Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Next reporting to Ronald was his script assistant, David Simkins. If you want Daydream to start making movies like an assembly line, you need to throw materials at the head of the assembly line - a script that can be filmed. Shou

Although the script is tight now, David Simkins still got a lot of scripts. He had previously worked as a development manager at New World Pictures, so he knew where to buy such low-cost movie scripts - the circulation warehouses of other film studios and the offices of screenwriters' agents.

He was shot by a CEO-level person and dropped the script, which was lying quietly in the circulation warehouse. Turnaround means that we will no longer shoot, but if you can get investment from other people, we can sell it to them.

Ronald looked at the outline posted on the cover of the basic scripts and summarized by Simkins. These scripts were all well written, otherwise they would not have been picked up by the studio in the first place.

The reason why it was not put into production may involve star schedules, budget issues, director issues, or even political struggles in the office. Some scripts have been forgotten since they were placed in them, and have even been dormant for more than 20 years. Daydream took a fancy to it, and there was no big problem with the bidding.

The only drawback is that the studios that buy the rights charge too high a price, with the cheapest ones costing over 100,000 US dollars. This is also because if the studio wants to retain the copyright of the script, it must renew the contract within a few years, otherwise the original author can resell it to other willing investors under union terms.

Other scripts were obtained through less well-known screenwriting agents. They originally wanted to let clients sell some scripts and get a share of the agent's fees. The scripts were piled into a pile again. Their quality is not as high as that selected by the studio, and the quality is mixed.

And even well-written scripts may be suspected of plagiarism. There are so many movies in the history of Hollywood, as well as movies from Europe, Asia and other places, no one can say that they have seen even a small part of them. If those screenwriters plagiarize one or two movie scripts that are not well-known in America, the studio will face a very troublesome intellectual property lawsuit. Shou

"Not as much as I thought?" Ronald asked David Simkins. The movie scripts he collected during this period only filled two wooden boxes.

"There are no signs of the Writers Guild strike ending yet, so scripts are very scarce now. Especially the scripts that have been put into circulation. If we want to buy them now, we have to pay double or even triple the price compared to last year." Mjins shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands.

"Damn strike..." Ronald picked out some kung fu movies and scripts suitable for female audiences and put them on his desk. "Let's start with these two types of films. You can help me make an estimate. Those that can be shot with a budget of less than three million will be put on the special list."

"What are the big studios doing now? What scripts are they going to make now?" Ronald remembered and asked Simkins, who had gone to the Seven Warehouses to exchange.

"Everyone is snapping up adaptation rights now. Those people are either not members of the Screenwriters Guild, or when they wrote, they aimed at movie adaptations and included a lot of script writing methods. This can bypass strike restrictions. This is the case for adaptation rights in recent years. Prices hit new highs.”

"Well, it's a shame we didn't grab a few copies before the strike."

The two talked about the copyrights that major studios are competing for. Now, any copy can sell for more than 300,000 yuan. Shou

The price of scripts in Hollywood went through a cycle after Ronald entered the industry. When he first came in, it happened to be a time when the presidents of major studios were changing, and his own debut film was also sold for a good price.

After three years of relatively stable management, the period of large-scale script buying passed. Before 1986, it was no longer a question of the price, but a question of whether the studio would buy it.

Things must go to extremes, and in recent years, the prices of scripts, which have always been sluggish, have begun to rise slowly again. After the strike, they suddenly reached sky-high prices. As long as the works are on the bestseller list, the starting price will be 300,000 yuan.

Among them, one work in particular has been hotly contested. One is Thomas Wolfe's debut novel, "The Bohe Vanities", hailed as a genius by book critics.

This work aims at the fierce conflicts of racial conflicts in contemporary New York. It tells the story of a white man and his mistress who mistakenly entered the black area of ​​​​the South Bronx and encountered two black men who robbed them. During the fight, the mistress accidentally hit and killed one of them, and was finally raped by the media. Revealing the stories that become hot topics.

Because the book reviews are really good, it is even said to be the most talented writer in America. Therefore, the competition was particularly fierce. The final winner, Warner Bros., paid US$750,000, plus the condition of a small share after the release, to succeed.

Ronald took the copy Simkins gave him and started reading it on the way home. It was indeed very interesting. Ronald finished reading it in one go, and it was already time for dinner. Shou

As he watched, he remembered that a similar incident had occurred on the New York subway a few years ago. A woman on the subway shot two young black men to death with a pistol on suspicion that some black men in the Bronx were trying to rob her.

In the end, the public sympathized more with this woman who commuted to and from get off work every day and risked being robbed by black people while riding the subway. She ended up being acquitted.

The ending in the film is more dramatic than the reality. In the end, the jury in the court was deadlocked at 6-6 on whether the protagonist was guilty or not, and had to declare the trial invalid and retrial at another date. The six jurors who voted not guilty were all white jurors, and the six who voted guilty were all black.

This incident also attracted a lot of attention at the time. The racial discrimination in America that really received media attention was against black people. A few years ago, the Chinese American Chen Guoren was beaten to death, but it did not cause such a big storm in the media.

Although the story is good, Ronald looked at the total purchase cost of more than one million. It would be better to attract seven major investors for such a large production. If a little more is added, the daydream will be enough to make a movie.

Little Bud came to pick him up for dinner, and he suggested going to De Nino Pizza Tavern on Staten Island to enjoy some famous local delicacies.

This is a rare delicacy on Staten Island, praised by many Manhattanites as the best pizza in New York. There are no takeouts or chain stores, and the rich people in Manhattan can only take a boat to enjoy it here. Guard

The pizza tastes first-rate, but it is only eight inches in size and is made very thin. Ronald had to order two more before he and Bud could barely eat enough.

"I heard from my mother and sister that the pizza here is delicious, but I didn't expect it to be so small..."

"Hahaha, then let's buy a few more, and you can take them back for your family." Ronald waved to the waiter and asked for ten more pizzas to take back.

"My mother and sister will be very happy," Bud held a pile of pizza boxes and put them in the trunk of the car. "They will go to church tomorrow. I heard that the contractor of the new church sponsored by Aunt Karen has been determined. Then we can go to our own church."

"Are you going to the same church as my aunt?" Ronald asked. He knew that black pastors usually preached "fiercely", and many people spoke like singing, and there were many self-deprecating about their ethnicity and IQ, which was different from the style of pastors in churches that white people went to.

"It wasn't like that before. Now they all work in your factory on Staten Island, so no matter what race they are, it's convenient to go there." Little Bud laughed. He told Ronald that they didn't really like the preaching style of the original church, as if they were very bad.

Especially Ronald opened his eyes, and his sisters also learned more about the world because of work. Theresa Kate, the former secretary who retired from Wall Street, told those black people a lot about how to be self-reliant. Some black people really listened to the advice and went to night school at Staten Island Community College. After graduation, they were promoted and made more money.

After opening their eyes and going to night school, these people didn't listen to the preaching that always said that their ethnicity was not enough to lead them.

The population in the southern part of Staten Island is mainly white, with a small number of blacks, not many Latinos, and some Chinese who moved from Manhattan. The workers are of all ethnicities and live very close to each other. On weekends, everyone goes to the church that Aunt Karen and other veterans often go to, which gradually becomes a social occasion.

After Aunt Karen told them that she would donate to build a new church, they all expressed their desire to go to the same church with her.

"The food there is delicious, especially the biscuits. My sisters' children only like to go to that church." Little Bud said this, which made Ronald interested. It happened that the next day was Sunday, so he went to take a look.

"Are so many people coming?" Ronald looked at the believers who lined up to greet him after the sermon in the church. They were all more or less related to Ronald's factories, including the movie lighting factory, the tape factory, and several small factories of camera accessories.

Seeing their parents coming, they all came up to shake his hand and say a few words of thanks.

"This is their home." Aunt Karen knew many people, and she would go to the small factory when she had nothing to do. Guard

Ronald felt very good after shaking hands with dozens of families. This small place is like his own little kingdom. Most people rely on themselves to make money, and they all live very close to each other. It's very interesting.

"The new church is located over there..." Aunt Karen pointed to a well-leveled place opposite and said to Ronald. It was also the land of Douglas Jr.'s grandfather. After seeing the design of the church, he simply donated some money as a reconstruction plan for the original church, replacing it with a larger new church with more modern facilities.

In order to fit the colonial style of Staten Island more than two hundred years ago, the appearance of the new church was modified and the white neoclassical architectural style was used, which was the same as the real monuments on the island.

Ronald felt very good when he saw that the Hansen family and his own family began to be closely connected. America is a federal country. By cooperating with the long-standing local snake Hansen, everyone can share the relationship better, and there will be no more trouble for the garden management office in the future.

After the appearance of the church, Ronald went to the garden of the house where "The Godfather" was filmed. Compared with the church, this is his real private "territory".

A large group of people with Chinese faces are working on the site. Engineer Wang came to introduce Ronald.

The garden began to rebuild a Su-style garden in a foreign land thousands of miles away according to the construction methods of the wealthy families in Jiangnan for hundreds of years. All the building materials, including special blue bricks and blue tiles, were specially shipped from China. Shou

Many construction methods are also Chinese-style, so Engineer Wang hired some Chinese and Chinese construction teams from China. Looking at the garden that was slowly being built in an open space, Ronald laughed out loud.

The house that Michael Douglas asked him to go to was a real old building in California. Once it's built, you can invite some friends over to play.

"Ronald, I have your phone number..." Little Bud said to Ronald.

"Hello, Richard? What's going on?" Not many people knew Ronald's car phone number, and it was indeed his agent who was looking for him.

"Your Australian friends are coming to America again. Crocodile Dundee and his girlfriend happen to be in New York. Do you want to meet them? They are here with the sequel this time."

"Oh? Okay," Ronald thought to himself. Paul Hogan, whom he met by chance, was filming in New York, which later became a box office legend in 1986. I didn’t expect the sequel to be filmed so soon.

Ronald and the two creators of "Crocodile Dundee 2" met in a Fifth Avenue apartment. Shou

Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski fell in love because of the show and have truly become a couple. The two behaved very intimately, and they were very emotional when they talked about their encounter on the streets of New York.

Crocodile Dundee set a box office record for an Australian film in America and around the world. Paramount, of course, immediately put a sequel on the agenda. Coincidentally, Crocodile Dundee 2 has done well at the box office after its recent release in Australia. Hogan and Linda came to America in advance with their new film to prepare for its premiere in America next month.

"Will the second part still be shot in New York?" Ronald asked.

"It's still the same structure, half in New York and half in Australia. But this time it was filmed in New York first and then in Australia, which is exactly the opposite of the story of the first film."

"That's great. Audiences really liked this contrasting story of Australian country people in New York in the first film," Ronald said.

"The budget has increased a lot this time, so we also added a lot of big scenes. We also shot the beginning at the Statue of Liberty off the coast of New York. It is difficult to apply for a filming permit in New York, but everything is fine. We believe the sequel will Just as exciting as the first one.”

Hogan and Linda invited Ronald to watch a preview screening of a copy of "Crocodile Dundee 2" they had specially brought here in the evening. Shou

After watching it, Ronald felt that indeed these two couples, especially Paul Hogan, knew exactly what would tickle American audiences.

It’s still Mr. Crocodile Dundee who was raised by Australian aborigines. Americans like to see how country people from other countries use unique methods to solve problems here.

"I think it might not be worse than the box office of the first part." Ronald thought the editing was very good and compact. Unlike the first part, which was mainly a romantic story, the second part also added a plot about Crocodile Dundee outsmarting South American drug dealers. .

Like Rambo, Crocodile Dundee remains the same character, just in a different setting. And there is a very interesting thing about the whole movie. Its plot and shots in the Australian wilderness have a subtle imitation of the texture of Westerns from the golden age of Hollywood.

It’s not that many viewers don’t like Western movies, it’s just that they are tired of the kind of plots where they ride horses, use guns, and fight Indians or Mexican bad guys. Let's change it this way, and Mr. Crocodile from Australia comes to fight South American drug dealers. The same plot is very comfortable for everyone to watch, and it is also close to the content of modern life of drinking too much.

"That's impossible. Our first one probably sold over $300 million worldwide." Hogan announced proudly.

It seems that viewers from other parts of the world also want to see the life of Australian country bumpkin. Ronald thought to himself that this international box office was very good. This movie doesn’t require much understanding of the meaning of the lines, everyone can understand it just by looking at the pictures. Shou

"Right now, we only have the Eastern camp and a few places in East Asia, and we haven't released it yet." Hogan said, feeling a little regretful. It's never been easy to get in there.

"Really? I'll make some phone calls later to check." Ronald thought to himself, Japan, China, and some of the relationships accumulated in Germany by sending copies of Dirty Dancing, maybe we can make this The movie literally sold all over the world.

"The film was an unexpected success, I understand that. That's why I wanted as many people as possible to see it. To see Linda and I on the screen."

Ronald expressed his understanding that if Paul Hogan now wants to transform into a Hollywood star, it depends on whether he performs well in other roles.

"It's a pity that the sales of the video tape are not good, so we try to release it in as many countries as possible." Linda Kozlowski, who plays the female reporter Sue Charlton, added.

"Not good? How could that be?" Ronald was surprised, "The last time I went to Blockbuster, your Crocodile Dundee was still in a good position."

"People from Paramount say that our movies are not performing well enough in the video tape market..." Paul Hogan and Linda looked at each other. Why is what Ronald said different from what Paramount said? Shou

"Really? I remember it was your movie. It was in the best-seller section when you walked in." Ronald frowned. He couldn't remember it wrong. There have been no movies with similar themes in the past two years.

"How about we go take a look? There is a Blockbuster video rental store not far downstairs." Ronald asked the two of them.

Hogan and Linda were also confused. It happened that they came to New York in advance this time so they could see the real situation. "Then let's go take a look."