Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Spielberg's expectations for "Empire of the Sun" were very high. This place has just opened its doors to filmmakers from all over the world. He and Bertolucci were the first two Western directors to come here to shoot on location.

Hollywood sometimes pays attention to fashion. In the past two years, everyone has vaguely felt that movies set in the scenery here will be the next hot spot.

Not only the American people are queuing up to travel and appreciate the scenery of the ancient country, but the Oscar judges also want to film movies here. The first person to try it is most likely to become the favorite for various Oscar awards.

"Empire of the Sun" and "The Last Emperor" are both epic movies that reveal the changes of a great era from one character.

The Oscar awards are based on voting. Now everyone in Hollywood is pursuing foreign styles. The best-selling of "Crocodile Dundee" has also deepened this love for foreign styles. This year, two movies were filmed in the ancient Orient, which is in line with the passion of American audiences for a glimpse of the scenery.

Spielberg, who has always been good at catching popular trends, really wanted to win the Best Director statuette that he had dreamed of for a long time with this movie. Last time for "The Color Purple", the Oscar judges deliberately did not give him a nomination for the director award, which made Spielberg specially criticized in an interview on the TV station. Now everyone feels a little guilty about him, maybe his dream will come true.

Spielberg also told Ronald that this was the first time he had filmed a story about children bidding farewell to their innocence and growing into adults. He abandoned what he was best at before, the method of photographing innocent emotions in children, just to break the rules and seek a breakthrough for himself.

Seeing that Spielberg was so focused on the movie, Ronald said goodbye to the crew and stopped disturbing them.

After the visit, Ronald invited his partner Lao Yan to have a meal again. He had been researching some new inventions recently, but to no avail. His son Xiaoyan, after accompanying Spielberg this time, has accumulated some qualifications and will be able to start his study abroad career in America next year.

"I will leave my son to you, Xiao Luo. Son, when you get there, you have to listen to your brother Luo. He can beat you on my behalf, you know?" After drinking some rice wine, Lao Yan officially entrusted his son to Ronald.

"That's it for my whole life. You have to live up to your expectations and work hard there." Lao Yan poured a glass of wine for his son and drank with him.

"I think Lao Yan, you also have the opportunity to go to America. Now that you are working, I can invite you to visit there. When you retire, you can also travel there, settle down or something." Ronald Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit sad, he tried to persuade Lao Yan.

"Yes, Director Luo is there to take care of it, and Xiao Yan is also working hard. Lao Yan, you will enjoy the blessings from now on.

"Director Huang was also invited to have dinner with Ronald. They are considered to be Ronald's best friends here.

"Your movie 'The Love of Ghosts' is a specially made video tape. I will take it to Hollywood to see if anyone is willing to introduce it. After all, this is a Chinese movie, and it talks about an opera that American audiences are very unfamiliar with. Maybe The best result is that it will be released on a small scale in some theaters in Chinatown."

"I understand, and I'd be happy to have the opportunity."

Ronald talked to Director Huang about her going to Hollywood to further her studies. Now when they go abroad, they still need an invitation letter from the foreign party and approval from the leader.

Ronald planned to send the videotape of this film to Gale to see if their Hollywood Women Practitioners Club would be interested in extending an invitation to the female directors who made this outstanding female film to come and communicate.

Finally, Ronald went to the lightning lamp factory in Minhang and found that the quality and stability of the exported long-arc halogen lamps were pretty good. In addition, the city government attaches great importance to it, and it is close to the countryside. There are sufficient supporting food and light industrial products, and the workers are very motivated.

Ronald finally took the workshop director and other cadres and took a group photo together in the factory director's office, under the certificate of "Export Model Unit for Foreign Exchange Earning" on the wall.

…

"Hello, Mr. Li, the plane is about to land." The middle-aged flight attendant in business class woke Ronald up. It was another long flight, and he returned to Los Angeles with the fine wolfberries and tea that Factory Manager Xu had bought for him.

Little Bud drove to the airport to borrow him, and along the way his agent Richard took the time to report on what happened during his absence.

“The news from Paramount is that Top Gun’s box office performance is still going to be sustainable, and the company has decided to speed up the release of the video.

Pepsi-Cola thought the commercial you shot for their Diet Pepsi-Cola was very effective and wanted to know if you could re-shoot the Top Gun commercial yourself and put it on video. They are willing to pay big bucks. "

"I'm not free anymore, I'm about to start working on 'Moonlight'. Besides, are they not satisfied with the commercials shot by Kathryn Bigelow?" Ronald asked.

"No, they are quite satisfied. It's just that Michael J. Fox starred in the commercial, and they also thought about letting Tom Cruise also shoot one."

"Did you tell Paula?"

"She's not very willing. Tom Cruise now tries his best to find a famous director and an excellent script when choosing roles. He doesn't want to settle on a role like a fighter pilot."

"Then pass," Ronald replied.

"At MGM, Mr. Weintraub did not return my call. There are some rumors in the industry that he and his boss Kerkorian had some conflicts. It seems that Kerkorian did not honor the stock options he had promised."

"Ah? It won't affect my film preparations, right?"

"No, I have contacted Mr. Kerkorian's secretary. She said that Mr. Kerkorian also attaches great importance to MGM's first film when it resumes production, and she also wants to meet you."

"It's not urgent. You need to find Weintraub first, and I'll have a chat with him."

After dealing with the accumulated matters, Ronald thought of the breakdancing thing again and said to Richard, "Please help me contact Minahan from Cannon. I have something to discuss with him."

…

Minahan Golan's body has gained some weight, and his belly protrudes a lot more than when he last saw him.

"Ronald, quack quack. You're here just in time. I'm going to the screening room to watch copies of two movies. Come along and we'll talk while watching."

"Of course, I'm here to talk to you about break dancing." Ronald knew that Minahan was now the president of a large company, and his work was not as busy as before.

"Break dance? What, are you willing to make a third part? I'll invest in it!"

Minahan jumped up more than a foot and happily patted Ronald on the back, "As long as we cooperate, we will definitely make a big-selling movie."

"No, I went to the other side of the Pacific and they decided to introduce 'break dancing', so I came to you. Can you give them a low price then?"

"No problem. This movie has basically been sold all over the world. It's a good thing that we can enter emerging markets that are difficult for Hollywood to enter in a few years."

Minahan has a good instinct for the international market. His movies always do well at the box office in Britain, where there is also a Cannon fan club. Any new movie with cannons should be watched.

"This is the new movie we asked Stallone to shoot. Yoram, Yoram, Ronald is here. Let's watch it together, projectionist, projectionist starts."

Minahan's voice was still loud, his head turned rapidly left and right, and he greeted everyone present loudly.

There was also a person from the production crew, who probably brought the edited copy to the court today. They stood up respectfully and said hello to him.

"Everyone sit down, everyone sit down. Let's watch Stallone's new movie 'Over the Top' first, and then I'll watch yours."

The Cannon logo flashed across the screen and the credits to "Over the Top" began to appear.

The film was directed by Minahan Golan, written by Stallone himself, and starred in it. The main story is about a divorced truck driver father named Lincoln. After his ex-wife fell ill and was hospitalized, he drove his truck with his son to various bars to participate in arm-wrestling competitions. He eventually won the national arm-wrestling competition and improved his relationship with his son. .

As soon as Ronald saw the titles of director and screenwriter in the title sequence, he felt a sense of disaster coming towards his face.

Sure enough, the movie parodies the storyline of "Rocky" and changes the boxing match into a bizarre arm-wrestling contest. Changed the emotional process of his girlfriend to improving the relationship with his estranged son.

Different storylines, but using the same structure, the film has a very comedic feel.

Ronald had a hard time not laughing at the arm-wrestling in various weird bars.

In the end, when the scene of Stallone arm-wrestling with a big guy who was two heads taller than him was about to lose, he turned defeat into victory by looking at his son with magical power, Ronald couldn't help but break the move, poof He burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, isn't this ending very good? I specially invited the Italian Giorgio Morodel to compose the music. After he composed the soundtrack for your 'Top Gun', the price more than tripled."

"Haha... yes, this soundtrack is really good. If I close my eyes and imagine the battle on the screen, I will feel excited." Ronald really had nothing to praise, so he could only praise the soundtrack. stand up.

He didn't say that if he opened his eyes, he would definitely laugh again.

Minahan Golan continued to praise himself, and his cousin Yoram pointed to his watch to remind him that time was tight.

Minahan waved his hand behind him, indicating that he should start putting down the movie.

"Who is that? Don't you have a document you want me to sign? Hurry up and bring it." Minahan called the waiting assistant to come up, took the document, and started signing.

The name that appeared on the screen was "Alan Quartermaine and the Lost City of Gold," and Ronald recognized the actor as Richard Chamberlain, the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" knock-off co-starring Sharon Stone. A sequel to "King Solomon's Treasures."

"This copycat is very uncreative. Even the naming rules are copied." Ronald rubbed his chin and thought, this Minahan is really thorough in his work.

Starting from the second film of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford has been included in the title of the film, forming a protagonist + adventure treasure method. Minahan This is total plagiarism.

As soon as the movie opened, Ronald couldn't sit still, and this sequel was almost so embarrassing that he almost closed his eyes.

All the scenes have no special effects, they are just improvised. Let the protagonist Richard Chamberlain play casually and use a revolver to fight against dozens of enemies with machine guns. Only when the enemies are stupid can he win.

It’s unknown how much money Minahan invested in the film and how much was embezzled.

Is Minahan filming too many films now to handle it? If he had watched the crew during the time when he and he were cooperating in break dancing, there would be no way he would have ended up like this.

The performance of the heroine Sharon Stone was also extremely exaggerated. Ronald felt that even Helen Slater, whose acting skills were ten times worse, could not play the role of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus in the primary school drama festival. so.

"Hey...bah..."

Ronald heard that in the corner, an actress also hated the heroine's acting skills just like him.

They felt the same way, so Ronald and her looked at each other and smiled.

After finally enduring the terrible movie for more than an hour, Ronald stood up and wanted to leave first. Watching a movie like this again will make your stomach hurt.

Minahan stood up and called the director, "What are you filming? Didn't I tell you, these queens are ugly, how can you make them look so beautiful? They are all beauties."

The director was speechless, wondering what Minahan was talking about.

"The movie I made is called 'Invaders from Mars'. It's about a group of Zerg queens, not 'Invaders from the Playboy Villa'. Why is the female lead villain so beautiful? What are you filming?"

…

"Director Ronald, hello, I am the number one female villain of the movie, Cassandra Peterson."

Ronald was scratching his head as to why Minahan would say this movie was called "Invaders from Mars". The actress who just now disliked the heroine's acting skills as much as he did, quickly jumped up from her seat and blocked Ronald's path. Want to talk to him.

"Hello, it's you indeed. Your makeup in the movie and the stunts performed by the stunt doubles are very nice." Ronald said perfunctorily before leaving.

"I am a dancer by background. The final special effects of this movie only cost two yuan and thirty-five cents. I had to be the stuntman myself. I jumped into the green lake by myself."

Cassandra Peterson was not willing to miss the opportunity, and like a machine gun, she explained the reasons for the good and bad aspects of her performance.

It turns out that apart from where the crew's money went and Cassandra had to shoot a lot of dangerous scenes herself, the heroine Sharon Stone is also a nuisance. In the scene where the cannibals caught them and cooked them in a cauldron, the blonde even peed in the prop cauldron.

He came out and proudly announced it to everyone. In the end, no one was willing to rearrange the disgusting and disgusting black pot. The last edited scene was the only scene. The whole performance was extremely bad.

"I thought she was a smart actress, how could this happen?" Ronald couldn't help but wonder if the heroine had a mental disorder and was a deep-seated ice woman.

"Her IQ is actually not low and she is a smart person, but she tells everyone on the set that she is smart every day."

Ronald felt that it was not easy for the actress. Facing such a heroine in the movie, she was qualified for the opposite role, and she was doing dangerous stunts by herself, which was considered desperate.

He took out a business card with only his office phone number and handed it to her. "Cassandra Peterson, right? You call this number and tell them I gave you the business card. If there are suitable roles in the future, you will be notified to audition."

"Oh, thank you...thank you..."

Cassandra Peterson has big breasts and fair skin, but she actually looks sweeter when not wearing heavy makeup, rather than the coquettish villain in the movie. She was very happy to get the business card and kept asking Luo Nader thanks.

"Ronald, why don't you watch the next movie with me? It's a story about American ninjas." Minahan came over to persuade him to stay.

"I really have to go," Ronald quickly excused himself.

"Okay, I know you're busy, so I'll make arrangements for break dancing. Also, give me a call when you have time and let's talk about cooperation, okay?"

Minahan was extremely busy, and people came to him for autographs again. The next member of the crew, led by the director, also approached the row and sat down to wait with him to watch the samples.

Minahan was still lecturing the unfortunate director, "How many times have I told you that the queen and the maids should be ugly."

"Minahan probably got the title of our movie wrong. He thought he was watching Invaders from Mars instead of The Lost City of Gold."

Cassandra Peterson whispered into Ronald's ear.

Ronald glanced at her in surprise, "How many movies have you Cannons made this year?"

"I don't know, thirty? Thirty-five?"

Ronald looked at Minahan, who even got the name of the movie wrong, and felt a little bad. Is it really so difficult to manage a film studio? This Israeli hero was tortured to the point of dementia.

…

The next day, Ronald returned to the office and heard the good news.

My "Dirty Dancing" was submitted for review for the second time. After ten seconds of nudity was deleted, the MPAA was very polite and re-rated it to PG-13.

Michelle Cannold, the distribution manager, was overjoyed and had a deeper understanding of Ronald's unfathomable personal connections.

"We plan to promote it state by state. Since we missed the Las Vegas Film Expo where theaters came to us, we will take the initiative to go there and sell door-to-door to theaters in every state and every town.

The quality of "Dirty Dancing" is very good, I believe those theater managers will be fascinated by the wonderful plot and sultry dance, and what we got is still pg-13."

Michelle Cannold is driven.

"Then thank you for your hard work. When I'm not around, you can come to Eddie if you have any problems. We can discuss any difficulties. After all, this is the first film in which Daydream takes the lead."

After all, the publishing business is an unfamiliar field, and the two leading managers don't have much experience, so everything has to be fumbled. Ronald is still very satisfied with launching the distribution work at the end of the year. Before Christmas, he may be able to scan several states in the Deep South to see the situation before making adjustments.

Another day later, after Ronald had adjusted to the jet lag, Weintraub, who had been missing for a long time, took the initiative to call Ronald and ask Ronald to come to his home to talk in detail.

"Ronald, come on, long time no see. How is your business in Xujiahui? How is the filming of Spielberg's new film going?"

Weintraub still sat on his long leather sofa and greeted Ronald with a smile.

A beautiful woman in a bikini walked past the door.

Ronald raised his eyebrows, looked at the beautiful woman, and asked Weintraub again with his eyes.

"My wife Jane went to Washington, D.C., and Barbara, the wife of the deputy commander, wanted her to go to the party. I happened to stay in Los Angeles because of something else."

Ronald thought that this was no wonder. Weintraub was not afraid of a fine of 1 million. It turned out that his wife was on a business trip.

"The situation over there is good. I couldn't contact you the past few days."

"Hey...I'm going to Las Vegas."

Weintraub sighed, took out a bottle of brandy, and poured it for Ronald and himself.

"Korkorian, this old bastard..."

It turned out that Weintraub was swayed by Kerkorian, the real boss of MGM, the big boss of the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, and a master of chicken-laying. He did not get the real CEO position. Kerkorian appointed another person as co-CEO, under the euphemistic name of ensuring that the business of MGM and United Artists can be carried out normally.

Moreover, it turned out that Kerkorian promised Weintraub stock options and promised him to be a second shareholder. The small boss's plan also encountered some legal "technical problems" due to the new tax law, and was about to come to nothing.

Weintraub reorganized the top management of MGM for Kerkorian and integrated the teams of the two original companies. After basically completing the dirty work, Kerkorian kicked him out. Now it's like getting only a hollow CEO position of United Artists.

"So you just swallowed this breath?" Ronald asked.

"What should I do? All his operations are technically legal. I also underestimated the difficulty of his operation in Las Vegas. This is not an easy person to deal with.

Fortunately, we Jews have some good traditions and do not dwell on past grudges. If we suffer a loss, we should remember this lesson and try again. "

Weintraub was a singer's manager, so he still had a lot of worries about casino tycoons like Kerkorian.

He didn't get the authority he wanted, so he had to take a large salary and bonus, resigned angrily, and opened a small company of his own, "Weintraub Productions."

Fortunately, he was not idle when he was at MGM. He relied on MGM's platform to establish a connection with Canada's largest combined theater chain, Sunnybrook Cinemas.

Weintraub joined forces with them, found his old partner Columbia Pictures, and signed a 20-year distribution contract with them.

All Weintraub Productions products are distributed by Columbia.

After hearing the news, Ronald was a little worried about his new film. With Weintraub gone, will there be any problems with MGM's cooperation?

As if sensing Ronald's worry, Weintraub said to him, "Don't worry about your new movie 'Moonlight', I will still be there until the end of February next year..."

I also made an agreement with Kerkorian that he will invest resources in the release of your new film. You are now one of the most profitable directors in Hollywood, and this is MGM's first film since it resumed its production business. He is a man who knows the right things. "

"Honey", the bikini beauty waved to Weintraub outside the door, but her eyes were constantly looking at Ronald, and she even took the time to give him a wink.

"It's a center-seam model from the new issue of Playboy. It was recommended by Hugh Hefner. Do you want to try it?" Weintraub poked at the suspect.

Ronald waved his hand to express disinterest.

"Haha, you don't have to worry about this. I invited you here today because I want to continue to cooperate with you. When I get to my own production company, I will take the overall helm, and Susan will help me with the daily work. How about we work together again? ?”

"Let's wait until I finish shooting the movie I'm working on." Ronald declined.

"I know you have a small production company of your own. What's the point of playing in those small productions? This time I got really big investment from Sineblack Cinemas and Columbia. What kind of movie do you want to make and who do you want to make it? can satisfy you.

How about it? think about it? "

"Oh? You got a big investment?" Ronald thought this sentence was familiar, and someone had said it before.

"I'm only telling you, don't tell anyone about it until February next year. It's still confidential. It's a big investment that will shock Hollywood." Weintraub lowered his voice and lowered his head slightly, as if to avoid letting the bikini beauty hear. .

"How much?" Ronald couldn't help but lower his head forward, and their heads were almost touching.

"Four hundred and fifty million."

…

"Four hundred and fifty million..." Ronald was half lying on the back seat of Little Bud's car, still feeling a little relieved.

How come these Wall Street people don’t look at money as money?

Disney's Eisner got 300 million, Cannon got 400 million, and now Weintraub got another 450 million. When you make a small production yourself and worry about not getting money, what are these people better than me? How come it seems like hundreds of millions of dollars are taken carelessly.

It was not easy to discuss this matter with others, so Ronald made a special trip to New York to meet Douglas Hansen Jr.

Both were impressed by Wall Street's generosity and chatted for a long time in Douglas Jr.'s mansion.

"I have carefully read the information disclosed by these two businesses, and it is obvious that Wall Street has no clue what kind of movies will make money.

Now that money is loose, the Federal Reserve has maintained low interest rates for several years. It raised interest rates slightly last year, and the economic response has been stable. It was the golden age of very good liquidity.

That’s why they can easily raise four to five billion dollars, whether it’s from the junk bond market for Cannon, or private equity funds from wealthy people for Disney’s Eisner, including this time Weintraub raised 20 years of long-term issuance contracts, mortgages plus investments from private investors.

The only advantage they have over our Daydream Pictures is that they have their own distribution channels.

Those fools on Wall Street only use formulas to explain why they make profits. Because their movies are hits, they have unique vision and strong distribution channels. Why are their movies hits? It is precisely because of his unique vision and strong distribution channels.

I have read many analysis reports by researchers, and they are all garbage with these circular arguments.

As long as our Dirty Dancing can be successful, I think Wall Street money will definitely come to us. "

"Yes, you still need to have your own distribution channels to be respected by others." Ronald also felt that it made sense. Business is not about making movies. The production, purchase, distribution, marketing, etc. of a movie cannot have a special short version, so that capital will favor it.

After determining the direction of the company, Douglas Jr. treated Ronald to a steak. His chef was of Italian origin, but the steak he cooked today was Irish-style, very tender and juicy, and Ronald was very happy to eat it.

"How long will you stay here this time? Are you going back to Los Angeles soon? Are you going to start preparations for a new movie?" Douglas Jr. also ate very quickly. Both of them have practiced wrestling and are both carnivores.

"I'm going to stay here for a while. The new film needs good casting. They are all Italians from Brooklyn, New York. I'm going to go to the casting studio where I worked back then and ask them to help with the casting.

This movie is very demanding on acting skills and the compatibility between the characters and the actors, which Hollywood casting directors are not suitable for. I need to match the character more than the appearance. I also need to audition in a group to determine the chemistry. These are the strengths of casting studios.

In fact, it would be best for Julia Taylor, the boss of the casting studio, to do the casting. She has a keen eye and specializes in casting for director Woody Allen. Unfortunately, she only worked with Woody Allen, so I had to ask her subordinates for help. "

"By the way, did you also work as a photographer for them, taking audition photos?" Little Douglas thought of the past.

"Yes, now I have changed my identity and cooperated with them. These female actors are indeed quite good at selecting actors."

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