Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Bannon was overjoyed when he saw that Ronald was willing to release the film. There is no need for this small-budget movie of three million US dollars to be distributed by the seven major studios. As long as he can sell it back at the original price, he can use the success of this movie to form a new movie project.

With his connections in Hollywood, what he needs is nothing more than the success of a model project so that more people will believe in him and invest in him.

Bannon was determined to finalize the release of the film, and proposed on the spot that he wanted Ronald to go with him to the crew that had already started filming.

"Did you forget something?" Ronald smiled and crossed his fingers with his hands together.

Bannon smoothed his hair. The on-the-spot reaction he had experienced on Wall Street meant that although he didn't understand what Ronald was referring to, he still pretended to understand and asked:

"How do you want me to handle that?"

"How do you want to deal with it? My grievances with your partner Tom Mount are well known, and you want to use my publishing ability..."

"I have only raised two-thirds of the three million production cost. Mount will continue to invest another one million with his own money. If you..." Bannon heard that it turned out to be a personal grudge and immediately took advantage of it. Making money.

Ronald knew there were a lot of problems with the production costs and didn't want to be ripped off. Daydream only provides distribution capabilities. It just so happens that its "Dirty Dancing" cannot fill this year's summer schedule. Many theaters originally wanted to provide more choices.

However, this movie only has a production budget of 3 million, so it seems unlikely that any stars will be able to star in it, so we have to find another way to distribute it.

So he relaxed his body, leaned back on his seat, and said indifferently: "You can only get a lollipop from me, Mr. Bannon. Either a publishing contract, or you continue to cooperate with Mount. .”

Bannon touched the stubble on his chin and began to make calculations.

Although Tom Mount has connections and vision in Hollywood, he is only a springboard for his own entry into the entertainment industry and his larger plans later.

Compared with his one million investment, the distribution channels promised by Ronald are more important.

With the issuance channel, he can go to Wall Street to raise funds. If this is not possible, he can still raise some money by pledging the issuance contract to the bank.

And Mount's so-called connections have rapidly depreciated in the five years since he left Universal. Last time I went to Japan to find money.

Even the people over there didn't give him much face. Even if he had to find a partner within the circle, Ronald, who was in full swing right now, wouldn't be better.

As long as you cooperate with him once, if there are good projects in the future, Ronald can guarantee the issuance or investment, and he can be endorsed by his old friends on Wall Street.

I heard that the young director was the matchmaker for the deputy commander's son's screen fund. If you do this yourself, you will save at least a few years of time.

Thinking of this, Bannon made up his mind.

“The production rights for Boy Rent Girl are in my hands. As long as I return his investment and I use some tricks, I can let him go easily.

Mount has been on the set recently, taking classes with the main creators. He said he wanted to teach them some Hollywood filming methods, but I think he is talking nonsense. As long as we reach an agreement, I can immediately stop him from talking about embarrassing things. if. "

"I'll let the lawyer and my general manager Eddie talk to you, and we can start drafting a cooperation agreement." Ronald also wanted to see how the aloof Mount, who could decide his own destiny back then, is now determined by himself. What an expression.

Both parties actually agreed on the movie. It was a small-budget movie that could fill the gap, so all the terms were negotiated smoothly.

The next day, Bannon drove Ronald himself to where the crew was rehearsing and ended their partnership with Tom Mount in person.

Bannon is very good at doing things. He knows that this deal also includes the content of kicking Mount away in person and letting Ronald vent his anger. So I got everything ready, just waiting for Ronald to happily collect the interest for so many years of being frustrated.

When he arrived at the set, Ronald met director Steve Rush under the introduction of Bannon.

Rush, like Ronald, has filmed a lot of music videos. This is his first opportunity to be a director of a theatrical film.

The director of photography surprised Ronald even more. It was Ronald's partner when he first became a director, the "fast-paced" director of photography Matthew Leonetti.

Ronald was happy to see his old friends and chatted with them.

Matthew is still filming some TV movies and small-budget theatrical movies. Since becoming famous for his fast pace, he has continued to work and is more respected than when he was just starting out.

"Let me show you our new toy, Ronald. It would have made fast-paced filming so much easier if we had had this back then."

Matthew saw that Ronald was still the same, without any pretensions, and chatting with him about technical details, just like before. He also put down his thoughts and chatted with Ronald, who already liked new technologies, about the new recordings he had obtained. equipment.

"This is a new recorder that complies with Dolby Laboratories specifications. It is very useful for playing background music at the scene. It can be directly mixed with the film shot and mixed into Dolby-standard stereo sound on the post-mixing equipment. We were recording for the scene at the time. We also spent a lot of thought on the noise issue.”

Ronald took a look and saw a Japanese brand on it. This brand of tape recorder can be connected directly to the tape recorder and no longer needs to be recorded by the on-site microphone, which can save a lot of time in the post-production period of shooting.

Moreover, like other Japanese consumer electronics, this recorder is small and can be clamped on the camera, which is very useful for special occasions.

Ronald was attracted by the new technology and began to play with a professional tape recorder. Japan's miniaturization technology is unparalleled in the world. The various buttons are made to feel very good, and it feels like they can maintain the feel of starting a new machine even if they are pressed tens of thousands of times.

"Click, click", Ronald was having a great time.

Seeing this, Bannon nodded to him and almost went to find Tom Mount.

Seeing this, Matthew simply asked Ronald to take the recorder in his hand and play with it. "This thing is very sensitive. I think some reporters in the White House also use this thing to record professional interviews."

Ronald said goodbye to Matthew, knowing that in one day he would be the distributor of the film.

Bannon asked the staff in advance, and Tom Mount was in a conference room at the back, driving everyone else away to use his own office.

He led the way. Having been on Wall Street for so many years, he already knew how to use his partners' braids to force them to agree to his demands.

Everyone knows that Tom Mount is lecherous, and his connections in the industry rely heavily on his wife's family connections. As long as he operates correctly, it is not difficult to get him out.

The key is that Bannon took a look at Ronald behind him and asked how to make Mount get out of the way so that the person behind him would be satisfied. This was the focus of this transaction.

Ronald was playing with this new toy along the way. This time he just wanted to test the effect. If it was good, he could use it in his next movie.

A professional recorder has more than a dozen buttons. Ronald found the specially made orange recording button, pressed it and put it in his jacket pocket. Japanese product design is based on convenience, and human-computer interaction never disappoints.

The two of them arrived at the door of the conference room one after another.

There were no lights on inside, and there was only very weak light in the glass window on the door.

"No, Mr. Mount, I still have to read the script with other actors."

A young woman's voice came from inside.

"Don't be ignorant of praise. Do you think that once you get the role, I don't have the right to fire you?"

Ronald frowned. It was Tom Mount's voice. Is this guy still so lustful after all these years? Want to cause trouble on set?

"Lie down obediently. Who do you think you are? A big star?"

Bannon looked back at Ronald. This was just the right time for Mount to take the opportunity to harass the actress, which was the best excuse. Moreover, he was caught red-handed by his enemy Ronald.

Ronald nodded to Bannon, and it fell into his hands.

The two of them were going up to open the door, one behind the other.

Suddenly, it seemed like Mount was starting to get tough. There was a thud, like the sound of a person's head hitting the table.

"Ah...ah...help..."

The actress didn't deliver it as obediently as Mount expected. He also threatened to report sexual harassment to the Screen Actors Guild.

Humph, even if you don’t look at who is the senior executive of the Screen Actors Guild, he was the one who funded the successful campaign when he was at Universal.

"Let go...let me go..."

"Pah..." It seemed like the actress had been slapped again.

When Ronald heard something was wrong, he stepped forward and kicked him.

"boom!"

The door made a loud sound and bounced against the wall. Ronald kicked the door lock and broke it.

"ah……"

When Bannon, who came in behind, turned on the light and shook Mount into a trance, the actress who was pinned under him broke free from Mount's hands, slipped out from under him, and fled to Rona. Behind De and Bannon.

"Pfft..." Looking at Mount, who had taken off his trousers and only had a pair of shorts, Ronald sneered.

"Long time no see, Tom."

"You? Ronald." Mount quickly grabbed the pants that fell on the ground and lifted them up.

"Bannon, what's going on?"

"I'm here to inform you that you need to get out. It is illegal to force an actress anywhere. Besides, our heroine is not yet sixteen years old."

Bannon stepped forward and pushed Mount away, pointing his finger at Mount's nose and asking him to be more honest.

At this time, the heroine hiding behind Ronald, a girl named Amanda Peterson, covered her beaten face before she dared to poke her head out from behind.

"Humph, are you going to kick me out? Are you getting together with Ronald, a bastard? What benefits can he give you? More investment than me, or better connections in the industry than me."

"Shut up. What kind of bullshit connections do you have? You can't get investment in America or Japan. Look at Ronald, the Screen Fund is all about his face. This movie has been in preparation for so long, and you can't even get a distributor." I can’t figure it out, whether it’s Universal or the Columbia you brag about..."

"Your coercion of a minor is a criminal case. We call the police." Ronald did not bother with them and directly asked Bannon to call the police.

Bannon and Mount both turned to look at Ronald. This kid was so vicious that he was going to beat Mount to the ground in one fell swoop.

Bannon reacted quickly, knowing that this was not the time to hesitate. He knew that there was a recording in Ronald's pocket and the evidence was strong. He immediately picked up the phone on the table and dialed 911.

"Hello, this is West Hollywood... I have a 15-year-old female here who is suspected of being attacked."

Bannon's chosen reason for calling the police was violent attack, which still leaves some room for advancement and retreat. Whether Mount can escape the fate of being ruined depends on this young Amanda Peterson.

West Hollywood is a place with high property values, sufficient tax revenue, and abundant LAPD manpower.

Soon, a West Hollywood detective arrived at the scene with two of his men.

After understanding the situation, he made a brief inquiry to Amanda Peterson on the spot, then politely invited Tom Mount into the car and returned for investigation.

"I'm going to call my lawyer." Mount was still yelling. How could this unspoken rule that everyone abides by in Hollywood become so serious?

Ronald was pleased that Bannon quickly came to his side. He turned around and understood the situation with Amanda Peterson, who had been slapped and had her head knocked heavily.

After a brief conversation, Ronald already knew that Amanda was from Colorado and had auditioned for the Chinese film version of the musical "Annie" when she was a child. Unfortunately, he was not cast in the end and only played a supporting role.

From then on, he entered the entertainment industry and kept auditioning in Hollywood, hoping to play a role and become famous overnight. The heroine this time is already her third time participating in such a low-budget film.

I am familiar with the road, so my parents are not around to accompany me all the time. Unexpectedly, Tom Mount, who holds the position of producer, would actually do it in the office.

Ronald heard that her parents were away and called Paula Wagner, wife of his agent Niceta, to come over and deal with the problem for Amanda Peterson.

Because Paula was pregnant, she admired Amanda Peterson's defiant spirit. She also found a lawyer, accompanied Amanda to the hospital to examine her injuries, and then went to the LAPD to explain what happened.

Ronald grabbed Paula and handed her the tape. Let her handle the situation.

Because Mount was caught committing the crime, things became simpler. Soon, Bannon terminated his cooperation with him on the grounds of suspected criminal offenses.

Then a cooperation agreement was initialed with Ronald's Daydream.

The three million filming funds turned into two million. The filming is about to be postponed.

Ronald looked at the shooting budget and said to Bannon, who came over and wanted to make some efforts to get Ronald to invest, "Look at this report, the cost of filming in Los Angeles is very high. Especially the salary expenditure of actors, which Mount asked You filmed it here, right?

Isn't this an Arizona story? And the scene at the Navy and Air Force aircraft cemetery, why didn't you shoot it in Arizona? I've been to this aircraft cemetery to shoot a music video, and it was difficult to recreate the scene. "

"What Mount said is that when shooting in Hollywood, all kinds of extras are very convenient, and setting up scenes is much cheaper than shooting on location." Bannon asked in surprise.

Bannon, who has been working on Wall Street, has actually never participated in a movie shooting. He has always used what Mount said as a professional reference.

"Will Wall Street bankers be deceived by Hollywood producers?" Ronald smiled and picked up a red pencil and began to cross the budget column.

"That's all in the old days. Today's daylight films and lighter cameras are completely adaptable to real-location shooting. So it's cheaper to shoot on-site. How can it be cheaper to take a set with so many airplanes than to shoot on location? ?”

Bannon's face turned red. Wall Street bankers were deceived. This is a sign of lack of professional ethics. They have always been the only ones to deceive others.

"And here," Ronald also crossed out the hundreds of thousands in extra cost, "you go to Arizona to shoot, there is no union interference. If your film is not registered with the union, they won't even be able to control you. Do you want to pay extra actors?"

Bannon was even more angry. Didn’t he say that Hollywood is cheaper because it has more extras?

"If you don't believe it, you can look at the reports of big companies. The minimum wage of the Actors Guild has increased by about 7% year by year in the past two years, and more and more projects are being filmed in Canada."

"I'm going to kill this bastard Mount." Simply calculating the cost of Ronald's red pencil cross, Bannon could easily conclude that the two million US dollars of investment he had found himself could cover the filming of the movie. It's actually more than enough.

"Here you go," Ronald returned the shooting plan to Bannon. "You discuss the shooting plan with the director. Matthew, the director of photography, is an old friend of mine. If you have any questions, you can contact him."

Ronald recognized Matthew's level very much. When the shooting was fast-paced, he used special lighting methods to save himself a lot of shooting time.

This time I met an old friend again and simply persuaded him to work for Daydream, at least giving priority to Daydream’s projects in the future. For those low-budget movies, Matthew's level is sufficient, and his character and price are trustworthy.

Bannon went to discuss a new shooting plan with director Rush. This time, he would not register with the Screen Actors Guild and make a non-union project.

Ronald occupied Mount's original office and began to arrange work.

He is an insider and knows what is necessary cost and what is nonsense to defraud the boss of his money. Get things organized quickly.

At nearly noon, Paula and Amanda's new criminal lawyer went to the office to update Ronald on the latest developments.

"Mount is finished. His wife knows about this and wants to divorce him. He will have nowhere to hang out in Hollywood in the future."

Come up, Paula Wagner picked Ronald's favorite and said it.

"Hehe...he deserves it." Ronald smiled happily.

"However, regarding the criminal case, I suggested that Amanda Peterson reconsider it. She said she wanted to listen to your opinion."

"What do you think?" Ronald asked, "Isn't this a public prosecution case?"

"Yes, but the other party's lawyer is very strong. Although Mount has no future in Hollywood, he is a rich man after all...well, before he lost all his family property to the divorce lawyer."

"Tell me about it." The more Ronald listened, the happier he became. Divorce lawyers in Hollywood are all vampires. After years of litigation, it is common for half of the family property to fall into the pockets of the lawyers instead of being distributed to the ex-wife.

"This kind of case has always been difficult to establish in Hollywood. The opposing lawyer will question Miss Peterson's character, and her past events will be revealed by the opposing lawyer to attack her character. Considering Peter Ms. Mori is an actress, so this is actually not good for her future," the lawyer explained.

"Amanda is not yet sixteen, so this will not be a public trial."

"Of course, but the court may not be in the court. The other party is a high-level executive in Hollywood. They will definitely use the tabloids to spread the heat and slander Amanda as someone who did not hesitate to seduce Mount for the role..."

"I still have the tape." Ronald thought of the tape he gave to Paula.

"Um...it's not very clear from the pocket. The lawyer has listened to it. In fact, it's easy for the other party to question it."

"Hmm..." Ronald immediately had an opinion about Japan's new toy. Why couldn't he record it clearly?

"We still have to consider this matter from Miss Peterson's perspective. Mount is willing to file a civil settlement..."

"Ask her what she means."

Ronald was a little regretful that he couldn't send Mount to jail. "But speaking of tabloids, it seems..."

"The former president of Universal is suspected of..."

"How much will the former Universal Vice President lose when the Mounts file for divorce?"

"Many actors and models came forward to accuse Tom Mount's true face..."

Soon, the matter of Mount joining the LAPD was revealed by multiple newspapers. His name is on the public records, and the detectives and subordinates involved in the case also confirmed to the media that Mount was indeed suspected of being violent to the actor.

In the past, he sexually exploited many actors, models, directors, etc., and he was also let go.

"Ronald, several old guys called me and asked me whether Mount's matter was done by you." Agent Niceta took a pile of newspapers, put them on the table, and said to Ronald.

"I just happened to be talking to Bannon about the release of the movie. Who knew he was so blatantly violating the heroine."

"Actually, this kind of thing is not uncommon in Hollywood, but Mount really went too far. Amanda Peterson is still underage. This is no longer the era in the 1950s when producers could do whatever they wanted and female stars had to sit on the red sofa to appear in the show. .”

"Yeah," Ronald thought to himself, everyone signed the contract through an agent, right? This Mount really embarrassed the Hollywood producers. Can it still be done hard?

However, he was not a capable person to begin with. His wife's father was a senior executive of Bad Ball's parent company, MCA, and he was in a high position before he was forty years old.

"Never mind this, he deserves it. I have made an agreement with Ovitz. You will basically withdraw from the Rain Man project, and he will compensate you with other resources. For your Dirty Dancing, he will use his connections to make the film critic Speak well of you.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Sisko of the Chicago Tribune have agreed to say good things about you in newspapers and on television. All you have to do is sponsor their Chicago Film Critics Circle conference next year.

The sponsorship quota is actually quite tight, and Ovitz reserved one for you. "

Ronald shook his head. These days, film critics are more powerful than directors.

…

"What? What did you say? You want to cancel the distribution contract with Mount Pictures?"

Tom Mount is angry after receiving his wife's request for divorce. Columbia's distribution manager came to tell him that the distribution contract for three films signed by Mount Pictures and Columbia had also been canceled because of his scandal.

"Yes, our cooperation has a moral clause. Your behavior makes the audience not like the movies produced by your company. Who asked you to name your film company after you?"

Tom Mount was hit hard and everything on the table was knocked off the table.

"Wendy, Wendy, come and clean up." Mount calmed down and pressed the intercom to ask the secretary to come in and clean up.

"Mr. Mount, this is my resignation." Secretary Wendy packed up the things on the floor, then came in and handed a resignation letter into Mount's hand.

Working for a suspected...suspect is not good for your future.

"You betrayed me too? Get out of here."

Mount only felt that all his careers had been ruined by Ronald.

"Mr. Mount, it's time to pay your attorney's fees." The criminal lawyer in charge of his case came in and handed him a receipt.

After seeing the huge legal fees above, Mount couldn't bear it anymore and screamed.

"With so much money, why don't you grab it?"

"If you don't pay, I will hire a specialized lawyer to collect the money." The criminal lawyer had seen many such clients. He straightened his clothes, picked up his briefcase and walked out.

"Get out of here, get out of here." Mount threw the things picked up by the secretary to the ground.

"Ronald, you bastard."

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :