Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Box office numbers continued to be strong on Tuesday night, as Atlantic threw a celebratory party for "Night of the Comet."

Atlantic spent a lot of money and booked a large room at the Hilton Hotel. The buffet party included champagne, oysters, and various snacks. Everyone related to the movie came to congratulate him. Ronald, wearing a dress and bow tie, greeted people he knew and didn't know.

There is no doubt that the box office in the first week will exceed 5 million. The investment was recouped in the first week of release, and the leaders of Atlantic Pictures were very arrogant and ambitious.

"Ronald, why don't you sign a long-term film contract with us, and we will invest in all your scripts, so you don't have to worry about financing anymore, and we can focus on developing distribution channels. It's a win-win situation."

President Tom Coleman personally brought Ronald a glass of champagne and persuaded him to sign at least three film contracts with them.

"What type of movie do you want to make? How much can you invest?" Of course Ronald knew that Atlantic couldn't invest in every script, and there were still conditions.

"Certainly with movies like 'Night of the Comet,' we predicted that teen-related movies would be the next direction, and you and Martha Coolidge's movies both proved that, and we just followed the proven formula. The more you move forward, the more success you will have.”

"Proven formula?"

"Yes, the teenage audience, plus various genre films. In other words, we can make genre films youth-oriented, teen horror films, teen romance, teen science fiction, teen family relationships. We can make as many successful genre films as there are. The teenage version of success.”

"This is a very good idea. I will discuss it with my agent." Ronald clinked his glasses lightly, unwilling to talk about the matter immediately. Atlantic seems to have gotten a taste of the sweet spot and wants to continue its small-but-big game in low-budget teen exploitation films.

But Ronald still had doubts about Atlantic Pictures. Atlantic's performance in this film release was not very strong. The release schedule was stuck before the release of several blockbusters in the summer. It also did not have much financial strength to engage in marketing. In terms of connections and experience, it had to start from scratch. Rather than saying that their distribution business is booming, it is better to say that they have found two good movies.

It’s better to wait and see their next distribution performance and their ability to collect money from theaters.

"That's a good idea. I'll let my agent continue talking to you." Ronald pushed toward his agent, smiled and toasted with Tom Coleman.

"Very good. If anything like this happens in the future, just leave it to me." Niceta in the corner quickly came closer after Tom left. He kept looking at Ronald from a short distance away, like Like wild animals staring at their own territory, they watched every move of the person who wanted to trap Ronald. This will not hinder Ronald's social interaction, and he can keep an eye on people who come to poach him at any time.

Basically the cast and crew of "Night of the Comet" came to the party, except for Kelly Maroney, who plays sister Samantha. After the movie was released, Maroney got the coveted TV series recurring role and has returned to New York to film.

The TV series that Catherine Mary Stewart was originally filming also called her to come back and continue filming. The screenwriter made her character come back from the dead and continue to quarrel with the other protagonists in the daytime soap opera.

This is one of the reasons why Ronald likes to shoot his own movies. Those high-ranking executive producers in Hollywood actually have no ability to distinguish between good and bad actors. The theories they talk about are nothing more than hindsight after the actors and directors succeed.

If the movie is successful, all the actors will go to heaven. At least when other crews are looking for them, they will remember their success in "Night of the Comet" and will offer higher prices.

The same is true for the staff. Art director John Muto has a wide range of interests. He has already been asked to be the visual director of an animated film, and several live-action films have asked him to continue to be the art director.

Director of photography Arthur Albert is even more in demand. Many TV series, music videos, and commercials are queuing up to hire him to take the shot.

After all, the film's low budget was able to produce such a good apocalyptic effect, and both of them became treasures. The industry generally believes that the success of "Night of the Comet" should be attributed to the two of them.

Special effects director James Cameron convinced Orion and Heimdale, the two investors of "Terminator", to completely trust him. Gale said that the producers sent by the studio also had a good attitude towards them. A lot.

The two of them will leave early, and then go home and dare to write the scripts for "First Blood" and the sequel to "Alien". After the two producers saw "Night of the Comet", they happily gave Gale the advance check. With such special effects skills, they were very confident when writing a script that required various alien and explosive special effects. They all believed that they had taken advantage of signing the contract with Cameron before the movie was released.

Ed Limato, the Italian agent of William Morris, also joined in and said, "Ronald, you are a good guy. My two clients have stepped up after this. Cheers!"

"Don't be like this. I'm just thanking Ronald on behalf of my client. Who else can snatch him away from you?" Limato saw Niceta, who had been beside him since he came here, having a fight with the fellow countryman. joke.

After Kevin Costner made this movie and had a little money, other commercials came to him to shoot. He would have more time to take acting classes instead of working as a carpenter on Paramount Studios to make ends meet.

Nicolas Cage was even happier, having successfully sold two low-budget films, one as a protagonist and one as a guest star, and his film schedule was going smoothly under Limato's auspices. If he himself prefers works that can hone his acting skills, there are also some commercial productions coming to his door waiting for him to choose.

Ronald is very happy that his movie has increased the value of those involved and given them more opportunities. This is what Hollywood is like, if you can increase the value of others, others will be willing to cooperate with you. With such a good reputation, I won't have to worry about famous actors starring in my own movies in the future.

"Hi Mary, thank you for your kind words over at Interview magazine."

Ronald saw Mary Woronov coming and went up to hug him and congratulate him.

"That bastard Andy Warhol actually hired a young man who graduated from college to write film reviews." Mary still had a straight face and said whatever she wanted.

"But the result is still very good. Your performance and the whole movie are praised to the sky."

"That guy can indeed write well." Mary drank the champagne in one gulp.

"Do you have any new film dates?" Ronald asked. Ever since Roger Corman sold The New World , Mary Woronoff has been inconsistent in film appearances.

"I've received a lot of offers for TV and movies. I'm not greedy."

"Actually, your acting skills are still wasted." Ronald knew that TV movies are shot on film, but the purpose is to be played on TV, not to be released in theaters.

This kind of movie usually has a narrow screen, and the lens design and lighting also have strong traces of television. For Mary Woronov, participating in a TV movie is as easy as drinking water and eating.

"You also have to be careful, Ronald. Having a stable income is the most important thing. Now even the best-selling movies will be released on video tapes. In the future, those exquisite acting skills will be no different on the small TV screen. It’s better to shoot more and earn more money.”

"Hey, too."

Ronald also heard the news. Paramount's "Flashdance" has just been released for six weeks. The weekly box office has been stable above $5 million for the first five weeks, but this week it dropped to more than $4.8 million.

In previous years, everyone would celebrate such box office results and increase investment in marketing, but this year, Paramount has started recording and releasing the video of "Flashdance".

The Supreme Court's decision has been issued, and the number of stores selling and renting various video tapes is increasing day by day on the streets of Los Angeles.

Paramount seems to be very unfavorable about the theatrical box office, and will immediately start selling videotapes as soon as there is a downward trend. I'm afraid that last year's phenomenon of pirated copies of "ET Alien" being sold all over the place will happen again. The idea of ​​capital is simple and practical.

Anyway, the verdict has been issued, and it is not illegal to rip the videotape. Rather than giving this money to pirates or the audience who rips it at home, I might as well make it myself.

At this time, Richard hurriedly walked in, "Ronald, this is the record of sending flowers. Will it still be once a week from now on?"

That was the receipt for Ronald asking Richard to send flowers to Helen Slater in London. He took out his checkbook and wrote another one to Richard.

"Yes, let's continue delivering at this frequency." Since Ronald came back, he was a little concerned about Helen being alone in the crew and not being able to visit the crew frequently. So I often send flowers to remind Helen and show my presence to other crew members.

"In addition, there is news about the Darryl Vidal you asked me to find. He is currently learning Wing Chun at the Zhen Fan Martial Arts School in San Francisco. I heard that after he becomes a martial arts master, he wants to open a karate dojo of his own and teach Bruce Lee A martial art that integrates martial arts philosophy."

"San Francisco? How is he now?"

"He has no money. He has actually learned Wing Chun almost to the point, and he has also learned many martial arts from other countries and schools. But he has no money to open a martial arts gym, so he can only work in Zhenfan martial arts gym to earn money."

"Then invite him to come to Los Angeles. I'll pay for it. I want to talk with him about karate-related things in the script of the new film."

"No problem, he can come over at any time and I will rent a motel for him." Richard agreed.

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