Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Spielberg's expectations for "Empire of the Sun" were very high. The door has just been opened to filmmakers from all over the world. He and Bertolucci were the first two Western directors who came in to shoot on the spot.

Hollywood sometimes pays attention to fashion. In the past two years, everyone has vaguely felt that movies with the scenery here as the background will be the next hot spot.

Not only the American people are queuing up to travel and appreciate the scenery of the ancient country, but the Oscar judges also want to come here to make a movie. Those who try it first are most likely to become the favorites of various Oscar awards.

"Empire of the Sun", and "The Last Emperor", both are epic movies, seeing the transformation of the great era from one character.

The Oscars are based on a voting system. Now Hollywood is pursuing foreign styles. The best-selling "Crocodile Dundee" has also deepened this love for foreign styles. This year, two films were shot in the old East, which also matched the enthusiasm of American audiences for a glimpse of the scenery.

Spielberg, who has always been good at grasping popular trends, really wanted to get the best director statuette that he had dreamed of for a long time with this film. Last time "Purple", the Oscar judges deliberately did not give him a director award nomination, which made Spielberg specifically criticize in a TV interview. Now everyone feels a little guilty about him, maybe his dream will come true.

Spielberg also told Ronald that this was the first time he had filmed a child saying goodbye to innocence and growing into an adult. He abandoned what he used to be best at, the method of photographing the pure feelings of children, just to break the routine and seek breakthroughs for himself.

Seeing that Spielberg was so dedicated to the movie, Ronald also bid farewell to the crew and stopped disturbing.

At the end of the visit, Ronald invited his partner Lao Yan to have a meal. He was recently researching some new inventions, but to no avail. His son Xiaoyan, after accompanying Spielberg this time, has accumulated some qualifications and can go to America to start his study abroad career next year.

"I'll leave this son to you, Xiao Luo. Son, when you get there, you have to listen to your brother Luo. Do you know that he can beat you on my behalf?" After drinking some yellow wine, Lao Yan officially entrusted his son to Ronald.

"It's like this in my life. You have to live up to your expectations. You have to work hard when you go there." Lao Yan poured a glass of wine for his son and had a toast with him.

"I think Lao Yan, you also have the opportunity to go to America. Now that you are working, I can invite you to visit there. When you retire, you can also travel there, or you can live there." Ronald Seeing that the atmosphere was a little sad, he advised Lao Yan again.

"Yeah, Director Luo is there to take care of him, Xiao Yan is also working hard, Lao Yan, you will be happy in the future." Director Huang was also invited to dinner by Ronald. A few of them, even if they are Ronald's good friends here.

"Your film 'Human Ghost Love', a specially made video tape, I will take it to Hollywood to see if anyone is willing to introduce it. After all, this is a Chinese movie, and it is about operas that American audiences are very unfamiliar with. Maybe The best result is a small release in some Chinatown theaters."

"I understand, and I'm happy to have the opportunity."

Ronald talked to Director Huang again about her going to Hollywood to study. Now that they go abroad, they still need an invitation letter from the foreign party, and then the leader approves it.

Ronald is going to show Gale the videotape of this film to see if their Hollywood Women's Practitioners Club is interested in sending an invitation to the female director who made this excellent female film to communicate.

Finally, Ronald went to the lightning lamp factory in Minhang to have a look. The long-arc halogen lamps exported are of good quality and stability. In addition, the listed government attaches great importance to it, and it is close to the countryside. All kinds of supporting non-staple food and light industrial products are sufficient, and the enthusiasm of the workers is very good.

Ronald finally pulled the workshop director and other cadres,

Together in the factory director's office, we took a group photo under the certificate of "Export Pacesetter Unit for Earning Foreign Exchange" on the wall.

...

"Hello, Mr. Li, the plane is about to descend." The middle-aged flight attendant in the business class woke Ronald up. After another long flight, he returned to Los Angeles with the high-quality wolfberry and tea that Director Xu helped to buy.

Little Bud drove to the airport to borrow him, and along the way, his agent Richard took the time to report on his departure.

"The news from Paramount, Top Gun's box office can continue, the company decided to speed up the release of the video.

Pepsi thinks the ad you did for their Diet Pepsi worked really well and wondered if you could remake the Top Gun ad in person and put it on videotape. They are willing to pay big money. "

"I'm running out of time, and I'm about to get into the production of 'Moonlight Sultry.' As for the Catherine Bigelow commercial, aren't they satisfied?" Ronald asked.

"No, they're quite satisfied. It's just that Michael J. Fox was in the commercial, and they thought about getting Tom Cruise to do one too."

"Did you talk to Paula?"

"She is reluctant. Tom Cruise is trying to find a director and an excellent script when he chooses a movie. He doesn't want to be stereotyped in a role like a fighter pilot."

"Pass then," Ronald replied.

"Mr. Weintraub didn't return my call at MGM. There are rumors in the industry that he and the boss Kerkorian have some contradictions. It seems that Kerkorian has not honored the stock options he promised."

"Ah? It won't affect the preparation of my movie, will it?"

"No, I've contacted Mr. Kerkorian's secretary, and she said that Mr. Kerkorian also takes MGM's first film back into production very seriously and would like to see you."

"This is not in a hurry. You find Weintraub first, and I will talk to him."

After dealing with the accumulated matter, Ronald thought of breakdancing again, and said to Richard, "You help me contact Minahan of Cannon, I have something to discuss with him."

...

Minahan Golan's body was a little fatter, and his belly protruded a lot from the last time I saw him.

"Ronald, quack. You're here just in time. I'm going to the screening room to see copies of two movies. Come along, let's watch and talk."

"Of course, I'm here to talk to you about breakdancing." Ronald knew that Minahan was now the president of a large company, and his work was not as busy as before.

"Break dancing? What, are you willing to make the third film? I'll invest!"

Minahan jumped up more than a foot and patted Ronald on the back happily, "As long as we work together, we will definitely be able to make a blockbuster movie."

"No, I went to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and they decided to introduce 'break dancing', so I came to you, can you give them a low price?"

"No problem, this movie has basically been sold all over the world, and it's a good thing that we can enter an emerging market that Hollywood is difficult to get into in a few years."

Minahan's intuition for the international market is still pretty good, and his films always do well at the box office in Britain, where there's a cannonball fan club. All the new films that are cannon fodder should be watched.

"This is the new film that we asked Stallone to shoot, Yoram, Yoram, Ronald here. Let's watch it together, projectionist, projectionist starts."

Minahan's voice was still loud, his head turned left and right quickly, and he greeted everyone present loudly.

There was also a member of the crew, who probably sent the edited copy to the court today, and stood up respectfully to say hello to him.

"All sit down, all sit down, let's watch Stallone's new film 'Flying Over the Peak' first, and then I'll watch yours."

The cannon logo flashed across the screen, and the subtitles for "Over the Top" began to appear.

The film was directed by Minahan Golan, written by Stallone himself, and starred. The main story is about a divorced truck driver father, Lincoln. After his ex-wife fell ill and was hospitalized, he took his son to drive the truck all the way to bars around the world to participate in arm wrestling competitions, and finally won the national arm wrestling competition and improved his relationship with his son. .

As soon as Ronald saw the titles of the title director and screenwriter, he felt a sense of disaster.

Sure enough, the movie parodies the "Rocky" storyline, turning the boxing match into a bizarre arm wrestling match. Changed his girlfriend's emotional process to improving his relationship with his estranged son.

Different storylines, but the same structure is applied, and the filming is very comedic.

Ronald struggled to hold back his laughter when he wasn't arm-wrestling in all sorts of weird bars.

In the end, Stallone broke his arm with a big man two heads taller than him. When he was about to lose, he looked at his son and gave birth to the scene where he turned defeat into victory with supernatural power. Ronald couldn't help but break his skills. Pfft Chi burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, isn't this a very good ending? I specially invited the Italian-born George Moroder to compose the music. After he composed the soundtrack for your 'Top Gun', the price has more than tripled."

"Haha... Yes, this soundtrack is really good. If I close my eyes and imagine the battle on the screen, my blood will boil." Ronald really has nothing to praise, so he stared at the soundtrack and praised stand up.

He didn't say that if he opened his eyes, he would definitely laugh again.

Minahan Goran continued to praise himself, and his cousin Yoram pointed to his watch, reminding him that he was pressed for time.

Minahan waved his hand behind him, indicating to start putting down one.

"Who, don't you have a document for me to sign? Hurry up and bring it." Minahan called the waiting assistant to come up, and as soon as he took the document, he began to sign.

The name that appeared on the screen was "Alan Quarterman and the Lost City of Gold," and Ronald recognized the actor as Richard Chamberlain, the "Indiana Jones" knock-off that co-starred with Sharon Stone. The sequel to "King Solomon's Treasure".

"This copycat is very uninspired, and even the naming rules are copied." Ronald touched his chin and thought, this Minahan is really thorough.

Raiders of the Lost Ark has put Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford into the title since the second film, forming a protagonist + adventure treasure approach. Minahan this is full plagiarism.

As soon as the movie opened, Ronald couldn't sit still, and the sequel was so embarrassing that his eyes were closed.

All the scenes have no special effects, just make up for it. Let the protagonist Richard Chamberlain play casually, and use a revolver to fight against dozens of enemies with machine guns, that is, the enemies are stupid, in order to win.

It is not known how much Meinahan put into the film and how much was embezzled.

Is Minahan making too many movies now that he can't handle it? If he had watched the crew by himself during the period when he was breaking dance with him, it would have been impossible for him to be like this.

The heroine Sharon Stone's performance was also very exaggerated. Ronald felt that even a Helen Slater, who was ten times worse at acting, would not be able to play the story of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus at the elementary school drama festival. so.

"Hey... uh..."

Ronald heard that in the corner, an actress, like himself, hated the heroine's acting skills very much.

It was the same feeling, Ronald and her looked at each other and smiled.

After finally putting up with over an hour of bad movies, Ronald stood up to go first. Watching a movie like this again makes my stomach hurt.

Minahan stood up and called the director, "What are you filming? Didn't I say, these queens are ugly and ugly, why do you make them so beautiful, they are all beautiful women."

The director was speechless, wondering what Minahan was talking about.

"The movie I made is called 'Mars Invaders'. It is the queen of a group of Zerg, not 'Playboy Villa Invaders'. Why is the villain girl so beautiful, what are you filming?"

...

"Director Ronald, hello, I'm the female villain of the movie, Cassandra Peterson"

Ronald was wondering why Minahan would call this movie "Mars Invaders". The actress who just disliked the heroine's acting skills just like herself, quickly bounced from her seat and blocked Ronald's way. To chat with him.

"Hello, it really is you. Your makeup in the movie and the stunts performed by those stand-ins are very beautiful." Ronald perfunctory and was about to leave.

"I came from a dancer background. The final special effects of this movie only cost two yuan and thirty-five cents. I only have to be a stuntman. I jumped into the green lake myself."

Cassandra Peterson didn't want to miss the opportunity, and machine guns told the reasons why her performance was good and bad.

It turned out that in addition to the money from the crew who did not know where to go, Cassandra had to shoot a lot of dangerous scenes herself, and the heroine Sharon Stone was also a nuisance. In the episode of being caught by cannibals to cook them in a cauldron, the blonde still urinates in the prop cauldron.

He came out and proudly preached to everyone. In the end, no one was willing to rearrange that disgusting black pot. The last edited scene was the only one, and the whole performance was extremely bad.

"I thought she was a smart actor, how could this be?" Ronald couldn't help but wonder if the heroine was out of her mind and was a deep ice.

"Her IQ is actually not low, she is a smart person, but in the crew, she tells everyone that she is smart every day."

Ronald felt that it was not easy for this actress. In the movie, facing such a heroine, the opponent's scene was also qualified, and it was a desperate effort to end up doing dangerous stunts by himself.

He took out a business card with only his office phone number and handed it to her. "Is that Cassandra Peterson? You make this call and tell them it's the card I gave you, and you'll be called to audition for a suitable role in the future."

"Oh, thank you...thank you..."

Cassandra Peterson has big breasts and fair skin, but she actually looks sweeter when she doesn't wear heavy makeup, not the coquettish villain in the movie. She was very happy when she got the business card and kept asking Luo Thanks Nader.

"Ronald, aren't you going to watch the next one with me? It's the story of an American ninja." Minahan came over to hold him back.

"I really have to go," Ronald quickly shied away.

"Okay, I know you're busy, I'll make arrangements for breakdancing. Also, if you're free, give me a call and let's talk about cooperation, OK?"

Minahan was too busy, and someone came to him to sign. The next crew members, led by the director, also approached a row, sat down with him and waited to watch the demo.

Minahan is still training the unlucky director, "How many times have I said that the queen and the maids are uglier."

"Meenahan probably got our movie title wrong. He thought he was watching the Martian Invaders movie, not the Lost City of Gold."

Cassandra Peterson whispered in Ronald's ear.

Ronald gave her a surprised look, "How many movies have you made this year with Cannonball?"

"I don't know, thirty? Thirty-five?"

Ronald was in a bad mood when he looked at Meinahan, who even got the title of the movie wrong. Is it really that hard to manage a movie studio? This Israeli iron man was tortured to the point of becoming demented.

...

Ronald returned to the office the next day to hear good news.

My "Spicy Dance" was submitted for review for the second time. After ten seconds of naked scenes were deleted, MPAA politely re-rated it to PG-13.

Publishing business manager Michelle Cannold was overjoyed and had a deeper understanding of Ronald's unfathomable connections.

"We plan to sell state by state, and since we missed the Las Vegas Film Fair where theaters came to us, we didn't take the initiative to go and sell to theaters in every state and every town.

The quality of the hot body dance is very good, I believe that those theater managers will be overwhelmed by the wonderful plot and sultry dance, and we still got PG-13."

Michelle Cannold is full of energy.

"Then it's hard for you. When I'm not here, you can find Eddie if you have any problems. We will discuss any difficulties. After all, this is the first leading film of Daydream."

After all, the distribution business is unfamiliar territory, and the two leading managers do not have much experience, so everything has to be figured out. Ronald is satisfied that the release will start at the end of the year, and before Christmas, maybe a few deep south states can be swept to see the situation and make adjustments.

After another day, Ronald adjusted the time difference. Weintraub, who had been missing for a long time, took the initiative to call and ask Ronald to go to his house to talk in detail.

"Come on, Ronald, it's been a long time, how's your business in Xujiahui? How's Spielberg's new film going?"

Weintraub was still sitting on his long leather sofa, smiling hello to Ronald.

A beautiful woman in a bikini walked past the door.

Ronald raised his eyebrows, looked at the beauty, and asked Weintraub with his eyes.

"My wife, Jane, is in Washington, D.C., and Barbara, the Deputy Commander's wife, wants her to meet up. I'm staying in Los Angeles just because I have something to do."

Ronald thought it was no wonder, Weintraub was not afraid of a fine of 1 million, it turned out to be his wife on a business trip.

"The situation over there is good. I couldn't contact you a few days ago."

"Hey...I went to Las Vegas."

Weintraub sighed, took out a bottle of brandy, and poured it over Ronald and himself.

"That old bastard Kerkorian..."

It turned out that Weintraub was swayed by Kerkorian, the real owner of MGM, the big boss of the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, and the connoisseur of borrowing chicken and eggs. He did not get the real CEO position, and Kerkorian appointed another person as co-CEO, under the pretense of ensuring that the business of the two labels MGM and United Artists can be carried out normally.

And it turned out that Kerkorian agreed to Weintraub's stock options, promising that he would become a second shareholder, and the small boss's plan also had some legal "technical problems" because of the new tax law, and it was about to fail.

Weintraub reorganized MGM’s senior management for Kerkorian, integrating the teams of the two original companies. After he basically finished the swearing and tiring work, Kerkorian kicked him away. Now it is equivalent to only getting a shell of the CEO position of Lianmei.

"So you just swallowed that?" Ronald asked.

"So what? All his operations are technically legal. I also underestimated the difficulty of his business in Las Vegas. This is not a person to deal with.

Fortunately, we Jews have a little tradition, and we don’t dwell on past grievances. If we suffer, we should write down this lesson and start over. "

Weintraub is a singer's agent, and he still has a lot of fear of a casino tycoon like Kerkorian.

He didn't get the authority he wanted, so he had to take a large salary and bonus, resigned in anger, and opened a small company "Weintraub Productions".

Fortunately, when he was at MGM, he was not idle. He relied on the platform of MGM to catch up with the largest joint theater chain in Canada, the Sinneblake theater chain.

Weintraub joined them, found an old partner Columbia Pictures, and signed a 20-year distribution contract with them.

All works produced by Weintraub Productions are distributed by Columbia.

Ronald heard the news and was a little worried about his new film. Weintraub is gone, will there be a problem with MGM's cooperation?

As if seeing Ronald's worries, Weintraub said to him, "Don't worry about your new movie 'Moonlight', not to mention that I will be there to bring it to the end of February next year...

I also made a deal with Kerkorian that he would put resources into your new release. You're one of the most profitable directors in Hollywood right now, and this is MGM's first movie since it got back into production, and he's a guy who knows what matters. "

"Honey", the bikini beauty was outside the door, waving at Weintraub, but her eyes were always on Ronald, and she even took the time to wink.

"It's a mid-seam model for the new issue of Playboy, recommended by Hugh Hefner. Would you like to try it?" Weintraub poked the case.

Ronald waved his hand in disinterest.

"Haha, you don't have to worry about this. I invited you to come today because I want to continue to work with you. I will be at the helm of my own production company, and Susan will help me with the daily work. Let's work together again, how about you? ?"

"Let's talk about it when I finish filming the movie I'm in." Ronald shied away.

"I know you have a small production company yourself, what's the point of playing those small productions, and this time I got really big investment from Sunny Black Cinemas and Columbia. What movie are you making, who are you looking for, I can satisfy you.

How about it? think about it? "

"Oh? You got a big investment?" Ronald thought this sentence was familiar, and someone had said it before.

"I'll tell you only one person, don't spread the word until February next year. It's still a secret phase, and it's a big investment that shakes Hollywood." Weintraub lowered his voice and lowered his head slightly, as if to avoid being heard by the bikini beauties .

"How much?" Ronald couldn't help but bow his head forward, and their heads were almost pressed together.

"Forty-five million."

...

"Four hundred and fifty million..." Ronald was half lying on the back seat of Little Bud's car, still a little uneasy in his heart.

Why don't these people on Wall Street seem to take money as money?

Disney's Eisner got 300 million, Cannon got 400 million, and now Weintraub got 450 million. Make a small production by yourself, and worry about not being able to get money, where are these people better than yourself? How come it seems that hundreds of millions of dollars are taken casually.

It's not easy to talk to others about this. Ronald made a special trip to New York to meet Douglas Hansen Jr.

Both were overwhelmed by Wall Street's grandeur and chatted for a long time in the little Douglas mansion.

"I have carefully read the information disclosed by the two businesses, and it is clear that Wall Street has no clue as to what kind of movies can make money.

And now that money is loose, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low for several years, raising them slightly last year, and the economic response has been smooth. It is the golden age of very good liquidity.

That's why they can easily raise four or five billion dollars, whether it's a cannon from the junk bond market, or a private equity fund raised from the rich to Disney's Eisner, including this time Weintraub held the 20-year long-term issuance contracts, mortgages plus investment from private investors.

The only thing they have better than our Daydream Pictures is that they have their own distribution channels.

Wall Street idiots, they only use formulas to make profit. Because their movies are selling well, they have a unique vision and a strong distribution channel. Why do their movies sell so well? It is precisely because of the unique vision and strong distribution channels.

I've read a lot of researcher's analysis reports, and they're all rubbish of these circular arguments.

As long as our hot dance can be successful, I think the money from Wall Street will definitely come to us. "

"Yes, you still have to have a distribution channel to be looked up to." Ronald also felt that it was reasonable. Doing business is not about making movies. There can be no special short editions in the production, purchase, distribution, marketing, etc. of movies, so that capital will favor them.

After determining the direction of the company, little Douglas served Ronald to eat steak. The chef of his family is Italian, but the steak made today is Irish, very tender and juicy, and Ronald is very happy to eat.

"How long will you be here this time? Are you going back to Los Angeles soon? Are the preparations for the new film going to start?" Little Douglas also ate fast. Both of them had practiced wrestling, and they were both carnivores.

"I'm going to stay here for a while. The new film needs good casting. All of them are Italians in Brooklyn, New York. I'm going to go to the casting studio where I worked that year and ask them to help with casting.

This movie is very hard on acting and the fit of the characters and actors, and those casting directors in Hollywood are not suitable. I need to be more compatible in personality, not in appearance. I also need to audition collectively to determine the chemistry. These are the strengths of casting studios.

In fact, the best choice is Julia Taylor, the owner of the casting studio, who is very eye-catching and specially casts for director Woody Allen. It's a pity she only works with Woody Allen, I can only ask her subordinates for help. "

"By the way, have you been a photographer for them, taking audition photos?" Little Douglas recalled the past.

"Yeah, now working with them in a different identity, these female generals who are casting roles are indeed a bit level."