Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The new year has arrived and Ronald is back in Hollywood.

Little Bud took time off to spend time with his family and girlfriend, and Ronald called a taxi home. When they arrived in West Hollywood, where the apartment was located, Ronald simply asked the driver to stop. He found a new store opened near the apartment, with a sign saying video rental.

Ronald walked in and saw that the store occupied a position on the corner of the street, and the sign could be seen by the crowds on both roads. The rent for such a store is the most expensive. It seems that the video business has been doing well recently, and one can afford to rent a good location.

The rental store was full of racks for video tapes. Ronald found some old classics at the corner. He asked the store owner for a basket and threw the video tapes into it one by one.

"Actually, you don't have to pick up all the video tapes at once. The rental rate of classic movies is not high. You can borrow new ones every time you come to return them."

"I'm a student in the directing department, and I have to do my homework." Ronald made up a nonsense reason.

"It's up to you. Ordinary video recorders can't rip it anyway." The shop owner didn't care.

"Oh? Why?" Ronald asked him reflexively.

"Hey, otherwise how can we make money by opening a rental store? Congress passed legislation and all video recorders sold in America have copy protection devices. If you put these video tapes into the video recorder and copy them to a blank tape, they will automatically trigger and record. The picture flickered on and off, making it impossible to see."

The shop owner looked at Ronald and thought to himself, I have seen many young people like this. They all want to borrow it back and rip it all at once, so that they don’t have to pay the rental fee of a few dollars each time.

"That's good." Ronald did not put the video tapes back on the shelf as the store owner thought. Instead, he continued to look at the remaining shelves of movies shot in recent years and put the good ones in there.

"This is the sales counter, each tape is 99 US dollars." The store owner reminded Ronald when he saw that he had put the latest video tapes into the bag.

"Can you pay by credit card here?"

"Of course", the shop owner suddenly realized that he is a real movie enthusiast.

Ronald continued to browse the store, and on one wall, he found many videos with titles and actors he had never heard of.

"What kind of movie is this? Why haven't I seen it?" Ronald asked the store owner as he picked up a video with an actress in a swimsuit on the cover called "Orange Is the New Black 6".

"This is a good movie,

It was recorded directly on videotape without going through screen distribution channels. "

Ronald put it back on the shelf, and it turned out to be this crude movie, like the old drive-in exploitation films.

After grabbing a bunch of videotapes and paying the bill, Ronald returned to the apartment. He picked up the video recorder he had bought before Sony filed the case against Universal, and started experimentally ripping it.

Sure enough, the video recorders before this did not have anti-piracy functions.

The next day, Ronald called his agent Richard and asked him to help him rip all the classic old films, and then send them to the film studio in Xujiahui, so that Director Huang and his young assistant directors could Opportunity to be exposed to the latest Hollywood techniques.

"Minahan Golan has come to see you several times during the holidays. If you have time, would you like to meet him?" Richard picked up his notebook and talked with Ronald one by one.

"Just in time, I want to find him too." Ronald thought of Diane. Now I am in a position where I am neither up nor down.

If you want to make a suitable movie, you can be clever and appoint Diane to play a role above the main supporting role. However, the box office performance must be taken into consideration, and Diane cannot be rigidly designated to play the leading role.

What if a movie were to be made with Diane as the protagonist? Financial resources are a bit insufficient.

It just so happened that Minahan's Cannon Pictures gradually became the company that produces the largest number of movies in Hollywood.

Last year, 17 movies were shot, more than Paramount and Warner Bros.

"Ronald, you are welcome." Minahan enthusiastically hugged Ronald who came to visit.

"Next year, next year I can receive you in the brand new Cannon Pictures building." Minahan pointed to a construction site opposite and said boldly to Ronald.

"Oh, it seems that your business is very good." Ronald thought to himself, as expected of a Jew, the office building has not been built yet, and he has already reserved an office on the first floor.

However, Cannon is now making all the difference in the European pre-sale market. In addition to the country's Jean-Luc Godard, he recently signed the famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli with his own help and returned to Hollywood to film operas. The movie "Othello".

"Hahaha, it's all thanks to your break dancing, this is our cannon, this is the beginning of my success in Hollywood, Minahan. I will never forget this friendship, Ronald."

Ronald waved his hands modestly and was about to ask Diane for a role.

"How about we work together again?"

"Ahem..." Ronald coughed a few times in a cover-up manner and put down the coffee brought by his secretary. Why is Minahan starting to have his own ideas again? There's no way he's going back to making those low-budget movies.

"Look, Ronald. You've only made two movies in the past year. Most of the time, you've been on vacation. Why not put that time to good use?"

"Being a director is very tiring, working every day..." Ronald was interrupted before he could finish.

"I found that Hollywood is a waste of high-quality resources. Look at you, look at Stallone, look at Schwarzenegger, you all make one or two movies every year, and then... bang... either go to Hawaii or the Caribbean On vacation, you must know that in the golden age, a director or an actor had to shoot at least three or four movies every year."

"Directors today are different from those in the past. In addition to directing, they also have to worry about casting, stars, rehearsals, editing, and many other things." Ronald noticed that Minahan was getting excited again. What was wrong with him?

"Last year you recommended Goncharowski. His director's 'Runaway Train' has been selected for the Golden Globe Awards at the end of the month, and he is very likely to win. I gave him a two-film contract, and he will soon be starring in 'Music'." 'The Voice' actress, Julie Andrews, in a new film."

"Oh..." Ronald found it difficult to interrupt.

"Quack..." Minahan noticed Ronald's expression, "You must have thought that I invited you to make one of those low-budget exploitation films, right?"

"Huh?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. Cannon still wants to make a big production?

"I'm telling you, we did those big moves at the end of last year." Minahan turned around and took a few documents from the desk.

"This is an agreement between me and the owners of the Superman film rights, the Salkinds, and I have purchased the rights to the fourth Superman film."

"Ah?" Ronald looked Minahan up and down. Where did this fat Israeli guy get so much money?

"When the time comes, invite your girlfriend, that Helen Slate, to appear together in the fourth part. The male and female supermen will destroy all nuclear weapons and save the earth together. How about it? Are you interested?"

Minahan chuckled, "Not interested? It doesn't matter. I signed a seven-film contract with Chuck Norris, with a total salary of 25 million. Whatever action movie you want to make, I will give you more than 1,500." Invest. How about it?”

"Chuck Norris can't act," Ronald muttered.

"Not interested yet? I'm going to discuss with Stallone here to sign him to film for Cannon. Do you want to direct him on the set? Make him obey your words."

"Can you sign him? Is he willing?" Ronald knew that Stallone was a popular action star. He holds two blockbuster series, "Rocky" and "First Blood". If you act in any movie, the salary is five million US dollars.

"I can throw money at him! If five million doesn't work, then eight million. If eight million doesn't work, then ten million, twelve million, fifteen million. I don't believe he won't be tempted!"

Ronald licked his lips. Not to mention Stallone, I was tempted.

Minahan pointed to the construction site outside the window, "The Cannon Building we invested in will be completed next year. I also want to acquire several European cinema lines and an American cable TV station, whether it is distribution, pre-sale, filming, or even We have to get involved in video tapes and television stations. From now on Cannon will be a comprehensive entertainment entity.

"Ronald, will you fight with us? I can give you the best treatment. Just like Fox and John Ford did back then."

As he spoke, Minahan looked over with bright eyes and stretched out his hand to shake Ronald's hand.

"I have to think about it again. This is a big decision and I have to discuss it with my agent." Ronald stretched out his hand and shook his hand.

…

"Where did Minahan get so much money? I even thought he was crazy." Ronald returned to CAA's office and told his agent Niceta exactly what happened.

"You don't know yet? Minahan's Cannon, with the help of Wall Street tycoon Michael Milken, raised $300 million in cash from junk bonds. Now the whole of Hollywood is in shock."

"Junk bonds? What are those?"

"I don't know. Anyway, it is an extremely powerful financing method. Minahan is bold enough and his ambitions are also great."

"Is it reliable? The name doesn't sound reliable, junk bond?"

"Anyway, let's wait a little longer. Now everyone doesn't understand what he wants to do. Anyway, your Top Gun hasn't been released yet, so there's an excuse to delay it."

"Um……"

Ronald felt that the agent's knowledge structure also encountered blind spots.

"Lindsay, Lawrence, do you know what junk bonds are?" Ronald called his personal lawyer and accountant. All three people received long-distance calls and held a conference call. "

"Junk means, also called high-yield bond, which refers to the rating of corporate bonds. If the operating conditions are not good, then the rating agency will give a relatively poor rating, such as BBB, which are collectively called junk bonds in the bond market. , usually the interest will be higher." Ms. Lindsay, the lawyer, explained to him.

“I don’t understand, if the rating is rubbish, why would anyone buy it?”

"This is all thanks to our commander-in-chief." Lawrence smiled. "Under the leadership of the commander-in-chief, the Federal Reserve has implemented a low interest rate strategy for a long time. With the recent Plaza Accord, the U.S. dollar has begun to depreciate significantly against the currencies of other G6 countries. This is a rare era of easing in history. There is a lot of liquidity with nowhere to go, and any corporate junk bond is worth investing in."

"Is this okay?"

"Yes, a lot of money is looking for possible investment projects. Of course, projects like cannons require high-level people to package and sell them. The person who packaged the bonds for them was Milken of Wall Street. He is now called the Junk Bond King in the circle."

"Is this money reliable?"

"It's not reliable. The interest rate is very high, and it requires very high growth to cover the interest rate. Moreover, Milken's methods have always been brutal. The companies he packages have more or less whitewashing of financial statements, if not for fraud."

In the end, Douglas Hansen, a third-generation rich man from Staten Island, solved his doubts.

"The interest cost of this money is very high. If it is used to invest in industry, it is difficult to find suitable projects. Therefore, most people use it to do leveraged buyouts, invest in the securities market, or bet on the appreciation of the yen. .”

"It seems I have to be more cautious. I think Minahan is a little crazy."

"Anyone with $300 million in cash is like that."

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