Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Do I have a chance to be a director?" Ronald returned to the car and detailed the meeting to his manager, Richard.

“I can’t say well, from the historical decisions of Robert Sterwood, you have a certain chance. Several of the films he directed, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, have employed rookie directors, or people with only one director experience. guide."

Richard researched Stewood's background information in advance. "Maybe we will ask Mr. Nisita, or Mr. Ovitz's opinion, to see if they can win you a directing opportunity."

"I just took Mr. Ovitz's advice and didn't ask Mr. Sterwood in person," Ronald said. "Ask him when you have time."

"They've got someone they like," Ovitz said to Ronald after a few minutes of making two phone calls.

"Sterwood means the Zach brothers, the directors of the new box-office hit 'The Unprecedented (!)'. They made this low-budget comedy for Paramount at a cost of only 3.5 million, and the box office has reached close to 20 of the cost. times and still growing.”

"Brother Jerry Zucker," Ronald thought of Jerry Zucker and his two companions when he wanted to run from the New World to Paramount to film while filming "High School of Rock." If he hadn't wanted to leave, he wouldn't have been able to sign the director of the second group, and then get the director's union qualification to enter the industry.

"How do you know? Paramount's Katzenberg is now very regretful, and only signed a contract with their Zack Brothers director group for only one movie. Now Paramount's priority is 'unprecedented' sequel, so you might still have a chance."

"No, I've only worked with Jerry Zack in the same crew, and haven't had a lot of dealings." Ronald shook his head and smiled, envy the Zach brothers who became famous in the first battle.

"You might as well go and watch this movie, it uses a parody technique. In the past, parody was only a technique for low-cost B-level films. I didn't expect it to be a big hit this time. Their comedy talent is very high.

Romance scenes are usually paired with comedy elements, so since Sterwood meant him, you should be able to get some inspiration? "

Ovitz almost said you might as well plagiarize.

Ronald smiled and agreed.

"Tomorrow I've arranged for you to meet Patricia Birch, Grease's choreographer. You have to pay attention, you didn't get the screenwriting job for this movie, and a verbal Hollywood promise is nothing. This meeting is for you to face. A test, she has already got the choreography job of the sequel, it is a kind of interview."

Thanks to Ovitz for taking the time to inquire for himself, Ronald found Richard Lovett again.

"Richard,

Can you help me get the script for the grease? I'd like to check it out for some reference, and have an interview tomorrow. "

"I'm ready." Richard took out a script from the drawer, and on the cover was the name of the hit two years ago: "Grease".

"I'll take you back to the Marriott Hotel." Richard took the key.

"I've got to see a movie, Richard. Mr. Ovitz said let me see 'Best of All,' which was made by the director the producer wanted."

"Let me accompany you. There is a multiplex theater in the shopping center near here. There are many films and many shows. There must be shows after waiting for at most 20 minutes." Richard Lovett saw Ronald's business, mostly Austrian Waits personally connected, or Nisita used his relationship to get it, and he felt a sense of crisis in his heart.

He didn't want to lose this only customer, but now he didn't get business for him, only to help Ronald with thoughtful service. In the past two days, I have made full preparations, studied Stetwood's background in detail, and prepared the script of Grease in advance. It seems that Ronald is still satisfied with him.

The two came to the multiplex theater in the shopping center, which gradually began to multiply in America, replacing some of the traditional department stores.

After the Civil Rights Movement, black and Latino immigrants entered the urban center in large numbers, where the security began to deteriorate rapidly, and the white-dominated middle class began to move to the suburbs.

Driving has become the main means of travel for the middle class. It turned out that the large-scale movie theaters that can be reached by public transportation are far away from the middle-class families who can afford the most movie tickets. It became the norm in the late 1970s and early 1980s to have to drive to see a movie.

I saw the car to the cinema, but I couldn't see the movie I wanted to watch. This phenomenon is more and more common in hall theaters with hundreds or thousands of them. Cinemas in shopping malls are gradually transitioning to multiplex cinemas. After driving to the shopping center, you can eat and shop. Different movies are shown in multiple small halls, and there is always something suitable to watch.

"Two pieces of 1.40 are flying all over the sky." Ronald took the initiative to buy two. Thinking that the main agent is only a client of his own, he must not live well.

With some time left to leave, Ronald La Richard went to eat Pizza Hut. The food quality of this chain brand is worse than Domino's, but the takeaway is not as good as Domino's.

"Have you seen the movie? What's it like to be a comedy that makes heavy use of parodies?" Ronald asked Richard what it was like to watch "Best of All".

"Have you seen the International Airport (Airport) in 1970?" Richard put down his knife and fork and ate a piece of pizza with his hands like Ronald, "This 'Best of All () is for that movie deconstruction and irony. The whole movie is full of low-level puns of homophonic words to get the audience laughing.”

Homophone puns? Ronald was reminded of Brooke Shields' CK jeans ad, which was also based on this concept. "The people have already voted with their feet, and I heard that the box office has exceeded 50 million. The low-level is low-level."

"Also, for our agent, the high box office of the client's participation movie is a very good sign, which shows that they can charge a high price for the next movie." Richard echoed.

"I'm also getting other script-editing business for you, and now the trend in Hollywood is changing. Warm family films are starting to grab the attention of the big studios.

Pure musicals, with the box office failure of 'Xian Le Du', seem to be losing their charm. That's probably why Mr. Sterwood takes the rom-com component of "Grease Sons" so seriously. "

"Your opinion is very important, Richard, thank you." Ronald felt that this was the direction of the screenwriter that Sterwood liked, and the two walked into the theater.

"Hahaha..." The audience began to laugh at the beginning of the film.

Ronald saw it too, and the movie opens with a parody of Spielberg's "Jaws." The white clouds in the sky are like the sea, the vertical tail of the plane is like shark fins, and finally the plane whizzes across the screen like a great white shark jumping out of the water.

The structure of the whole film imitated the "international airport" ten years ago. The plane was in crisis, and then it was saved under the handling of the crew. Even the heroine also found a copycat version of Jane Sebo.

But what about the whole movie? There is no coherent plot direction, but a large multiplayer stand-up comedy (Stand-up comedy). The passages are very dense, from beginning to end, but there is no connection between the passages.

A joke comes out without a head and no brain, then after ten seconds, it turns to another joke, and then another...

After watching the whole movie, Ronald felt that he laughed many times, but he couldn't remember the plot at all. Only when someone mentioned a certain dialogue, he remembered what the joke was.

Anyway, this kind of comedy, Ronald himself would never be able to write it.

Ronald told Brooke Shields a joke that required more than just getting to the bottom of the audience consensus and then playing it up. Like Spike's black joke, if the audience is a white girl Brooke Shields, you can't understand the background of the joke and it won't feel funny.

And there is a lot of time to grasp, a sentence is said earlier, or later, it is not funny. The grammatical joke that Ronald told was probably just the wrong time to throw out the most ridiculous sentence (Punch Line), and it didn't make her laugh.

Now that I think about it, Jerry Zucker's aggressive attitude towards himself when he was watching the demo at New World Productions may be looking for the right time for Punch Line. Jerry Zucker is a man who lives his life as a talk show, polishing his jokes all the time.

Ronald didn't understand why Sterwood would appreciate this style of comedy, and wanted to hire Jerry Zucker to direct "Son of Grease," a film that, although both titled comedies, didn't match the style at all.

If Sterwood wants to make "Son of Grease" a comedy in this style, Ronald has only one word to say to him.

Ronald came out of the theater and saw that there was a "Xanadu" on the schedule. Ronald remembered that Sterwood didn't like the movie, and he might have read the negative textbook to better understand the producers' thinking.

The two bought tickets again and entered the theater, watching "Xianledu".

This film, directed by Gene Kelly, an old-time musical star who once played the classic musical "Singing in the Rain", is another extreme.

The rhythm of the whole film is relatively slow, although there are not too many problems of singing and dancing, but it also looks very boring. Ronald noticed that everyone in the audience was dozing off.

In fact, there are a lot of big scenes in the choreography of the whole movie, and the songs are also very good. Maybe the problem is that Gene Kelly's aesthetics are outdated.

He served as the choreographer, and choreographed a large number of rollerblades and group dances. This kind of dance may have been worth watching for audiences 30 years ago.

The choreography was just right, and the dancers couldn't be connected by half a second. Many shots were long shots at first glance. Ronald estimated that it would take several weeks of rehearsal to become so proficient.

But today's young people appreciate the dance of one or two people, and they don't have strict requirements for technology, but the precise expression of the emotions of the characters in the dance. In the movie, the dance between the hero and heroine, and the dance between the heroine and the heroine, are obviously more acceptable to modern audiences than the tap dance where dozens of people show off their skills.

Maybe what Sterwood really meant was the faster rhythm of "Flying in the Sky" than "Xianledu"?

Lying on the Marriott's big bed, Ronald thought, tomorrow and choreographer Patricia Birch, should put more emphasis on rhythm.