Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald Lee, in this year's new film 'Dirty Dancing', can be regarded as establishing his status as a musical revivalist. He was the king of musicals in the 1980s. He took over from Fred Asday. Er, Gene Kelly and others have used the tradition of musical films, new era directorial techniques and smooth commercial film narrative rhythm to give this once glorious genre a new lease of life..."

Traveling by Gulfstream aircraft did not have any impact on his rest. Ronald was able to go to the office early the next morning.

The newspapers accumulated over the weekend were placed on the desk. Ronald picked it up and took a look. The assistants carefully labeled the reports about "Dirty Dancing". It's basically all praise for Ronald and the two leading actors.

The weekend box office statistics are also out, and there is almost no decrease compared to the first week. "Dirty Dancing" rules the American film scene in August.

America's Labor Day weekend is coming soon. If it can keep the box office at a high level for three consecutive weekends, it can dominate the box office for another two weeks. There are no competitive new releases until mid-September, such as Michael Douglas's "Fatal Attraction."

Sometimes, when a movie is released during the traditional off-season at the box office, if the movie is of excellent quality, it has the advantage of being a big fish in a small pond.

Ronald finished flipping through the newspaper, wrote a note on it, and asked his assistant to help him cut out the reports and store them. A man had fun at his desk for a long time before starting his day's work.

"Cassandra, I have read the script carefully. Let me confirm with you again. Can't your budget be lowered? I see that in your script, apart from the fire burning down the old house, many scenes can actually be compared. Deal with it in an economical way.”

Back in Los Angeles, Ronald was supported by dreams on the plane, and his confidence in "Ecstasy" began to rise. After basking in the praise in the newspapers, Ronald called Cassandra Peterson in New York to confirm her wishes.

"Of course, no theaters are willing to show those old-fashioned B-level movies now. I talked to several producers, and they all answered me this way. The audience's taste has been improved, and they must be given more in the movie. A big scene.

Minahan Golan's fooling around has been spurned by the market. Look at his Superman IV..."

"Okay, I understand what you mean. You want to make a theatrical movie, but you don't want to make the kind of B-level movie that can only be made directly into a video tape and end up in a video rental store."

Ronald rubbed his chin. I still think about problems with my old thinking.

The reason why Roger Corman was able to dominate Hollywood for decades with an ultra-low-cost (less than 500,000) budget.

One of the reasons is that there are no visually impressive films on the market. Now the movies made by Lucas, Spielberg, and Cameron have raised the quality of movies several notches.

Audiences will really laugh out loud when they go to the cinema to watch movies that are fake at first sight.

Cassandra Peterson, on the other hand, worked for Minahan's Cannon on the "masterpiece" (over a $10 million budget) "The Lost City of Gold." Although judging from the final film, they probably only spent three yuan and fifty-eight cents on the special effects.

But after all, Cassandra Peterson is the leading female villain who occupies the theater market and has launched "blockbusters" in more than 1,500 theaters at the same time. She worked so hard to promote the movie, and there was no way she would accept it ending up on a video tape.

"Or can you get a film with a production budget of less than $2 million into the distribution market? I heard that one of your films, 'Love Is Not For Sale,' had a low budget." Cassandra Peterson misunderstood Luo Nader's call means that if it can enter theaters, low cost is not a bad thing.

"No, that movie is to fill the gap in theaters. Obviously I can't find a blockbuster in the short term to occupy the schedule after the New Year next year. By the way, I will bring your movie." Ronald thought for a while. , you still need to cooperate with others.

"Listen, Cassandra, I will find some other producers to discuss with you in the next two days. I like your movie script very much and have confidence in your performance in 'The Lost City of Gold'. So you Don’t look for other producers for the time being, let me see…I will give you an answer by the end of this week.”

"Thank you, thank you, thank you... I really don't know how to thank you..." Cassandra Peterson stomped her feet happily on the other end of the phone, "Should I go back right away? When you were talking to other people, it was Don’t you also want me to be there?”

"Don't have too high expectations. There's still room for success or failure in this matter. It will be beneficial if you come back, but I want you to join me after I find the right person."

Obviously, Cassandra Peterson, who has already been fooled by Minahan Golan and even fell from a height into a pond without a stand-in and had to fight on her own, is impossible to work with Cannon Pictures It's cooperative.

This also left Ronald with only one possible partner, his former boss and guide Roger Coleman.

After making an appointment with Roger's secretary to interview at his Concordia company tomorrow, Ronald was intercepted by script assistant David Simkins.

"Ronald, there is a script here that was given to you by name. I think what he said makes sense, so I jumped in line and showed it to you."

"Oh, why?" Ronald raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He waved his assistant to make David a cup of coffee.

"This letter was sent by the screenwriter and producer along with the script. The reasons listed in it made me unable to refuse."

"Really? Can't refuse?" Ronald took the script. The name of the script was written on the cardboard cover, "White Lipstick," and below it was the screenwriter's name, John Waters.

"What does this mean? The name is not chosen well and I can't understand the meaning." Ronald opened the cover and found an open letter inside.

"Dear Ronald, my name is John Waters, the screenwriter of 'White Lipstick,' and I'm writing to you because you're the only person in this generation who knows how to make a musical.

"White Lipstick" is also about dancers in 1962..."

"It's interesting..." Ronald looked at David Simkins. This movie and "Dirty Dancing" are basically written in the same time period.

"I checked the registration time of the Writers Guild. His script was written long before our movie was released." Simkins replied, this John Waters is not a follower.

Ronald nodded and continued reading.

"Tracy is a fat white girl who likes black singing and dancing shows. She overcame the discrimination against her body shape in a local youth dance talent show in Baltimore and won the championship.

And her friend also broke through racial discrimination and fell in love with a black young man..."

"Oh..." Ronald's interest increased greatly after reading this. In the 1960s, in addition to the overall competition between the leadership of Kennedy and the alliance, another major event was the affirmative action launched by the progressive youth at that time, which challenged black segregation and the inability to attend the same school.

This writing method of embedding the plot of the musical into the general background of the time is very similar to "Dirty Dancing" written by Eleanor. There is also discrimination against Jews and women's struggle for their own body freedom as a background.

Ronald said nothing and silently turned over the script. Similar to "Dirty Dancing", the script of this movie also hides the ups and downs of the times behind the plot. There is no deliberate emphasis on the plot that these older audiences miss, but it is cleverly displayed through the story.

The climactic ending of the play. The protagonist Tracy was imprisoned in a detention center because she participated in the protest at a black-white mixed school. Another mean girl wins a TV talent show.

At a critical moment, the governor pardoned Tracy. She rushed to the station, and the host announced that for the first time in Baltimore's history, blacks and whites would appear on the same show. It ends with a big dance.

"What do you think?" Ronald closed the script and said to David Simkins.

"I think it is very suitable for our company's next movie. I checked this John Waters, he has always been known for shooting low-cost movies. Many of his previous movies were shot for tens of thousands of dollars. The quality is It's a very good B-movie, and the box office is good.

It is very suitable for our current lack of production budget. The shooting cycle of this kind of film is very short. It can be released to theaters during the off-season after the New Year holiday next year, so that our distribution business will not be idle. "

"Your idea is very good!" Ronald admired Simkins's idea very much. This kind of employee who proactively stands at the height of the company instead of only looking at the interests of his own department is very popular.

"Then I invite him for an interview?"

"As soon as possible, I'm going to talk to Roger Corman at Concord tomorrow about another movie, and preferably today I can talk to John Waters."

…

John Waters came to Ronald's office in West Hollywood in the afternoon. He was born in 1946. He is very thin, has a mustache, and looks funny.

Waters himself is a native of Baltimore. The movie script of "White Lipstick" was adapted from his own experience. The TV dance talent show in the movie and Baltimore's feat of taking the lead in breaking the ban on blacks and whites being allowed to attend the same school in 1963 were all events that happened when he was in middle school.

This is also a script that he spent a long time and slowly polished.

"What's your budget requirement for the movie?" Ronald looked at the other person. In fact, the script didn't have much scenes, mainly indoor scenes and dance scenes.

"This is my labor of love, so I wanted to try to make him look the way I thought he would." John Waters said.

"Tell me about your plans." Ronald began to feel bad. Making the film look the way you wanted it essentially depends on how much money you spend.

“I thought about filming on location in Baltimore, both on campus and on the streets of Baltimore.”

"It's cheaper to shoot on location," Ronald nodded. There was no Screen Actors Guild in Baltimore, so Waters could save money wherever he could.

"I want a little more budget. The movies I made before were all super low-budget movies with a budget of no more than 100,000 US dollars. This movie is my dream movie. I want to try my best to make it as good as possible. Ronald , you will understand me, right?"

John Waters looked at Ronald pitifully. If Ronald didn't give the green light, he might have to use some unfinished second-hand recycled film from other crews to shoot ultra-low-cost movies released directly to videotape. .

"Huh..." Ronald scratched his head. This promise was not easy to give. "How much funds do you estimate you will need?"

The cost of musicals is much higher than that of romantic films like "Love Is Not For Sale." Ronald was already prepared for the other party to ask for more than 5 million. After all, it would cost that much to film "Dirty Dancing" himself.

"two……"

"Twenty million? Are you fucking kidding me?" When Ronald heard the first two words, he immediately became popular. I haven't even exceeded 10 million when I made a musical.

"No, it's two million." Waters quickly clarified.

"Two million? Are you sure you can film it?" Ronald counted the big group dance scenes. The plot is a dance talent show. Each time, there are dozens of experienced dancers dancing in groups, and the dance is 60 The swing dance of the era is not like "break dancing" where you can just grab a few street dancers to dance.

"There is no big problem. I have a group of actors who have worked with me for many years. We have worked together for more than ten years. We have a good understanding and their salaries are not expensive."

"Very good, you create a budget and then storyboard the main scenes. I will have a meeting with other colleagues to discuss it. You should stop looking for other producers before the end of this week. I want this It’s not hard to keep a promise, right?”

"Of course." When John Waters heard that there was something going on, he stood up happily and prepared to say goodbye.

“Also, let me ask, what does the name of your script ‘White Lipstick’ mean?”

"The lipstick is red and white is a very strange color. Just like in Baltimore at that time, black people could not enter the TV station to participate in the draft with white people. Everyone has seen this strange phenomenon, but no one has the courage to speak out. Only It takes a brave and optimistic girl like Tracy to speak out and fight for change," Waters began, talking about the metaphorical meaning of the name.

"No wonder you can't find investment." Ronald shook his head. Fortunately, because he was good at making musicals, he wrote a letter and was seen by David Simkins. Otherwise, no one would be willing to read such an obscure name.

"This won't work. You have to change your name. Change it to a name that others can understand the plot at a glance."

"But..." Waters was very proud of the puns and metaphors in the film's title. He thought about it for a long time.

"Stop it, if you don't change it, we won't be able to give it the green light. It's impossible to invest a big budget in marketing a low-budget movie. You have to let the audience understand the story you want to tell. Just like 'Dirty Dancing' …”

"Okay, I understand, I'll change it when I get back..."

…

Daydream's office rents an ordinary house with no decoration and poor sound insulation on the walls. Ronald could not practice yogic breathing techniques to try to dream about movie scenes.

He drove home, took a hot shower, closed the windows, drew the curtains, turned off the lights, sat on his yoga mat, and began to clear his mind.

"Shake shake...Baby...shake shake..."

A burst of swing dance music with a strong rhythm came, and Ronald seemed to see a very fat girl in front of the TV, learning the dance moves on TV with his girlfriend.

"This is a pretty good shot." Ronald couldn't help but sigh. Such dance moves were obviously well-trained. Although the heroine is very fat, her dance posture is very flexible.

"Hmm...what is this?"

Ronald saw a few more group dance scenes, and he discovered that just as he liked to take pictures of beautiful women's legs, John Waters had a special interest in women's buttocks. In several shots, Tracy's buttocks were There was just a close-up of her swaying towards the camera, and the entire screen was occupied by her huge buttocks.

Then there's the ending scene, where Ronald sees Tracy, dyed blond and fat, performing a kind of cockroach dance on a TV show at the invitation of the boy he loves.

"Hmm...very good." Ronald felt that being able to photograph a fat girl so cute would also be very attractive to viewers whose bodies are not so standard. Fat girls can also find handsome guys who love them.

Soon, the picture that yogic breathing has to offer is over. Ronald fell to the floor and fell asleep.

…

"Ronald!" The next day, Roger Coleman was waiting for Ronald in the office and found him walking into the office with his head tilted. "What's wrong with your neck?"

"I had a stiff neck when I went to bed last night..." Ronald touched his neck. He sprained it from sleeping on the floor last night.

"Are you okay?"

"It's okay, I made an appointment with the chiropractor."

"Okay, you said you brought a cooperation project to discuss with me?" Roger Coleman looked at Ronald who was sitting down.

"Actually, there are two..."

Ronald took the two scripts out of the briefcase, put them on the table and pushed them over.

"Well, I know Cassandra Peterson. She has acted in many movies." Roger Corman first read the synopsis of the script for "Ecstasy."

"The budget of this movie is more than 7 million. I would like to ask if you are interested in cooperating. That musical is cheaper. If you think 7 million is too expensive, we can start cooperation from this one."

"Let me see", Roger Corman opened the script of "White Lipstick" again. He is a veteran in production. He has basically read these scripts once, and he knows whether it can be filmed.

"How is it? Is this script very old-new-world style?" Ronald asked Coleman, pointing to the "white lipstick".

"It's really similar," Coleman laughed. This economical shooting method is really like the old New World Pictures.

"So let's start with the movie?" Ronald asked.

"No, I'm more interested in the 'Ecstasy Master'."

To Ronald's surprise, Coleman wanted a movie with a shooting budget of 7 million.

"Why?" Ronald felt that this was not Coleman's style.

"You also know that my distribution channels originally relied mainly on drive-in theaters and mill theaters renovated from old movie theaters."

Roger Corman is also helpless. If he has the opportunity to make money by making low-cost movies, he will not invest high funds in making blockbusters.

"In the past five years, especially in the past three years, real estate has developed very fast due to low interest rates. Many vacant lots for drive-in theaters and the renovation of land where old movie theaters are located, my two original main distribution channels, have begun to wither quickly. ”

"Oh..." Ronald thought to himself. It seemed like this was the case. He was driving in Los Angeles, and it had been a long time since he saw the drive-in theaters that were everywhere.

"If we want to release it theatrically, we have to increase our budget, otherwise we won't be able to beat the box office in theaters."

"Isn't there more?"

"Video tape?" Coleman laughed. "The market for direct distribution of video tapes without theatrical distribution is limited. You can only make hundreds of thousands of dollars for directors to practice. Now, unlike when you entered the industry, the opportunities for new directors are getting better and better. They come less and less.”

Ronald also shook his head. If they were shot directly on video tapes, each script would only sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The quality of these two scripts actually far exceeds this market potential. But if you want to sell a lot, you must have supporting marketing.

Neither his own daydream nor Coleman's Concord Corporation would spend a million on marketing for a video film that cost hundreds of thousands to produce. For video tapes to sell well, they must be shown in theaters to gain word-of-mouth.

Therefore, Coleman's choice is logical. Now he can only make some 5 million to 8 million productions, release them on unpopular schedules when blockbusters with a production budget of 20 million US dollars are not favored, and then use video tapes to recoup the cost.

Compared with the story of an obese girl who participated in a TV talent show in 1963, it is still a horror film with a sense of humor like "Ecstasy", which is in line with Roger Corman's usual taste. With a budget of 7 million, it is relatively capable of competing in theaters and blockbusters.

"Okay, then we will collaborate on this movie. Then we will jointly distribute it..."

“A pleasure to work with.”

Ronald and his former boss shook hands vigorously to signify an agreement. Coleman's credibility has remained unchanged for decades. The two don't have to sign a contract, they can just shake hands and trust that the other party will honor the agreement.

"Julie likes your Dirty Dancing very much... I've watched it three or four times." Coleman said about things at home.

"I'll send her the tape."

…

Since Coleman chose to cooperate with "Ecstasy", Ronald would have to find another partner for "White Lipstick".

He is determined to make these two movies and release them as daydream movies next year. A healthy company cannot make movies by itself.

Start by calling Cassandra Peterson and telling her the good news. Cassandra was overjoyed on the phone and said she would start selecting directors and actors immediately.

"No, this will ultimately be determined by the company. You can only propose candidates, Cassandra." Ronald corrected the other party with a smile.

"Of course, of course, everyone needs casting. But the heroine?"

"Of course, that's yours."

Then there's John Waters.

Ronald called and told him that the company had greenlit the project and was still looking for investors.

"So as long as we find financing, we can start filming?"

"Yes, Waters. I already have several candidates. Come and join the meeting." Ronald has several candidates in mind. Steve Bannon also wants to invest in daydream projects. Xiao Douglas doesn't know how much pocket money he has left.

"By the way, have you thought of a name?"

“I’ve thought about it, I’ll call it Hairspray.”

"What the hell does that mean?" When Ronald heard it, why was it an incomprehensible name?

"This is the sponsor of that talent show, and the final winner was called Miss Hairspray. And in 1963, Hairspray represented liberation and progress..."

"Okay, okay, let's call it this name first, and then you can think about whether there is anything better."

"This name is very good. When middle-aged audiences hear it, they will remember the memories of the past. At that time, the latest trend was to spray a lot of hairspray, comb the hair high, and fix it in a strong wind. Hairstyle that doesn’t move at all.”

"Whatever..." Ronald didn't like the name very much, but it was a tentative name anyway, and we'll talk about it later.

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