Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Chapter 388 Breaking the rules of the commercial

"So in your opinion, we need a story to highlight Diet Pepsi's selling point? Right?" asked Ronald's longtime friend, creative director Darcy Maguire.

"Yes, I have seen all the recent advertisements of Diet Pepsi. You have invited a lot of Hollywood stars, but you always highlight the star of the star. The product of Diet Pepsi is actually not well understood by the public, so why not highlight the product itself , what about the traits that young people like?" Ronald replied.

Nisita contacted Ronald's old partner. Darcy Maguire was very happy to learn that Ronald was able to return to the arena. He immediately contacted the Pepsi project and asked him to come out and direct a small TV commercial.

Her current big client is Pepsi. Recently, PepsiCo has fired the old marketing director and began to reorganize its advertising ideas and re-select advertising companies. She really wants to keep this big customer.

"Which star do you think would be a better fit, Ronald? They got Billy Crystal last year," Maguire asked.

"I heard that Pepsi's advertising slogan is 'the choice of the new generation'? Why are you looking for a middle-aged comedian? Wait, there's a star to star in the commercial. They have a big budget?" Ronald suddenly found the problem.

"Hahaha, yes. Pepsi is playing Coca-Cola so hard right now, they want to increase their advertising budget and really be the winner of the Coke war. This is a good opportunity, Ronald, if you're willing to do it, I'll win the new season. The possibility of advertising contracts is very high.”

"Of course, we've known each other for a long time, so I'll be honest, the release budget for the new movie is a little tight in cash, and I hope to be able to pay as soon as possible."

It turned out that the new flavor of Coke launched by Coca-Cola last year began to decline as a whole after rising in sales in the first few months.

The formula of New Coke has a softer and smoother sweetness. This new flavor has been favored by consumers who often drink Coke in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Market research shows that their willingness to buy new Cokes has not changed much from old Cokes.

However, in the southern states, the sales of New Coke encountered Waterloo, and Pepsi largely occupied the original stable market.

The Chicago Tribune, where film critic Gene Sisko works, also published a special report on the cultural resistance to the new flavor of Coke in the southern states.

Those states belonged to the Confederacy during the Civil War, and Coca-Cola, headquartered in Atlanta, has always been regarded by the Southerners as one of the few products that could conquer the Yankees.

The new flavor of Coke was seen by the Southerners as a surrender move based on Yankees' tastes. Many Southern consumers think Coca-Cola represents the South and New York-based PepsiCo represents the North.

The new flavor adds sweetness, it's Pepsi learning from the Yankees, it's surrendering to the Yankees, it's the Yankees conquering the South again.

"This is too exaggerated, how can Coke be related to the Civil War?" Ronald actually didn't like New Coke, but he was just used to drinking the old taste, what conflicts between the North and the South, and what was the cultural heritage? relationship?

"And even more exaggerated,

Some Southerners also thought it was a Cuban conspiracy. "

"Huh? What's going on?" Ronald was stunned.

It turned out that the new flavor of Coke made the residents living in small southern towns very dissatisfied. Unlike residents in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, they often drink other flavors of beverages and applaud their ability to bear innovative flavors.

The carbonated beverage that town residents drink all their lives is Coca-Cola.

After half a lifetime of drinking the old taste was replaced, they felt wrong, so many conspiracy theories emerged.

The Coca-Cola Company, who led the change in taste, was the company's chairman and CEO, Roberto Guzueta, a descendant of Cuban immigrants whose father escaped Fidel and smuggled his family to Florida. .

So the residents of the states close to the Caribbean Sea began to spread that it was a conspiracy by the Cuban leader Fidel to destroy the capitalist tradition of America.

The Coca-Cola Company has a hotline to handle orders and complaints. After the new flavor was launched, the number of complaints per day increased from 400 to 1,500.

There are also people who are said to be emotional, like the death of a family member, and weep bitterly over New Coke's sentence of American tradition.

"Those people really like conspiracy theories," Ronald shook his head. Conservative evangelical religious power is growing rapidly in the Deep South, and many farmers and small-town residents, derided by big cities as "red necks," don't have cable TV or the popular magazines that are common in big cities.

They have no information, and many things they cannot understand are often attributed to the conspiracy of the anti-Christians.

"It's ridiculous, in fact, Fidel of Cuba has also made a public statement, expressing his dislike of the taste of New Coke. He called New Coke a sign of America's degeneration, and Coca-Cola was originally one of the few people who liked it in this imperialist country. things were destroyed."

"Isn't Pepsi making a lot of money?"

"Of course, otherwise how could they put out a front-page full-page ad in the New York Times saying Pepsi won the decades-long Coke war."

Darcy Maguire gave Ronald a newspaper, and Ronald laughed.

Above, Roger Enrico, head of PepsiCo's North American operations, announces a company-wide holiday for PepsiCo to celebrate winning the Coke Wars.

"Pepsi's sales have increased by 14% year-on-year, so they want to increase investment in one fell swoop to defeat Coca-Cola.

This year they're promoting the sugar-free Diet Pepsi, a new fad in big cities for the past two years. Start with diet and solve weight problems. "

"Pepsi's slogan is the choice of the new generation. In short, Billy Crystal can't be used anymore. We have to find a star who can represent the image of young people to do this advertisement. Your advertising company should have survey data. Is he the most influential star in the eyes of young people?"

"Of course it's Michael J. Fox, but he's a movie star now, and movie stars don't advertise."

Maguire replied that there were also advertising companies who had contacted Fox and wanted to borrow his influence among teenagers, but without exception, they were all rejected by his agent.

"Wait a minute, don't say no so quickly, I'll call him."

"Hi Ronald, how are you? I heard you've finished editing your new film?"

Michael J. Fox and Ronald have a very good relationship. His famous work "Back to the Future" is Ronald's proposal to change roles and give him a chance. After he received the call, he deliberately found a time to meet and chat with Ronald.

"good……"

Ronald exchanged a few words with him, "I'm here this time to convince you to participate in a Pepsi commercial."

"Hey, I don't really care about these. The price that PepsiCo offered is very good, but my agent said that the advertisement will affect my personal image and it will be bad for my future movies. So my attitude towards TV commercials is to shirk. of."

"Why? Although everyone else said that," Ronald knew that this time he had to challenge this old Hollywood law, otherwise Michael J. Fox would not agree.

"Isn't that the same way? The image of a movie actor should be used in movies. If there are too many appearances on TV, the audience will know too much about the actor's image, which will have a negative effect on playing a movie role."

"Michael, this reason might hold true for other people, but it doesn't hold true for you."

"Why?" Now it was Fox's turn to ask.

"You're a TV actor, have you forgotten? God. The audience is watching you every day on TV, and your image has long been fixed on an independent, smart, and street-smart young man who went to a big city to work hard."

"Haha, yes." Michael J. Fox laughed. He first became famous by acting in the TV series "Family Bonds", and "Back to the Future" came later.

"There was a legend in Hollywood before that you can't act in a TV series when you act in a movie, and vice versa. The two ways of acting are very different, and the actors can't take care of it, etc. But, haven't you achieved great success across movies and TV?"

"You're quite right," Michael J. Fox took out a new cigarette and lit it with the old one, "I can promise, Ronald. But you have to make sure that you are instructing yourself, I don't want to. Doing that kind of simple, repetitive commercial, I hope it's an ad with a story, the kind that resembles my on-screen persona, Marty in 'Back to the Future'."

Fox put out the old cigarettes that were about to burn out on the soles of Ronald's shoes. He smoked fiercely, one after another.

"I'm all ready, this is the script, take a look at it." Ronald looked down at the sole of his shoe and saw a scar from the cigarette butt, but fortunately no one saw it underneath.

"Ah, hahaha..." Michael J. Fox was very happy after reading the short three-page script. Ronald wrote this script according to his star image, which is in line with the concept of Pepsi's younger generation.

"I took it, this script is very interesting, it's like a remake of the 'Secret of Success' story. No problem." Fox took another breath, "By the way, who are you going to play the heroine? Are you looking for you? Girlfriend Helen? That's not bad, it's like a warm-up commercial for our movie."

"This...?" Ronald didn't expect Fox to mention Helen, and he couldn't deny that he wanted to find her every time. After all, he asked Helen Slater to replace the heroine at that time. J. Fox helped to cooperate, "I'll call Helen."

...

"Ronald, why did you think of asking me to play this commercial?" Helen received a call from Ronald and rushed to Ronald's apartment at night. With big blue eyes, she looked at Ronald in a trance. .

"Don't you know that movie actors don't take TV commercials?" Helen pointed at Ronald, "I see, hee hee. Do you regret not directing me to make a movie and want to use this commercial to Make up for your regrets a little bit?"

"Ah..." Ronald had no choice but to touch his beard, which certainly couldn't be denied.

"You're so romantic, Ronald." Helen happily wrapped her hands around Ronald's neck, "I know you're really sorry that you didn't direct 'The Secret of Success', right? Although I'm a movie actor... but you I'd like to go."

"Uh..." Ronald looked at Helen. Anyway, Helen's acting potential was limited. After several movies were played, Ronald had basically confirmed that she could only play roles that matched her true nature.

Although she is full of Broadway, acting theories, and she has set up an experimental theatre group with her best friend Helen Hunt, her real acting skills are far from these familiar theories.

"Well, anyway, this character is similar to your screen image," Ronald replied.

"Well, I still want to try some different roles. My acting skills have improved a lot. But the character in this ad is similar to the 'Secret of Success', so I'm going to warm up for the movie's release. ' replied Helen.

"it is good……"

Ronald swallowed what Ronald was about to say. Helen herself is still very ambitious.

But it doesn't matter, Helen's acting will always have a way in one and a half minutes of commercials. And the heroine I wrote is actually more like a vase.

As for the height difference between Helen and Michael J. Fox, I also took into account that Fox is always shorter than the actress, so I tried my best not to let him and the heroine appear in the same shot during the split.

"Ronald, in your script, Fox and I don't have the same frame. When you wrote the script, did you write it according to my image, so as to prevent me from bending over and stepping in the ditch again, in order to be as tall as him? Equivalent, right?"

"It's...probably, maybe, that's what happened."

"I never thought someone would treat me so romantically," Helen closed her eyes, intoxicated by her own imagination, and then she approached Ronald, imitating the dance in "The Hot Body Dance", using her crotch to move Ronald rubbed against his waist, "This is your reward, dear."

"Oh……"

Ronald also imitated the male protagonist, and after a minute, he couldn't stand the teasing any more, he picked up Helen and went into the bedroom.

"By the way, the actress at the end, who are you going to use?" Helen asked Ronald, lying on her side, blushing, and was a little short of breath.

Ronald lay leisurely beside him, "Let CAA audition. Many actors and models who have just debuted will be willing."

Soon, Pepsi found a weekend and started shooting commercials.

Michael J. Fox was only free on the weekends, he didn't have to do TV shows, and Ronald had everything else ready in advance, and there was only one day on the weekends to shoot all the shots.

"This is Christy, this is Director Ronald Lee," Nisita led a tall beauty to Ronald.

Ronald stepped forward and shook hands with the ad's second female lead. This is the advertising agency, Pepsi, and CAA three-way audition, and the final candidate, Kristy Turrington, who has just signed with New York's Elite Model Economy.

"Very well, is your hair originally dark brown?" Ronald lifted her hair and looked at it, under the light, it was a little golden red.

"Yes, I have dyed blond before. I can dye it back as required." Christie Turrington replied quickly, she didn't want to lose this opportunity because of the details of the hair color.

"Just check with the hair stylist and the director of photography, if there's no gold red in the film, that's fine."

There are two heroines in the whole advertisement. Helen has been blonde (Blonde) since she played "Supergirl". So the second beauty, Brue, to balance it out.

"Hi, Honey!" Ronald dismissed Kristy Turrington, turning to greet Helen Slater, who was wearing makeup.

"In the morning, we mainly shoot indoor shots. Your dress and makeup are all close to the 'secret of success', and you also look for the feeling in the movie when you act."

"OK!"

"A!"

"Tuk Tuk..." There was a knock on the wooden door in the studio. Michael J. Fox was wearing a white shirt and gray wool vest, jeans and running shoes, very similar to the dress in the movie "The Secret of Success" Yuppie style.

The door was opened a crack by Fox, and the beautiful face of a blonde poked in through the door.

The camera recedes along the pre-laid track, all the while taking a close-up of Helen's face as it slips in through the crack of the door.

"Hi, I'm the new next door neighbor, and I was thinking, can you lend me a can of Diet Pepsi?"

Helen's voice was very nice, and the live recording rod recorded all her conversations above.

"Cut!"

Ronald stopped, stepped forward and whispered into Helen's ear, "You made a mistake, talk to Fox, not the camera."

"Oh, I thought it was a close-up of the front." Helen knew Ronald was trying to defend herself.

"It's okay, let's do it again."

After filming several scenes of Helen indoors, Ronald sent Michael J. Fox to the dressing room to touch up his makeup.

"Kristy?" Ronald called Kristy Turrington. "Wait a while for Michael to say that 'Danny?' line before you flash in behind the door."

Christie Turrington looked a little nervous, but nodded in agreement.

"Pay attention to your appearance. You treat the camera as the designer of your favorite fashion. You want to show him your model catwalk skills, understand? Try it." Ronald saw that she was a little nervous, and hurried forward to her Talk about the distribution method of attention.

As long as this young beauty model has enough imagination, she can perform a good visual effect. Anyway, she is a long-term vision, and more advanced acting skills are not used.

"A!"

Michael J. Fox's head was sprayed with water from the dressing room, making it wet, as if it was raining.

Holding a can of Diet Pepsi, he gasped, appeared in front of Helen, and handed it over, "Your Diet Pepsi!"

"Tuk Tuk..." There was another knock on the door.

"That must be my roommate, Danny." Helen gently took the Diet Pepsi and said to Fox.

"Danny?" Michael J Fox had an embarrassed look on his face. Could it be that she has worked so hard to find Pepsi for her beautiful neighbor, but is she living with her boyfriend Danny?

"Hi, my name is Danielle," Kristy Turrington walked into the door with a catwalk, one hand on her waist, a standard runway appearance for a model.

"Do you still have Diet Pepsi?"

"Of course", Michael J. Fox's expression immediately changed to happy.

"Cut!"

Ronald stopped, "Very good, let's do it again."

Soon, all the scenes of the two actresses were filmed in the morning. Helen came over to say goodbye while Ronald was discussing the next filming session with Michael J. Fox.

"Dear, I'll go first, there is an acting training class in the afternoon."

"Okay, I'll send you off." Ronald greeted Fox and sent Helen off the set.

"Well..." The two kissed goodbye, and Helen got into Bud's car and left. Ronald looked back just in time to see Christy Turrington standing beside him.

Christie Turrington smiled when Ronald looked over. She is different from other models, and appears to be well educated in temperament.

"Are you waiting for the bus?" Ronald responded with a smile when he saw her smile.

"Yes, I called a taxi."

"Taxis in Los Angeles are quite expensive. I'll ask the crew's assistant to take you off." Ronald turned and entered the studio, continuing to shoot Michael J Fox's action scenes.

The crew was moved to another studio next to it, and the entire studio was covered with black cloth to cover the windows and ceiling, simulating the street scene at night.

Michael J. Fox had only a large bottle of Diet Pepsi in the refrigerator at home. In order not to lose face in front of his female neighbor, he had to open the window and climb down the fire escape.

"A!"

In dim lighting, the set simulates the street, and the camera shoots from behind Michael J. Fox, across the street from a Pepsi-Cola vending machine.

Then Fox overcame the traffic on the road, jumping off the roof and crawling across the road.

After jumping off the roof, another dog sticks its head out of a car window and barks at him.

"Cut!"

Ronald raised his hand to signal that the trainer was doing well.

The set crew began to remove the cars from the road, and the motorcyclists began to prepare.

A time machine in "Back to the Future", the DeLorean sports car was pushed down and used as the background, which is a small easter egg.

Then Fox ran into a group of leather-clad gangsters and people dressed as Taimei who emerged from the steam on motorcycles. It's full of noir street movie vibes like "Rage Streets".

Michael J. Fox brushed his hair, and though he was terrified, he walked past them, walked to the vending machine, tossed in a coin, and bought a can of Diet Pepsi.

"Cut!"

In one day, with good preparation, Ronald shot all the segments of the commercial.

"I'm waiting to see your finished film, it seems like a lot of fun." Michael J. Fox said goodbye and left.

The next day, a copy of the negative was developed and re-entered the editing room.

Ronald and a few assistants cut a Pepsi commercial together.

In this passage, Fox has a feeling of pride in his heart and wants to buy Diet Pepsi for his beautiful neighbor, which seems to be a bit similar to the mood of "Top Gun".

Ronald picked up the phone and contacted composer Kenny Loggins.

"I have a Pepsi ad and I'm going to use your 'danger zone', are you okay? Well, I'll have them contact your agent and buy the right to use it."

"Boom...boom...boom..."

When the F-14A fighter jet took off from the aircraft carrier at the opening of the familiar "Top Gun", the background music was used in the scene where Fox went to buy Pepsi. Great sense of humor.

...

"This is the 90-second version, this is the 60-second version, this is the 30-second version..."

Ronald transcribed the cut into a videotape and showed it to creative director Darcy Maguire.

"Oh, what you did, it's like a trailer for a movie."

Maguire is very pleased with Ronald's performance.

"I also think that, so I tried to absorb some elements of popular movies. Fortunately, Michael J. Fox himself is the star of 'Back to the Future' and 'The Secret of Success', so there is no problem with borrowing elements."

"And you're also the director of 'Top Gun'. Pepsi's money is really worth it. I'll show it to the marketing director of Pepsi."

"Okay, I'll wait for your transfer check, hahaha."

Soon, news came from Pepsi's headquarters. Ronald's ad, which was met with rave reviews. They all felt that finding Ronald and persuading two well-known movie actors to agree to condescend to shoot commercials was a huge bargain.

So payment is very fast. The next day, Ronald got a transfer check, which was a good supplement to the lost advertising and solved most of the problems.

"Fox and Helen have also been paid, and Pepsi is very happy that this 90-second commercial will premiere at this year's Super Bowl. Then the 60-second and 30-second versions will start rolling on major public television stations."

"Very good, and I'm satisfied. Michael J. Fox, and his good friend John Candy, are fans of the Super Bowl, you can make some arrangements."

After receiving a hint from Ronald, Darcy Maguire immediately went to discuss with Pepsi and presented the two Canadian actors with a good spot for the Super Bowl scene. At halftime, after the commercial was released, the camera just cut to Fox. , come to a linkage.

"A very good cooperation, Ronald, do you want to shoot other commercials? I have McDonald's, Burger King, Green Arrow, Unilever, Procter \u0026 Gamble..."

"Except for P\u0026G," Ronald interrupted. I need cash now, and I have a quick and easy project, so why not make some money?

"Ronald," Nisita knocked on the door and stepped in, interrupting Ronald and Darcy Maguire's planned fortune.

"What's wrong?" Ronald frowned when he saw him.

"There is a problem with the rating, Eddie has already dealt with it, you have to be prepared," Nisita said softly, attached to Ronald's ear.

Ronald frowned as well, and he turned back and asked in Nisita's ear, "Is it the stubborn Jew?"

"I'll go first, and when you're free, we're talking about further cooperation." Darcy Maguire looked at the faces of the two, knowing that there was a big thing to deal with, so he asked to leave first.

"Okay, thank you, I'll contact you when I have news."

Ronald, who had sent Maguire away, came back and closed the door, and immediately asked, "What's going on? Who's playing the trick? Is there any news from Michael Douglas?"

"Don't worry, I had a big phone call with Michael Douglas, and he said his father Kirk wasn't moving. It doesn't have to be Jewish. It's common for the MPAA to bully small producers, small distribution companies.

It's just that you were so careful this time that you didn't have any frontal exposure shots, and it was rated R. It's a bit unexpected, and we still have the opportunity to appeal for revisions. "

"Fuck, why are our independent producers and independent distribution companies being bullied like this? It's hard to determine whether it's Jewish influence."

In the evening, Ronald convened the general manager Eddie of the Days, the distribution manager Michelle Cannold and others to have a meeting to discuss countermeasures. "

"What if we cut out a little bit of the revealing sex scene?" Michelle Cannold asked.

"Don't be naive..." Eddie replied.

"Yeah, I have participated in a movie of 'Endless Love' before, and I was the heroine when Brooke Shields was popular. Just because the distributor was a new Ding Baolijin in the industry at the beginning, I was called back five times in a row."

"Have you ever thought that if the rating is R, it might also be a gimmick to attract audiences?" Michelle Cannold spoke again.

Everyone looked at Ronald together.

"Well...it's not right," Ronald thought for a while and rejected this opinion, "This way of using R-rated to attract audiences is feasible for those movies that are originally aimed at adult audiences. But our film 'Hot Dancing' is aimed at teenage female audiences aged 14-18. If you don't do PG-13, it won't work."

If a movie aimed at teenagers is rated R, it almost certainly means that the box office will be cut in half. In many movie theaters in big cities, many R-rated movies that require the company of adults will not be watched by many teenagers.

"Why is this happening? I watched Spielberg's Indiana Jones, and there were a lot of unsuitable shots in it. Wasn't it rated PG in the end? Later, a PG-13 rating was added to give these hints. , films that do not expose."

Michelle Cannold's assistant, Dolly Burnsteen, chimed in.

"That's not the same, Universal and Columbia, they have people in MPAA..." Nisita opened his mouth and explained that these distribution teams from Weston are used to releasing video tapes in the market, and distributing these regular theatrical lines. Operation, still learning to explore, often speaking in layman's language.

"So, do we have anyone there?" Dolly Burnsteen asked Ronald.

"Yeah, I have someone too..."

Ronald suddenly realized, why didn't he use these relationships in advance? It seems that the operation of releasing movies is still too unfamiliar.

"Let me make a few calls."