Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 257 Chapter 208 Countdown

  Timothy Hutton, and Tom Cruise starred in the absurd comedy "Lights Out", in which military cadets resisted the demolition of houses by real estate developers, has completed the editing of the entire film and started the internal preview.

  Through the test screening feedback, 20th Century Fox does not have much confidence in the box office prospects, and does not want to compete with big productions such as "ET" and "Rocky 3" for next year's summer slot.

   President Shirley Lansing decided to schedule the production with a budget of 14 million to the Christmas season at the end of the year, urging the director to make a second revision based on audience feedback.

  Disney-invested, Kinneyman as the producer of "Texas" has completed filming in the rural Oklahoma town of Tulsa, the hometown of the original author of the novel, SE Hinton.

  Because of the scene of the heroine Meg Tilly getting up in low-cut pajamas, adding some violent words, and the suspect using a gun after escaping from prison, Disney expects the film to receive a PG rating.

   This has a great conflict with Disney's principle of always G-level and attracting children to watch. Ron Miller, the president of Disney, spent a lot of energy to suppress the opposition of a group of old officials and insisted on releasing the film.

   But he was in charge of Disney as a door-to-door son-in-law and had to make a certain compromise with the conservatives led by Roy Disney Jr., his wife's cousin. "Texas" does not use the Disney logo in the title, but uses the publisher's brand "BuenaVista".

  Ron Miller decided to put this film with a production cost of 6 million in the later stage, as a test of the transformation direction of Disney's teenage live-action film, and put it on the big screen in July at the end of next summer's season.

  Paramount's teen film, the sequel to the hit musical "Grease 2," was a mess. Director Patricia Birch is inexperienced, and the following people are intrigued to cast their own people into this 12 million big production.

  There are those who have the power to compete for the protagonist and supporting roles, and those who have no power can also join a few singing and dancing groups. Every day, the casting conference is very lively.

   In addition to the heroine Birch who set Michelle Pfeiffer early, the candidates for the actor have been killed. Birch almost lost control of the crew, and the two producers were still arguing over the male lead as the crew began to operate.

  The script began to be further revised to accommodate different male lead candidates. If things go on like this, when the movie starts in November, the script may not be finalized. Director Birch's hair turned grey.

   Universal's teen film "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" is a $3 million small production. In addition to the American burger pulled by the young director and the sponsorship of Vans canvas shoes, the production budget is exactly 3.1 million.

  Assistant director Albert came to the production office to meet the young over-the-top director Ronald. The director picked him between him and the other two candidates, which left him with mixed feelings.

  Albert, who just entered the industry, was serious and responsible for his work. He once served as the first assistant director in "Cowboy". The movie was a big hit at the box office, and he got more job opportunities.

   The job of the first assistant director is to help the director manage all the personnel and processes on the set, allowing the director to focus on directing the performance. Whether the box office is good or not has little to do with him.

   But the three films after Albert all failed at the box office. Albert did not have a long-term co-director, and others disliked him for being unlucky and could not find a good job for a while.

   It happened that Universal's small production was recruiting, and the director chose him. He has a job and can support his family. But he was afraid that the film's failure to release would have a worse negative impact on his resume, and his future work would become a problem.

   "Hi, Al. The director is throwing a tantrum with the producer." He was called by the crew's director of photography, Matthew, whom they had known before.

   "Go to the office and wait, Ronald is waiting for you." Matthew reminded him and walked out.

  Al deepened his worries. This director is not only young, but it is the first time to make a film, and if he gets angry with the producer Lin Sen... Lin Sen recommended it himself.

  Many studios will provide young people who are directors for the first time with an experienced first assistant director to assist them in their journey. But this Ronald Lee... how come there was a conflict with the producer before filming started?

   He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

  Al pushed open the door and heard Ronald talking loudly to producer Lin Sen.

   "It's not fair, why do we put ads for Dolly Parton in the movie and she doesn't put ads for us?"

  Lin Sen smiled, he was also used to Ronald's preoccupied style.

"Comeon, Ronnie. Our 'Fast Tempo' is a period drama, and it's not normal to have a poster of them in front of the movie theater where the protagonist works. Dolly Parton's 'Best Chicken House in Texas' is a How do period dramas fit into our current story?"

   "Fair, fair, Mr. Linson. They can't just ask us to do this and that for free just because Ms. Mona in Texas got a budget of 30 million." Ronald replied.

  Ms. Mona is Dolly Parton's character in the movie, running a chicken house with many beautiful women.

  He had a relationship with Dolly Parton at the Oscars party, but it wasn't her opinion.

   "Okay, I'll go talk to the old men and ask their theatrical chain to add us some patch trailers. But you can't expect too much."

   "I see, it's better than nothing." Ronald knew that he had a small production of 3.1 million, and there was no room for equal exchange with the other party.

   "Cough..." First Assistant Director Al cleared his throat.

"Oh, Al, here you are. I just finished the script for you. You can start breaking down the script next Monday." Ronald handed over an all-white copy of the script. If he wants to revise the script in the future, he will Will change the white paper in the modified part to blue and other colors.

   All these trivial matters are handled by Al, the first assistant director, and his assistant director team. Often this delicate work of documentation involves a woman as the second assistant director.

  El took over the script, which said the title of "Fast-paced Richmond High School", with a small line in the lower right, the final draft.

   He let out a long breath.

  I don't know the talented person in front of me. Many new directors, even big directors, have made this mistake. The delay in finalizing the script made other departments of the crew, costumes, sets, lighting, photography, etc. unable to work, and it became a mess after the start.

  Ronald is very organized. He finalized the script at the first meeting, and other people freed up their working time. In fact, the finalized script can be revised later. He and the producer are not quarreling, but fighting for the benefits that the crew deserves.

   What kind of novice director wants him to help? Isn’t this a copy of the urban legend circulating in the world?

   When Spielberg directed the tube for the first time, a novice director in his 20s, as soon as he shot, he was seasoned like an old director.

   Ronald saw that Al was turning the script, and added, "Next Monday is the countdown to the start of the game, you first find the candidates for the assistant director team, and try to use the skilled hands you have worked with.

   Then start to break down the script, draw out the shooting schedule, I will take you to the set office first, then the costumes, and props. Lastly is my office, which is huge. You will work with me there. "

   After saying that, Ronald took Al out of the producer's office. The crew is taking shape day by day, and the original preparatory office is no longer sufficient and has become the accounting department. Now that the staff is increasing day by day, Universal has allocated a lot of new offices for the crew to use.

  Al followed Ronald through sets, props, and costumes. Ronald and the person in charge are very familiar, especially the clothing department, and he also picked pictures of two sweaters for the protagonist Stacey and asked them to make them.

   This made Al look up to Ronald again. A lot of art directors, such as David Lynch, come up and mix with costumes all day long, constantly selecting and making beautiful costumes. Hollywood has circulated his new title, chief costumer.

   On the other hand, there is another type of director who focuses on performance. They have not met the costume department when the filming starts. When the shooting starts, they are not satisfied with the costumes, and they cannot change them immediately.

   "This is Cameron Crowe, this is Al, our first assistant director, and he's in place next Monday." Ronald eventually led Al to the writer and director's office.

  El looked at his desk, which was the largest. It seems that Ronald is not a director who only focuses on the hierarchy of the set, there is flexibility. The assistant director team has a lot of paperwork, and it is very convenient to have a large desk where the paper can be spread out and sorted slowly.

   He said goodbye and left. It must be comfortable to work in such a crew. Although the budget is not high, but the boss knows what to do, all departments prepare early, and the shooting can be carried out in an orderly and fast manner.

   However, this type of director may be less artistically creative, and Spielberg is a special case after all. But why do you think so much? Can you expect to win an award for an exploitative film with a budget of 3.1 million?

Ronald took Al out of the house, turned to Cameron Crowe and said, "The producers gave us a job to implant a new Dolly Parton movie in the movie theater scene at the beginning of the film. Advertisement. Think about it."

   "It's that nerdy 'mouse' Mark, the movie theater that checks tickets? Then let them take out a poster, and we'll stick it next to Mark's ticket booth."

   "Add some extras, we have to be serious, how about adding a line to Mark's friend, scalper Mike? That's it..." Ronald gave Crow an idea.

   "Hahaha...you have a real sense of humor." Crow laughed, and started typing on the typewriter.

   "I've always been curious, the countdown will start right away, aren't you nervous?" Crow asked while typing.

   "I'm not nervous, I'm very excited, I can finally realize my dream. Cameron, you will also experience when you become a director in the future."

   4th week to last…

  The first assistant director Al finished the script decomposition, and initially took out the shooting schedule to discuss with Ronald.

   "There are two **** scenes here, are the contracts all over?" Al reminded the director.

   "Yes, the actors are all adults and signed the consent form. We informed each other at the beginning of the audition, and the Screen Actors Guild checked it."

   "There were two children's scenes in the first day of filming. Do you need to move it two days later? After all, children's scenes are difficult to direct."

  Ronald took a look at the shooting plan, and Al's reminder was necessary. According to Hollywood legend, children, animals, and water are the three subjects that the director fears most. Their common feature is that they are not obedient.

  It is often easy to waste time and delay the shooting process. This is easy to be caught by the associate producer Heklin.

But he flipped through the shooting schedule and shook his head, "I can't help it, the mall scene has to wait for the night scene to be filmed after the mall closes at nine o'clock in the evening. After that, the schedule for the filming is very full, and there are labor union regulations for children. You can't shoot too late, it's illegal after 11 pm.

   We only have a relatively empty schedule for the first day, which allows them enough time to make mistakes. "

   After all, the budget is still too small, and it is impossible to set up the scene to shoot the interior of the mall.

   3rd week to last…

  First Assistant Director Al and Ronald came to Sherman Oaks again. This week, according to the shooting progress, check the shooting scenes one by one, and work with the art director and the director of photography to ensure that each scene can be shot as expected.

"We will find a way to hide the lights here, in line with the lighting system inside the mall, so that it can illuminate the scene without looking like a real mall." Director of photography Matthew took Ronald to see the lights arrangement.

“The first week of shooting will be in normal tones, on film, as the human eye sees it. Then I’ll be staring here when you guys move on and shoot other scenes, dressing up the mall as a Christmas decoration. Waiting for you guys to come back for another week of Christmas scenes," added art director Dan.

   "Does the mall agree?"

   "They are very happy that they can save the cost of decorating their own Christmas atmosphere. Anyway, we are almost done with Christmas."

"very good……"

   Penultimate week…

  Ronald is having separate meetings with the actors to discuss the performance of each character.

   "How are you getting along with Robert Romanus who plays Mike?" Ronald asked Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was trying on a sweater.

   "He's a very nice guy, he's done a lot of work for our family. My mom couldn't bear to leave him after filming." Jennifer laughed.

   "How about this set? The neckline was specially modified to match her double ponytail hairstyle." The costume took a double ponytail wig from the hair stylist and put it on Jennifer.

   "Very good, just order this set. You can find another one for her to match the shawl hair." Ronald ordered.

  Jennifer had two passionate scenes, and Ronald specifically asked him how he felt with the actor. However, Jennifer came from an acting family, so Ronald was not particularly worried.

   He was more worried about Phoebe Cates. She was angry because the "Paradise" crew edited the revealing footage of her stand-in. Publicly accused "Paradise" in the newspaper of plagiarizing "Blue Coral Reef".

   This made him a little worried if Phoebe would be disgusted by the "fast-paced" exposure.

   Among the other leading actors, Judge Reinhold's conversation with Ronald was not salty or light, and it seemed that he was still biased towards Hecklen. Judge's acting skills are still qualified, and Ronald hopes to calm them down when the film is turned on, so that the shooting will go on the right track.

   The only person who makes him scratch his head is Sean Penn, who also has a stage show in Chicago and hasn't returned to Los Angeles yet. And I heard Tom Cruise say that Sean is a methodist, and when this kind of actor plays against a non-methodist, nothing should go wrong.

   Countdown to the first week...

   "All the shooting schedules have been confirmed, this is the announcement for each actor." The first assistant director Ai Er is very good, and the documents are well organized.

  Ronald picked up the announcement and handed it to producer Lin Sen and associate producer Hecklin. On the countdown to the last weekend before the start, they held a meeting to check all preparations and prepare for the start of next Monday.

   "All the group performances have signed the consent form. The American Burger also agreed to open the back kitchen to us. This is the consent form..."

   All items are ticked and confirmed, just wait for the official start of the crew.

   "Good luck to us." Ronald shook hands with everyone. When he held Hecklin, he also smiled when he saw her. The two smiled and said goodbye, just waiting for the good show to begin.

   (end of this chapter)