Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The story takes place in the summer of 1963, and at Ryder High School, a new group of students was welcomed. The boss of the girls' gang "Pink Girls" has become Stephanie, and new transfer student Michael joins the boys' tough guy gang when he returns from South Vietnam with his army officer father.

They were rivals at first, and they didn't like each other. But after witnessing the "I have a dream" speech of black leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. together, and the shock of President Kennedy's assassination, the two eventually discovered they had a lot in common.

Overcoming various difficulties and falling in love, the couple eventually parted ways because of their different futures after graduation.

Michael eventually went to Cambridge University in Britain, Stephanie became a flight attendant for Pan Am, and the two met on a plane to London...

Paramount's head of production, Katzenberg, quickly read the synopsis provided by Ronald.

There are several deliberately set aside singing and dancing times.

At the beginning of the school year, the pink girl's singing and dancing inherited the style of the previous episode, and the gorgeous pink girl should be very eye-catching.

Michael's experience in the military made him feel like a duck to water in the tough guy gang, and he danced with the tough guy's standard motorcycle, just in line with the car dance in the last episode.

In the end, on the plane, the singing and dancing of the reunion of the male and female protagonists was the highlight, leaving enough room for the choreography. The airport, passengers, stewardess uniforms, and the scale of the group show can be compared to the graduation song and dance in the last episode.

The structure of the script is very good, leaving space for the beginning, the end, and the three main songs and dances in the middle and back, which is convenient for those in charge of song and dance creation.

"It's rare for a young man to understand the writing structure of musicals..." Katzenberg put away the paper in his hand, and then began to ask Ronald, "Why did you arrange for the male protagonist to go to college abroad?"

"The Vietnam War is coming soon. If you don't go abroad, you may be recruited." Ronald replied.

"The reason for arranging the family background of the officer?"

"Officers are often deployed to different places, so it is more convenient for the male protagonist to be a transfer student, and he is also exposed to machinery. He is a Harley fan, so it is convenient to get involved in the motorcycle plot of the tough guy gang."

Katzenberg asked a few more questions, and Ronald answered them fluently, seemingly thinking about the script as a whole.

"I just said, Ronald is the most suitable person." Robert Sterwood is also very happy that the "Grease" sequel that brought him huge money and reputation income is finally about to start.

"Paramount hired Ronald in principle to write the script for the Grease sequel 'Son of Grease' (tentative title),

The creation period is 2 months. Before the deadline, Ronald must provide the content of the script except the singing and dancing parts... Ronald enjoys the right to refuse the script modification first choice, only if Ronald refuses to modify the script, Paramount Only other screenwriters can choose to modify it... The fee for each modification is agreed to be..."

The forensic lawyer began to discuss the contract details with Ronald's agent, and Ronald signed his name after asking Lindsay Dole's lawyer to confirm it.

The owner of RSO Records, filmmaker Robert Sterwood, sent a bottle of champagne in advance. Seeing the two parties signed, he opened the champagne and poured it into a vertical champagne glass. Everyone raised their glasses to congratulate the sequel.

Ronald was given a $10,000 script option and a right to opt out of the revision. In the future, no matter whether it is Sterwood or Paramount, if he is not satisfied with the script, he can find someone else only if he is not willing.

Walking out of Katzenberg's office, someone was carrying furniture in and out of an office opposite Ronald, as if there was a change in high-level personnel, and it was going to be rearranged.

This time, everything went well in Los Angeles. Even the Israeli brothers of Cannon Films signed a contract with MGM. From then on, the films they produced entered the distribution market of mainstream American theaters.

Writing a cheque for CAA, Ronald flew back to New York.

Two months were tight for writing, and Ronald, who was back home, had to immediately devote himself to scriptwriting. Entering September, Ronald had to go to the university for classes, forcing him to think secretly during class time, and busy writing and revising at night, which made him very busy.

It's the start of a new academic year for New York University's Diese College. A group of Chinese graduate students came to the classic film appreciation class. Ronald knew they were not local Chinese because their English was not very good, and they often avoided greeting their classmates in their home country and sat together in class.

Ronald still has a kind of intimacy with Chinese students. After class, he took the initiative to greet three foreign students, one man and two women, "Hi, How are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you. And you?"

“I’m fine too.”

Um? Ronald didn't know why he said that.

The other party stopped talking, as if no other conversation was going on. Ronald felt a little embarrassed, so he went home and wrote.

"Really? It turns out that foreigners can really speak according to the dialogue taught in English textbooks."

"Stupid, you are a foreigner in New York."

"You're stupid, aren't they foreigners to us?"

"Miss Zhu, Miss Wang, please stop arguing, we'd better go back early, and we need to warm up the book." A male classmate ended the argument and walked out of the classroom with a notebook.

Many elective courses have been opened since the second year of college, and NYU can take classes across departments, and there are also requirements. Most of the students chose the acting class. No matter how busy Ronald was with the script, he didn't have time to go to the acting class. Find two Chinese courses on the course list and apply for both.

One is Chinese and the other is the study of ancient Chinese poetry. Ronald took two sections, which were easy for him and met the credit requirements, so that he could spend more time writing. After getting the newly bought textbooks, Ronald went to the library to find the books on the reference reading list given by the teacher.

"Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty", "Enlightenment of Sound Rhythm", ... well, they are all in traditional Chinese.

"Can you speak Chinese?" the Chinese male student in the appreciation class asked in Chinese when he saw Ronald holding a Tang poem.

"I can say it, but I can't write this..." Ronald pointed to the traditional characters.

"Chinese is difficult to write. I think your pronunciation is very standard. Where did you learn it?"

"Uh... high school, high school. I remember you guys have a simpler way of writing it."

"Yes, that is the way of writing on the other side. We still use this traditional way of writing."

"Would you like to join the role of a foreign student?" Ronald, who returned home, remembered the incident of encountering an international student, and began to think. In 1963, the situation in South Vietnam was turbulent, and some wealthy Vietnamese students began to immigrate to America.

Cindy, the heroine of the original work of "Grease", is a foreign student, and a Vietnamese female student is also added here to tell what happened in Vietnam, create conditions for the hero and heroine, break the stereotype and begin to develop good feelings for each other.

Ronald started filling in plot details on the skeleton of the script.

"The strike of the Screen Actors Guild has caused the starlight of the 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards to be dimmed on September 7. There are almost no actors who go to the scene to receive the award in the performance category.

Only one Powers Booth took the stage to accept the award, and in his acceptance speech, Booth said that this may be the bravest or stupidest move he has ever done in his career.

The Screen Actors Guild said it would not punish Booth for accepting the award, and accepting the award on-site at the Emmy is not within the scope of the Screen Actors Guild strike. "

Ronald, who was walking around the room, thinking about the details of the script, heard the NBC Entertainment News report on the TV.

strike? Do you want to let the hero and heroine also go on strike? Make high school students strike to protest the US military's support for an unjust government in Vietnam.

Ronald sat down, crossed out the original plot in the draft, loaded the typewriter with new paper, and began to type cracklingly.

"The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Screen Actors Guild (AFTRA) held a pro-strike rally at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood yesterday (September 16).

Many celebrities came to support, and thousands of spectators came to you. The event, titled "Night of the Stars," raised $300,000 for the strike fund of the two unions, which will be used to pay basic living expenses for the underprivileged actors who are on strike.

ABC has you covered in Los Angeles"

Parade rally? it is good! Add a scene to a pro-affirmative movement rally for the hero and heroine. There are also many backgrounds and group performances to design a rally dance. It seems that the ABC news is also good, very inspirational.

It is also possible to have a character recite the famous "I have a dream" speech.

Ronald took another inspiration from the entertainment news, and quickly typed down the details before forgetting.

"Because of the fundraising, the strike continued. The Producers Guild announced on the same day that negotiations would continue, and the two sides sat at the negotiating table for the first time since the strike began in July. Union negotiator Ed Asner said that the two sides Agree on the division of home entertainment media such as video tapes.

Actors can start to share up to 4.5% of the sales revenue after the number of videotape sales in home entertainment media exceeds 100,000.

However, the two sides have not agreed on the union conditions for raising the minimum wage by 35%.

Ed Asner said the two sides would continue negotiations. The trade union vowed to protect the rights and interests of actors and would not give up until the goal was achieved. "

When will this damn strike end? Going further, all of your businesses will be affected. Ronald watched the news scolding greedy capitalists and union negotiators who took the opportunity to benefit themselves.

"On September 21, the first televised presidential debate will be held at the Baltimore Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The current president, Jimmy, declined to attend because of the participation of independent candidate Anderson. Elephant Party candidate, former California The governor's performance was well received.

Independent candidate Anderson, whose polls dropped sharply after the debate, told reporters that he would not participate in the second debate next month, giving the current president a rally to express his views. He said he would not withdraw from the race. "

Ronald is scratching his head how to write a scene, so that the male and female protagonists begin to understand each other, break the original bad impression, from hostile relationship to remission, and finally to mutual affection.

"Debate? Should we set up a debate contest for high schools? Should we support the Vietnam War?"

In this way, debaters on both sides can speak one after another, which is convenient for composing and writing lyrics to write arias for male and female duets. The other debaters and audience can act as chorus, and a mezzo-soprano is played by the teacher.

Ronald feels that only CBS current affairs news is the biggest source of inspiration for his writing.