Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 241 Are you ready?

   "Are you ready?" Agent Richard asked Ronald with a smile when he received Ronald at the boarding gate at Los Angeles Airport.

   "What are you going to do?" Ronald wore a dark blue top, gray pants, and polished brown-red leather shoes. Carrying a suitcase, Ronald waved goodbye to several beautiful blond flight attendants in uniform.

  People rely on clothes, Ronald's body shape that he has exercised all the year round, coupled with the suits handmade by the red gang tailors, so that the flight attendants of Pan Am Airline take the initiative to talk to him.

   However, I learned that he claimed to be a film director, and the beautiful flight attendants who often fly to the Los Angeles-New York line thought that such a young Ronald was jokingly trying to catch them, and said goodbye to him jokingly without leaving a note.

   "Are you ready to compete for a 'fast-paced' director?" Richard took Ronald's luggage with a smile and put it in the trunk of his car.

   "Is that a question? Otherwise, what am I doing in Hollywood?" Ronald sat in the co-pilot and fastened his seat belt. Richard's new car is a white corolla from Dongying, which he bought with a commission from Ronald. It looks small from the outside, but has a large interior space.

Richard put on the file, "Director is the most critical position in a film, it is related to the success or failure of the film's box office. It is also related to my income and my future at CAA. You are competing for the director position for the first time, I think Ask your mental state, it seems that you are in a good state of mind.”

   "I've been preparing for this day, don't make me nervous, Richard." Ronald joked.

Richard turned the wheel, got on the road, and said, "It's an interesting situation, David Lynch dragged Tom Mount for a long time, and he also played with our CAA, and he has now taken over the Italian producer Rafaela. Projects by De Laurentiis —

  A film adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel "Dune", in charge of the script and director. "

   "Isn't he not interested in sci-fi movies?" Ronald remembers Lynch's reasoning everywhere after he turned down the directorship of the next Star Wars.

   "Lynch said that wasn't his original words. He said his original words were, 'I'm not interested in any sci-fi movie unless it incorporates other, deeper human elements.'"

   "Cough cough", Ronald choked himself with laughter, doesn't this make George Lucas more uncomfortable? Alluding to the lack of deep humanity in Star Wars.

"Anyway, that's his choice. And he said something similar when he turned down Universal President Tom Mount's invitation to direct 'Fast-Paced Richmond High.' I heard Nisita say, he said …”

   "What he said was that the script was interesting, but it wasn't my thing." Richard drove the car directly to CAA's office, and Nisita asked Ronald to come to the office for an interview first.

   "Then Lynch wished everyone good luck, and without saying anything else or giving Tom Mount a chance to save, he drove his own Volkswagen Beetle away."

  Nisita shook his head, this kind of maverick artist demeanor is sometimes really annoying. The Hollywood star's tactful and flattering way of rejecting each other's speech is the most normal way of doing things in the film industry.

   "I don't quite understand what's going on. Didn't Lynch express great interest? Why did he suddenly refuse?"

   "Producer Rafaela de Laurentiis gave his 'Dune' film a production budget of more than $30 million, and Lynch holds the writing and directing rights."

   "Oh", so it was, Ronald understood. "Fast-Paced Richmond High" is just a teen comedy with a budget of $3 million, one-tenth the size of the former. Moreover, in this kind of studio project, the director's power is not so great, and it will be restricted by the producer.

   "This Italian Laurentiis is very courageous." Ronald was very envious of Lynch being able to play such a big production.

   "That's not true, he also has a last resort." Nisita shook his head and explained to Ronald.

   It turns out that Laurentiis bought the adaptation rights to Dune from another producer. At the end of this year, this adaptation right will expire, and if it is not filmed, it will automatically return to the hands of author Frank Herbert.

  Laurentiis originally found Ridley Scott to direct the film in 1979, but such a big sci-fi movie is complicated to make and takes a long time to prepare. In addition, the funds are not in place, and there has been no auction.

  Scott wasted two years on this project after auctioning off the blockbuster "Alien", and in the end he got nowhere.

  The schedule for his next project "Blade Runner" is approaching, but he has no choice but to give up the director of Dune.

  Laurentiis had to negotiate with him to extend the adaptation contract in order to prevent the automatic transfer of $0 of the adaptation rights back to the author. The author Frank Herbert asked for more shooting budget before he was willing to sign. In the end, Laurentiis had to renew the contract at a high price, and by the way, he also signed the adaptation contract for the two sequels of Dune.

   This David Lynch project is actually a trilogy.

   "Lynch calls this the adult version of 'Star Wars.'"

   Well, this time I offended Lucas again. Fortunately, they are open-minded and do not have the same knowledge as you. Ronald thought.

   "So who are my competitors?" Ronald asked.

   "Tom Mount seems to have someone he likes, and we are still intensifying our inquiries." Nisita tapped the table with her fingers, "However, this is not the biggest reason why I invited you here today."

   Ronald leaned back, made himself sit more comfortable, and raised his hand to signal Nisita to continue.

   "This year's major studios have begun to recognize the importance of teen films, and many studios' teen-themed films will start shooting in the second half of this year."

  Nisita put a diagram drawn by the secretary on the table and turned it around for Ronald to look at.

   "Disney's 'Texas' is an adaptation of SE Hinton's novel."

   Ronald nodded and found the movie that had already been launched on the chart. Produced by Kinneyman, it tells the story of small-town high school students in Oklahoma. The male and female leads are people he knows, Matt Dillon, and Meg Tilly.

   "20th Century Fox's 'Lights Out'" continued Nisita.

   Ronald's finger slides down. The cadet film, which Fox president Shirley Lansing personally gave the green light, is the story of a cadet who resists the developer's demolition of the cadet. Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise are in the cast.

   "And Grease 2" Nisita continued.

   "What, is Grease 2 activated again?" Ronald asked as he slid his hand down.

   "Yes, after Universal gave up, Sterwood, the owner of RKO Records, decided to invest 6 million US dollars himself, found Paramount and invested 6 million, and started the project again."

   This is another high school student-themed movie, about high school students in the 1950s and 1960s, the sequel to the hit movie.

   "Why are there so many high school students themes?" Ronald swiped his finger down, and the next one was "fast-paced Richmond High School."

   "And that's not counting the other series of teen movies that don't focus on high school life, next year is going to be a high school movie year, Ronald."

   "So?" Ronald is not afraid of competition. From a certain perspective, this gathering phenomenon shows that major studios are beginning to pay attention to this theme, and it is predicted that the market will explode next year. If it can be directed well, the market prospect is very good.

Nisita smiled. He liked Ronald's attitude that he was not afraid of competition. With a nomination for best screenplay in hand, Ronald was barely qualified. He was a director who was looking for opportunities in the eight major studios. .

  No, there are only seven now.

   "I have no doubts about your abilities. Paula, Richard, and all of our colleagues at CAA have confidence in you. Except maybe for a few Axxholes," Nisita said.

   "I mean, we are willing to do our best to help you get this directorship, but this year's situation is really special. You may not know that United Arts is about to be acquired by MGM."

"What? Why?" Ronald was surprised. United Arts is a studio founded by comedy master Chaplin and is known for giving directors the greatest artistic decision-making power. MGM is played by Las Vegas tycoons. I'm dying, how come you want to swallow the art now?

   "It has a lot to do with director Michael Cimino." Nisita handed him a newspaper.

   Ronald took a look, it was The Hollywood Reporter. There's a column on it that Nisita used a red pencil to hook out for Ronald to see.

   "This week's box office?" Ronald looked down suspiciously.

   "Look at this year's box office results. For the first time in America's history, the weekly movie box office has been published in the newspapers."

  Ronald looked down and saw that it was almost the summer season this year, and there was no movie with a total box office of more than 35 million US dollars. The Western with Diane Lane was also in it, and it was a fiasco at just over $500,000.

   "Heaven's Gate" is a little better, already $3 million. But considering its $44 million production budget...

"Michael Cimino asked to take back the re-edited Heaven's Gate, and it failed again at the box office. Now with this weekly box-office disclosure, audiences are watching the charts to pick movies, so no one is going to see them. .

   United Arts' parent company, Pan Am, has decided to sell the studio that made the company a laughing stock, just as MGM is looking at its distribution network. "

   "Cimino is considered to have brought down a movie studio by himself?" Ronald shook his head, which is also considered powerful.

  Nisita is very serious, "The bad things this fat man did, not only sentenced him to death in Hollywood, but also had a great impact on the entire film industry.

   On the one hand, this year's movie box office was very bad, and on the other hand, newspapers announced weekly box office results to add fuel to the flames. Cinema chains are getting pickier about the studio's films.

  If last weekend's box office results were not good, the film will be eliminated immediately this week, and the number of cinemas will be reduced.

   They are still announcing the box office results on TV. Many American families look at the box office rankings on TV to decide whether to drive to the cinema to watch a movie. "

  Nisita turned on the TV and pressed the play button of the video recorder, a box office table popped up, and the host was briefly commenting on each movie.

   "I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked.

"Because the film market is shrinking rapidly, the box office this year has fallen by more than 40% compared to the same period last year. This method of publishing box office numbers has put more pressure on the studios. The result of this pressure transmission is that the director is particularly harsh.

   Especially if you are a rookie director, if your debut film does not do well at the box office, it may be difficult to have the opportunity to direct a movie in the future. "

   "I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked again.

"There are several reasons. The first is because the ticket prices have gone up, and then there are no big movies this year, and the economy is not good enough to watch movies. In fact, there are more movies released this year than the same period last year. This That is to say, the market has more stringent requirements for film quality.

   And your worst case scenario is that of the four high school movies made this year, fast-paced Richmond High has the smallest budget.

The budget of   Grease 2 of 12 million may still increase. The 14 million of the lights out, even the most moneyless Disney-invested Texan, has 6 million, which is twice as much as you. "

   "I may not have made it clear, Mr. Nisita," Ronald said.

   "I understand the 'fast pace' of my screenwriting, the budget is at a disadvantage in several similar movies, and I also know that if the box office is not good, the future director career will be very difficult.

   But which year is it not difficult to be a director? Whoever it is, even in the golden age of Hollywood, if the film does not sell well, there will be no film.

   All these difficulties will not dampen my enthusiasm for wanting to direct a film.

   So, so what? "Ronald spread his hands, expressing that he was not afraid of the challenge.

   "Very good!" Nisita stopped wordy and folded her hands together on the table, "So you're ready, Ronald."

   "I'm ready, how about you?"

   (end of this chapter)