buy it once it is made.

After two days, Ronald finally got the new editing tape, which came with a new device to stick the tape.

This kind of tape not only covers only a few frames of film when it sticks to it, but it also seems to have no feeling when played back. It also greatly reduces the amount of manual editing work. At least when the audio and video are aligned, there is no need to glue several feet of film.

multiple copies

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