Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 209 Generation Gap

"This is Jane Fonda's gift to you, a signed photo of herself. I heard that you were not satisfied with her 'returning' role, and she specifically asked me to tell you that she will return in the next movie 'Golden Pond'. of traditional American values, to be a traditional daughter and wife."

   After dinner, the three gathered around the TV to drink tea. Ronald took out an envelope and handed it to Aunt Karen.

   "Oh, really?" Aunt Karen opened the envelope, took out the autographed photo, and found that it had her name on it, which was signed by Jane Fonda for her, "What story does her new film tell?"

"It's a story about a daughter reconciling with her parents. The family was in the lake house. The daughter, father, grandson, and three generations understood the conflict and felt the warmth of the family again. It was with her father Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn. played together."

  The more Aunt Karen looked at the gift, the more satisfied she became. "Jane looks like a good wife and a good mother. She should play more of this role. Acting with her own father is also very good."

   "It's the first time I've received a gift from a big star. I have to give her a gift. What do you think is a good gift for a star?"

   Ronald was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that Aunt Karen really regarded it as a gift from ordinary people. There was still a generation gap between herself and her. But it's not very good to tell some unfortunate truth now.

   "Actually, it's better to bake cookies, but long-distance transport is afraid of moisture, and it's not as good as freshly baked cookies."

"Yeah, if she comes to our house, I'll bake her cookies." Aunt Karen put the photo back into the envelope and put it away carefully, "Why do you think I gave her two pairs of leg warmers that I knitted myself. Like? I read interviews in magazines and Jane Fonda can dance ballet."

"Really? I didn't expect my aunt to be a fan of Jane Fonda." Ronald thought to himself, "No wonder she played the cheating soldier's wife in Return of Honor, and my aunt was so angry. The star she liked played the same role as herself, It didn't turn out to be a good guy."

   "This is a good idea. After the leg warmer business opened, you don't knit very much, Auntie."

"Yeah, all my friends from the Veterans Club are knitting now. I can give them more income. I can't compete with them. But the quality of my knitting is better than theirs." Aunt Karen happily took out Two pairs of leg warmers, one long and one short, are all purple.

"I was going to give it to your daughter... hey, forget it, let's not talk about it." Aunt Karen handed Ronald the leg warmer, "I will write a letter to Jane, telling her that I like the plot of her new film very much, I hope Then I can see her and her father Henry perform on the same stage." Then she went to the drawer to take out a pen and paper and began to write a letter to the idol.

   Although Aunt Karen was born in the late 1940s, she still has some old-fashioned style. Amelica was born before World War II and experienced the Great Depression as a child, known as the "Silent Generation". They believe that some words are not suitable for speaking, and it is good to understand each other.

   And at that time, telephones were not yet popular, so it was the habit of close friends to keep communicating.

"I'm afraid I'll have to find her agent before the gift can really be delivered to Jane Fonda. But it's a unique gift, and Jane shouldn't receive it often. It just so happens that she's not doing aerobic yoga. What the hell?"

   "Huh?" Ronald remembered that Jane Fonda seemed to be shooting some videotape, maybe even an advertisement.

   "I'm going to call the agent," Ronald said.

"Mr. Nisita, I'm Ronald. My aunt Karen is a fan of Miss Jane Fonda and she was so happy to see the autographed picture Jane gave her and wanted to give her a gift back.  … Yes, herself Knitted from wool, Jane can use it when she does yoga in the winter... well, thank you for your help."

   "My agent promised to communicate with Jane's agent, and I will deliver the leg warmers to her." Ronald came over to his aunt to take credit.

   "Okay, Ronnie. Here's my letter." The aunt put a sealed letter and leg warmers together and handed it to Ronald.

   Back to his apartment, Ronald began to revise the script again, removing the background of civil rights in the 1960s and the Vietnam War. The story of the sequel to "Grease" is very bland, not much different from the original.

   The 1950s was a golden age for America. After the war, the European economy was stagnant, and many daily industrial products were made by America. At that time, children from ordinary families could find a blue-collar job and earn a good income even if they could not go to university.

So the children in the original work did not go to college, but became car mechanics, gas station workers, and makeup artists, which also allowed them to earn enough money to buy a house in the city and live with their high school classmates. Marry and have children without worries.

   Now it’s the 1980s, blue-collar workers who do manual labor are no longer respected by society, and those working in fast food chains like McDonald’s are all teenagers.

  Young people have no sympathy for these jobs at all. They just go to earn some pocket money and don’t want to be blue-collar workers all their lives. On the contrary, they all hope to have enough education, to be able to find a job in an office, pay social security, and then buy a house in the suburbs and live with people of the same income and social class. This is the new generation of American dream. .

  Thinking of this, Ronald was even more worried. He dropped the original script, and the red pencil that marked the script.

   Ronald felt that if the story of the original was simply repeated, the box office might not be very good. Although the box office of a movie has little to do with the screenwriter, if you can write a movie with a good box office, you can also get a bonus as a screenwriter and have the opportunity to direct your own movie.

   "Grease" is a well-known Hollywood musical that ran on Broadway for five or six years before being remade into a movie. Many small-town teenagers who did not have the opportunity to watch Broadway live in New York could enjoy the classic Broadway musicals for three or four dollars. In 1978, it was a very cost-effective thing.

   But let them go to a sequel movie with a basically similar plot?

   And the sequel has not been polished on Broadway like the original, and lost the hero and heroine of Travolta and Olivia? I'm afraid not many people will go.

   Ronald opened the apartment window to let in the fresh air to help himself think.

   And today's teenagers are not so eager for Broadway musicals. Ronald remembers cousins ​​Donna, and Diane Lane, both expressing disdain for the Broadway musical.

  What they want to see is the real thing, "Grease" dramas that strip away all the hardships and hardships of life and leave only romantic imaginations no longer appealing to teenagers.

  Era times always have their imprints, which will leave traces in the works of art at that time. People at the time may not have felt it, but when they look at it decades later, they will strongly feel a trend of thought of the times.

   1965 marked the end of the baby boomer generation. And the first batch of babies born after the baby boom are already 15 years old, just the age to enter high school, and they are also the biggest potential audience for the sequel to "Grease".

   Are they really going to like the "greasiness" tone of the teens at the end of the baby boomer generation two years ago?

   Baby boomers are all grown up. From 1965 onwards, what kind of movies will the new generation of audiences, including cousins ​​Donna, Diane Lane, and Brooke Shields, like it?

  Ronald put aside the unanswered questions, closed the window, and went to the desk again.

   The sequel to "Grease" is still a romantic comedy. Since it is a romantic drama, it is necessary to create some contradictions between the male and female protagonists, so that the two are separated by contradictions, and finally get married after overcoming the contradictions.

   First of all, we have to rule out the most common parental factor in romantic comedies. Romeo and Juliet-style family obstacles do not exist in the "Grease" universe. The background is all in the story of high school, and it is impossible to have parents who do not let men and women together.

  The original work is based on social contradictions, or in the context of the campus, it is the contradictions of different student classes. The most powerful people at school weren't Geek, the nerd with the best academic grades, or Sport, who was good at sports, but a bunch of gang-up, high-ranking groups in small groups.

   is the so-called tough guy gang for boys and pink girls for girls. In the end, Sandy, the heroine played by Olivia Newton-John, gave up her identity as a good girl and took the initiative to put on a leather jacket and dress up as a pink girl, which ended the gap between her and her boyfriend. together.

   Why don't you turn it upside down this time?

   Ronald sat down and started typing quickly on the typewriter. The hero Michael has become a scholar who is familiar with Shakespeare, and the heroine Stephanie has become the new leader of the Pink Girl.

   In order to get close to Stephanie, who fell in love at first sight, Michael wants to join the tough guy gang. But tough guys must have motorcycles.

  Michael bought a second-hand Harley motorcycle with the money he earned by doing homework for others. When the tough guy gang and the school gang were fighting, he became famous with a motorcycle and captured Stephanie's heart.

   But Stephanie didn't know that under the motorcycle rider wearing the helmet, was the schoolmaster Michael. While looking forward to a romantic love with a motorcycle rider, he asked Michael to help him with his Shakespeare reading homework.

  The two lovers have a second real face under the external image. Xueba Michael is actually a motorcycle expert and a gang hero. Stephanie, the leader of the Pink Girls, also wants to get good grades in private and have the opportunity to go to college.

   In the end, of course, Stephanie knew that Michael was the hidden hero, and Michael also helped Stephanie with her homework and learned her cleverness, and the two had a happy ending.

   Such a plot setting leaves enough space for composition and choreography. For example, Michael captured the heart of the Pink Girl gang leader Stephanie in the motorcycle war, Stephanie's secret love for the helmeted motorcycle rider, Michael and Stephanie discussing Shakespeare literature, and finally Michael took off the helmet at the graduation party, all can arrange suitable singing and dancing.

   And the dual identities set up, Stephanie has a crush on Michael's hidden identity, a motorcycle knight, and treats the public identity of a scholar as a friend, and Michael eats his own jealousy.

  Stephanie went from secretly in love with the hidden identity of the knight Michael to gradually falling in love with the open identity of the scholar Michael, and finally the two became one and became the perfect lover.

   This is a very classical love drama conflict caused by dual identities, and there are many scenes that can be done.

   Ronald got inspiration and worked **** the typewriter all night. When it was dawn, he finally sorted out the manuscript and read it aloud before drowsiness struck. Then went to sleep very satisfied.

   "Ronald, Ronald..." Ronald, who was asleep, faintly heard a girl shouting her name, but couldn't see her face clearly.

   "Who?"

   "It's me, Donna, you lazy bum." Cousin Donna patted his face.

   "Ah, Donna. I didn't sleep last night, I was working on the script." Ronald got up sleepily, "Why are you here? Don't you need to go to school?"

"Today is Columbus Day, a public holiday." Donna said angrily, "A woman said she couldn't get through on your phone. She found our number in the phone book, and my mother asked me to see if you were at home. "

   "Oh", Ronald remembered yesterday, in order to catch up with the draft, he unplugged the phone line and avoided the sales calls selling all kinds of things. Forgot to plug it in before going to bed.

   "Woman, who is it?"

   "I don't know, she said that her movie premiered in New York today, and she wanted to invite you to the hotel to chat. This is her name and phone number."

   Ronald picked up the note and looked at it. It only had the letters PJ, and a hotel's switchboard phone number and room number.

   (end of this chapter)