Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald didn't remember why this person's name was so familiar for a while. Several Daydream executives continued discussing business.

Daydream made a lot of money from "Dirty Dancing", but most of it was Ronald's property. Several young executives only paid dividends every time because of Ronald's generosity. When the account arrived, I also got a fat check.

Filmmaking is a very high-risk investment, and a few people have limited their goals to these three novels. With such a big production, it would be great if they could daydream about one in a year. The bulk of the company's business is still low-cost B-level films and video tapes.

"Maybe we can develop a new genre film direction, a modern revival of gangster suspense films." Michelle Cannold made a suggestion to Ronald.

"This kind of movie doesn't require a lot of shooting costs, and it's easy to select suitable plots from old movies, adapt them, and remake them. Warner Brothers made a lot of these movies in the 1930s and 1940s."

Ronald understood what he meant. Today's video tapes are different from the shooting mode of theater movies. Due to the size of the television set, films made specifically for the videotape market often required that classical story format.

After the rise of television, not many studios are willing to produce this model. Who would go to the cinema to watch it when you can watch it on TV?

It just so happened that the rapid rise of the video tape market gave an opportunity for the revival of ancient genre films. As Ronald chatted, he felt that to a certain extent, distribution channels determine the rise and decline of film types.

What is needed now is high-volume, fast and low-cost manufacturing of films. Quality is not the most important, but speed and stability are.

The result of the discussion between several people was to purchase more old movies and foreign movie rights, and record them on video tapes for sale while the screenwriters were still on strike. One is a romantic movie that women love to watch, and the other is a kung fu movie, which is the investment direction determined by daydreams. Everyone began to work hard in these two directions.

ja's kung fu movies are a very good target, because many of the jokes and big action scenes in his movies can be understood without words, which is a good pastime for American audiences. As for love stories, they are mainly looking for countries such as China, Spain, and Italy. Latinos have special advantages in making such movies.

Ronald thought it was good, and made a note to call his friends in Xiangjiang later. They must be interested in selling the movie to Hollywood.

"Look, some of the movies released in theaters last year did not perform well at the box office, but the video rental market is unexpectedly hot. I think the seven major studios will react one day. We have to seize the opportunity.

"

Cannold took out several prepared video tapes to verify the strategic direction they discussed, "This is 'Spirit' released by Orion. They got a four-star rating from Roger Ebert, but the box office It's only a little over 30 million. Compared with the salaries of several major stars, the stars have no money back.

However, the video tapes sold by Orion to HBO and produced by HBO are among the top five in the video tape rental list. If we remove the stars, it can be filmed for less than five million, and the sales volume in the video tape market will not be much different. "

"Michelle is right. I have seen this movie. It is actually a plagiarism of the plot of Paramount's 1948 'The Big Clock'. We can do it well as long as we pay a small remake copyright fee." David · Simkins deserves to be a script reviewer, and he saw the prototype of the movie at a glance. It proves the re-emergence of this spy, thriller, and gangster genre.

"This type of film has actually been mainly produced by television stations since the 1950s. However, due to the classification requirements of wireless television, many ice creams in the plot have been cancelled. With the current video market, we can add those ice creams back. ." General Manager Eddie concluded.

"That's great. We can also contact medium-sized studios like Orion in the future. We can also help them produce and sell videotapes."

Ronald felt that he had found another business direction, so he picked up the video tape box and watched it repeatedly. The heroine of this spy ship soul is Sean Young, a crazy woman who auditioned for herself. The male protagonist is Kevin Costner, a former carpenter who made his debut.

He has always been in a state of not being able to become a star, and his previous western film "The Great Battle of Silverado" did not achieve box office success. Perhaps more suitable for the videotape market.

"Huh..." Ronald remembered that he had met the writer named Michael Black when he was drinking beer at Kevin Costner's house. He had no money at the time and hadn't sold any scripts, so he slept in the living room of Costner's house.

At that time, Costner also asked him to stop writing scripts and write a novel to gain fame first. Could it be this one...

"I remembered, give me the phone..." Ronald excitedly took the phone and dialed the number of his agent Richard, "I want to have a call with Kevin Costner, please help me contact him. one time."

"Why, you have a new project, are you looking for him to cooperate?" Richard became interested. He and Niceta relied on Ronald for most of their business.

"He may know a best-selling author. Let me ask him about the copyright... Damn it, Kevin has already bought it, right?"

"He happened to be in Los Angeles to promote his new baseball movie 'Bulldurham'. He will come over to see you after meeting the media." After a while, Richard called Ronald back.

…

"Yes, that's the friend you saw at that time, who lived in my house." Kevin Costner was wearing a jacket, white socks and boat shoes, exactly like the powerful minor league baseball pitcher in the movie.

"Are you?" Ronald asked Costner, holding the wine glass.

"Yes, I bought the option. Originally, Michael wrote a movie script. Because no producer was willing to buy it, I encouraged him to write it into a novel first. Now the novel has entered the best-seller list, but no one has bought it... …I had to buy the option to adapt it first.”

Kevin Costner tells the story of "Dances with Wolves". His old friend Michael Blake debuted at about the same time as him and played with him. By the time Kevin had appeared in "Night of the Comet" and was becoming a star, Michael still couldn't find anyone willing to buy his movie.

The best-selling of the novel shows that the problem is not Black's writing level, but that no one is willing to invest in such a classic western.

"I can consider investing. In fact, my creative director suggested that I consider it." Ronald made his intention clear.

"Of course, of course I would. Working with you is the happiest filming experience I've had in Hollywood. You don't know how troublesome it is to work with Sean Young. If she doesn't feel right, she will stop..." Costner I feel very grateful to Ronald. After all, it was the other person who gave me a chance to debut.

"But Michael has a condition, that is, he must film all the plots in his novel, and cannot excerpt and adapt part of the plot. I have already promised him."

Kevin Costner was very happy to see that Ronald was willing to invest. After all, if this script were to be fully filmed, it would definitely exceed the budget of 10 million.

"Shoot them all?" Ronald confirmed. After all, he had read through this novel. The story in it was quite large, and even two and a half hours of shooting might not be able to accommodate it. This is the type of film that distributors least want to see.

"Yes, and for the Indian part, the dialogue must be in the language of the Indian tribe. I plan to go to the Indian reservation to shoot on location."

Ronald touched his chin, which sounded like a star's delusion. If the dialogue is in Indian language, who in America will watch it? And he spoke as if he already had an overall plan for the movie.

"Who are you going to direct this movie?" Ronald asked him.

"Yours truly..." Kevin Costner pointed to his nose.

"Hmm... I don't know, Kevin. Maybe you could consider practicing with a small production. It's your first time as a director to challenge a movie like this..."

"I've thought about it a lot, Ronald. When I was making movies in the past few years, I paid close attention to the director's working methods. As you told me before, when making a movie, you first give a main lens and then shoot over the shoulder. The camera was shot front and back, and some close-up reaction shots were added at the end.”

Seeing that Costner had fallen into passion, he began to talk about his design of certain shots. Ronald knew that it would be difficult to persuade the other party to give up this unrealistic fantasy this time.

"I didn't expect you to have such a big idea, courage and ambition. My company alone cannot handle the distribution of such a large-scale production. If you can find the seven major studios to give you the green light, I hope to purchase a filming Invest in share futures, so that after the overall plan is finalized, I can invest according to the share.”

Ronald thought for a while and decided to use a small amount of money to lock in an investment amount first. No one at the Big Seven studios would be crazy enough to let Costner make his debut film on such an epic production. When the time comes, when he hits a wall, I will slowly convince him to give up his unrealistic fantasies.

"Dances with Wolves" is a good novel. But a good novel may not necessarily be adapted into a good movie. After all, movies and novels are two completely different media, and often the better the novel is, the worse the adaptation is.

First-rate movies are often adapted from third-rate novels, retaining only the characters and story framework, so that they can be modified according to the filming rules without offending the readers of the novels, who don't have many die-hard readers anyway.

As for at least more than 10 million, the budget would exceed 15 million including Costner's salary. Let this newbie who has never been a producer give it a try and see what kind of torture he has to endure.

Anyway, this kind of thing was either said to him by himself or by people from the seven major studios. If it comes from your own mouth, it will hurt your feelings. It is definitely not as good as if it comes from other people's mouth. When the time comes, you will be the one to persuade him.

…

For Dances with Wolves , we have to endure Costner’s delusions for a while. The other two novels came to fruition very quickly.

"I'm sorry that I didn't understand the key behind it. The adaptation rights of Silence of the Lambs were sold before the publisher published it."

David Simkins came over to apologize to Ronald.

"What's going on?" Ronald was surprised. Selling the rights before publication was strictly a violation of a series of Writers Guild rules.

"That's right, when the author Thomas Harris sold the rights to the first 'Red Dragon' to De Laurentiis, he signed a special packaging contract. The sequel must also be produced by De Laurentiis. Filmed in a studio…”

Simkins recounted all the information he heard from the author.

De Laurentiis, a native of Naples, included many deceptive clauses in the contract. For example, if the movie adapted from the second series of novels is not shot by his company, he must be paid half a million US dollars in compensation.

At that time, Thomas Harris heard that his novel might be adapted for the screen, so he signed the contract regardless of too much. At that time, the first Red Dragon might not even be produced, so it was an unexpected surprise that someone spent hundreds of thousands to buy the adaptation rights.

Who knew that the first novel would be a huge hit and very popular with readers. The second adaptation is also very popular and is sought after by many producers. Hollywood is full of poor producers who want to be famous.

But after the first film failed at the box office, Laurentiis no longer wanted to make a second film. However, the contract is still valid. If the author Harris wants to sell it to a producer who is really capable of producing it, he must first compensate De Laurentiis for half a million.

Obviously he didn't want to be taken advantage of. At this time, the famous acting actor Gene Hackman found him and was willing to pay 500,000 to buy the copyright.

Author Harris saw someone willing to pay, so of course he agreed.

But apparently there are no fools in Hollywood, and Gene Hackman paid for it, and there were a few special terms. That is, after the movie project is approved, first of all, he must play the senior FBI official.

Second, the actor who plays Hannibal must be confirmed by Hackman.

Third, Hackman wanted to direct.

The author, Harris, felt that this configuration was good and he didn’t have to pay for it himself, so he agreed. Now Ronald's Daydream Company still thinks that it will be the first to come to discuss adaptation, and the terms that have been determined cannot be changed.

Originally, film shooting required a lot of money, so it was not impossible for everyone to invest in a joint venture and share risks. But when Simkins approached Hackman's agent, he was rejected again.

Gene Hackman wanted to use this movie as a springboard to transition into a director, letting everyone know in one fell swoop that he was not only an outstanding actor, but also a potential director. Therefore, I am quite wary of directors like Ronald who want to invest.

"This..." Ronald felt that he was really unlucky. Why did he think he could transform into a director now that he was an actor? It's really that easy, why are there so few directors who were turned actors?

And when actors have short schedules, they can rest after filming their scenes. The director also has to coordinate the filming of the entire film, deal with various emergencies, and finally shape the film in the editing room. Finally, he has to fight with the producer to retain the edited version, and he also has to work hard for publicity.

Isn't it good for you to be a quiet star?

By the way, Gene Hackman is not a star, just an actor. Ronald kind of figured it out.

There are many celebrities and actors who can do both, but in fact there is still a huge gap between the two, and that is beauty.

Although Gene Hackman has good acting skills, and the audience is familiar with him, he has played many famous blockbusters, such as the villain in Superman. But no audience would think he was a star and come up to ask for his autograph.

Because he looks really average and has no special features. With his acting skills, he can play both good guys and bad guys. However, it can never be fixed into a type of role, so that the audience will know what kind of role he plays as soon as they see him.

Because of this, Hackman has no box office appeal. His desire to transform into a director may be a reaction to his frustration.

Everyone really has his own troubles. Some big stars desperately want to broaden their acting horizons, while actors with wide acting horizons are envious of the fact that stars can do whatever they want. If a star wants to act in this novel, why does he need to pay for it himself?

Ronald went to Niceta to find out more and smooth out the relationship, and found that Gene Hackman's attitude was quite tough, so he could only give up temporarily.

"What about Steel Magnolias?" Ronald thought of the third possible bid script. This play is not a novel, but a play written for Off-Broadway and has been released Off-Broadway.

"Robert Harlin, the screenwriter, is open to adapting the film, but he also has conditions. He needs to interview all the directors and producers who want to bid for the film script. After negotiating with all the bidders, he will decide to sell it to who."

"This man has a lot of arrogance." Ronald replied. It had been a long time since he had been singled out like this.

"I also think he is a bit excessive, but he treats everyone equally. I asked that this story was adapted from the true story of his sister. Her sister had diabetes and the doctor said she was not suitable for childbirth. But for the sake of her husband, she still A boy was born.

Later, his sister's diabetes worsened due to childbirth, causing kidney failure. His mother donated a kidney to her, but the transplant didn't work well, and his sister died a few years later.

So this story is very important to him, and there is a reason why he is so cautious. "

"Okay, then you contact him on my behalf and I will find time to meet with him."

"When are you free? I can chat with him."

"Am I not busy with the new movie?" Ronald glanced at Simkins, "I have a friend who knows Gene Hackman, and I want to find him through connections to see if I can be accommodating."

"Understood, I will contact the author of Steel Mulan first."

Ronald nodded. Among the three scripts, he was still more optimistic about the suspense thriller genre The Silence of the Lambs, which was in line with the trend of the video era. Westerns like Dances with Wolves and Southern female romances like Steel Magnolias need to be more careful and take a lower priority.

"By the way, the satirical novel you mentioned, Forrest Gump, looks very interesting to me. Who bought the adaptation rights in the end?"

Ronald thought of the Winston Groom novel they had discussed last time. This novel, its subject matter, plot, and the protagonist's slightly intellectually deficient temperament are all very similar to the script "My Brother's Protector" I wrote when I first debuted.

Ronald was still a little unwilling that the script could not be made into a movie. So I want to know more about the adaptation of Forrest Gump.

"It was bought by Steve Tisch Jr., the son of the founder of NYU Tisch College. His father was also the chairman of the New York Giants."

"Isn't that Michelle Cannold's former boss?" Ronald smiled. He had conflicts with Xiao Dishi before for "Dirty Dancing", and now he has hired Cannold to Baidu. Daydream, the earning power of Dirty Dancing has been somewhat guessed in the industry.

Now that "Forrest Gump" has been bought by him, it is impossible for him to cooperate with him, a proud second-generation rich man. We can only take a long-term view and see if there is a chance to buy it as a whole in the future.

Don't tell me, although this novel is written in Forrest Gump's tone, it is full of typos and incorrect grammar. But it did not affect the reading at all. Ronald watched it with gusto. The last time he saw Forrest Gump, he became an astronaut and landed on the moon. He also participated in the table tennis delegation's visit to China because of his good table tennis.