Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"The two major screenwriter unions in the east and the west conducted the final vote on the collective bargaining agreement. The voting result was an overwhelming 5:1. They finally agreed to the fourth offer from the Producers Union and signed a collective bargaining agreement for the next four years. Although Walton, the union negotiator, said the conditions were not much better this time around, but the writers had the votes to answer."

Ronald watched NBC's live coverage of the end of the strike from his home in New York. When a screenwriter was asked how he felt that the goal of their strike had not been achieved, he blurted out that he hadn’t worked for a long time, and these terms were fine, and he had to go to the pawn shop to redeem his wife’s diamond ring with the advance payment.

"Dingdong..."

"coming"

Ronald opened the door and went to Times Square with Little Bud. Today, Rob Reiner, Nora Ephron, and Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are going to sign a contract there and take a set photo.

Although Ronald hasn't figured out a reasonable ending twist yet, the set photos are still taken first. At the same time, the script that has not been finalized will be sent to the Producers Union of Hollywood for filing. The promotional photos will be sent to Hollywood to report the newspaper, and they will all report the news of the establishment of each project.

"Meg, Billy..." Ronald greeted the two leading actors, and a female photographer started to take pictures of the two dressed in costumes.

Clothing is very important to the shaping of movie actors. When Meg Ryan was filming "Top Gun" before, a dress showed her typical southern girl traits. Now she wears a gray coat and white shirt, plus a bob hair, which is the style of a professional woman in a big northern city. It is full of grace again.

"Give me an idea... well, a pleasant one, now your thoughts are too negative, well, I like this idea." The photographer is giving Meg Ryan instructions on how to pose.

"Huh?" Ronald felt kind at first glance. This set of methods of guiding the subject was also used a lot when he was a photographer. Could it be that the two of them belonged to the same faction?

Seeing that she had taken a picture of Billy and Meg, Ronald stepped forward to greet her.

"Hello……"

"Michelle, Michelle Singer." The female photographer tightened the strap of the camera, then reached out to shake Ronald's hand.

"Can I teach you Michelle? I like the feeling of you taking pictures. I don't know when I can see them?"

"If you are in a hurry, I will send someone to rush it immediately.

Samples are available within an hour. "The photographer stroked his hair.

"Is there any problem?" Rob Reiner came over and asked. Although he was no longer the director, he was still the funder and co-producer of the film.

"No, I'm talking to the photographer, Ms. Singer. This is Rob, and this is Michelle." Ronald introduced them to each other.

"Hello..." The two chatted, seemingly speculatively.

"I can bet you that Rob is going to ask her out," Nora Ephron came over and whispered in Ronald's ear.

"Really?" Ronald asked with a smile. Nora, like other female screenwriters, was extremely sensitive to such gossip.

"Trust me, she's Rob's type." Nora Ephron also tidied her hair.

"I believe you..." Ronald felt that to some extent, Nora and Rob were the prototypes of Harry and Sally in the script, and they really didn't call. But they also know each other very well, so she was the first to capture information about what kind of women Rob Reiner likes.

"Well, yes, these photos are very good." More than an hour later, Ronald got the photos. Michelle Singer's photography contrast is strong, and the use of color is excellent. It seems that he can use colors to describe the scene emotional capacity.

"It's really a great work. This is the best photo of a movie I've ever seen." Rob Reiner chatted with Michelle non-stop, and was not satisfied with Ronald's praise. It has been added several levels.

Nora Ephron looked at Ronald and blinked, as if to say, I told you...

"You're right, Rob. These photos are very suitable for commercial use. Ms. Singer, I wonder what your next work schedule is?" Ronald was satisfied with the quality, and the other party's charges were also very reasonable.

"No work arrangement? Then if you are interested in continuing to work for us, I still have two films, Steel Magnolia and Love in the Deep, which were filmed in Louisiana and Los Angeles respectively. Can you take them as well? "

"What about the travel expenses?" Michelle hesitated.

"Of course we're going. Rob is going to the Louisiana scene. He can go with you."

"We still have a travel subsidy..." Seeing that the other party was still a little hesitant, Ronald immediately proposed the subsidy, and with Rob Reiner's encouragement, she nodded and agreed.

"You can really do it..." Nora Ephron watched this scene, and when Rob and Michelle left, she came over to make fun of Ronald.

"Confucius said that a gentleman has the beauty of an adult."

...

"Have you thought about how to deal with the reversal at the end?" Ronald and Nora Ephron continued to discuss the script for an afternoon. She also wanted to see Ronald's screenwriting skills.

"Hey..." Ronald stood up and stretched himself. Ephron's level is very high, and the two discussed with her, and a lot of inspiration came out. In the past, I used to write scripts by myself, but now I see a team of screenwriters discuss it, and the effect of brainstorming is better.

"There will always be a way. Let's think separately first. Whoever has inspiration will come again."

It's the last reversal at the end. How could Harry figure out his true love, the separation and reunion, which he couldn't get used to at first, but later became a tacit understanding of Sally?

The two still didn't have a clue, and they were able to handle it naturally and reasonably. The audience believed that this story could not only happen, but also be moved.

"Hey..., I'll go back and think about it too. If Harry and Sally are separated in the end, I don't feel reconciled. No matter what their final outcome is, they deserve a marriage together." Nora Ephron He picked up the script draft and left.

"Where do you want to go for dinner?" Little Bard waited for a while, but he came in and asked when he didn't see Ronald coming out.

"I'm not very hungry, let's just walk around Midtown Manhattan." Ronald put away the script and handed it to Little Bard. The two got into the car. Just in the streets of Midtown, driving slowly aimlessly.

Ronald felt bored for a while, and wanted to find a reason to help Harry figure out that Sally was his destined woman in this life. Under what circumstances can a person suddenly realize that he wants to marry another person? How can Harry restore Sally's broken heart because she ran away?

Ronald opened the car window, and the outside air entered the fully air-conditioned compartment, and a familiar smell came. Ronald seemed to have returned to the time when he had just worked on the crew of "Fame".

That sweltering heat, with the special smell of a lot of garbage in Midtown that was too late to clean up, got into Ronald's nose, and suddenly turned on the switch of memories, making his thoughts fly back to seven or eight years ago.

"Stop it..." Ronald found that the car was near the high school where he was filming that year. How did he win the heart of Antonia Franceski when he was dumped by Meg Tilly?

"Isn't this the place where your filming became famous all over the world? I also wanted to be an actor at that time, but unfortunately I couldn't be in the crew because of my age." Little Bard also recognized this place.

Ronald asked Bud for a cigarette, and leaned against the outside of the car door to smoke.

"Yo... Handsome guy, do you want me to accompany you?"

The neighborhood of Times Square was full of these wandering warblers. Seeing that Ronald had a luxury car, it stopped again, and two scantily clad women came over to say hello immediately.

"Stand back..." Little Bard took out the standard training posture in the Marine Corps, with his feet spread apart, his chest raised and his head raised, and he made a gesture of staying away from those women

"Let's go..." Ronald felt bored and beckoned Little Bud to get into the car.

"Walk down the city ahead, past Chinatown, and in front of Sangsh Street in Little Italy, there is a pizzeria where the margheritas are delicious."

Ronald showed the way, and Bud Jr. sent him to the place where the four were dating and Ronald and Antonia were attracted to each other.

He wanted to relive the mood at that time, maybe it could give some inspiration to the script.

"I've been here before, and Lucy took me here a few times."

"Hmm..." Ronald looked at the authentic Italian pizzeria that was still the same. We also came together at that time.

Everything, the taste of the pizza, the decoration of the store, and the queues of diners, have not changed. But everything seems to have changed.

The people are not the same people as they used to be, and the disco is no longer played in the store, and MJ's songs are played instead.

Why didn't I propose to Antonia back then?

Ronald recalled his past. He once dreamed that he and Antonia went to the church to hold a wedding. It was a beautiful dream. Antonia had a simple wedding with him in the church under a white veil. After the marriage, Antonia gave up her ballet career and ironed her own clothes.

By the way, it was because both of them wanted to pursue their careers that they separated. Ronald also promised to donate to Antonia's ballet troupe and be a philanthropist so that Antonia can concentrate on dancing.

Suddenly, a sense of melancholy surged in Ronald's heart...

At that time, if I hadn’t been a director, I would have found a job, opened a photography studio, bought a small house on Staten Island with Antonia, and sent her to work at the City Ballet in Manhattan by ferry every day.

In short, in the end, as long as there is one person who wants to be with the other party, it exceeds the desire of his career. Now, it might be another life.

"Let's go back first..."

An idea suddenly popped up in Ronald's mind, to go and see Antonia. How is she doing?

...

Early the next morning, Ronald called his agent Richard and asked him to help find Antonia's whereabouts.

"Why, do you want to marry Antonia?" Richard rarely saw such a sentimental Ronald, and felt strange. blurted out.

However, artists are often like this, sometimes for no reason, they will suddenly have a huge affection for a woman. Many directors have this moment of finding their muse in their careers.

This is often the most creative moment in their directorial career.

Ronald has never been so madly infatuated with a woman. Could it be that the muse still occupies his heart at this time?

"No, not...", Ronald shook his head, and it was difficult for him to explain this mentality.

"I just had a strong desire to meet Antonia. At the time I chose career, not her. I couldn't sleep last night, always thinking what if I had made another choice?

I want to meet her. It's a natural desire, right? "

"I understand...", Richard nodded, what else do you not understand? The moment of madness that artists are destined to have finally patronizes their clients. Although Ronald has always seemed mature over the years, this is after all a situation that every genius in the art industry will encounter.

Inside CAA, there are precautions for this kind of situation.

"I can ask, but I have to understand your thoughts first. If you find her, what do you want to do? Relive the love dream with this girl, or restore the relationship as a couple, or do you want to meet first? , and then decide?" Richard is not worried about what will happen to Ronald and the ballerina, there are standard control procedures for this. Richard also helped Ronald deal with many of these things before.

What he was worried about was that if Ronald went crazy too much. Publicly announced a relationship, or, going a step further, wanting to get married. This is a very risky thing, because the current situation of this lady is unknown.

"That's not the case, Antonia and I were not coveting each other's things at the time, we really liked each other." Ronald felt that Richard thought of himself a little lowly.

"You find out what position she holds, and tell me. I'll donate to the New York City Ballet where she's at, so I can help her out and make her a prima donna or something."

"Eh...", Richard was alarmed and thinking wildly. It's a purely emotional need, not a desire. One shot is to become the patron of the old ballet company. Bumped, really bumped...

"I'll give Nisita a call, he's a little more familiar with these old-school things."

Richard quickly left and went to crisis management and control.

"What does he think? To be a patron? It's not like what a young and powerful director would say. It's all about the talents of an old director who has achieved fame but has exhausted his artistic creation and can no longer make movies."

Nisita is also in a hurry, this is a Hollywood artist with a unique madness. Every artist has his own weaknesses and obsessions.

It's like Tom Cruise wants to work with a big director to get an Oscar nomination. Marty Scorsese wants to make a Jesus movie. Spielberg loves actresses who look like cats...

Both of Ronald's parents died when he was young, and he hasn't had any stable emotions for so many years. Maybe he's tired of dealing with beauties and wants to settle down?

But even if you want to be stable, such an actress who hasn't seen each other for seven or eight years is by no means the best choice.

"I'm flying to New York right now..."

Nisita hurriedly flew to New York, and after meeting Richard, she asked urgently, "Is Antonia still in the New York City Ballet?"

"No, she just resigned not long ago. The founder and soul of the City Ballet, George Balanchine, passed away a few years ago. Antonia was the last batch of the Russian-born ballet and choreographer recruited into the company. dancer.

Now the new head and chief dancer has his own preferred dance and style, so these Balanchine girls, who are not too favored, have lost a lot recently. "

Richard didn't know whether he was relieved or felt sorry for Ronald.

"Resigned?" Ronald sat on the chair for a long time after hearing the news. If I had remembered my promise earlier, would Antonia have been better off, and wouldn't have resigned to start anew elsewhere.

"Where did she go? Any news?" Ronald knew that Antonia was also an orphan and didn't have many close friends and relatives.

"We asked in detail about the girls who were close to her in the ballet troupe. We only knew that they went to Europe, but we didn't know if they had been invited by any ballet troupe in Europe. Antonia just said that she would write to them when she got there.

I have already agreed with them, as soon as we receive a letter from Antonia, we will be notified as soon as possible."

"Hmm...", Ronald said in his heart that this is not normal. It seems that she was also excluded from the dance troupe, and she didn't even reveal her next family to her friends.

"Don't worry, Antonia's career is developing well. It's just that she failed to compete for the principal last year. This is also a common thing in big ballet companies like New York. She has the strength to be a chief in other dance companies."

"I see, I just feel that it's a pity that I didn't help her." Ronald asked the two to go out, and he wanted to stay alone for a while.

Nisita and Richard looked at each other, and it seemed that they were really upset. This relationship is quite special, isn't it?

"Brokers are not experts in finding people." Seeing the two leaving, Ronald opened the drawer and found the contact information of the very capable private investigator.

"Mr. Mike Parker? This is Ronald, and I want to find someone..."