Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"That's it?" asked the fedex courier guy wearing purple overalls.

"That's all." This is the script that Ronald punched out of the copy in the copy shop and bound it with two 1.25-inch No. 5 copper nails. 96 pages including the front and back covers, the copper nails are still longer than the copy.

Ronald used two washers to increase the thickness, and then used a hammer to flatten the heads of the copper nails so that readers would not cut their hands.

I sent three copies to CAA's headquarters. It was more expensive than long-distance faxing, but the advantage was that the text was clear, unlike faxes where some parts were not transmitted well and could not be read clearly.

Then Ronald first sent Michelle Pfeiffer to the fitness center to exercise. Since returning to a balanced diet, Pfeiffer attaches great importance to maintaining her figure. She goes to the gym to do aerobic training the next day and also does yoga at home. .

Ronald did not practice in the fitness center today. Instead, he was invited by director Zeffirelli to his office to discuss preparations before shooting. The Italians started to get into filming mode and stayed in the office on Saturday to prepare.

PolyGram set aside part of the New York Record Company's offices for the film department, and Zeffirelli worked in this building on Eighth Street.

When Ronald entered the door, he saw a poster for last month's band signing. On the poster were four band members, each holding up a face mask to cover their faces. This is a kiss band newly discovered by PolyGram. The members have always been wearing cat-like makeup, and fans don’t know what they look like.

Finding Zeffirelli's office, Ronald knocked on the door and entered.

"Ha, Ronald, I'm glad you can come." Zeffirelli saluted him face to face.

"I've seen the storyboards you drew of Miss Pfeiffer-related plots. How do you think about it? Do you want to be my first assistant director?"

"this?"

Ronald was a little surprised. The first assistant director is the director's right-hand man. It is one of the few key positions where the director selects the candidates and the producer cannot comment.

Before the movie starts, he is like the director's secretary, doing a lot of preparation work. After the movie starts, he is like the director's arm, executing the director's will on the crew and managing dozens or hundreds of people in a large crew in an orderly manner.

At such a young age, Ronald is not suitable to be the first assistant director. Generally, he starts as the assistant to the second assistant director, then the second assistant director, and then he is qualified to be promoted to the first assistant director.

"certainly,

You are only responsible for breaking down the plot before shooting. My assistant director Robert Girolami is temporarily unavailable due to the postponement of the filming of Stallone's "Nighthawks". You can help me with the work of dividing the script scenes in the early stage. "

This is the first assistant director's first important job on the crew, and usually starts four to last week before filming begins. The so-called plot decomposition is to separate each scene in the script and put the scenes in the same scene into one group to facilitate shooting planning.

For example, "Endless Love" has many scenes in the home of the heroine Jade. There are many scenes in the script from the beginning until the hero David sets the house on fire.

These scenes will be shot in one time period to facilitate the crew's carpentry decoration, prop arrangement, and lighting, which can greatly reduce the cost of filming.

Only a few wealthy crews will shoot each scene in the order of the script in order to make the actors' performances more accurate. The shooting budget of "Endless Love" is 8 million US dollars. It can only be regarded as a medium-sized production in Hollywood. It was shot according to the principle of concentrated shooting of scenes.

"Not only do you have to divide the script from the markings on the script, sometimes the screenwriter may not be accurate, like here." After directors Zeffirelli and Pfeiffer shared an agent, their attitude towards Ronald became much friendlier, which can be regarded as a semi- One's own person.

"For example, in this scene, Jade comes down the stairs and sees her lover sleeping in front of the fireplace in the living room. What would you do if it were captured on camera?"

"I would have a fixed camera shot of Jed walking down the stairs, following Jed down the stairs. Then cut to a reaction shot of David, the hero."

"Very good, but there is a problem here. The screenwriter only marked interior, night scene, and night. The two shots you just mentioned must be lit twice, and Jed also has to walk down from the top of the stairs. Here we In fact, it can be divided into two scenes, the wooden staircase and the fireplace in the living room.”

Zeffirelli began teaching Ronald some techniques for breaking up scenes.

“Then in the broken down scenes, put all those in the same scene together, and you get a shooting schedule.”

Ronald nodded and began to read the marks for each scene in the script, using a highlighter pen to mark the highlights.

"In the shooting schedule, you should also pay attention to marking which scenes require different makeup, props, vehicles, or special shooting methods."

"Like the scene where Jed's house is set on fire?"

"Yes, you are very smart. This kind of shot needs to be re-planned. We only have one shooting opportunity, and safety is also very important. Here is a scene division table of the Romeo and Juliet script I shot in the early years. You can use it as a reference. Show it to me when you're done."

"You can do this later. Now let's chat with me. Can you drink espresso?" Zeffirelli saw Ronald nodding, got up and pressed the button in front of the coffee machine, which produced high-pressure heat at 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Water is washed through the coffee powder, and two cups of espresso are instantly extracted.

Ronald thanked him and took the small cup and drank it in one gulp. The refreshing effect of a small cup of espresso, a type of concentrated coffee, can be worth a large cup of terrible American coffee.

"Is the heroine Brooke Shields or Meg Ryan? Mr. Zeffirelli?" Ronald asked.

"Meg Ryan has been confirmed and is waiting to be signed." Zeffirelli also drank his share of coffee. This is the standard Italian way of drinking. "Don't mention work during the break."

"Mr. Zeffirelli, how do you manage to speak English without an accent? Most Italians in New York always speak English with some Italian accent." Ronald asked a flattering question.

"Call me Franco." Zeffirelli was still savoring the taste of espresso. "This is actually quite legendary. You won't believe me if I tell you."

Ronald looked like he was listening.

"This started when I was a child. My father and mother were not a couple. My father Cosi, may they rest in peace in heaven, was a Florentine silk merchant, my mother was a housewife, and I was an illegitimate child. .”

Zeffirelli began to reminisce about the past, and now he can tell his childhood experiences more calmly.

"In Italy, illegitimate children cannot take their father's surname, so my mother came up with Zeffiretti, which means "little sea breeze" in Mozart's opera, but the employee in charge of registration spelled it wrong. Zeffirelli.”

"My mother died when I was six years old. My father hired a British tutor for me. I grew up in the British expatriate community. They were a group of old British women who were leftover from the First World War. The old maids and widows lived in Italy for their retirement, and the Florentines called them the Scorpions.”

"During World War II, they even visited Mussolini and had afternoon tea with him, which saved the British expatriate community from being destroyed by the Nazis. After the Allied invasion, I relied on the English I learned from them , serving as a translator and guide for the British and American troops."

…

After listening to director Zeffirelli's teenage experiences with great interest, Ronald took his leave with the script and went home to analyze the script.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

"Ronnie, there's a girl named Helen here looking for you." Donna called from the dance supply store.

"Helen?"

"Is it you, Ronald? I'm here to buy my leg warmers. After your movie was released, the students in the acting college went crazy to buy your leg warmers."

It turned out to be Helen Slater, the daughter of PBS Vice President Gerald.

"Of course, you can pick whatever you want, two items are free, and the rest will be 40% off," Ronald said on the phone.

"Aren't you coming? My mother saw the commercial you shot for me with a version of the Carpenters song and brought you a thank you gift."

"Ah, thank you. Okay, I'll be there right away, very soon." Ronald walked to the rtkd dance supplies store.

"What is this?" Ronald took a large package from Helen Slater.

"Open it and take a look." Helen looked a little bit embarrassed.

"Okay", Ronald opened the package with force, and inside it turned out to be a big placard that read "Eliminate all human nuclear weapons."

"My mother is an anti-nuclear public interest human rights lawyer." Helen chuckled.

"This gift is quite unique." Ronald placed the placard in the store and looked at his watch. "I'll invite you to have dinner with Donna, Helen."

"Why don't you invite us to watch a movie? I haven't seen Fame yet."

"Well, please give me a break. I can't bear to see my image on the screen so many times. I always feel it's artificial." Ronald felt that Gerald didn't want his daughter to see all the negative things in the acting academy. , maybe using the R rating as an excuse to prohibit my daughter from going.

"Okay," said Helen Slater, a little sullenly.

"Why don't we watch Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back? Have you seen it?" Ronald suggested.

"Okay, I haven't seen it yet." Helen became happy again. Young people's mood always improves easily.

A large pack of leg warmers was given to Helen for free, and other items were treated at a 40% discount. Ronald took Helen and Donna to the cinema not far away.

"The Empire Strikes Back", which was released not long ago, is still very popular. Even though it was a morning show, it was still quite full.

"The Empire Strikes Back" had a much bigger budget than the fourth installment, "A New Hope," and the special effects were more stunning. Ronald watched it very enthusiastically. Some of the scenes felt a little familiar. Maybe he had seen them in his previous life.

Helen and Donna couldn't take their eyes off the space chase between the X-Fighter and the TIE Fighter, Master Yoda's funny inverted sentences, and the space monster that almost swallowed the Millennium Falcon. The audience gasped in surprise.

The plot came to a scene where Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader were dueling with lightsabers in a spaceship. Luke was forced to stand at the end of the spaceship, and one of his hands was cut off by Darth Vader with a lightsaber. break. Luke angrily yells "You killed my dad."

Darth Vader stepped forward, and Ronald somehow managed to say the line in advance, "No, I'm your daddy!"

"I'm your father!" Blackadder on the screen also said the same line. While Luke yelled "No...", he fell down and was caught by the Millennium Falcon.

Helen and Donna looked at Ronald in unison:

"How did you know?"

"So how do you know?" When the three of them were having lunch, Helen asked Ronald why he could call out the reverse line in advance.

"At this point in the plot, following the usual development path, it has reached a dead end. Only an unexpected twist can turn this scene into the climax of the movie.

I was wondering what I could do as a screenwriter. There was only one way, Vader was Luke's father Anakin, so he couldn't help but shout out. "Ronald explained to the two.

Donna looked unbelieving, "Have you secretly gone to see it first?"

"No, I think he was quite surprised when he saw Han Solo being carbonized." Helen said.

"Is your father busy recently?" Ronald himself didn't know how he blurted out the question and changed the subject.

"Yeah, he's been very busy recently, and I can't make an appointment even if I call his secretary." Helen replied.

"Really? What is it?" Ronald asked.

"I don't know, my dad didn't mention it."

After sending Helen and Donna back to the store, Ronald walked home alone and continued to break down the script.

multiple copies

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