Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 105 Ask and Answer

   The film industry is in full swing, why is it said that it can't be done? Ronald returned home full of questions.

  The entertainment industry is still a very attractive industry, there is no doubt about it. Just look at how many boys and girls are competing to enter.

   But if the number of movie viewings that the professor said is good, it is true that the movie industry is no longer the same as it used to be.

  Why is your intuitive feeling so different from what the numbers reveal?

  Which is the real situation of the film industry?

  Ronald began to take out his notebook again and called all his acquaintances.

   "Eddie, I'm Ronald. I was in class today at NYU's Tesse College, and I met a weird guy who said some weird things and wanted to ask you something."

   Ronald first called his director's agent:

   "Do you think the entertainment industry is now a rapidly declining industry in the movie industry?"

   "Of course not. Why do you think so?" Eddie was a little anxious, the potential rookie director in his hands actually felt that the film industry was rapidly declining? Get his mind back quickly.

   "No, that's not what I thought. It was a professor who taught us a class, and he said that America isn't as popular as it was in 1929."

"Which year is this an old story? Of course, the number of moviegoers is down compared to the golden age before the 60s, but most people in this industry are still alive and well. Coppola shoots in the 70s The Godfather, Spielberg's Jaws, George Lucas' Star Wars.

   All of these movies have high box office, and total movie attendance. The film industry also has good prospects. Many multinational conglomerates are rushing to invest in film companies, such as Gulf Western, which bought Paramount, and Pan American, which bought United Arts. "

"I don't think this is a declining industry. The popularity of these large multinational groups shows that the industry is on the rise. And don't you think that movies are becoming more and more popular now? Open the newspaper and see what movies are being shot and what movies are being filmed. The news that will be released soon. The TV station will also interview movie stars and live broadcast the premiere, which was not like this in the past.”

   Ronald got another answer from the agent.

  Continue to flip through the small book...

"Hey, Mr. Coleman, I have something to ask you. The professor who gave me my first class at NYU said that movies are a dying industry. But the entertainment industry I see is still very thriving. He Compared with the 1930s, the number of moviegoers said to have dropped significantly, how should we understand it?”

   "Ah, I know him." Roger Coleman said he had heard the name of the professor.

   "This is actually a very normal thing. There was no TV in the 1929s, but the ticket prices at that time were also very low. People went to the movies with a mentality of going out for entertainment.

   You can watch anytime, and you can go anytime. They buy a ticket and go to the cinema at any time, start watching from halfway through, and then stop watching when they see the next episode when they enter the theater, get up and go out. "

"Moreover, during the Great Depression, there was a lack of entertainment. Movies were relatively cheap entertainment, so the box office exploded. I still have an impression of the movie theaters in the Roosevelt era. Many children took the money from their parents and spent time in the movie theaters. One afternoon. That's when I fell in love with movies."

   "So the decline in movie viewing is because of the popularity of TV?"

   "The number of viewers has been stable in the United States for many years, so you don't have to worry about him at all. Your professor is really worried. It's a drama he likes very much, and it's not doing well at the box office now."

"People are more willing to watch exploitative films with action, eroticism, and violence as their selling points. Besides, big factories are gradually making these exploitative films with big budgets. Big productions attract more people to watch. Your professors can't see it. The Billy Wilder, Lubitsch, Chaplin of his youth are full of artistically thought-provoking feature films."

   "Hollywood's box office records are created after the 1970s, so there is no such saying that this market is about to die"

  Thanks to Roger Coleman for answering the question, Ronald understands better: the films before and after the popularization of television are actually two things. Before the movie theater was like a TV in the living room, people would go to the movie theater every night to watch it.

   Now, people only go out to the cinema if they feel they really want to see a certain movie. Otherwise, I would rather sit on the living room sofa and watch TV.

   "Hi, Julia. I'm Ronald. Why did my professor drop us today? Is the film industry really in decline now?"

"Oh, it's that old stubborn, he's always like this. But he's not completely nonsense. In the 1970s, it was true that many studios were on the verge of bankruptcy. Universal and Paramount's Hollywood studios were all because there were no movies and lack of maintenance. collapsed."

"But this situation was turned around by your former boss, Roger Coleman. He unearthed Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and others, and made a film by Dennis Hope" Easy Rider', which completely abandoned the traditional Hollywood shooting methods, was an unexpected success at the box office.

   This once again made capital have a strong interest in the film industry, followed by a series of box office blockbusters. "

"Like Coppola's 'The Godfather', Peter Bogdanovich's 'Paper Moon', and Martin Sykoseth's 'Mean Streets,' all unearthed by Roger Coleman The movie wizards. Let Hollywood become a dream base again.”

   "Speaking of which, you also came out of Roger Coleman's place, oh ha ha ha."

   This makes Ronald very embarrassed. They are all talents discovered by Roger Coleman. He has not officially directed a movie yet, and everyone else is already famous all over the world.

   "Okay, so, actually, Hollywood may have had a crisis before, but now it's recovering?"

   "Of course, otherwise how could we open a casting studio? With so many actors, it definitely means that there is no major crisis in the industry."

   Ronald then called...

   "Hi Jim, are you all right?"

   "Hey, Ronnie, why are you free to see me?" Cameron was delighted, having just finished special effects work on Roger Coleman's $2 million masterpiece "Battle of the Stars."

   "That's it..." Ronald repeated the professor's dismissal.

   "He knows shit." Cameron exclaimed. "I was at UCLA, and at USC, and saw a lot of this self-righteous garbage."

   "They say every day that movies are dying, that art is gone, and people now only make exploitative films. Ask them, which movie have you made? I'm sure they can't tell."

   "Have you heard a sentence? Those who are capable, make movies; those who are incapable, go to college to teach movies." Cameron is still the same, and doesn't like the clichés taught in school.

   Looking through the small book, who else can I ask for advice? Walter Murkey of San Francisco, who I don't know very well, might as well write him a letter.

   "Dear Mr. Murzy,

  I am Ronald Lee. You may remember me seeing your test screening of Apocalypse Now at New World Pictures in Los Angeles and I asked some questions.

  Thanks to your love, the honey you made by hand tastes great.

  I'm currently studying film and TV production at NYU's Tesse School of the Arts, and I've run into a problem, I'd love to hear from you..."

   (end of this chapter)