Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"'The Godfather' has two hours and fifty-five minutes, and 'The Outer Boy' is only one hour and fifty-five minutes. I don't think there is any problem. If we cut it further down, the classic scenes in Hinton's novels are inevitable. to be cut off.

Those viewers will be disappointed, how am I going to meet those middle school students who write to me? I promised to watch the premiere of the movie with them. "

Francis Coppola was agitated in the caa's Nisita's office, constantly reinforcing his expression with gestures.

Nisita sat aside, nodding in agreement with Coppola's complaint. He saw Coppola drain the espresso from the cup, took a bottle of Italian pomace grappa from the cupboard, and poured it into the empty coffee cup.

"Drink some real coffee, Francis." Nisita poured a glass of Italian-style spirits for Coppola, who was also Italian. . In this way, adding grappa to the finished espresso glass is also an authentic Italian drinking method.

"Rick," Ronald pushed in from outside. "Oh, Mr. Coppola is here, hello."

Ronald nodded to them, "I didn't know Francis was with you, I'll come back later."

"No, Ronald, you come, you come."

Coppola called Ronald in, "Look here too, the current producers don't have the guts. There's never been a producer who can support the artist like Albert Rudy from Paramount formerly. people."

"What happened?" Ronald asked Nisita as he sat down. He came to meet Nisita today. The first cut of Paramount's "Lightning Dance" was done, and Don Simpson invited him and Nisita to see the first cut.

"Warner Bros. insisted on cutting 'Old Boy' to ninety minutes," Nisita replied.

"But this is a drama, right? Would the audience feel disconnected if it was cut short?" Ronald asked Coppola, looking at him.

"That's the artist's gut feeling, Ronald, and you're right. I made this film because of a group of junior high school students in Fresno, California, who voted for the best adaptation of the novel, and I Victory over George by an overwhelming vote.

The joint letter of more than 100 children of theirs asked me to direct "The World's Urchin", and then I read Hinton's "The World's Urchin" novel, and only then did this film.

Now that my film is over, and Warner Bros. has to cut it into 90 minutes, how sad are those students? Many classic scenes in the novel are not in the final version of the movie, and I obviously did it..."

"It's low concept,

A drama without a star, Mr. Coppola, just like your "godfather", the plot is the root of the audience's satisfaction, why cut it short? "

Ronald was a little surprised that Warner Bros would cut Coppola's movies, who gave them the confidence that someone would do better than Coppola?

"I think this movie is like a teenage version of Godfather, the protagonist is the youngest of the three brothers. The eldest brother of Mazai is hot-tempered and impulsive like Sonny in Godfather, while Johnny is milder, like Fredo . Horseboy and Johnny go into exile after killing a member of a rival gang, similar to Michael Corleone.

If any of the key plots in the finished film are deleted, I am afraid that audiences who have not read the novel will feel that the plot is separated before and after, and they cannot understand it. "

Ronald was very upset for Coppola. One of America's greatest directors, coupled with the performance of many teenage actors, has this film, and it is really uncomfortable to be arbitrarily cut short.

"You have to be careful, Ronald. Those studio executives, after 'Heaven's Gate', are getting more and more cunning, and have more and more control over the director's creation. You will encounter these things gradually in the future. Yes. Watch out for their little moves."

After another glass of grappa, Coppola got up to say goodbye.

"Why, doesn't even Coppola have the right to finalize the filming of 'The Godfather'?" Ronald asked Nisita after Coppola left.

"The final editing right is a very complicated contract. Specifically, for this 'Urtle Boy', Mr. Coppola has the editing rights, but Warner Bros. has the right to decide the final length of the film. They set the total length of the film to be Ninety minutes, so Francis also had to have major surgery on the plot."

"Why? Isn't the length of this movie pre-determined?"

"It's not the Supreme Court decision. Now all the studios are acting in a conservative strategy. The length of 90 minutes can be lined up at prime time after get off work, which can guarantee the number of movies broadcast. .

Moreover, the current economy is not booming, and the unemployment rate for the whole year has exceeded 8%. Warner Bros. does not want to risk cutting a feature film and raise the minimum ticket price. "

"Does this verdict really have such a big impact on Hollywood?" Ronald felt that the people in the film industry he encountered recently were discussing this issue.

"Everyone is complaining, each of them is looking for acquaintances with congressmen, and strive to ban this matter in the legislative channel. At least let the people of Dongying install the technology to prevent piracy on the video recorder, otherwise we will all have to go back to filming TV series."

"By the way, is Mr. Coppola coming to see you? Can you caa help him restore the length of the movie?"

"That's impossible. Warner Bros. has the right to decide the total duration of the contract, and we can't do anything about it. He came to pick up a new movie, you know, his 'Diorama' company..."

Ronald nodded to express his understanding. Coppola's company's financial situation was still in trouble, and he was waiting for the two consecutive films, "Old Boy" and "Betta Fish" to save his life.

"Let's go to Paramount. Don Simpson invited you to go this time, and he will upgrade your title of associate producer to the title of co-producer." Nisita said.

Don Simpson was very satisfied with Ronald's help with the shooting in Pittsburgh, and this time he offered to invite them to see the demo, and said that he would upgrade Ronald to the rank of producer. This co-producer (co-producer) is generally only available to people who have made a significant contribution to the filming.

"By the way, when will the filming of your Night of the Comet start? If you need any help, I can help you, except that the agent can't participate in the film investment."

"Thank you, Rick, I'm waiting for the new CEO of New World to take office now, and I will talk about the production in two days. My film may be New World's number one after Roger Coleman sold the company. Department of Production."

"Hahaha, Roger is a lucky guy, and now Hollywood calls him the lucky Roger, who sold the company for a good price before the verdict came out."

When the two arrived at the Paramount studio, the edited sample was still a working copy, not finalized. So what Ronald saw was the working copy that was used for editing, with tape covering every cutout so that every shot would jam during the screening.

I am not a professional director and editor. When I see this kind of editing, I will play, so this preview is only open to insiders.

Only when the producer finally confirms the copy, will they edit the negatives in the order of editing, and then use the negatives to print out a version of the copy, which is called a response copy. This copy has no tape to create an editing opening, and can be released to the audience for preview.

If the audience has any feedback, they can also disassemble the working copy and re-cut it, and then publish another version of the response copy. Generally, the trial screenings and re-cuts of major studios can be repeated for two or three rounds until the screening.

"Why is the clip on this clip so short? I can't find it if I don't pay attention."

Although the internal preview of "Lightning Dance" was a working copy, the clipping gap was very short. Ronald estimated that it was only about five or six frames, which is more than the normal working copy of thirty-six frames of the tape-coated clip. The mouth was much shorter, and the momentary pause was not much different from the response copy.

Director Adrian Lane replied, "We used a new type of editing tape, which has a very small sticking area, but the sticking effect is similar to the original 3m tape, but it is a bit expensive, costing twenty dollars for a roll.

However, working copies are now available for previews to audiences, which is much cheaper than reprinting. So I bought a batch after seeing it at a friend. "

"Oh, what's the brand of this tape?"

"n-vis-o, if you want, I will ask the assistant to call you. They are all handmade. You can call them in advance to order."

Paramount's opening credits ended with a Pittsburgh morning on the screen. The busy city scene was rendered in place, and the theme song "What It's Like", written and sung by Erin Carra, was perfect for alex's morning bike ride to work in Pittsburgh. process of struggle.

Ronald stopped talking and concentrated on watching the movie.

The movie was two hours and thirty minutes long, and Ronald enjoyed it very much. Welding female worker Alex, self-reliant, has experienced a tortuous love experience with his boss Nick and his ex-wife. And a good friend gave up because of her boyfriend's departure, and her skating career failed. Finally got into the ballet school in Pittsburgh, the dream came true, and finally reunited with her boyfriend Nick.

The most powerful thing about Adrian Lane is not the plot, but the scene of the temptation. Jennifer Beers watched TV at home at first, wearing a T-shirt with a cut neckline and exposed shoulders, very sexy.

And she was in the restaurant, in front of her boyfriend Nick's ex-wife, took off her jacket, wore only a halter dress, and used stockings to slap Nick's legs along his legs, saying "I'm going to take your brain out... "The lines, angry with his ex-wife.

Ronald only felt that a memory was awakened, and he couldn't help but cocked his legs, making the pants less uncomfortable.

Coupled with the seductive dance in the bar, Ronald felt that the film did not need a plot, and only kept these seductive scenes, which could also attract many audiences to spread word of mouth.

The best part is Alex's dance scene. He wears leg warmers the whole time, and there are several close-ups. Isn't this a free placement advertisement?

Ronald was delighted.

"How is it, did you see your signature at the end? Co-producer." Producer Don Simpson, who was tall and stubborn, came over and put his arm around Ronald's shoulder and said.

"Don, why didn't I see Marlene Jahan's name?" Ronald was a little serious, he read all the subtitles, but he didn't find Jahan who was acting as a dance double for Jennifer Beals.

Even the breakdance master "Crazy Legs" who danced the floor for the protagonist Jennifer Beals has a signature. On the contrary, Jahan, who did most of the movements, did not.

"You found out? This is Mr. Eisner's request. He thinks Bills will become popular because of this movie. In order not to let the audience's image of this beautiful-faced actress with a successful dance career collapse, we decided not to sign it. No publicity, no news outlets, Bills has a dance double."

"This? Then you have to make up for Marlene Jahan a little bit? Besides, this movie isn't all about dancing and sex scenes winning, Alex and his boss Nick's love story, and Alex's own dance career struggles, and supporting roles. The love story is also very touching. I don't think the audience will think Jennifer Beals is bad."

"Come this way," Don Simpson pulled Ronald aside. "Mr. Eisner meant to cut the movie down to ninety minutes, cut all those plots out, and leave only the simplest of the plot frames, It doesn't affect the audience's understanding. Those sexy dances should be kept."

"Oh, poor Adrian. Is this about cutting the movie into a high concept? Sexy girls, welders by day, dancers by night?"

"Hahaha, you're very smart, Mr. Eisner is going to summon Adrian Lane soon. You know, the Supreme Court's decision is coming soon, and we're not in a good position. Everything has to be the first thing to do."

"Oh, no..." screams director Adrian Lane, who gets bad news from Jerry Bruckheimer about Eisner's insistence on cutting the film.