Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The vacation continued for a while, and Ronald finally adjusted his mental state.

On this day, he received a call from Walter Murch. The rough cut and first assembly of the film had been completed, and he could go to the editing room to discuss the details.

"Walter, how is my new movie? I feel like this is the movie where the actors have the best cooperation since I started working in the industry. What's your evaluation?"

Ronald saw Murch in front of the editing table and couldn't help but ask him what he thought of the film he invested in. Since Murch taught himself editing in San Francisco, he has shot many blockbuster movies. It is time for Murch, who is like a master, to evaluate whether he has made progress in the past few years.

"The dance scenes are very good, never seen before. The casting is probably one of the best I've ever dealt with in a movie, other than Coppola's 'The Godfather,'" Murch said when he saw Ronald Come He happily stood up and hugged him, and then gave up a seat for Ronald to sit together in front of the editing table.

"But the movie clip I gave you is a little less interesting, so I really hope you can come over and discuss it with me."

"Fun?" Ronald asked.

“The rough cut of the entire film is two hours and ten minutes long.

Every shot you shoot is pretty much the same. I don’t have many options, unlike some directors’ films where the rough cut will be more than double the final length.

And among many shots, only the first shot is often the best. Editing for you is like completing a high school student's homework, which is a multiple-choice question. "

"Ha..." Ronald smiled, "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"From a producer's point of view, this shows that the director has his own vision for the finished film and can complete the shooting on time. From a director's point of view, there may be less freedom for the actors to express themselves on the set. But from an editing point of view, , I think it’s a little less challenging. Unlike when I was editing for other directors, I often had to push the limits and cut together seemingly impossible clips.”

"Hahaha, I'll just take it as you praising me."

The two joke around, starting at the beginning and slowly looking through all the shots.

Over the past two days, Ronald gradually got into the mood and began to express his thoughts to Murch on the processing of certain shots.

The two share the same editing methodology and can often quickly agree with each other's opinions. Ronald didn't know much about sound design, and Murch took the lead in this area.

He also took the time to give Ronald lessons.

Every day's editing work is progressing slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye, discarding cutscenes of one or two seconds and using a more interesting connection method. The length of the film has gradually been reduced from more than two hours to one hour and fifty minutes, and is gradually moving towards the scheduled target of one hour and forty minutes.

One afternoon, the two were discussing a shot in the editing room. Both Ronald and Walter Murch insisted on their own ideas. The two discussed for a long time with no results, so they took a break to replenish caffeine.

Murch asked Ronald, who was drinking a strange drink like wolfberry black tea, a question he had wanted to ask for a long time.

"I heard that those high-ranking Jews are looking for trouble for you?"

"Yes, they also asked Michael Douglas to come to me for an interview. In fact, they just didn't want a rich Jewish girl to fall in love with a poor Irish boy, and finally gave up on the rich Jewish second generation to get together with a dancer. .”

"So what are you going to do? Our current version contains a lot of intimate scenes between the baby and Johnny, as well as the scene where they finally resolve their misunderstanding and look forward to their future together."

"I have my own way." Ronald smiled and replied to Murch.

"You don't want to get things done secretly, do you? That won't work, it will cause big problems."

"Ronald", Murch pulled Ronald to the table, "You are still very young. When you entered the industry, the Jewish forces in Hollywood had already retired from the stage and behind the scenes. You may not understand their ferocity.

If you deceive those old Jewish guys with the idea of ​​making a yin-yang copy, there will be big problems later. If nothing else, the MPAA, which handles film ratings, is also a place with a lot of Jewish people. They can jam you there and give you a bad rating.

Even if you get a good rating from MPAA, or find a way to bypass them and find a theater to show it yourself, it is still very risky. Don't forget, the son of the Douglas family is looking for you. "

"What happened to the son of the Douglas family?" Ronald did not answer Murch's question, but was curious about his evaluation of Michael Douglas' family, as if there was some gossip.

"Well, I haven't caught up with the days when Jewish gangs were running rampant in Hollywood. I heard from my predecessors that before the 1960s, Jewish gangs had a reputation of being more feared than Italians. Legend has it that Michael's father, Kirk, was a Jewish gangster in Hollywood. Hollywood spokesperson.

Do you know the actress Natalie Wood who unfortunately passed away a few years ago? "

"Of course, I saw him at the Golden Globes," Ronald replied.

"Legend has it that in her early years in Hollywood, she was forced by Kirk Douglas. He was a Hollywood 'sexual predator'."

"No way?" Ronald raised his brows when he heard this kind of gossip. He is also familiar with Hollywood. He and the actress are consensual, and then communicate through the agent, and everyone gets what they want. Have you never heard of such forced things happening? Do you want to make it so ugly?

Unless it's a non-union registered project, some small production company, and a film released directly to the video tape market, I've heard of this happening.

It turns out that at Weston Pictures, Michelle Cannold, the distribution director of Daydream Pictures who was poached by Ronald, talked about the chaos of those small projects. Weston Pictures used to specialize in filming videos with NC-17 content.

"Hollywood is a new place now. But when I was in college, it was still a chaotic hodgepodge. Many actors didn't have makeup artists and had to do their own makeup. Actresses often had to find their brothers as assistants. Protect yourself on set.

I've also heard that... when Kirk Douglas was in Hollywood in the late 1940s, he once got a young actor named Jean Spangler pregnant. On the night she went to see Kirk for negotiation, Just disappeared.

His body and handbag were later found on the way from her home to Kirk Douglas' home, with an unfinished note inside with Kirk's name on it. "

"Real or false?" Ronald had never heard of these gossips. "Then why do people think of the Italian Mafia when they talk about gangs? But no one mentions the Jewish gangs?"

"You can figure it out yourself. There are two reasons for this. On the one hand, Jews are gradually occupying the upper echelons of Hollywood, and they are unwilling to make movies and TV series about Jewish gangsters. On the other hand, Italian directors like to shoot Gangster story.

Nowadays, most of the stereotypes that people in America have about ethnic groups come from movies and TV shows. If more movies like this are made, they will gradually become a symbol of Italians, and many ignorant Italians are still very proud..."

That's true.

Ronald touched his ears. After Coppola made The Godfather, many of the mafiosi in the movie looked Italian. Although "The Godfather" is essentially a family film, due to the background story of the Mafia, many gangsters began to imitate the style in the movie. Further deepening the stereotypes of Italians from other ethnic groups.

Thinking of this, Ronald smiled at Murch. The other party obviously cares about him very much, so he would say such gossip.

"It's okay, Walter, I have a sense of discretion. I thought about it when I invested money in this movie. Old Jewish men will not say anything about this movie."

Ronald whispered his thoughts into Walter Murch's ear.

"are you sure?"

"I am sure that if the Jewish people continue to trouble me in this way, any action they take will deepen the audience's impression of the Jewish girl's story. So the best way is to pretend not to see it."

…

Some time passed. The rough cut of the film was completed, and after assembling the film into a complete print for the second time, Ronald called and asked Michael Douglas, who had helped deliver the message, to come and see what the finished film would look like.

"You were filming in Virginia before this movie, right? I happened to be filming 'Fatal Attraction' in New York at that time, and I returned to Hollywood at about the same time as you." Michael Douglas was still dressed like a noble boy, very energetic, and he came in Hugged Ronald.

"Oh, how about working with director Adrian Lyne? I was on the set of his 'Flashdance' and he is a very talented person."

"It's great, it's simply great. He is a good 'actor's director' and doesn't give us too many constraints. As an actor, it is the most comfortable to work with a director like him. Glenn often told me , what a blessing it is to work with Adrian.”

"Glenn?"

"It's the heroine, Glenn Close. She's a great actress. She plays a slightly insane lover who wants to destroy my family. Have you met her?"

"Oh, it's her. We met once, at the party of 'The Big Chill'. Kevin Costner originally had many scenes, but they were all deleted in the end..."

Ronald and Douglas chatted for a while, then invited him to the screening room and watched "Dirty Dancing" with music.

"Dong...dong dong..." I remembered the drum beat of Mambo, and what appeared on the screen was an old dance scene, with several dancers doing Dirty Dancing in the basement, a seductive shot, in slow motion, showed on the screen.

"Is this what you call 'Dirty Dancing'?" Douglas touched his chin as if he was very interested.

The duration of the copy is one hour and forty minutes, and the final subtitle list has not yet been added.

Michael Douglas, who had watched the entire movie, looked over at Ronald.

"You changed the ethnicity of the heroine's baby? Or to be more precise, you hid it, right? I didn't hear anyone say they were Jewish during the entire movie.

Johnny's ethnicity was not mentioned much, except for the last mention when the two of them hugged each other and danced in the crowd.

If you cooperate like this, I think those old men will have no problem. But does this hinder your creative freedom? "Michael Douglas asked Ronald very politely.

"Michael, you lived in Los Angeles when you were a child, right?" Ronald didn't answer, but asked the other person.

"No, after my parents divorced, I lived with my mother in New York. I went to school there since I was a child, and I didn't go to New Jersey until college. What?"

"Then how come you don't know that the Kellerman Resort Hotel in the movie is based on the Catskills? Aren't those resort hotels exclusively for Jews called the Borscht Belt by you?

The food that appears in the movie also includes borscht, and it’s all resort hotels that only Jews go to. Any Jewish kid there would be able to see that, right? "

"Oh, actually my mother is not Jewish, she is of Irish descent. So when I was a child, I didn't go to those Jewish-only resorts. We always went to Long Island in New York during our holidays."

"Pfft..." Ronald almost didn't laugh. No wonder Michael Douglas didn't respond to his ethnic origin hidden in the background of the story.

This kind of treatment, which is not stated but only hints at the character's ethnicity, is a way that Ronald came up with to deal with Jewish forces.

From beginning to end, the movie never mentions a word that the Hausman family of the baby are Jewish. And none of the actors he chose for the Houseman family had the particularly obvious Jewish nose of Barbra Streisand.

Even the lead actress, Jennifer Grey, has a much smaller nose than another candidate, Sarah Jessica Parker.

Unless you are a Jewish audience, you can find some familiar background from clues. Only then will they notice Jennifer Gray's less obvious, yet fully ethnic nose.

Ronald does not mention a word of Jewishness in the entire movie, but the background of the story tells the story of a Jew everywhere.

Then, the audience will be divided into two parts, one part is non-Jewish and is unaware of it. Some Jewish people know that they are telling their own stories.

This is the so-called understanding of nature, and those who don’t understand cannot understand.

If high-level Jewish officials wanted to cause trouble for themselves, they would have to mention in the media Ronald's anti-Semitic tendencies, deliberately photographing Jewish girls who did not know how to love themselves, and losing their virginity to dirty Irishmen.

As long as they mention this meaning, those viewers who did not realize that Ronald was telling the story of a Jewish girl will suddenly realize it.

The entire American society does not have much favorable impression of Jews, yet these conservative Jewish old men dare to come out to promote this outdated and racially discriminatory concept. It will definitely be attacked by the mainstream media.

Therefore, Ronald's ingenious way of telling actually puts those old diehards who oppose the making of this story into a movie into a dilemma.

If your media only hints, then people will not understand what you are saying. If it were stated clearly, it would arouse more people's resentment.

It is better to close your eyes and let it go. As long as the media marketing does not deliberately promote this as a Jewish story, then there will be no problem.

"So, in your marketing, you won't deliberately mention that this is a Jewish story, right?" Michael Douglas understood Ronald's handling and nodded in appreciation. Then ask Ronald to provide a guarantee.

"I'm not a fool, so why would I deliberately challenge the cognition of old men?

Besides, Jews account for less than 3% of America’s youth population. I invested my own money in making this movie. Of course I want to make money. I don’t need to give up the bigger market, right? "

"You convinced me," Michael Douglas nodded in agreement.

Ronald laughed and took out a cigar given to him by Paramount President Ned Tanin from the side of his seat. After cutting it, he lit it for Douglas politely.

It was not known before that Michael Douglas’ maternal lineage was of Irish ancestry. This makes it easier to talk. He also lived with his mother after his parents divorced. Since he is closer to Irish ancestry, he would be less opposed to this kind of plot.

"I will bring you a message and put in a good word for you." Michael Douglas took a puff of his cigar and then slowly exhaled the smoke. "It's a good thing."

"The gift from a friend is the Fuente Hemingway series from Dominica." Ronald took out a new wooden box and handed it to Michael Douglas. "Take it and help me test the quality. I know you are an expert."

"Thank you, I will," Michael Douglas received in his arms, "but those old guys will be more stubborn, and they are very ignorant of the current situation in America. In their view, everyone should respect Jewish culture and religion.

They may not fully understand the fact that most Americans have no idea that the Catskills are an exclusive Jewish resort.

If you had better evidence that the audience wouldn't find out that this is a Jewish story, I think they would be more reassured. "

"I'll hold a test screening and then do an audience survey. What do you think?" Ronald thought for a while and asked.

"I think it's okay. After you finish it, send the results to my agent. I will make an appointment with my father."

"very good!"

Ronald was also very satisfied with Douglas's help. He narrowed his eyes and started puffing away with him.

"Then I'll go first. It's really fun chatting with you." Michael Douglas enjoyed it for a while and stood up to leave.

"I'll see you off," Ronald stood up to see him off.

"Also", when he arrived at the gate, Michael Douglas turned around and said, "Can the last scene, the scene where Johnny and the baby look forward to the future together, be deleted? I thought about it, this may be the only place where Johnny and the baby look forward to the future together. What makes old men uncomfortable.”

"Why? I didn't say that the baby was Jewish? I just said that she joined the Peace Corps, and Johnny was going to be a dancer. They are in a long-distance relationship and have no confidence in the future."

Ronald was a little confused after hearing this request.

"Well... I just think that old men would be unhappy if a rich girl and a poor boy had long-term plans instead of just a short-term relationship. You know, they are all rich people, so they might be more concerned about this kind of thing than We still have to worry about ethnic disparities.”

"Oh, I'll think about it." Ronald frowned. It turns out that these old men thought that there were not only ethnic conflicts, but also conflicts between rich and poor.

But this movie itself is a love story that crosses ethnic groups and classes. If there is no happy ending, will the audience be left unsatisfied?

"Also, we shouldn't be constrained by the baby's ethnicity, but on the other hand, we shouldn't bring the stereotype of poor Irish people into the movie, what do you think?"

"Um……"

It turned out that Michael Douglas himself had also considered it. He didn't want his mother's side of Irish descent to be labeled as poor and could only rely on physical strength and physical abilities to make money, such as dancing, but not the stereotype that he could make money with his brains.

Ronald was thinking fast, and now he still needed Michael Douglas to be the intermediary to deliver the message to the Jewish old men. Besides, this really isn't a necessary plot point.

"From another perspective, maybe leaving the future of baby and Johnny blank is also a good way to deal with it. This can also leave a suspense for the audience..."

"Hahaha... Yes, we can make a sequel. You are such an interesting person. We will keep in touch frequently in the future. I will call you when there is a party."

Michael Douglas is also a producer. As soon as Ronald said this, he knew he wanted to make a sequel.

…

"So, you want to delete this scene that explains the future story of the male protagonist? Well, it's almost twenty seconds."

Walter Murch sat in the editing room and heard Ronald's new ideas.

"What do you think? I got feedback from Michael Douglas that theaters may be a little concerned about this part. I'm wondering whether to leave it blank to avoid controversy."

"Leave it blank?"

Walter Murch cut this section out, then went back a few minutes and reread the entire story several times.

"Leaving blank space is a good idea. Baby and Johnny may face the future together. It may also be that Johnny came back to give baby a good memory and give her a deserved dance, making her the focus of everyone. Break up again.

This processing is a more advanced method. This allows the audience to participate in the creation of the film. "

Walter Murch once again talked about his film theory.

After several creations of script, acting, shooting, editing, etc., the director lost control of the film. In the end, whether the audience likes the movie or not depends on the impression they leave after watching the movie in the cinema.

Many times, about 10% of the content of a movie is a combination of the audience's imagination and impressions, which may not be present in the movie.

"Very good, we will finalize the cut and then organize an internal test screening and conduct an audience survey to see how many people recognize that this is a Jewish story. We need to make a reference for distribution.

Then we can send it to MPAA for rating. "

Ronald hopes to get a pg-13 rating. With a rating like this, all teenagers can go see it for themselves. Coupled with the name "dirty dang", is it crazy?

"Hahaha..." Thinking of the joy, Ronald burst into laughter in the editing room.

The internal test screening is scheduled for a few days.

All the test screening participants were recruited by Ronald from high schools and colleges near Hollywood.

He didn't quite believe in the method of letting the secretaries of the film company go to the movie screening. These people all worked in the company, and they might be suspected of saying good things for the sake of the boss's face.

It is better to select from the identified target customers, which is more in line with the real situation.

Ronald called his publishing team, Michelle Cannold's team, general manager Eddie, and two agents to the scene.

It is a very good thing for the audience's reaction to give those who will be directly related to the distribution marketing work an intuitive impression.

Sometimes, no matter how good the audience rating data is, it is not as shocking as seeing the audience applauding like crazy at the scene. It can make these people more confident in the results of their work.

Ronald still remembers that he was filming "Break Dance" and that was it. After seeing the enthusiasm of the audience after the release, learning to break dance on the spot, and blocking the actors from leaving, Minahan Golan was confident enough to take over the distribution work.

"Dong...dong dong..."

The familiar rhythm sounded, and the audience looked at the intentionally old-fashioned picture, and the loving dance movements on it made the young people cry "oh!"

It opens with the Haussmann family going to the Kellerman Resort. The audience was quickly drawn into the plot by the bright rhythm.

After the baby witnessed Johnny and Penny's tacit cooperation at the dance, he accidentally entered the dancers' resting place and saw their blushing and heart-pounding dance. There was silence from the audience, save for a lot of gulping sounds.

As the story continues, Baby and Johnny gradually fall in love with each other. They practice lifting movements in the lake, making both male and female audiences "tsk, tsk" in envy.

Finally Johnny broke through the obstacle, returned to the Kellerman Hotel, and invited the baby to dance on stage.

When the audience saw this, they could no longer hold back their passion and began to whisper to each other in low voices. The dance music "I've found the time of my life..." sounded, and some people started clapping along with the rhythm.

Finally, the baby made a shocking leap and was lifted up by Johnny like a bird.

The audience's emotions had been stirred up for more than an hour and a half, and they couldn't bear it anymore. When they saw this kind of scene, they all started to burst into laughter. They started to applaud and applaud desperately.

A female audience member in the front row felt that her applause was too quiet and began to stomp the ground hard.

Immediately, this stomping action triggered a chain reaction, and all the audience began to imitate it, making the floor of the screening room make a loud bang. The manager of the screening room thought something was wrong and rushed in to check.

"Thank you. Please help us fill out a questionnaire. We have a gift for you."

At the exit, Michelle Cannold's team began handing out questionnaires to the audience. There are many problems above.

How would you rate this movie?

Would you recommend this movie to a friend?

Do you know what ethnicity the baby is?

Do you know what ethnicity Johnny is?

Do you know what's wrong with Penny?

…

After collecting the questionnaire responses from all the viewers, Michelle Cannold was very excited and came back to report to Ronald.

"The movie's rating is A, 94% of viewers said they would recommend it to their friends, and 92% said they would like to watch it again if they have the chance."

"Yes, what about the cognitive part?"

"Less than 20% of the audience found out that the baby was Jewish. In fact, some people only remembered it after seeing others answering questions.

Only 30% of the audience knew that Penny was pregnant. We filmed it in a more subtle way. Unless someone familiar with the pregnancy had gone through it, or had a similar experience themselves, most of them just thought that Penny had a stomachache and thought she had appendicitis. The proportion is higher than that of pregnancy. "

"Very good, send a copy to Michael Douglas." Ronald asked his agent Richard to handle the matter.

"Where is Niceta?" Ronald asked when he saw that Niceta was not around.

"Rick was talking to the marketing manager at Procter \u0026 Gamble, and he insisted on seeing the finished film."

"Oh." Ronald looked far away and saw Niceta's figure in a light-colored suit. He and another man also in a suit were talking about something.

"You are needlessly worried. We are handling it very well. You can read the market research report there." Nisita insisted to the manager of Procter \u0026 Gamble opposite.

"I don't think so. The two women sitting next to me both clearly said that word."

"What's wrong?" Ronald asked Niceta as he joined the discussion.

"This is the marketing manager of Procter \u0026 Gamble... He feels that there is a plot of abortion in the movie. Their acne cream products are mainly targeted at teenage girls. They don't want to take the risk and want to withdraw the product placement."

"What?" Ronald didn't expect this to happen. "We handled it very carefully, sir. You see, in the market survey we just conducted, less than 30% of the audience found Penny." My physical problem is..."

"I understand, Director Ronald. I personally support the Roe v. Wade case and the Supreme Court's decision. But the target market of our products is teenage girls. I can't risk that any conservative forces will organize protests after this movie is released. Activities, linking the name of our company with...

This is P\u0026G's consistent policy, please understand. "

"But you signed a contract with us."

"But there is a force majeure clause in the contract." The other party insisted.

"If I understand correctly, force majeure refers to natural disasters such as earthquakes. This is not a force majeure." Ronald retorted.

"Haha", the other party smiled, "P\u0026G's legal team is composed of the elites from all over America. We also have the top ten law firms in several cities across the country to hire services for us at any time, so we at P\u0026G believe that this is force majeure."

"You! shxt!"

Ronald was so angry that he couldn't speak. His daydream was that of a small company without a strong legal team, he would suffer losses no matter how he fought a lawsuit like this with a multinational company.

"Then I'll leave first, Director Ronald. P\u0026G's legal department will submit the contract termination documents to you, and we will pay the liquidated damages in accordance with the terms."

"Damn Jews," Ronald cursed in his mind as he looked at the other person's big, crooked nose.

"Sorry, Ronald, I didn't expect them to have such an idea." Niceta came over to apologize.

"It doesn't matter," Ronald waved his hand, indicating that it was none of Niceta's business.

It's nothing more than diverting part of the distribution budget to pay for P\u0026G's cancellation of product placement.

From now on, I will not accept any advertisements for P\u0026G acne cream! However, their competitor Unilever can consider it.

"You have to find me some advertising business, something short and fast." Ronald pulled Nicita aside and whispered.

"You financially?"

"There is no problem now, but the issuance fee..."

"I'll make arrangements right away and ask those regular customers about their intentions."

Suddenly hundreds of thousands short of money, Ronald had no choice but to temporarily pick up the advertising business that he had originally not wanted to take on.

I hope to make two commercials that pay well and can be completed in a short period of time to replenish my bank account.

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