Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 208 Undercover High School

  Cameron Crowe is slightly older than Ronald but looks more like a high schooler than Ronald. He has long, mid-parted hair, shorter than the Beatles and longer than the bob. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, and was carrying a backpack.

   He is the author of the novel Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

  Ronald was amazed at his outfit, more of a real teenager than an author.

  The agent Richard asked the author of the novel to meet Ronald through Universal Pictures. After the two authors had introduced each other, Cameron Crowe handed Ronald a book with a blank cover.

"Here's the sample book, Simon and Schuster Booked the novel for publication early next year, and they gave me a contract two years ago, and I went undercover for a year at Claremont High School in my hometown of San Diego. Then I wrote the novel. Universal Pictures was very satisfied with the sample book, and gave me an option contract to buy the film adaptation rights of the novel."

  Ronald took the book and flipped through it. The book was less than 250 pages long. It was a youth novel, and it must have been read on the plane.

   "Going back to high school undercover must be difficult, right? Do you have to be very careful to be discovered that you are an undercover writer?"

   "On the contrary, I was undercover at Claremont High School for 10 months and no one ever found out that I was an adult. By prom, the principal had even forgotten who I was." Crow giggled.

   "He cross-examined me for half an hour, and finally he agreed to go undercover after knowing that I had written a biography for singer and movie star Chris Christopherson."

   Ronald was also laughed at by Crow. He liked Crow very much. After staying in Hollywood for a long time, he met a writer who usually does not perform. The two chatted very happily.

"Actually, I think that anyone who goes back to high school can quickly integrate with teenagers, and of course I take advantage of being young." Cameron Crowe continued to talk about his own experience, "The memories of those teenagers are just Sealed in our memory, when the right situation comes, they are quickly evoked."

   Ronald nodded, and he felt the same way. "I think so too. When I was revising the script for 'Famous Around the World', I was with some art high school students, and I quickly understood their thoughts, and high school memories would flood out like a floodgate."

"That's right," Cameron Crow was glad to have a playwright who thought like him. "The real hard part is growing up again. When I went to prom at Claremont High, my mother complained, Mellen, you were a very mature kid and you never got excited about prom and driving a car to prom."

"Hahaha……"

   Ronald flipped through the novel, which contained many detailed descriptions of high school life. It begins and ends with two siblings from a middle-class family, Brad and Stacey. There are many stories of their own feelings and friends' stories interspersed in the middle, which is a group portrait of a teenager growing up.

   He put the sample book of the novel on the table, closed the cover, and said sincerely to Cameron Crowe:

"Cameron, I love the beginning and the end of your novel, and I think I'll finish it soon. But you don't need my help, you can do the adaptation yourself. You're the best person to come here. The person who wrote this script.

   There is no secret to the so-called script format, you will learn it after you buy a few and read it. But the emotions of those characters, the development of the story, the detailed handling, is something only you can do in the world. "

  Cameron Crowe scratched his head like a high school student. "Ronald, that's why I asked an experienced screenwriter to help me."

He took the book, turned the page, pointed to each name and said to Ronald, "This Mark, nicknamed 'The Mouse', is my good friend, he is a nerd Geek, very good at understanding technology products , but not very good at making girlfriends.

   This was my first friend at Claremont High, Linda. She's a socialite, known to everyone at school. The protagonist, Stacey, is Linda's best friend.

   This is Jeff Spiccoli, he is a good surfer, sometimes his brain is not very smart, but surfing is professional level.

  …

   All of these people are real people I know and I can't let go of any of them. The movie is only 90 minutes long and cannot accommodate all the characters and plots in the novel. My emotions made it impossible for me to choose, and my lack of experience didn't allow me to analyze which episode was important.

  I heard Richard say on the phone, you don't want to take my credit, I appreciate it. But I do need your help, otherwise he can't turn into a successful movie, and I'm sorry for my friends, I have a camaraderie with these characters and their archetypes, and I want them to be reproduced on the screen. "

   Ronald nodded and put the novel in his bag. "I understand your creative impulse. I will read the novel first and then decide. What does Universal think of your adaptation?"

  Cameron Crowe has written a slightly more detailed story than the outline and submitted it to Universal.

"They had a lot of opinions and wanted me to cut half of the characters from the novel in the script. Focus the story on Brad and Stacey. But I don't think they understand the story, it's a teen growing up The story, without anyone, is imperfect.

  Adolescents are hopeful for the future, and they think more about the world than most adults. Because they are so busy with trivial things as adults that they forget who they are. This age may be the most active stage of most people's thinking, full of thinking and experience of life and the whole world. "

   "I understand what you're thinking, you want this to be a teenage group show."

"That's it!"

  Ronald also scratched his head. Like the last book "Famous in the World", which he participated in the revision, it is a loose group script without a main story.

   "My main focus now will be on the sequel to Universal's other movie script, 'Grease', so I'm afraid I won't have the extra energy to revise your script for the rest of this year."

"It doesn't matter, Simon, Schuster and Universal hope that after the novel goes on sale next year, after understanding the feedback and opinions of readers, the script will be determined. Now the editors of the publishing house are very optimistic about the novel, but the market reaction cannot be predicted in advance after all. ."

   Ronald understands that Universal's investment and the direction of the script may need to be adjusted according to the sales of the novel. So he agreed to Crowe and seriously considered participating in the work of adapting the novel into a screenplay.

  …

After    and Cameron Crowe parted ways, Ronald had a juvenile novel in his luggage, and Universal's revisions to the sequel to 'Grease'.

   After the high-intensity meeting, Ronald boarded the plane back to New York. The schedule was very tight, and I didn't have time to meet old friends such as James Cameron and Gail Hurd. Called Gail and found out that she was valued by Roger Coleman and had begun to oversee some of the crew's progress and acted as a producer.

   Cameron got another special effects model job for Roger Coleman on "Out of the Galaxy". He is also a well-known low-cost special effects specialist in Hollywood.

   On the plane, Ronald finished reading Cameron Crowe's novel "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" in one sitting.

  The novel is really fast-paced, more than 200 pages long, telling the stories of seven or eight high school students. In addition to the protagonists Stacey and the Brad brothers and sisters, there are also surfer Jeff, nerdy mouse Mark who has a crush on Stacey, Stacey's good friend social queen Linda, and poor kid from a poor family, Mike...

   Ronald was attracted by the story and unknowingly arrived in New York.

   "Can't watch it, now I have to concentrate on the sequel to Grease." Ronald stuffed the novel into his bag and called a taxi back to his aunt Karen's house.

"Ronald, it's time for America's quadrennial election. You are 20 years old and you can vote. Can you tell your aunt which candidate you plan to vote for?" At the dinner table welcoming Ronald home, Aunt Karen asked Ronald in a slightly serious tone.

  Yeah, I was not old enough for my last election. This is something my aunt takes very seriously, and she thinks it is her duty. Ronald didn't care much about it, and if Aunt Karen hadn't mentioned it, he'd have forgotten about it.

"I haven't thought about it yet. I'm not very satisfied with the current commander. The oil price and the economy are not good. But the governor of California used to be an actor, and I don't know if he can really change all of this." Ronald decided to first Drag it for a while to understand first.

   "That's right. The Women's Voting Alliance will hold its second televised candidate debate next week. Watch it together, it will help you make a better choice."

   "Okay, okay..." Ronald agreed vaguely.

   (end of this chapter)