Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"They replied so quickly?"

As soon as he returned to Los Angeles, Ronald saw lawyer Lindsay Dole who had arrived first to meet lawyer Mickey Kanter. Waving a piece of paper in her hand, it was Capcom's reply to the lawyer's letter sent by Ronald.

Mickey Kanter is familiar with the entertainment business and is also involved in transnational intellectual property litigation. After receiving the commission from Lindsay's lawyer, he immediately sent a lawyer's letter to the other party via international telex. The main demand is to acknowledge that the plot and characters of "Street Fighter" are borrowed from the film creation of "Streets of Rage", and then be paid a certain fee based on sales.

As for the cost, it is negotiable. After all, cross-border cases are notoriously difficult to enforce, and even if you win, you often won’t get paid. Reconciliation between the two parties is the best solution.

"An urban gang kidnapped a beautiful young woman. This is a plot found in many Hollywood movies..." Ronald read the reply and refused to admit plagiarism.

"Do you still want to continue?" Mickey Kanter asked Ronald, squinting his gray eyes.

“What are the chances of winning?”

"It depends on how determined you are..." Lawyer Kanter is always honest with his clients. Once he is involved in litigation, the battle for jurisdiction may last for more than a year. There are also implementation issues. If it weren't for the huge industry Supported by interests, even Hollywood can only watch helplessly as the Japanese exploit them.

"My determination is to keep fighting. This is not just a matter of money..." Ronald did not consider the return on investment of this single case, but took a long-term view and represented Hollywood to fight for reasonable interests from the Japanese. This is a big deal for actors, directors, and other union members.

He wants to create an image in their minds of fighting for them and fighting for their interests. After all, once a precedent is formed, these people will have the opportunity to receive the remaining dividend checks from Japan in the future.

"Okay, you're the boss..." Although Mitch Kanter was a little surprised by Ronald's decision, such cases were originally the law firm's favorite...it was long-lasting and required a lot of work time. Jurisdiction must be fought before prosecution, and appeals and enforcement must be conducted afterward...

"Dear, Ronnie, why are you so persistent about this movie?" Back at the hotel, Diane seemed to like Ronald's statement very much. She picked up the menu and ordered a lot of Italian dishes, and then personally pushed the dining cart over. Put the cutlery for Ronald. Anyway, she can only scramble eggs, so she can barely fulfill her duties as a housewife.

"This is the common interest of people in Hollywood. I am relatively lucky and can be considered a successful person, so I must represent those colleagues who are less fortunate to pursue the rights we deserve..."

"Um...what else?" Diane smiled sweetly with her big eyes. She looked at Ronald and didn't believe this reason. Brother Ronnie sometimes doesn't like to express sweetness directly, but he likes to hear it. He said so.

"And?" Ronald immediately thought of what to say, "And the copyright of this movie is a gift from me to you. I don't want anyone to tarnish this gift..."

"Well..." Diane happily kissed her, making the woman feel the happiest in the world.

Ronald also discovered Diane's sexy charm for the first time on the set of "Streets of Rage". The kiss between the two also brought back memories, which was very sweet.

"Donna told me that Aunt Karen's boyfriend seems to be preparing to propose..." Diane finally recovered her breath from the long passionate kiss and told Ronald this little secret.

"Really? I'm really happy for her..." Ronald is very happy, and his aunt is living a happy life now. The Quaker chapel that he and little Doug donated is almost completed and can be used for weddings.

"Huh?" Diane found that Ronald was unresponsive again. Hey, did he really not have this idea?

Ronald didn't notice Diane's expression. He was shocked by the news on TV. During the British FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, many fans poured into the stands and were squeezed into the barbed wire fence set up to prevent football hooligans. More than 90 fans Celebrity fan suffocated to death.

The most frightening thing is that at this time, the Sun newspaper in London's Fleet Street also accused the fans and added three headlines to the news: 1. Some fans stole the victim's wallet, 2. Urinated on the heroic police officer, 3. Chased and beaten Police officer providing first aid.

News fabricated for the sake of sales cannot even be tolerated by other media. It has been frequently mentioned and criticized on TV news these days. Especially the American media, which consider themselves to be the conscience of society, are certainly not used to the tabloid behavior.

…

The next day, Ronald accompanied Diane to see the clothes that had been custom-made for her. This is a high-end custom dress worn by Vivian Ward, the heroine in the movie "3000", because she had to accompany her boss Edward Louise to the opera.

Diane was as obsessed with the script as a hen protecting her chicks. Ronald had no choice but to ask Disney to find the original screenwriter Lawton and ask him to modify the plot so that Diane wouldn't be exposed too much and his The character becomes annoying.

The entire movie has changed its flavor. It is no longer a noir movie that reflects reality, but has become a customized movie around the heroine. Ronald actually doesn't like this kind of adaptation. The focus of the plot has been artificially shifted, and Ronald is no longer optimistic about the box office results.

However, Diane likes it anyway, so just treat it as another gift to her, and the box office of this low-cost movie will not be much worse. Relatively speaking, this movie is better than the previous "Steel Magnolias" where Diane was just a supporting role.

"This suit is very beautiful..." Ronald looked at Diane walking in a skirt. The low-cut upper body design clearly showed off her figure. Plus two long white gloves, matching Put on red high heels...

Ronald remembered her appearance in "Streets of Rage" in a red strapless dress. I just changed the black rock-style gloves into white aristocratic style gloves. There was also tenderness in his eyes.

"Really?" Diane spun around happily. She was happy that Ronald liked this outfit.

"But something seems to be missing..." Ronald put his hand on his chin and looked up and down.

"What? I rarely wear this kind of dress..." Diane looked around.

"Here..." Ronald took out a blue velvet jewelry box and placed it in front of Diane's eyes.

"Oh, My God", Diane saw the jewelry box and her breathing became rapid. Did the hint last night work? This is a major event in my life, what should I do? Will Brother Ronnie kneel down? Oops, there are no photographers now...

With a bang, the jewelry box popped open, and inside was a very expensive Cartier necklace. The main stone was twelve sapphires, each of which was inlaid with diamonds, sparkling under the light.

"This is the dress you wore when watching the opera. I took it upon myself to give you a necklace."

This is the jewelry that Ronald asked his agent to help order, and it cost him a total of US$250,000. Ronald understood Diane's thoughts, but Cameron's divorce case made him have doubts. Maybe by maintaining this relationship, the two of them will be happier.

After all, he is no longer the screenwriter who just entered the industry. The wealth gained from Coca-Cola and the dividends from various successful movies that are still coming have made Ronald's worth fluctuate around 100 million US dollars.

Even if he didn't consider the various financial risks that marriage would bring to him, his agents began to instill in him various precautions. For example, sign a prenuptial agreement with your fiancée like Spielberg did.

Spielberg seems to have been romantically involved with Kate Capshaw, the star of the previous Indiana Jones movie, and Richard and Niceta have been hearing a lot of rumors lately. If they hadn't signed a prenuptial agreement and the two got married in a state where divorced couples divide their property equally, the compensation would have been much greater.

"It's so beautiful, thank you, Ronnie..." Diane was slightly disappointed when she saw it was a necklace, not the ring she was expecting. But she was quickly attracted by this necklace. Brother Ronnie gave such expensive jewelry, which seemed to have a very stable position in his heart.

Diane continued to change several outfits, and Ronald felt like he was watching a private model show, and he was very happy. There are many disadvantages to finding an actress as your girlfriend, but the advantages are also exciting. In different clothes, Diane wears different styles, sometimes pure, sometimes sexy, some look like professional women, some look like southern socialites. With them, it seems difficult to lose interest because they feel too familiar.

…

Diane knew her own strengths very well and wore different clothes, making Ronald as interested as if he were taking an acting class every time.

The two stayed in the hotel until noon of the next day, before Ronald was free to continue his business.

"Has your revised draft been written?" Ronald received "Silence of the Lambs" screenwriter Ted Tully in the hotel.

"Yes, I have refocused the drama according to your request. The female FBI agent Starling will become the central figure in the overall situation. However, in this way, more scenes will take longer to explain clearly."

Ronald turned to the last page, which was already page 135. According to Hollywood's one-page-a-minute pace, this script has exceeded the maximum time that a typical thriller can bear.

Audiences like people to scare them, but if the time is exceeded, they will feel uncomfortable due to emotional overload. Therefore, excellent thrillers are restrained, and Hitchcock's movies are the best examples.

"Stay with me for now. I'll give you an answer after I think about it carefully..." Ronald thought for a long time and didn't know whether to reduce the number of scenes or increase the duration. He was a little undecided.

…

Also undecided is 20th Century Fox's new executive producer. Cameron's "The Abyss," the final cut of the film, was two hours and fifty minutes long, a length that prompted strong resistance from those responsible for distribution.

Although the test screening effect was good, with such a length, the cinema's film schedule will be greatly affected.

It just so happened that Goldberg had received a golden parachute and was leaving 20th Century Fox, and the new management team just used this movie to implement their will to power.

They ordered Cameron to reshoot the ending and cut the film to a standard sci-fi length of 120 minutes. Even Ronald's call to Goldberg was deliberately ignored.

"You have to be fucking responsible to the end. This is your project. I've made so much money for you and 20th Century Fox, and you're turning your back on me? You guys are just..."

Ronald heard that his words were useless, so he scolded Goldberg opposite him for being heartless and unjust. In his excitement, he almost scolded the entire Jewish community.

"I'm sorry, Ronald. Now all I have to do is officially announce my resignation. The big boss Rupert is mainly focusing on the TV network, and the newcomers are focused on deliberately suppressing my project. This is all It’s a prescribed action, and I can’t do anything about it.”

Goldberg shrugged, indicating it was not something he could undo.

"Fart, stinky shit, you guys are all bastards. This movie has a budget of 45 million, and Jim spent so much energy and endured the pain of divorcing his wife to make the tsunami scene , you want to cancel it with just one sentence? This is waste, this is murder!"

Ronald pointed at Goldberg's nose and continued to curse. He pointed at Cameron, who was sitting next to him, and roared at Goldberg, "Do you know how groundbreaking those shots were? That is the future direction of Hollywood, and it is another huge breakthrough in special effects after Star Wars. That seawater-produced face was purely computer-generated. Do you understand the huge potential here? Are you going to delete this and make a shitty ending?"

People like Fox have obviously gone too far. Such a super picture that has been rendered with so much painstaking efforts should be deleted and re-added with a boring ending? Forget about suppressing Goldberg, if you continue to mess with it like this, the film will be delayed again, and reshoots will cost huge amounts of money.

"Actually, it's 58 million, and it's about to exceed 60 million, Ronald." Goldberg told the true cost of filming without changing his expression.

"What?" Ronald looked back at Cameron.

"I think if we continue filming, it may exceed 70 million." Cameron also complained that Fox executives said the cost of the movie was too high, but their solution was to add an additional 10 million production costs...

"Put Barry (Diller) on the phone, this is unacceptable..." Ronald fumed. Cameron is an artist and gifted special effects engineer. He is sometimes unclear about the strife at the top.

This is obviously an attempt to completely overthrow Goldberg's approach, first raising the production budget to an unprecedented and ridiculous number, then cutting out the interesting parts for the audience, and finally creating a mediocre version.

boom!

Once it fails at the box office, not only will Goldberg, who has led many successful projects, be in danger, but Cameron will also suffer a cold reception from Hollywood.

These were tactics that Ronald had seen used by some Jews before on Frank Price, the former president of Columbia. Come again this time?

Fortunately, Goldberg is also a Jew. He is not an honest person like Price who only reads scripts and works on projects. He also deliberately involved Ronald this time to exert influence on the junior boss Barry Diller and even the big boss Rupert.

Even if a person leaves his job, his legacy in the studio should not be destroyed by Xiao Xiao.

"Hello? Barry?" Ronald walked to the back room, picked up the receiver alone and told Barry Diller what he wanted.

"What do you want, Ronald?" Barry Diller quickly figured out the clues about this kind of bad thing. He asked Ronald directly where his demands were.

"Two bottom lines. First, my friend Jim cannot be thrown out as a scapegoat and responsible for the box office. Second, don't cut out those computer-generated special effects scenes. That is the way forward for Hollywood in the future. We need the audience's reputation and box office. Yes, These possibilities are evaluated.

Look, Barry, this is a very important..."

"Okay, I promise you, Cameron will get the final editing rights, but the film market must be shortened. As for special effects shots, Ronald, you are also an expert. The most effective in this industry is beauty and violence, and a little special effects. Nothing can be changed..."

"Do I have your guarantee, Barry? If they continue to make decisions that turn my friend's masterpiece into a pile of shit, I guarantee you that I will personally beat the shxt out of them..."

"You have my word, Ronald."

"They promised to keep most of the special effects shots, and you also have the right to make the final cut, but the length still needs to be shortened. I can only do so much, Jim..." Ronald walked out of the room and faced Cameron and Gold. Berg said.

"Hey, Ronald, I appreciate it, I really do...but don't actually hit them..." Cameron heard the last part where Ronald shouted that he was going to punch someone's shxt out. , I was also very touched that Ronald worked so hard for his friends. Now that most of the demands have been obtained, some content that opposes nuclear war and calls for world peace will be deleted. This will satisfy both parties.

Goldberg looked at him coldly, saying that Cameron was lucky to have such a friend. Of course, his luck was not bad, and the last project he hosted also had a good ending.

"I never said anything about typing out his Shxt... This is all slander..." A sentence suddenly came from the TV, startling the three of them.

"Then how do you explain the court's decision and the tape evidence cited by the judge in the decision?" The reporter chased a tall black man and asked.

"No means no, I will not threaten my wife Nicole..."

"Okay, OJ Simpson denied that he ever threatened his wife Nicole on the phone. He pleaded no contest to the domestic violence charge filed against Nicole. But the judge ruled that the phone recording can be used as evidence in court..."