Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 110 Interview

  In the offices of the BBDO agency on Madison Street, Ronald and his agent Eddie waited for the ad creative director to be summoned.

  The secretary came to them and said, "Director Darcy Maguire will meet them in the conference room."

  The two entered the conference room. At the end of the long table, only a woman was looking at the documents in her hand. The TV on the wall was playing the clip of "Rock High School" shot by Ronald. This is a video tape made by the agent Eddie, and together with Ronald's resume, it has been put into many advertising agencies.

   This lady is pretty, about 30 years old, with blonde hair. Wear a white blazer with pants instead of a skirt.

Madam    didn't greet them either, Eddie and Ronald looked at each other, pulled out the chairs and sat down without saying a word. After a few minutes, still no man named Darcy Maguire came in.

   Ronald has been observing this lady, and he thinks that the clothes this person is wearing seem to be of very expensive fabrics and the latest designs. Well-manicured hairstyles and well-maintained nails are estimated to be expensive. Ronald noticed that she wasn't wearing a ring on her ring finger.

   Then she thought that she had been looking at them without looking at them, but turned over the information in her hand, as if there was some wealth code on Ronald's resume that needed to be carefully studied. Ronald had some guesses in his heart.

   Eddie couldn't hold himself back and tapped the conference table with his fingers, "This is Ronald Lee, I'm his agent Eddie Cohen, may I ask Darcy Maguire..."

  Ronald held Eddie's hand, motioned him to stop, then smiled and said to the blonde lady, "I think you should be called Darcy Maguire...Miss?"

Miss Maguire smiled with satisfaction, closed the document in her hand, and stretched out her hand across the conference table, "Hello, I think you are Ronald, just call me Darcy." Ronald and her Shake hands.

   Eddie opened his mouth in surprise, but soon returned to his managerial character and began to sell Ronald to the other party.

Darcy Maguire listened to Eddie's introduction with a smile, "I have seen Ronald's resume, but what really touched me was the 'Rock and Roll High School' clip he directed. Here is the rock girl Liv Landau. Er's filming is very assertive, and I like this role very much. Women are not men's vassals, but people who have their own knowledge and ideas, and can also be professional managers."

   "I have no doubt that if Liv Randall enters the advertising industry, one day she will enter the management class like you, Miss Maguire." Ronald flattered along the line.

   "Call me Darcy, Ronald." Maguire was really rude this time.

   "The reason why I am in charge of the Chewels chewing gum project is also because the Hershey Company, this new chewing gum, is mainly aimed at the female market."

"The CareFree sugar-free chewing gum, which was promoted by the Hershey Company before, has a bad taste. Although it does not have the trouble of tooth decay, the taste is not good, and the sales in the female market are very poor. This time, the Chewels chewing gum is placed in the center of the chewing gum. Sugar substitute aspartame."

  Darcy Maguire picked up a few samples and threw them to Ronald and Eddie. This chewing gum is not a long piece, but a square shape like a cube, with a sweet core inside.

  Ronald peeled one and chewed it in his mouth. Sure enough, there was a sweet taste from the gum core, similar to corn syrup. It is much better than chewing sugar-free chewing gum, like the tasteless feeling that others have eaten.

   "Oh, this is really delicious." Eddie showed his liking with an exaggerated expression, "Can I get some samples? It's not available yet."

  Darcy Maguire was amused by his performance, "I'll give you all these." He pushed over several samples of various flavors on the table.

   She looked at Ronald and explained her creative idea:

"The main reason why I chose you to shoot this commercial is that among several candidate directors, you are the only one who can capture the confidence of an independent woman and a professional woman. I hope this commercial will also have the same taste. You If you have any ideas, you can put them forward, I only ask you one thing, not housewives, but professional women."

  Ronald touched his ears. In fact, it had nothing to do with him. It was entirely due to the casting. However, he still opened his mouth to explain how to shoot the taste of professional women.

"The first thing that needs to be solved is the casting. If we get Elizabeth Taylor, it will be difficult to play the feeling of a professional woman, although her acting is top-notch. We are looking for a face like Jane Fonda, which makes people look You can convince her that she is an independent professional woman."

  Darcy Maguire nodded frequently, she herself looked somewhat similar to Jane Fonda.

"If we're shooting young women, we also need to pay attention and pick those high school girls who are good at dance or sports. My experience is that girls who are good at dance and sports are more independent than cheerleading girls and more nerdy than nerds. The girls are more spiritual, and they are more likely to elicit male identification."

  Darcy Maguire smiled, "I was on the gymnastics team in high school, just in time for the Souville Union women's gymnastics team to visit Mi. My mother agreed for me to go to the gymnastics team, which gave me good training."

   said she handed Ronald and Eddie two ad creative files.

  Bingo!

  Ronald secretly called his luck, and he happened to mention the other party's strengths, and Darcy happened to be the director of this project again. It seems that there is no major problem with the advertising shooting business this time.

   Look at the creative in hand, two short commercials of 15 seconds. A girl from the gymnastics team took out Chewels chewing gum and said the slogan, "Why do I like Chewels chewing gum? Because it tastes better."

  The other is a gathering of white-collar workers who have just graduated from college. The head is still a woman, "Why do we prefer Chewels chewing gum? Because it tastes better!"

  Ronald thought for a moment, and briefly talked about how he would shoot these two commercials.

"I suggest that the gymnastics team shoot the uneven bars. I have seen it at the filming site of Rock High School. The audience's exclamation is the highest when it comes to the uneven bars moves. This shows that everyone has a higher degree of recognition for the thrilling moves on the uneven bars, and they generally feel that they can do uneven bars. Women are more powerful than balance beams, vaults and other equipment."

"As for white-collar workers who have graduated from college, I suggest that they dress closer to college uniforms. After all, many users of chewing gum are still in school, so try to dress as close as possible to them, which will enhance the sense of substitution and make them feel that they have graduated and will find similar Good job and Chewels gum."

  Darcy Maguire was quite satisfied, it was much better than the previous RSA production company who talked about art. What Ronald said was relatively plain, and it was all words that he could understand. It seems that the filming and production were not so difficult to understand, but some people deliberately said it in hype so that they could not understand it.

   "If you were to make these two ads, what difficulties would you have?"

  Ronald thought, this is the initial stage of winning the trust of the other party and entering the next stage of actual investigation.

   "I think what I need most is a woman who can do gymnastics, and she has to look in line with America's popular aesthetic, the so-called girl next door."

   said that, Ronald looked at Eddie, thinking that this time I will try my best to give you a chance.

   Eddie took over the conversation with a smile: "I have some information on girls who can gymnastics here. We can hold a joint audition and let the marketing staff of Hershey Company and Miss Maguire choose together with you."

   "I think it's a good idea, after all, you're the one who came up with the idea, and if you're willing to shoot, then we won't have to worry about it," Ronald added.

  Darcy Maguire was amused and laughed and waved, "I'm not old enough to play a 16-year-old high school student."

  The two sides negotiated some details and signed an agreement of intent. Ronald will act as the director to preside over the casting and shooting of these two commercials. BBDO will provide the venue and filming team.

   Out of BBDO's office, Ronald and Eddie were delighted. The two found a place to have a few drinks to celebrate.

   "I think, after a few more shoots like this, you can consider setting up an ad production company." Eddie suggested to Ronald.

   "Is this necessary?" Ronald was a little surprised.

"Of course, if it's just such an occasional shoot, it's not cost-effective to set up a team. But if you often have advertising projects and have your own long-term cooperation team, the degree of tacit understanding will be very important, which will make your shooting efficiency and quality improve a lot. ."

  …

  In the office of the president of the BBDO advertising company, Darcy Maguire, in front of his boss and partner, was arguing with another man.

   "Dan, this is my project, you have no right to interfere."

   "No, Darcy. Hershey is a key customer for our company, and I have other businesses in their hands, such as lucrative chocolate advertising, and I won't allow you to mess around and destroy our relationship with Hershey."

   "Dan! Why do you say I'll destroy the relationship with Hershey? My project idea will make their products fly."

"Just relying on that hairy boy to be the director? We should be looking for Ridley Scott's RSA company, so the endorsement of previous qualifications is what our big company needs, not an exploitative movie you said. Several shots of the film were shot well."

"Isn't the commercial just a matter of a few shots? You're British, and it's just RSA that favors your compatriots. And I'm not deaf and blind, Ronald and RSA's director, Alan Parker, have some contradictions in the new film. You want to keep him out."

  Darcy Maguire directly exposed Dan's thoughts, which made Dan, who was at the same level as him, very angry and wanted to fight back.

  The boss stopped them from attacking each other, thought about it and said:

   "I don't care what kind of grievances Ronald and RSA have, and I don't care what kind of grievances you have, I just want a good result."

"Darcy, you still get Ronald Lee to shoot a version of your ad, Dan, you get RSA to do a version of your ad. I'll give you the same budget and put it in Cincinnati and Cleveland, and a month later, who can To drive more sales, we'll put someone in charge of the entire project."

   (end of this chapter)