Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 249 The Big House and the Little Bee

   Spielberg's big house, not far from Universal Studios.

After "Jaws" saved the American film industry and created a summer miracle, Universal built Spielberg's $1 million home with a studio, recreation room, and resting place .

   Spielberg sat on the sofa in the living room, took out the latest version of ET's script revised by screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and handed it to Ronald, who was visiting at night.

  Ronald took a look, and on the right side of the script was pasted some pages with post-it notes. After flipping through it, he saw that these were the pages that had been replaced with blue paper, where the latest version of the script was revised.

  Ronald quickly finished the book. ET's new version of the script removed a lot of dramatic conflicts, but instead added a lot of friendship between children and ET aliens. The whole film does not have many violent conflicts, and there are no villains. It can be said to be a warm story.

   Of course, there are aliens in the story. I don’t know if they are evil or kind. Children should still be very curious about this unknown creature.

   "What does ET look like?" Ronald asked.

   "It's a million-dollar question," Spielberg laughed, and Ronald, the young man, got straight to the point.

"Carlo Lamberti, the special effects modeler for 'Encounter of the Third Kind', is modeling ET, and all I can say is that he's an ugly and intelligent creature, like a combination of Hemingway and Einstein ."

   For this ET model, Universal's modelers have spent $700,000. Spielberg was completely dissatisfied, and found an old partner to remake it. Simberg, the president of MCA, is very supportive. Now the model has some appearance, it is ugly, but it is very gentle.

   "Puchi", Ronald couldn't help laughing. Spielberg had a great sense of humor, Hemingway was known for his ugly face, and Einstein was the smartest man on the planet. Put them together, that's not... eh.

   "Isn't that Master Yoda from Star Wars?"

"Hahaha, yes, George said the same." Spielberg also laughed. When George Lucas saw this description, his first reaction was the same, so he asked Lucas for Master Yoda's The copyright allowed him to make a cameo appearance in the movie.

   His relationship with Lucas is very strong. When George Lucas finished cutting "Star Wars", the special effects of the X-wing fighters and the TIE fighters at the end had not been added, and the air combat documentaries during World War II were used instead.

   Among the few directors who watched the preview, only he insisted that it was a movie that would sell well.

   Ronald said at this point, "Steven, thank you for inviting me to evaluate the script. But I don't think I have anything to offer. The charm of your films lies in the spectacles and monsters that give a real feel.

  I can't tell from the script, I'm afraid only in your own head can you know what it will look like after shooting and editing. "

   Spielberg nodded, this is also true, so he has to keep the ET model absolutely secret, and even the name of the crew's office has become "a boy's life" that confuses the outside world.

   "Your last assessment was interesting, so I asked you to chat and see if you could give me some inspiration."

   Ronald looked down at the script, pointed to a place and asked, "I see a scene where children lure ET aliens out and sprinkle chocolate chips all the way."

   "Yeah, don't you think this is bad? A different way?" Spielberg asked.

"No, I'm just on a whim," Ronald said. "Why not have Mars or Hershey's chocolate chips here and give a close-up? Like 007 Bond's Alfa Romeo, every Gives a lot of close-ups of his car every time.”

   "Genius idea, how did you come up with it?" Spielberg turned back and called his assistant, "Catherine, Catherine, can I trouble you to come here?"

   "I did a Hershey's Gum commercial, and there was a little plot. I just thought it looked like a commercial," Ronald replied.

   "Great idea. In the past, only car companies and airlines were willing to pay to show their products in movies. No FMCG companies have done it yet, we might as well give it a try."

  "Catherine," Spielberg said to the assistant who came in. "Send a memo to Mr. Simberg saying I want to try selling an ad for... Mars' M&Ms."

   Katherine took a quick note of Spielberg's thoughts and began drafting a memo.

   "Really awesome inspiration, it's also a million dollar idea. Ronald, what do you want?"

  If you have a new script, you can send it to me. I recently registered my own studio, An Bolin, and I am acquiring the script. If investors are satisfied, I can have the opportunity to direct it.

   You know, Robert Zemeckis, they all say he's my apprentice. He gave me a script recently and I told him to go back and polish it so I could pitch it to the studio. "

   "Spielberg also wants to be a producer." Ronald thought to himself, but he had already got the opportunity to direct, "Okay, I will consider a new script."

"I've always loved your movies, Steven. So when I start filming on my little production 'Fast-Paced Richmond High', can I have you there? I think that would give me a lot of affirmation and encouragement. "

   "What, what's the trouble with you?" Spielberg heard about Ronald's new project and quickly guessed Ronald's true intentions.

   "Yeah, I'm having a little trouble, so hopefully you'll be there to give me some support," Ronald admitted.

   "Catherine?" Spielberg turned to Katherine, "My schedule?"

   "Scheduled to shut down in late October." Kathryn Kennedy reported the date.

   "My movie reservations open at the end of October."

   "Okay, Catherine, take a note of the time and remind me then, I'll go to your crew to see it."

   "Thank you, Steven." Ronald didn't expect that his main purpose of coming today would be achieved so easily, and he quickly thanked him.

   "I'm very happy today, I'll show you my rec room and studio." Spielberg stood up and showed Ronald around the big house.

   "This is the latest arcade game, Little Bee, come and play." Spielberg turned on an arcade machine and tossed in two coins. Invite Ronald to play.

   Spielberg's character is like a big boy, in his eyes the movie is a game. Of course, because of his Jewish genetics, his business experience is also very good. He treats both business and movies as games, and he is also a genius.

   Ronald holds the joystick in his left hand and presses the button in his right hand to fire. There is a plane at the bottom of the screen, you can dodge the bullets from the enemy plane at the top of the screen left and right, or you can press the button to shoot bullets and shoot down the enemy plane.

  Ronald seems to have played this thing before, and he will get started quickly. Move left and right to dodge the bullets skillfully, knocking out a lot of the enemy planes above.

   "Oh, have you played before?" Spielberg exclaimed.

   "No, I just think it's easy. It's a problem of attention distribution. You can't dodge while aiming at the enemy's guns. You have to find a main direction of attention."

   As he was talking about the game, Ronald didn't pay attention and was killed by the enemy's bullet.

   "Hahaha." The two laughed.

   "You broke my record," Spielberg said, pointing to the caption on the screen.

   "Aha, let me leave a name." Ronald manipulated the joystick and typed the six letters of RONLEE on the screen, leaving his name on the high score record of this game console.

   Spielberg looked at Ronald and really felt that this young man was in his stomach. When other people come to visit the big house, they walk to this playroom with disapproval. Many people compliment him perfunctorily for keeping his childlike innocence.

   In fact, when Spielberg was a child, he was a lonely child with few friends. Only these toys and game consoles were his childhood "partners".

  Only Ronald really likes these toys. Looking at the level of playing "Little Bee", he must be a die-hard player.

   The two continued to visit the big house.

"I was at Universal and waited a long time for my first chance to direct. I liked movies so much, I sneaked into an empty office at Universal, pretended to be the management, went in and out of the set, and taught myself. a lot of things."

Spielberg chatted with Ronald along the way about his own history, "I was finally discovered and kicked out of the set. It was Mr. Simberg who gave me a chance. I directed the first time in my life when I was 22 years old. A short film Amberlin, which is why I used it as the studio's name."

   "This is my work room. It's a mess inside, don't move my stuff, or I won't be able to find it."

   Ronald looked up and saw that the room was filled with various props left over from Spielberg's filming, and many scripts were stacked on the big table.

"I started directing TV at 23, and I started making TV movies at 27. George Lucas also waited a long time for his first film. The first work is very important and does need support, you turn it on Remember to notify Catherine in advance, I will be there."

   "Thank you, Mr. Spielberg." Ronald once again sincerely thanked, with Spielberg's support, especially when he just shot the blockbuster movie "The Lost Ark of the Covenant".

   This is equivalent to borrowing his own reputation to endorse himself. As long as Steven appears on the set and says that Ronald did a good job, no one will be able to shake his position in the crew.

   "Is this the script you collected?" Ronald was grateful and saw several piles of scripts on the table.

   "Yes, this is the Zemeckis script I told you just now." Spielberg took out a copy and handed it to Ronald.

  Ronald took it and saw a weird name on it, "Back to the Future.

   Ronald opened the script and turned a few pages. He felt that the name was familiar, and he was about to continue and read the script carefully.

   "Ronald!" Spielberg shouted, Ronald came back to his senses.

   "You seem to like this script a lot? Take a look at it, give me an assessment, and I'll pass it on to Zemeckis."

   "Okay, no problem." Ronald took the script and followed the master out.

   went back to the living room, Ronald was about to leave. Finally, he remembered the crash course Coleman had given him in directing, and he wanted to ask Spielberg for some tips.

   "I don't have much know-how. Movies are as natural to me as eating and drinking. Maybe my reading comprehension ability is not good. I have liked to use images to tell stories since I was a child.

   I just want to say, don't forget that original idea. There were a lot of distractions and inspirations during filming, and it was easy to go astray. At this time, I tried my best to think about my original intention to make this film, and then I could get back on track. "

   (end of this chapter)