Hollywood Road

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Until mid-December, Murphy was checking various materials, combined with Michael Dobbs' novels, and TV series that he had only watched before, and gradually outlined the context and direction of the first season's story in his mind .

Afterwards, he finished the script outline as quickly as possible.

At the same time, the team of screenwriters recruited by Stanton Studio has also been completed. In today's Hollywood, where screenwriter status and salary income are limited, as long as you are willing to spend money, it is not difficult to find a screenwriter who is good at writing political dramas matter.

However, there are two distinct styles of common political dramas in Hollywood, such as "House of Cards" and "Vice President". Both are political dramas, but there are differences in style and depth. Dark and brutal, the latter is a typical American comedy with plenty of American political jokes in it.

Therefore, on the first day that the recruited screenwriter signed the relevant agreement, Murphy called all the people involved in the project, including Gal Gadot and Paul Wilson who came from England, to the Stanton studio In the conference room, a meeting was held.

Since all the production of the final season of "Game of Thrones" has been completed, Paul Wilson will definitely serve as the director and producer of this series, and will also participate in the screenwriting work.

In this meeting, Murphy wanted to specifically emphasize some principled issues in screenwriting and production.

"This drama must have distinctive characters, powerful and interesting dialogues, and almost every episode is a wonderful individual story, but it is closely connected and interlocking, so that the audience can't stop."

Standing at the forefront of the conference table, Murphy said very quickly, "More importantly, it can meet a certain need of the audience. It spy on high-level American political figures and high-level politics, allowing the audience to see many things that were previously only seen. The scene that can be imagined but cannot be witnessed is novel and exciting!"

He nodded to Gal Gadot, and Gal Gadot distributed a story outline to everyone, which was the script outline for the first season.

Murphy added, "I have no special research on the political system of the United States. If there are any mistakes in the story involving the political system, you should remind me to make corrections in time while ensuring that the main storyline remains unchanged."

This is also one of the reasons why he spent millions of dollars to form this screenwriting team. Although these screenwriters are not the top screenwriters in the industry, they are all veterans of writing political themes, which can make up for his biggest deficiency.

Paul Wilson raised his hand, Murphy nodded and said, "Paul, tell me."

"I think from the beginning of the project, we should unify our caliber, saying that 99% of the plots of this show are true, and they can all find their prototypes in Washington's political life!"

Speaking of this, Paul Wilson laughed, "Let the audience think that they can understand the top shady scenes of political struggle through this drama."

"Yeah!" Murphy quite agreed with Paul Wilson's words, and said to the female assistant who took the minutes of the meeting, "Remember this."

Works on political subjects have always been difficult to write, because there are too many inside stories and too many unspoken rules. If you don't understand it, you will be timid everywhere.

Therefore, many political themes are rotten in the stomach.

In fact, what Paul Wilson said is very suitable for Murphy's request. The biggest charm of "House of Cards" is that it looks very real.

Because rather than saying that this drama is a portrayal of American politics, it is better to say that it is a history of the struggles of black-bellied political figures who are both exaggerated and tried to create a sense of reality.

For example, for the sake of realism, Murphy deliberately marked on the outline that there should be drinking scenes that can be seen everywhere, because drinking is a way of life in the United States. It is not only the best lubricant for social occasions, but also a basic necessity for life, even if it is Congressmen and presidents also keep a few bottles of wine in their offices.

Nixon likes to drink Lafite, Clinton likes to drink all kinds of beer, Bush Jr. was guilty of drunk driving when he was young,

It's no secret that Obama even opened a small beer brewery in the White House.

"Like Paul said..."

Following Paul Wilson's words, Murphy emphasized to the screenwriters present, "We want the audience to see that this play is an in-depth analysis of American politics."

Several screenwriters were listening carefully, and they were not stupid. Although Murphy had a good reputation in the business circle, the expensive film remuneration was definitely for them to show their value.

If you can't meet the requirements, you will be replaced, and finding another job with such a high salary is not an easy task.

Murphy added, "You can make appropriate adaptations based on realistic examples and flexibly use them in script writing."

In the drama he once watched, it is said that many plots were adapted with reference to real-life examples, which made the whole drama very real, especially for people outside the political circle.

Although Murphy had never seen what real American politics looked like at that time, he would not believe that the foolish belief in politics is full of positive energy. In his perception, politics is much darker than business.

And that "House of Cards" happened to show all the ugliness and evils of American politics undisguised, which made him feel very real to a layman.

As for the ups and downs of the plot, I won’t talk about it. As a good drama, a wonderful plot is the most basic. He believes that the most attractive feature of this drama is that the protagonist is bad enough. It can be said that "House of Cards "Protagonist Frank Underwood is the worst protagonist in all American dramas he has seen.

But as the saying goes, the protagonist is not bad, and the audience doesn't like it.

In this era of information explosion, the transparency of information is getting higher and higher, more and more ugliness and evils are exposed, and the tastes of audiences are slowly changing.

Just as his noir films are becoming more and more popular and can enter the mainstream film circle, audiences no longer foolishly believe that the world is beautiful and justice can always defeat evil.

This is not to say that people are becoming more and more evil, but that people are becoming more and more rational.

After thinking for a while, Murphy said, "The original author of this book was once the vice-chairman of the British Conservative Party. The various political operations of the show seem to be traceable, so that audiences who usually have no concept of politics can understand."

Due to the author's previous experience, this novel and the adaptation are naturally more credible, which will also increase the charm of the series.

"In the creation of traditional Hollywood political dramas, there is one premise: our political system is very good."

Paul Wilson took Murphy's words again and said, "But a bad person in a certain position, such as the police station or the parliament, causes problems, and they are all individual."

He shook his head, "But we did a survey, and the situation has changed now. The general mentality of the American people is that this political system is very bad. The media released a poll before, listing the following things in The level of disgust in your mind."

Speaking of this, Paul Wilson couldn't help laughing, "Congress ranks very high in the most hated sequence."

Murphy nodded, and continued, "This environment provides us with considerable convenience, you..."

He pointed to all the screenwriters present, "No matter what media interviews you will say in the future, ninety-nine percent of our plots are true, and the only one percent that is not true is that we have passed an educational plan anyway. , in reality they don’t even have this one.”

He looked at Gal Gadot, and Gal Gadot immediately added a sentence in his notebook tacitly: Note to the relevant contract.

Looking at everyone, Murphy finally said, "We must boldly set all the characters as negative, to show the evil of human nature and the darkness of politics!"

The skeleton of this kind of political drama is personal crawling history, and the flesh and blood are the various details that constitute "how to face power, ambition and corruption".

After the meeting, all the screenwriters left, and Murphy left Paul Wilson behind.

"You did a great job on "Game of Thrones." Murphy was not stingy with his praise, "I am also relieved to entrust this series to you."

Paul Wilson said with a smile, "Murphy, I wouldn't be where I am without you, as long as you need..."

Murphy raised his hand and interrupted him, "After directing the first season, do what you want."

After a moment of silence, Paul Wilson nodded vigorously. Every director has his own movie dream.

In fact, directing "Game of Thrones" in the past few years has allowed him to gain enough experience and money. If Murphy hadn't personally called him to communicate and invited Oscar-level male and female leading actors, he might not have taken over this project. series.

"Paul..." Murphy said, leaning back on the chair, "after the new year, I will call Kevin Spacey and Charlize Theron personally, and you and Bill will visit them in person."

Hearing the two names mentioned by Murphy, Paul Wilson immediately got into a twelfth spirit, "Are you going to let Kevin Spacey play Frank Underwood, Charlize Theron?" Playing Claire Underwood?"

Murphy nodded, "That's what I planned."

"Kevin Spacey is okay." Paul Wilson was a little embarrassed, "He hasn't had any outstanding works in recent years, and his status has not been as good as before. But Charlize Theron..."

What Paul Wilson said is indeed the truth. It is not easy for a relatively popular first-line movie star to appear in a TV series.

Murphy thought for a while and said, "Well, you are responsible for getting Kevin Spacey out. After I've been busy for a while, I'll meet Charlize Theron."

"Paul..." he said again, "The writing of the script is temporarily entrusted to you, and we will communicate in time if there is anything to do."

"Diego Ross" is about to be released, and Murphy has to divert his energy and be busy with the related matters of this film.