Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald, come and take some pictures?"

"immediately!"

Ronald took the main actors of the crew to the hot spring to rest this time, and also arranged for a photographer to shoot behind-the-scenes and stills, and an assistant photographer to shoot some video tapes.

These can be used as promotional materials after the filming of the film is completed. If you have a chance, go on a talk show and play some highlights. If you don’t have the chance, you can also crop and modify the photos to make them into posters.

"Please come closer, okay, the two male and female protagonists are in the middle, very good...cheese! One more picture."

The photographer pressed the shutter continuously and took several group photos of everyone. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Ronald, "Let me take a group photo alone with all the dancers. Patrick, Cynthia, and Jennifer come too."

Pulling along the few crooked-looking backup dancers, they took individual photos, either alone or in pairs, arm-in-arm with the creative staff. The chubby female dancer with excellent shoulder movements also took Patrick Swayze for a solo photo.

"Write down their names and addresses, print it out, enlarge it, and send it to them separately along with the negatives."

Ronald asked the photographer and asked Little Bud to take down the photographer's phone number and check it when the time comes.

This is the experience gained from "The Dragon King". The action director and stuntman Darryl Vidal that Ronald hired relied on this photo with Master Miyagi and Master Daniel to start the business of the karate hall. Hot.

When entering his guild hall, he wears a wig, performs the trick "Crane Kick", and hangs his wings on the white crane with Noriyuki Morita, who plays Master Miyagi.

Behind the front desk, there were scenes from news reports and TV reports, including the words that Ronald said he was the real Master Miyagi who kicked the crane. They were displayed extremely large, making all the children who came to the club jump with joy. Parents are required to sign up and learn real Goju-ryu karate under the real "Master Miyagi".

This time "Dirty Dancing" has a limited budget, and the dancers invited are actually dancers who can only work as dance coaches in the industry because of their poor appearance. They usually earn living expenses by teaching dance enthusiasts to dance.

They can take photos with the protagonist and director in a movie that is shown in the cinema, and when the time comes to recruit students, they can also increase their fees.

They train hard, and compared to their outstanding dancing skills, the minimum wage paid by the Screen Actors Guild is a bargain.

Ronald hopes to try to compensate them later.

After resting at the resort, the actors went back to continue rehearsing.

Ronald himself secretly went to MGM's offices and made an appointment with Weintraub.

"Do you want to find a broker to buy the copyright?" Weintraub is very busy, and MGM's people are in a state of confusion. No one has been working seriously for more than half a year, and now many things have to be sorted out from scratch.

But he still took the time to meet with Ronald, the man who helped him rise to the top in Hollywood.

"Yes, my current music director seems to be playing tricks. I don't want to wait for the filming of the movie to be completed. During post-production, I suddenly find that I have no money to buy music." Ronald said that his small production requires a lot of fifty We talked about the copyright issue of era songs, and then asked Weintraub to recommend a capable candidate.

"Is it from the 1950s and 1960s? That's very convenient. I happen to have someone here. He was the copyright management manager of the original rca record company. I had a lot of dealings with him when I opened the record company.

After Columbia Records acquired rca, his copyright department was merged and he was laid off. Now he is buying music copyrights for movies and TV series and acting as a full-time copyright broker. "

"Tear..." a sound.

Weintraub wrote his contact information on the note, tore it off and handed it to Ronald. "You'd better finish your little production quickly, we're going to start preparations for the sultry moonlight."

Ronald took the note with Jimmy Lehner's name and phone number written on it.

"Thanks, go ahead and get busy."

Ronald said goodbye and came out, called the broker named Reiner, and asked him to come out for negotiations.

"So, your movie needs about fifteen to twenty old songs from the 1950s for background music and interludes, right? What's the budget?"

"The total budget for the movie is 4.5 million, and I have reserved about 400,000 for the music rights. Can you buy all the songs?" Ronald handed over the music list made by screenwriter Eleanor. other side.

"It's a piece of cake. If I don't mention your name, even half the price is enough. I read these songs, and most of them were on some small swing dance music labels in Nashville and Detroit back then. Records in recent years There are many mergers and acquisitions in the industry, and most copyrights should be owned by a few companies such as rca.

In addition to these two top three songs on the charts that year, and these two famous band songs, such as this one by the Four Seasons and this one by the Raspberries, which require a licensing fee of 20,000 US dollars, the others can be purchased for 5,000 to 10,000 US dollars. Down. "

Jimmy Lehner checked off the list, then added up the total, and the final price was less than two hundred thousand dollars.

"Very good, how much time do you need?" Ronald was very satisfied with the broker introduced by Weintraub. Independent brokers like to close the deal as soon as possible so that they can make the next order.

"How long will it take you to buy all the copyright licenses?"

"As little as three days, as much as a week." Jimmy Lehner said simply.

"But my film already has a music director registered with the union. Your name cannot appear on the subtitles as a music director."

Jimmy Lehner waved his hand to show that he didn't care, then picked up his efficiency notes and began to plan the time and object of the next negotiation.

"By the way, do you want full copyright authorization? If you get it, you can release a soundtrack album." Jimmy Lehner asked Ronald a question while writing. It's like a grocery store owner who has sold you a bottle of wine and asks you if you want an upgraded version when you are looking for wine.

"Oh? How much money will it cost me?"

"It doesn't cost much. Most of your music is old songs from the 1950s. Many singers at that time gave up their performance rights and packaged them up and sold them to companies. So as long as you are willing to bid, record companies are very willing to sell more A little bit.

That is, these songs by famous bands require separate authorization from the songwriters and performers. "

It turns out that using interludes in movies involves two copyrights.

One is the right to use the song itself after it is recorded into a record. This right can be rented to the producer, who can record and mix the original record's audio track into the movie soundtrack.

Songwriters and singers can receive a portion of the remaining dividends from the box office of movies in which their music is used.

After Ronald registers this money with the Musicians Union, it will be allocated to the two major union organizations ASCAP and BMI according to the agreement, and then the union will be responsible for distributing it.

Another type of copyright is the right to re-perform and publish, also known as full copyright.

You can use this copyright to remaster the record and publish it in a collection. You can also give priority to inviting the original singer to re-sing a new performance version for the movie, and the copyright of this version will remain with the production company, not the original record company.

Even if there is no remastering, in order to obtain the right to publish the original soundtrack, the production company will have to pay a one-time transfer fee of about US$20,000 to the star singer. For less famous singers, the numbers decrease.

"I suggest you buy the complete copyright. Old songs are not expensive. Then you can also have the opportunity to release an original album. I think there is no problem in getting the money back. We can sign a five-year or ten-year licensing period. During this period No matter how many times you reprint, you won’t be charged a one-time transfer fee again, you just have to pay them royalties every six months.”

Ronald calculated his money and found that almost all the money allocated for music in the budget had been spent. Many of today's blockbuster movies have popular music on the charts to help market the movie.

I don't have the money to hire pop singers or bands to compose new songs for the movie, so I want to re-release old classics to create some momentum.

"Okay, I'll follow your recommendation."

It took Jimmy Lehner only three days to obtain the copyright to all the music designated by Eleanor. Ronald called his personal lawyer from New York to review all the contracts in Los Angeles.

"No problem, there are no big problems with these contracts. You can sign it." The lawyer lady Lindsay Dole stretched her body and pushed all the contracts in front of Ronald.

"There are also these blank music copyright purchase agreements. After you find a suitable newly created theme song, you can use this template to sign a contract with the songwriter and singer. Then just fax the contract over, which saves me a trip. trip."

"Okay", Ronald signaled to the lawyer lady with his eyes that he understood.

He also communicated with production designer Lane Weaver on the phone. When he reviewed all the photos and storyboards of scenes in the script again, he discovered many problems.

"So the issue of set continuity, how do they solve it?"

“The exteriors were shot in two locations in different states, but the movie is actually one place, and there was a lot of tedious work to do.

Location designer David Chapman thought of many ways. For example, in the scene where the protagonist baby comes down from the ballroom to the cabin where Johnny lives, the first half was shot at the Mountain Lake Villa in Virginia, and the second half was shot at the Boy Scout camp in North Carolina.

We need to add some extra manpower to ensure that all the scenes are organized and shot together. There should be as few flaws as possible in the finished piece.

For example, on the way down the mountain, there are many street lamp posts on both sides. You have to hire one or two more props people to make the same prop street lamps as those at the Virginia Mountain Lake Villa here in North Carolina.

We've asked David Chapman to make a list of all possible props, and we've cross-checked them. The filming of this movie was also an unprecedentedly heavy workload. The two locations require a lot of meticulous work, and I suggest you find a few more to round out the on-location recording team. "

"You make a list and I'll let Richard Leavitt read it and then I'll go recruit people."

Ronald hung up the phone and added an amount of money to the budget usage slip.

"Spending money is like running water...ah ha." Seeing Ronald's bad expression, the lawyer lady started joking.

"Yeah, what I'm most afraid of now is hearing about additional manpower and additional money.

Fortunately, there was no bad news that I was most afraid of: "There is not enough time for a certain task, and the overall shooting will be postponed. The money wasted is terrible, and it costs hundreds of thousands every day." "

"Okay, anyway, you don't have to worry about not having money. If you don't have money, just direct a new movie and you'll make money back." The lawyer lady yawned again.

"You're so bored here, let me go find a movie."

"I'll ask little Bud to take you there." Ronald didn't even raise his head.

"What good movies are there to watch now?" The lawyer lady picked up the "Hollywood Report" on the coffee table and turned to the box office section.

"Stand by me seems to be good, it has won the box office championship for four consecutive weeks... You have directed quite a few of the top ten films, including Top Gun and The Last of Us 2, right?"

"Yes, I also produced the film There's a Bad Husband in the Family."

"I've already watched that one. Helen's performance was so funny." The lawyer lady giggled non-stop.

"No, this is last week's box office. Where is this week's new newspaper?" Lindsay Dole looked at it for a long time and found that the date was wrong. He wanted to see what new movies were released this week.

"There's a fun movie I found over the weekend. It's from Australia. It's called 'Crocodile Dundee.' The new newspaper seems to be at the door."

"Oh, I'll go take a look." Lindsay walked out and brought in a few new newspapers.

"Oh, God..." Lindsay turned to the latest box office report, screamed in fright, walked over quickly, and pointed it out to Ronald.

“Your Top Gun is No. 1 at the box office again.”

"Huh?" Ronald was also surprised and took it over to take a look.

In the 19th week of its release, the North American box office is close to exceeding 160 million. The blockbuster movie "Top Gun" has ranked No. 1 in the box office rankings with a weekend box office of 3.5 million. one.

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