Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The joint strike between the two major writers' unions has been going on for several weeks. The most uncomfortable thing now is not directors like Ronald or small production companies like Daydream. But the seven major studios.

The reason for this is also very simple. The larger the company, the more concerned it is about the schedule of film and television production. For a small company like Daydream, if a strike affects the script, it's easy to just postpone filming. Anyway, when they are released, most of them are released in slow seasons or when blockbusters are not doing well at the box office.

However, major productions from the seven major studios are often scheduled one to one and a half years in advance. Those affected by the strike will be greatly affected. And the most uncomfortable thing about this strike is that we still don’t know when it will end. I don’t even know when the new film will be produced.

Perhaps the ones that are suffering more than the seven major studios are the medium-sized studios in Hollywood. If the big studios only suffer damage to their shooting schedules and schedules, then the losses for medium-sized studios are very real. Their projects often have to use various financing methods to prepare filming funds. If they are delayed, they have to pay expensive interest every day.

Moreover, Wall Street is now in an interest rate hike cycle and money is tightening. After the stock market crash, many Wall Street investment banks themselves have suffered serious losses and have begun to withdraw a lot of funds for postponed film shootings. Due to delays and loan withdrawals, many CEOs of medium-sized companies were wailing louder than the top seven CEOs.

Even worse than the mid-sized studios are the three major wireless TV stations. There is a cycle of movie releases, and now the audience can still see movies shot last year. The filming cycle of TV stations is very short, and it is a common pattern to broadcast one episode every week on weekends.

The audience has been watching the replay for more than a month and can hardly stand it anymore. Millions of dollars in advertising revenue are lost every month. Moreover, TV drama audiences have no new movies to watch, and they are lost to cable TV networks, which is really digging into the foundation of the three major wireless TV stations.

Ten years ago, the three major wireless television networks, ABC and CBS, accounted for 92% of the television audience. Cable and independent television have only 8% market share. Today, the audience share of wireless TV has dropped to 70%, and the share of cable TV and independent TV stations has risen to 30%.

If this strike continues until June, when the new season of the TV series starts, the number of lost viewers will make the CEOs of all TV stations look very ugly. Audiences who watch pay cable TV channels are high-quality viewers. If they lose, they may not come back.

Cameron Crowe's script was written and improved during the strike and cannot be blatantly contracted to him. Fortunately, the two had a close relationship and had a verbal gentleman's agreement. As soon as the strike ended, Ronald's Daydream would immediately sign a contract with Crowe and let him be the director.

There are still various minor problems in the script of "Love to the Deep", especially at the end, where the climax is slightly insufficient.

The audience may not be happy when they see this. This will hinder the reputation of the movie.

Ronald agreed to continue discussing how to improve the script with Crowe. The two tentatively planned to discuss the script once a week, and Crowe would go back and revise it based on Ronald's opinions until it was polished.

Another script, written by Nora Ephron, a female screenwriter whom she met by chance on the plane, was also sent. As soon as she got off the plane, she called Ronald's agent and handed a copy of the script to Richard in person. In Germany's hands.

Nowadays, the Writers Guild catches private transactions like thieves, so all secret communications must be done like spies. Otherwise, if you send a courier or mail a script, and other screenwriters find out about it and report it to the Screenwriters Guild, your membership in the union will be suspended or even cancelled.

This tragedy happened to several TV writers in the past two weeks. They made private deals with the TV station to write scripts for the TV station's evening talk show. As a result, he was reported by his peers and the word "Scab" was posted on the door of his house.

The screenwriter who thought he could pass by using a pseudonym not only did not get paid, but was even ineligible for union benefits. In the end, I could only start going to pawn shops to mortgage my belongings. One of the unlucky screenwriters even appeared on NBC's TV interview show. Although his face was mosaic, people who are familiar with him know who he is. According to reports, he will also face disciplinary punishment from the union.

After reading the entire script, Ronald was very interested in this untitled project, especially if the ending could be changed to the two finally getting married.

In order to further discuss the script, Ronald called Nora Ephron and asked to meet to discuss it in detail.

"My friend Rob is having a party, will you come to it? All the people attending are friends, so it will be easier for us to talk." Nora Ephron understood what Ronald meant, so she thought of a way to attend the party Go to private chat. In this way, even if a colleague saw it, they would not be able to report two friends who were having a good chat at the party.

"Oh, it's you..." Ronald arrived at the house of Nora Ephron's friend Rob, where the party was held, and found out that this Rob was the same guy he had met several times at the Directors Guild. Bob Lena.

After filming "The Princess Bride", Rob Reiner did not direct a new movie. Instead, he participated as an actor in the directorial debut of his friend Danny DeVito, "Throw Momma from the Train".

The leading actor in that movie was Billy Crystal, and you could still hear the jokes he made at the Oscars. Ronald was familiar with both of them, and a group of old friends were drinking beer and chatting at Laina's house.

"So, you two are Jewish?" Ronald looked at the two of them. They happened to be chatting about the recent “First Great Intifada” in Palestine.

At the end of last year, a Jewish truck broke into the "Gaberia Refugee Camp" in northern Gaza Province and crushed four Palestinians to death. Later, Fatah, the PLO government-in-exile in Tunisia, did not make a timely statement.

Some of the more radical groups that broke away from Fatah quickly organized large-scale protests in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This time their strategy was very different. They asked many teenagers holding rocks to provoke the heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Once the other party couldn't help but fight back, they would be photographed by the waiting camera team and provided to major Western and international media. Eastern media.

This incident did not make much of a splash in the news in America. Ronald only saw on the news that the United Nations passed two resolutions, 607 and 608, condemning Israel's violence.

"I don't believe in Judaism, I'm a fucking atheist." Rob Reiner doesn't like people saying he is Jewish. He didn't understand how anyone could still believe that all the records in an ancient book written thousands of years ago were true in the 1980s.

"My dad (Carl Rainer), he said he didn't believe in God after the massacre. Where was God at that time? Was he busy playing with zebras and rhinos?"

Rob Lehner did not believe in Judaism. He also mocked those Jews who insisted on tradition. Children could not enjoy opening Santa's gifts.

"I did have a bar mitzvah, but it was for the pleasure of my relatives on my mother's side. I don't believe in any organized religion, I'm only somewhat sympathized with the idea of ​​Buddhism."

"He has become cynical since he divorced Penny." Billy Crystal, his close friend next to him, started joking to calm down Laina, who was a little out of line.

Christo saw Ronald looking at him and smiled, "I don't like the customs of the synagogue either. We are all believers in America. No matter who you are, the most important thing in America is success. Success." You are right. Even if you go to church every week and confess to your rabbi that you bullied your classmates as a child, this is the secret to success."

"You are different from other Jews I've seen in Hollywood." Ronald felt that he had an appetite for these two very secular Jews.

"Ha, of course we Jews from New York are different. I grew up in the Bronx, Billy was a rich guy on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and his father's record company basically invented jazz. Nora's parents were also in theater Well, her father named her after the heroine of Ibsen’s Doll’s House. What about you, Ronald?”

It turns out that these are all second-generation children of the New York literary and artistic circles. No wonder they tend to favor left-wing liberal values. New York's Upper East Side of Manhattan, and Long Island, are filled with such wealthy families.

"You're all rich Jews. I grew up in fucking Staten Island. My parents were pure patriots who fought for Uncle Sam." Ronald laughed.

"I've been to Staten Island. The scenery there is great. Many people have only one lover in their whole life, grow old and have a lot of children." Rob Reiner suddenly became sad, "Just like my father and mother. "

"Why can't we find a lover who will never change his heart for a lifetime?" Over there, Nora Ephron also began to sigh.

"That's why you were able to write such a script. A lot of it is drawn from my life and Penny's life. And you and Bernstein. For example, the joke about me meeting my ex-wife in the store."

No wonder, Ronald understood why this script had such a sad ending. The two main characters, Harry and Sally, still haven’t gotten together.

Nora Ephron and Rob Lennar are both divorced. And he is the kind of person who wants to grow old together but cannot do so.

Rob Reiner's ex-wife is Penny Marshall, the female director of "Grown Up" who starred in Diane. Both of them are children of an acting family in New York, and their acquaintance circles are basically the same, which makes the divorce extremely painful.

And Nora Ephron’s ex-husband is even more famous, the famous journalist Bernstein who exposed the Watergate scandal. In the movie "All the President's Men" that previously reflected this incident, Dustin Hoffman played the role of Bernstein.

Nora Ephron's divorce was even more tragic. When she was pregnant for the second time, her husband Bernstein had an affair with the daughter of the former British Prime Minister and the wife of the then British Ambassador, Baroness Margaret Jayin. Almost caused a political scandal.

Nora Ephron is not someone to be trifled with either. She wrote her husband's scandal into the screenplay "Heartfire", which was eventually put on the screen by Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. Although the film did not perform well at the box office, during marketing, the ex-husband was brought out and whipped in the media.

Seeing Nora Ephron sinking into painful memories, Ronald thought for a moment, "I've always had a question, and you might be able to tell me."

"What's the problem?" Now Nora, Rob, and Billy were all interested.

"You said your ex-husband was Bernstein who exposed the Watergate scandal, but do you know who Deep Throat is?"

"Aha... Come on, come on, tell Ronald the urban legend you like to tell people the most." Rob Lena laughed. It was obvious that Nora had revealed the secret to her friends more than once.

"Hey, this is my own reasoning. I think Deep Throat is the deputy director of the FBI, Mark Felt. I have read Bernstein's notebook, which abbreviates Deep Throat to mf. I have checked all possible candidates. However, only the deputy director of the FBI has the initials MF."

"Hahaha, I don't believe it. Is the FBI so amateur? He must have used a pseudonym." Ronald didn't believe it.

"Hahaha, I said the same, Nora, you must have seen too much of Agatha's detective."

Several New Yorkers hit it off immediately, and they chatted about everything. But that's how New Yorkers are. In this kind of chat where everyone expresses their opinions and even tit-for-tat, you can immediately feel that the other person is also a New Yorker.

The remaining things will be much easier to handle. This is how we New Yorkers do things. Those rednecks from Los Angeles don’t understand.

"To be honest, I haven't made up my mind to make this movie yet." Rob Reiner said about Nora's script.

Liner opened Castle Rock Produs (Castle Rock Produs) with friends last year, named after the fictional town in Stephen King's novel.

His dream is not to be taught how to make movies by the executives of big studios, but to make movies according to the ideas of creators and artists.

Liner's first film at Castle Rock, "The Princess Bride," was an unexpected box office success, and they wanted to pursue their idea further.

But unfortunately, the stock market crash happened, and Colombia, which originally invested in it, has now suspended all financing projects. If you rely on your own funds, the risk of investment is relatively high. So Laina was a bit hesitant.

"I can actually invest, there's only one condition."

"We can talk about anything." Rob Lenner, one of the founders of Castle Rock, became interested. "We can talk about any conditions, but we have signed a distribution agreement with Columbia. We will make 15 movies in three years. The movie is distributed by Columbia, and if your company wants to get involved in the distribution business, it must get Columbia’s nod.”

"Hey, my company can't afford such theatrical movie distribution. We can only distribute small productions like 'Hairspray', or do video distribution." Ronald shook his head, saying that he didn't want to get involved in the distribution business. All three looked at Ronald, wondering what his terms were. "

"My conditions are very practical. You may think I'm vulgar, but I want the two protagonists to be together at the end of the movie. This is the only way to make a profitable investment."

"Oh? Do you think so? In fact, we don't accept the traditional ending at all. Nora said that you suggested that we watch 'Sullivan's Travels'. We did watch it in college before, and it does make sense."

Rob Reiner was not a layman who only wanted to satisfy artists. He looked at Nora Ephron. In fact, the prototype and many details of this script are based on my own life and Nora's. Both of them are divorced. If it is written as a happy reunion, will Nora have that meaning?

However, the two of them were too familiar with each other, and they didn't feel like a couple.

"Do you think we need to invite celebrities? How much is the approximate investment?" Laina is still interested, and it is very beneficial to cooperate with Ronald.

"I think ultimately it will take a popular young female star to play Sally, and then a convincing Harry, like Billy."

"Ha...ha...that's funny. My salary is not as good as that of stars." Billy Crystal laughed. As a comedy star, he has not had any big hits yet. Compared with those popular male stars, his salary may be higher. Only less than half of others.

"I don't dare to ask Billy to act. If the box office is not good and he fails to become a first-class male star as he hopes, I will feel sorry for him." "My mother was thrown from the train" had neither box office nor awards, and it really deceived my friends.

"If there are stars, I think the price of about 15 million can be covered." Ronald quoted a figure. Now that star salary inflation is serious, the average production cost of medium-sized productions is higher than before. It has increased in two years.

"You know, I think it's better for our company to sign a strategic cooperation agreement, so that Nora's script is confirmed and we can start evaluating the project. In this way, when the writers' strike is over, both of our companies will have new films that can be quickly put into production. , just in time to be released before the script drought ends next year.”

Laina thought this was feasible, so he asked Ronald to agree on cooperation first.

"Of course, we let the lawyers sort out the paperwork."

"It's very interesting that you are directing a film about women. I will go to the studio to have a look." Laina was very happy. He brought a box of biscuits from the supermarket and opened it for Ronald to eat.

"Aren't you the director?" Ronald picked up a piece and only took half a bite before putting it down. The taste of the candy corn was much worse than his aunt's handiwork.

"Shall I do it? I'm actually afraid that directing a work like this will always remind me of the time when I divorced my ex-wife."

"Isn't that very real? Who else knows better than you how it should be acted? If I direct, I will only shoot the ending where the two of them are together." When Ronald heard that he wanted to direct it, he agreed. , it must have a happy ending.

"It depends on Nora's wishes." Laina respects the screenwriter's autonomy, and this kind of thing still has to be left to the screenwriter to decide.

…

Soon, the lawyers of both parties prepared a cooperation framework. Both parties had priority rights over the other's films. Under the same conditions as competitors, the other party would be the first to invest in its own project.

"That Australian cowboy friend of yours made Paramount miserable." The lawyer who came to sign the contract was Mickey Canter, the famous gray-eyed lawyer in Hollywood.

"Isn't that still your power?" Ronald smiled.

"Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan, fronted by Kanter, has found domestic distributor Paramount Showdown. Paramount Home Entertainment, which had manipulated video sales, had to admit under the evidence that its own accounting statistics lagged behind sales.

Paul Hogan received a generous commission that was rightfully his and his wife's. By the way, I also checked the accounts of the overseas distribution company 20th Century Fox, and dug out some box office accounts that were behind schedule.

In the end, Gray Eyes Kanter also helped Hogan solve a small trap in the "Crocodile Dundee II" publishing contract.

It says the sequel must still be distributed in America by Paramount. Kanter changed him to priority under the same situation. If the terms are deadlocked and the other party uses whatever reason not to release it at that time, the third part may not be filmed.

】

Hogan was delighted and called Ronald to thank him. He also said that if Ronald goes to Australia for filming in the future, feel free to go find him. He has a good job there, and has many connections in the music and film circles. As long as Ronald puts forward the idea, he can guarantee resources and give him the lowest price.

Therefore, in fact, we still rely on Mickey Kanter's professional ability and reputation to get good results. Ronald just recommended a suitable candidate.

"By the way, I still have some business and I need your help." After Ronald signed the contract, he pulled Kanter to continue talking about business.

"It's a copyright issue on video tapes. I have some movies and my friends' movies. I want to buy out the copyright on the video tapes and then release a better video tape. By the way, I can take back the copyright on the video tapes."

"Now the seven major studios understand the potential of video tapes. It's not cheap if you want to buy them." Kanter said with a smile.

"It doesn't matter, money is not a problem. The original box office of the movie was not very good, but my colleagues analyzed that it might be suitable for video tapes."