Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Michael Jackson's travel permit was short-term and temporary and expired soon. He returned to Xiangjiang with some photos that Ronald took for him and continued his album tour in Asia.

Ronald's visa is a specially issued permission to continue traveling in China. In addition to his long-standing friendly relations with China and his contribution to foreign exchange earnings, Ronald's reputation in the Chinese film industry has reached its highest point.

The reason is simple. After his "break dance" was officially introduced, a dance craze started from south to north.

"I don't understand why my movie can get such praise here? I didn't even expect that this movie would be introduced by you."

Ronald went to Xujiahui again and had a small gathering with Director Huang and Gong Yan. He brought some photos of Xiao Yan at Stanton Community College in New York, which made Engineer Yan very happy to see them.

After taking Diane to eat Xiao Long Bao and San Huang Chicken, Ronald finally expressed his doubts to Director Huang.

Although he did not receive any financial benefits from the release of "Break Dance" in China, this reputation gave him the ability to walk anywhere in China unimpeded. As long as others know that he is the director of "Break Dance", they will be more enthusiastic to help him go through various procedures that were originally difficult to complete.

It is no exaggeration to say that Ronald was the most famous Hollywood director in China in 1987. Neither George Lucas, who made Star Wars, nor Richard Donner, who made Superman, is as famous as Ronald.

And because his surname is Lee, there are many rumors that are getting more and more outrageous, saying that Ronald's ancestors are Chinese and are descendants of people who lived in America, but they did not forget their roots and came back to invest and set up factories.

"Probably because your ancestors are Chinese!"

One of Director Huang's best friends, Xiao Pan, an actress from the Xujiahui Film Studio Actors Troupe, made a joke about Ronald.

"Hahaha..." Ronald laughed and did not comment on this rumor. He also explained it to Diane who was eating the xiaolongbao very happily, so much so that she almost squirted out her juices.

"Seriously, your break dancing was really enjoyable. 'Popular movies' all gave a big picture of the middle seam." Xiao Pan is of Western descent, looks like a tall nose and deep eyes, and has the softness of a Chinese woman. Very suitable to be a movie actor.

Ronald took over the new issue of Popular Movies magazine that she handed over. He cut out the dancing figures of Motor, Tornado, and Cindy in "Break Dance" wearing yoga clothes and leg warmers on the middle seam. Next to her dancing, the plot of the movie was introduced in Chinese.

and the popularity of breakdancing at the 1984 Olympics.

At the end, the editor also had a small note, introducing the director Ronald, and talking about writing highlights, specifically talking about the director Ronald, who is a person friendly to China. He was moved by the performance of the women's volleyball team at the 1984 Olympics and became a fan of the women's volleyball team. So loyal fans.

"Can I keep this magazine?" Ronald asked. When Xiao Pan nodded, he put the magazine into his bag. This film magazine, which publishes more than 2 million copies every month, is the largest circulation magazine of its kind in the world. It can be used in the center seam version, and it has commemorative value if you collect it.

"Actually, to be honest, in addition to the good-looking movie, you also have to thank the translation studio. It is not their job. This movie cannot be seen by audiences across the country." Director Huang reminded Ronald seriously.

"Then I'll treat them to dinner. All colleagues in the translation studio, can you help me make arrangements?" Ronald said in his heart that it was right. Not only would the Chinese moviegoers not be able to see it, but also if he didn't have the dubbing version of the dream, Maybe viewers in other parts of the world will see another version.

At the Huating Hotel next to the film studio, Ronald hosted a banquet for the employees of the translation studio. Everyone who participated in the dubbing work of "Break Dance" got the opportunity to sit in a box with Ronald for dinner. There were two large round tables. It was the first time for these dubbing actors from the translation studio to be invited to dinner by the director of the original film they dubbed.

"If you are in Hollywood and make such a proletarian movie, will you be targeted by the capitalists?" The voice of the heroine Lucinda Dickey is Xiao Ding, a woman with short hair.

"What?" Ronald didn't understand and pretended to ask the translator.

"Actually, I didn't think about this when I was filming. It's just a story about a Los Angeles street dancer who worked hard to participate in a dance competition."

"Actually, the story shot by Director Luo was not written from this perspective, was it?" The character who serves as the manager of the three protagonists is voiced by an old boy who speaks. His voice is very young and has a dash of chicness.

The old boy ate his own red sausage and jellyfish, "But Director Luo, your movie was able to be introduced to China thanks to the fact that the movie tells the story of poor people who are targeted by the upper-class exploiting class."

"Although the streets are full of kids learning to break dance now, the movie still has many scenes that reflect the poor people at the bottom of America. Director Luo must be on their side. Don't you think so, Director Luo?"

Xiao Ding has a relatively high level of awareness. In her interpretation of the movie, dance is completely a carrier. The story itself is still about the ubiquitous exploitation in America. The poor don't even have a place to sleep, and blacks and Latinos can only practice dancing in wooden houses.

"The poor people in America still have a tape recorder, so they can eat some Kentucky chicken." The old boy still said a few weird words from time to time, and spent most of his time focusing on eating.

"Well, I just think that people in China are very talented. Those of you kids who break dance in the streets are also top-notch and very creative in New York and Los Angeles. This is completely different from Japan. "Ronald didn't comment on this, smiled and asked everyone to eat more vegetables.

Ronald also understands that his film reflects the very difficult plot of the poorest blacks, Latinos, and disabled people in Los Angeles who are despised by the mainstream white people when they are climbing up. This is probably the most important reason why "Break Dance" was chosen and introduced to China for screening.

However, the unexpected popularity of the movie among audiences in northern and southern China has little to do with this. It is entirely due to the explosive dance form of break dancing that conquered the audience.

Even China, which had been criticized for disco in previous years, was shocked and speechless when it saw this epoch-making dance. So much so that young people all over the country, whether in cities or villages, are practicing.

"Director Luo, I heard that there is a sequel to Breakdancing. Is it also directed by you? I think the response has been good. Maybe we will continue to introduce it, or put it in our factory for dubbing." The one who spoke more politely was Xiao Liu, wearing a turtleneck sweater. , asked Ronald.

"I didn't direct the sequel, and it doesn't have much connotation. You can ask the American Film Association or Cannon Company." Ronald thought to himself. There are many scenes of nurses dancing in sexy short skirts in the sequel. I guess you are. It will not be introduced.

Just like his new film "Dirty Dancing", which also features Patrick Schwytz and Jennifer Gray with exciting dance and sex scenes, Ronald, who originally planned to release it to the mainland, learned the inside story about the introduction of break dancing. , and completely lost his mind.

…

"How is the film market here lately?" After it calmed down, Ronald had the opportunity to chat with Director Huang about the recent Chinese film market.

"The distribution volume of popular movies is declining, almost half from its peak. Now some families with financial means are buying TV sets, which has a relatively large impact on the box office of movies.

However, our distribution system is also reforming. Recently, many commercial films have been released, which many audiences like to watch. "

"America also had a period when television had an impact on movies." Ronald thought to himself. It seems that the film association's idea of ​​making money in China depends on the box office growth brought about by economic development, and Which of the two is faster than the TV set in grabbing the movie market?

"So are there any good movies now?" Ronald was a little curious about the commercialization of Chinese movies and the phenomenon of genre movies. He also wanted to see what the commercial movies here were like.

"There is a movie called 'The Last Madness' recently, which is very good. If you want to watch it, I will go with you."

Ronald found a tour guide for Diane to travel to the Bund, and he and Director Huang bought two movie tickets to see the recently released "The Last Madness" in Guangming.

"Can this police movie be made like this?"

After watching the movie, Ronald's face was full of bewilderment.

Different from the basically solid police and gangster routines of Hollywood genre films, all the movies here have a kind of vitality, and the imagination of the creative staff is so unexpected that Ronald gritted his teeth watching it.

Even if the agent character in Hollywood movies fails in marriage or is suppressed by his superiors, he still appears as a hero. And the scout in the northern coastal city in this movie is actually troubled by many trivial things in life, just like an ordinary person.

They hunted down fugitives and had to buy their own train tickets and squeeze into trains. Even when they arrived in the big cities in the south, they were exhausted.

Moreover, when they came to the south from northern cities, they made a lot of jokes because of the huge country and cultural differences.

Ronald felt that just like the east and west coasts of America, the north and the south here also had jokes that made fun of each other's stereotypes.

In any case, filming the detectives as ordinary office workers, and then at a critical moment, allowing them to show their extraordinary reasoning ability and heroic fighting spirit against criminals is an unprecedented and very interesting plot arrangement.

"Who directed this? Who is the screenwriter?" Ronald asked Director Huang.

"This is a new film from the Northwest Film Studio. Their director Wu is very good at giving opportunities to newcomers."

"Director Wu? I know, I still have his phone number." Ronald thought to himself, it turned out to be Director Wu who won the grand prize in Tokyo. He is indeed very discerning.

When he arrived at the Huating Hotel, Ronald enjoyed the privileges of a foreign guest hotel. He could use a program-controlled telephone to make direct long-distance calls.

"Hello, Director Wu? I'm Ronald."

"Ah, Director Luo, why did the operator say you were calling from Xujiahui?"

"I'm here, it's a private interview. I just watched your production of 'Last Madness'. It was very interesting. Can I ask who wrote the screenplay and who directed it? Also, if possible, can you If you can’t give me a script, I’ll study it.”

"What's wrong with that? We happen to have someone on a business trip who will bring you the script. The director is Zhou Xiaowen, a newcomer, and the screenwriter is also our new recruit, named Lu Wei."

"Thank you, thank you."

"When will Director Luo come to our place, I will arrange for you to see the Terracotta Warriors and Horses."

“I’m in a rush this time, so I’ll definitely go next time.”

A colleague from the Northwest Factory on a business trip brought Ronald the script of "The Last Madness". Ronald said he needed someone to translate it into English so that he could share it with his colleagues in Hollywood. This made the colleague at the northwest factory straighten up a lot.

He said he was looking for someone to translate it, but Ronald actually started reading it on the flight back to Los Angeles.

Speaking of which, this young screenwriter is very good. Although the plot is very immature and there are some minor problems with the rhythm, the imagination and overall structure actually have the thinking of ordinary Hollywood commercial film screenwriters.

In addition, characters like agents break out of the old stereotypes of Hollywood characters for many years and innovate a new character exploration. Ronald felt that he was inspired a lot by watching it.

…

After returning home to Los Angeles, Ronald was jet-lagged for a day and then convened a meeting with the top management of Daydream Pictures.

Just as he went to East Asia to sell copies, Michel Cannold took copies with him to sell films in Europe.

"The orders from China, Spain, and Italy have exceeded the original agreement. The box office performance of this movie in America really surprised them. All distributors who have signed agreements of intent with us have overbooked by 150% copy.

The best thing is West Germany. Except for film dealers in Munich, Dortmund, Born and other places, West Berlin alone ordered more copies than all other places combined. I don’t know how they can digest so many copies. copy. It is indeed a showcase for the Western camp. "

Ronald smiled, Cannold obviously didn't understand the trick. The copies ordered from West Berlin would be smuggled through underground channels to East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc countries.

Behind the Iron Curtain, except for Yugoslavia, other Eastern European countries basically purchased the latest films from the underground film wholesale market in East Berlin, except for about 10 officially imported films every year (and half of them were cheap old films from ten years ago). Make copies and play them in movie theaters there. In recent years, Mikhail, the general secretary-general of the Soviet Union, has begun to think new. These Hollywood movies are not broadcast as carefully as before. Many cinemas have begun to semi-openly screen unintroduced movies during good times.

"Latin America is also doing very well, with copy purchases in Brazil, Chile and Argentina exceeding expectations."

Cannold's deputy, female distribution manager Dolly Bernstine, had also just returned from Latin America.

The response to "Dirty Dancing" there was very good, and many people were very happy that Americans were able to film Latin dance so well.

But they liked the movie, which was a little different from American audiences. They felt that the dancing of Baby played by Jennifer Gray was too elementary. And I prefer the pas de deux sequence between Patrick Schwytz and Cynthia Rhodes, a pair of professionals.

Film producers in Latin America even requested that the dancing images of these two people be used as the protagonists on the posters. They like DIVA type women who can dance well.

"We still ranked first in the box office during the Labor Day weekend, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 30 million." General Manager Eddie Cohen began to introduce the domestic box office situation.

"We're expected to be number one next week, and we won't be interested until next week when 'Famous Attraction' starring Michael Douglas and 'The Pickup Guy' starring Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr. threaten."

Ronald looked at the box office report and felt very satisfied.

"What am I talking about? In this industry, we can make a lot of money!"

"Hahaha", whether it was the distribution manager who had just returned from Europe or South America, or the general manager who was doing marketing in China, when they heard this sentence, everyone laughed happily regardless of their fatigue.

Ronald was also very happy. He announced the adjournment of the meeting and gave everyone the address of the celebration party in the evening. These people have been working overtime a lot recently, and Ronald specially called Eddie's former magazine model clients to let them relax.

"Eddie, please stay for a moment." Ronald called Eddie Cohen. He still had something to discuss with him.

"How's our video tape business going?"

"The factory is producing inventory. By December, we can take advantage of the popularity of the movie and launch it all at once. Coca-Cola has decided to follow Pepsi's example of sponsoring Top Gun and subsidize us $6 for each video tape. It's their advertising, and I need you to take charge."

"Very good, how is the factory's production capacity now? Is there still room left?"

"Of course, our orders only occupy one-third to the general production capacity of them. If we have other orders or new video tape business, they can double their production capacity. In fact, I think if our If the business can maintain uninterrupted video tape production, it would be better to acquire a video tape factory ourselves.”

"That's why I came to you, Eddie."

Ronald whispered to his general manager, "I went to Japan, where Diane's film "The Streets of Rage" is still very popular. And in Xiangjiang, there are still some theaters showing pirated copies of 'ET' …”

"Oh yeah?" Eddie hesitated seriously, and his Jewish instinct was aroused.

"In addition, the two movies I found, 'Ecstasy' and 'Hairspray', I think are also very suitable for renting in video rental stores. This kind of movie relies heavily on dance, plot, and makeup. Watching it on the screen, like 'Top Gun,' seems better suited to the videotape market. What do you think?"

"I think you are right. The reason why many recent movies have not been released on video tapes is actually because they have no confidence in the video tape market. If we can produce and distribute video tapes on a large scale at a suitable price, the factory will continue to operate. , costs can continue to fall.

And the labor costs in Xiangjiang..."

"This is our next strategy..."

"Don't forget those old movies you made!" Eddie reminded Ronald, whether it was "Fast-paced Richmond High" or "Night of the Comet", they were all suitable for video tape release.

"Carry out this matter quietly, don't tell anyone in the circle." Ronald warned. The videotape market, and profits, are still a rapidly changing and rising market. Whether it is the Big Seven or small and medium-sized studios, they have only heard about the profits in this area. How exactly should it be done? Everyone is still in the wait-and-see and testing stage. As long as there is a suitable distribution channel and a Only with guaranteed production capacity can we cut off a piece of this big cake.

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