Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Helen, can you tell us how you got into Hollywood? We occasionally receive invitations to audition, but we are unsuccessful every time, so we would like to know more about your experience in this area."

At the event of the actors' theater company "Naked Angels" where Helen Slater and her best friend Helen Hunt collaborated, a red-haired girl raised her hand and asked Helen, who was sharing her acting experience today.

Helen Slater's performance in "Sticky Fingers" made her understand the shallowness of her acting skills. She also slowly gave up the mentality of being anxious to show off her acting skills and began to act in some Off-Broadway theater companies in New York. , and then share it on a voluntary basis with young people who are interested in Hollywood film and television creation.

"I originally just thought that I could film some TV series. When I gain experience, I might be able to appear in some medium-sized Hollywood productions. I never thought that I would be able to get the role of Supergirl." Helen wore a clean t-shirt T-shirt, wearing glasses, very eye-catching, and answered the other party's questions in a leisurely manner.

"Well, you want to know how I won the audition? At that time, a friend of mine accompanied me to the audition. He had a crazy idea. He put on a Supergirl tights and went in as the character from the comics when he arrived at the audition. .

He had a relative who sewed, and I was the first one to show up for the audition, which is usually the round where you're least likely to get a part, but apparently my surprise attack impressed the casting director, who auditioned later. , can’t rule out the image of me wearing a Supergirl uniform.

So, have confidence in yourself, think of a way, and then do it, maybe your luck will come. "

"Uh-huh...", from a corner of the scene, a tall handsome guy walked in, wearing the kind of aviator sunglasses from Top Gun and a New York Yankees baseball cap, and gave a reminder.

"Okay, we'll stop here today, and we'll continue next Tuesday." Helen hurriedly ended the naked angel's sharing, took the handsome guy's hand, and walked out of the rehearsal hall.

"Who is that?" Several members started gossiping.

"Who else, Ronald Lee? You don't think that Helen really got so many roles by luck, do you? Do you think that her acting skills are outstanding, so the director appreciates her?"

"You can't say that. I watched her latest movie Sticky Fingers, and her acting skills were pretty good."

"That was recently. If you go and watch the original 'The Legend of Billie King', ugh... what we really need to learn is not her acting skills."

】

…

"This is a small gift for you\

,"Ronald arrived at Helen Slater's rented apartment and pointed to the Yamaha piano placed in the corner and said to her.

Helen is an independent-minded person and is unwilling to accept high-priced gifts from Ronald or accept real estate such as apartments. She herself does not have high material requirements and can often attend premieres wearing only homely clothes.

So Ronald gave her some gifts that he liked, such as this piano made in Japan, which occupies a small area and is of good quality. It just so happened that Helen had been trained in jazz music since she was a child and could now resume her old career.

"Oh, thank you." Helen was overjoyed. Ronald could still remember her hobbies in high school. With her heart filled with sweetness, she sat in front of the piano, opened the cover, played a jazz melody, and then sang.

"It's raining in the park, buy coffee for two people and tickets to the Yankees game at noon, this is New York in June..."

"Hmm... very good. Is this a song you wrote yourself? What's its name?" Ronald listened to one next to him. The melody and improvisation were complete. With his little knowledge of music, it seemed to be jazz. Common impromptu singing.

"Hahaha, I sang it impromptu. Well, what's it called? Maybe it's New York in June."

"It's really good. Have you ever thought about releasing a record?"

"No, but it's a good idea. Do you really think I can release an album at my level?"

"Why not give it a try? I can ask for you."

"My dear, you are so kind. But now I have to concentrate on preparing for the performance of 'To the Deepest Love'."

Helen talked about her preparations for the new movie over the past month and took notes. Next to the TV in the apartment there was a pile of video tapes of teenage romantic dramas.

Ronald smiled and nodded. In fact, this movie doesn't require too much acting skills. Helen's appearance and temperament suit her very well, and her acting skills are enough. However, it is also a good thing to be able to concentrate on learning and thinking about acting. It is not good to only rely on methodical empathy methods to express true emotions.

"Um...Ronald..." Helen raised her head, held Ronald who was holding her shoulders and kissed him. Ronald is a child from a poor family. He doesn't know the piano, an instrument that requires investment. He can't play four-handed with himself, so he has to take the initiative on his own. After not seeing each other for so many days, Helen felt a warm feeling in her lower abdomen, stimulated by Ronald's masculine scent.

With a "squeak", Helen was picked up by Ronald and leaned against the piano. She emitted a strange melody without chords, and then made a loud bang with a clang.

"Oh, please be gentle, we need to find someone to tune it."

"It's okay." Ronald simply picked up Helen, only touching some black keys. With the chord combination of the black keys, Helen also improvised a piece of jazz again.

Helen had already gone to Los Angeles to join the crew in preparation and rehearsal. Just when she had agreed on a time with Cameron Crowe, the Writers Guild and the Producers Union fell apart again. The strike continued, Daydream's application for strike exemption was not approved, and the crew was suspended.

The two had no choice but to stay in New York, and Ronald was looking for connections to try to start work as soon as possible.

After taking a shower, Helen put on a very simple dress and no makeup, and took Ronald to have dinner at her father Gerald's big house on the Upper East Side of Central Park.

Gerald's current wife and children respect Helen more and more, and treat her as a real movie star at the dinner table.

"I'm going to make coffee for you." Helen's stepmother took her and they went to the kitchen to whisper. Helen, who had been very well-behaved in both families, now gets along well with her father's new wife.

"Drink something good. My friend brought it from Bordeaux." Gerald also went to the study with Ronald and took out an unlabeled glass bottle. Inside was the brandy brewed by the owner of the Bordeaux winery. He A gift I received when I went to France to buy TV series.

"Why didn't it pass this time? When I held a meeting at the Los Angeles Producers Alliance, basically all the producers agreed to the conditions proposed by the new mediator. The Writers Guild has not started work for almost three months. They can’t even eat, right?”

Ronald took a sip of brandy. This time the strike negotiations failed again, which really surprised him and other Hollywood people. However, the Writers Guild who voted against the new agreement was mainly the Eastern Writers Union. When he came this time, he also wanted to pay a special visit to Gerald Slater and ask this veteran TV station expert what the problem was.

This time, the Producers Alliance came up with the "Final (This Time Real) Solution to the Strike" in early June. It can be said that based on the last time, it made some nominal concessions to the screenwriters' requirements.

Including extending the contract period from three years to four years, so that the screenwriters have better protection and the management reduces the frequency of negotiations. It also includes expanding creative rights, giving screenwriters some rights to participate in the early preparation stages.

Originally, everyone was very optimistic that the negotiation would lead to an outcome, and at least they would be able to get exemptions for most new Hollywood films. Who knew that in the voting last weekend, the final vote count would actually be two to one.

A majority of writers at the Writers Guild West have voted in favor of ending the strike and passing a new collective bargaining agreement. The number of unions in the east was much larger than that in the west, and the vote there was still overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the strike.

The producers were left a little confused, wondering if someone had screwed over the Eastern Writers Guild vote. Ronald couldn't understand either, so he sincerely asked for advice.

"Have you seen the voting ratios of the two unions?" Seeing Ronald nodding, Gerald took out a copy of the new agreement and handed it to Ronald. On the second page of the abstract, he heavily highlighted a paragraph with his pen.

"The remaining dividends for movies and TV series will still be based on the 1985 sharing ratio. Only movies and TV programs that last more than one hour can receive dividends from national television networks and foreign TV stations."

"I still don't understand, most movies are more than ninety minutes, why is this one so important?" Ronald saw the words "more than an hour" and Gerald also put an asterisk.

"You don't watch TV much, do you?" Gerald smiled.

"I don't watch it very much." Ronald admitted that he would watch videos of classic movies whenever he had time to study his techniques.

"Most talk shows, soap operas, TV series, and talk shows are just under one hour, don't you think about it?"

"Huh?" Ronald suddenly realized that this was indeed the case. The reason why the Eastern Writers Guild has a much larger number than the Western Union is because they mainly serve television and radio stations.

Not for Broadway, as Ronald thought.

This clause is a key point of negotiation for several major public television stations and is the most critical clause for them in the new labor agreement.

If retained, the dividends the screenwriter would receive would be much smaller.

Imagine, for example, a black female host, Oprah Winfrey, who is now coming out of a local TV station in Chicago. Since 1987, the "Oprah Winfrey Talk Show" has been syndicated across the country. TV network broadcast. Compared with her original income from local TV stations, her personal income has increased forty times.

But all this money belongs to the program producer, Oprah Winfrey, a fat woman who likes to make love on TV. The screenwriter team she owns doesn't get a penny in dividends, and it depends on the boss's face when asking for a salary increase.

That's the power of this clause, that talk show, minus commercial time, was less than an hour long.

Therefore, it is requested to amend this clause. As long as the program is less than one hour long and is broadcast nationally, the screenwriters can also receive dividends. This has been received by the three major wireless television networks, as well as Fox and Paramount, which have their own television businesses. Studio objections.

"It's dog-eat-dog time now, Ronald. We all stood on the river bank, watching the two groups of vicious dogs on the riverside biting each other. The losing party was either eaten by the same kind, or was driven down the river. , disappeared in this line.”

"But a pack of dogs biting each other is detrimental to the long-term development of the entire industry." Ronald shook his head, he didn't like this kind of thing.

The dogs Gerald is talking about are about to fall into the river, which are the independent producers in Hollywood. They have been dragged down by the strike and have high financial costs. If they are pushed again, they are likely to go bankrupt.

The vicious dogs that eat each other are the hardcore screenwriters who are struggling to survive. The strike has been going on for three months, and they have not taken home a penny in compensation. The newbies at the bottom have run away. These backbones feel that there is still hope of returning to work, so they are still persisting.

With the savings of an ordinary American family and the meager income from screenwriter work, Ronald felt that they would soon be unable to even take out valuables from the pawn shop, and maybe in a few weeks, they would have to mortgage their house. This kind of thing is a great harm to the entire talent training. If these people leave the industry sadly, they will never come back.

"So, you are so sure about the TV drama industry? The Writers Guild must have collapsed first?" Ronald didn't know what the TV station's executives were thinking. They haven't filmed a new TV series in three months. Will they still use reruns for the new TV series season that is about to arrive?

"Of course not. Many medium-sized local TV stations and medium-sized TV drama projects are now on the verge of collapse, but... Midtown in New York, from Fifth Avenue to Eleventh Avenue, the people there are the same as those in downtown Wall Street. People who like crises more than fear them.”

"Well, are you trying to take the opportunity to annex those small and medium-sized TV stations and production companies?" Ronald understood after being prompted by Gerald. The Producers Alliance is now as divided as the Writers Guild.

The film industry, which has a numerical advantage in the producers' union, wants to end the strike as soon as possible, while the large television networks, which have few votes, want to wait.

Therefore, these giant television networks, in order to continue the strike, secretly supported the Eastern Writers Guild - most of the screenwriters who wrote scripts for the network, and strongly opposed themselves.

"Damn capitalists." Ronald cursed.

"Huh??" Gerald was stunned.

"I'm talking about those Wall Street capitalists who instigated TV stations to artificially prolong the crisis." Ronald found that this sentence could easily cause misunderstanding, so he immediately explained a few words.

“Do you have any spare production capacity here, or a production company that is not regulated by the Writers Guild of America?”

"Huh? Of course I do, what kind do you need?" Ronald thought to himself, does Gerald have any production work that he wants to subcontract to himself?

"There are also differences among the three major television networks. NBC is the toughest. ABC and Paramount do not have the kind of talk shows to fill the time slots. These TV stations, which use TV series as their main weapon to attract viewers, actually want the strike to end as soon as possible. It's just that it's inconvenient for them due to some rules of TV station operation.

The general manager of abc came to me. The old TV series they bought from cbs some time ago, The Big Deal, had good ratings, so I came up with the idea of ​​making a new version. They came to me and wanted to take advantage of my relationship with the BBC's TV series procurement and cooperate with a British TV production company in filming.

But now the BBC and the people are raising prices. Are there any other places here that have English production capabilities? "Gerald took a sip of wine. If Ronald can discover more affordable and high-quality production capabilities that are not under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild, it will be very profitable."

"Don't tell me, I really do." Ronald thought of Mr. Crocodile Dundee and Paul Hogan, who promised to make sure he could live well. If he wanted to film in Australia, he would ask him to take care of everything.