Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 305 I saw it

"boom!"

   With a crisp sound, the fine champagne was opened and the cork shot out.

   "Congratulations, Ronald." Nisita raised the bottle and filled Ronald with champagne.

   "Would you like one?" Nisita took out a cigar, cut it for Ronald, and lit him with a match.

   "Thank you!" Ronald imitated the boss, crossed Erlang's legs, sat at Nisita's desk, and took a sip.

   On Monday night, the second day after the opening weekend, CAA agents threw a small celebration for Ronald.

"$2.5 million for the first weekend, and based on the predicted first-weekend multiplier, your movie is expected to fetch between one and fifteen million. Plus the sale to Universal Television Network. Congrats! Ronald you succeeded."

"thanks!"

  Ronald exhaled a puff of smoke, and he squinted at the celebration card opposite, with the words "Congratulations" written on it. It was made by Nisita's assistant, with hand-painted letters on a white background, a bit cheap.

"Don't dislike it. This is what I asked Lucy to prepare. When she was in high school, her handicraft class was definitely not good. Hahaha." Multiply by two.

"No, in fact, I'm very grateful. During this period of time, only you are supporting me with all your strength." Ronald took a sip of champagne, and the big bosses of Universal had a serious conflict, and the box office results of the movie were greatly affected. .

   Only Richard from CAA accompanied him, and Nisita helped him contact Spielberg's Amberlin studio to find new projects. Sure enough, only the broker who makes money because of himself is the most reliable person at this moment.

   "This is just a preview, Universal expects your movie to be shown on the West Coast for more than four to six weeks, and they will hold a larger celebration when it does."

   "By the way, do you have a female partner in Los Angeles? If not, CAA can introduce one to you. At this moment, many girls will take the initiative to post them to seek opportunities because of your success."

   "No need, I have my own arrangements."

   "Very well, that's what I like about you, Ronald. Many directors get carried away after their success and cause a lot of bad things between men and women. When you wake up after your success, that's how you can be successful in Hollywood for a long time."

After the    movie was released, Nisita's attitude towards him also changed, and he began to flatter him without a trace.

   "I heard Richard say that you foresaw box office success before the release? How did you do it?"

   "Like the new Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Joe Montana, I saw it. The ball was there, I just had to pass it."

   "Hahaha! You are a good person." Nisita began to applaud whether he understood it or not. Richard and several assistants also began to follow.

   Ronald toasted them in thanks.

   "It's getting late, I'll go back first."

   "Let Richard send you."

   "DiDi" Richard's Corolla trolley stopped at the door of the CAA office, "Where are you going? Ronald?"

   "Go to the department store, I want to see the box office performance of "fast-paced" again."

   "Okay!" Richard started the car and drove to the Sherman Oaks department store where the filming took place.

   "Two 'Fast-Paced Richmond High Schools'."

   "There are only tickets after 8 o'clock"

   "Okay, give us two."

  The two sat at the American Burger opposite the movie theater, watching the crowd while eating and watching the movie.

   Looking at the "fast pace", most of them are young people, with buddies, girlfriends, and boyfriends and girlfriends.

   "The Best Chicken House in Texas" also attracted many adults to watch because of Dolly Parton's starring role.

   The rest are the whole family dispatched to see "ET Alien".

   "I don't think you're very satisfied, Ronald." Richard spent more time with Ronald and got to know him better. Knowing that at the CAA celebration, Ronald was not as happy as he appeared to be.

   "Of course, Nisita keeps repeating Universal's estimates that 'Fast Pace' has a four- to six-week run and he hasn't seen the potential of the film."

   "Oh, what do you mean?"

   "Almost everyone underestimated the box office potential of this movie, how could this be a movie that went offline in just four weeks, they are all blind."

"Honestly, Ronald. If it was a week ago, I would have thought you were disappointed with Universal's release schedule, so you were talking nonsense. But last weekend's box office proved everything and you were right. So this time I believe it too. your judgment."

   Richard happily rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, picked up a Pepsi and toasted his client.

"Can you tell me how you saw it? You said in Nisita's office that you saw the wide receiver like Joe Montana, and I don't think he got it. I honestly didn't get it either. Why did we Didn't see it? The distribution directors at Universal didn't see it either?"

  Ronald put down his glass, of course he had nothing to say about dreaming about the 15th Anniversary Edition of "Fast Pace". Can only pick up two words to say.

   "Richard, what do you think is the most powerful marketing campaign for a movie?"

   "Cinema posters? Or cardboard posters? Billboards at ticket windows?"

   Ronald shook his head, "Neither, not these things."

   "Is it a trailer before other movies? But we only have a few trailers this time, and they are inserted before Dolly Parton's movie, which is almost useless."

"neither."

   "What is that? I can't think of it."

   "Let me ask you another way, when you go to the cinema, how do you choose movies?"

   "I heard from a friend, or my girlfriend helped me pick, or her friend told her. By the way, we will also look at the box office rankings in newspapers and TV."

   "That's where I saw it. When Universal arranged for retired stars and executives to watch the movie, I saw the reaction of their grandchildren when they watched the movie, and I knew I would not fail."

"I don't know…"

  “Wow…”

   The two people who were talking were interrupted by the sound, and the audience of the last "fast-paced" game began to end.

   "That Spiccoli like, so handsome."

   "Yeah, he was lucky enough to be able to save Brooke Shields even while surfing."

   "What's that girl's name? She's Like, the shot in a bikini is really good. Director Like, must be a veteran of flowers."

   "I think it's a good thing for Stacey to choose Mark, obviously the sound salesman is handsome."

   "What do you know, this kind of nerd will make more money from work in the future."

   "Then why don't you go out with that nerd in your class and go on a date with the football quarterback?"

   "Well, dating like, and getting married are not the same thing."

  …

  Ronald and Richard stood by, eavesdropping on the audience's conversation for a long time.

   "Do you understand? The biggest marketing of a movie is word of mouth from the audience. They watch it well, and after they go back and tell their friends and classmates, their friends and classmates will also come to watch."

  Richard nodded, then shook his head again, "I know they talk about movies, indeed more than a few others, but I don't know how you do that."

   "That's a million-dollar question." Ronald smiled, of course, because he took a lot of shots that were easily spread by word of mouth.

   For example, the daydream of the swimming pool bikini, or the exposed shots of Stacey and Mike, or the rescue of Brooke Shields by Spiccoli, are all very suitable for oral transmission.

   "Do you know what brand of shoes he used to hit his head after Spiccoli got high? The checkerboard pattern is very beautiful."

   "I don't know, I know that Stacey's part-time job shop has the same uniform as the clerk of the pizza shop opposite, and their clerk is so beautiful."

  "Beep..." One of the young men whistled at the clerk opposite, "What's your name? Is that Stacey?"

   "It's Stacey, how about you? Mike?" The beautiful clerk had also seen the fast pace and joked with him.

"Hahaha…"

   Ronald and Richard walked into the cinema, and the attendance at 8 pm was still very high, with more than one third of the audience sitting one after another.

   Ronald's intense discomfort watching his own director's work has slowly disappeared. He began to judge from the perspective of an experienced director of various mishandlings of his own film at the time.

   "Welcome to our show, The Late Show. Today we're featuring an American icon, Brooke Shields."

At the end of the movie, Brooke Shields and Sean Penn, played by Spiccoli, went on a talk show together. Brooke Shields gave Spiccoli a check for $20,000 on the spot.

   Then he spent it right away, invited the Van Halen Band to sing at the birthday party, and soon became a pauper again.

   "Hahaha, it's so funny." Most of the audience stayed in their seats and watched the endings of several protagonists.

   "That Spiccoli-like is so handsome, I don't take any classes, and I can get Boogie Xiaosi in the end."

   There is also the unearned Spiccoli, and the valley accent of Like, the audience has been talking about these characters and plots, are symptoms of this movie will be a pandemic.

  Ronald's mouth is full of smiles...

   "What are the box office statistics for that fast-paced movie from Monday to Thursday?"

  The head of Universal Pictures' distribution department is asking his subordinates for statistics. The release is about a week away, and the box office figures from Monday to Thursday after the first weekend are also an important reference.

   "2.4 million..." The subordinate checked it for a long time, and hesitantly said a number?

   "How much?" The supervisor grabbed the statistics table.

   "498 theaters, with a total of 2.4 million box office, only $100,000 less than the three-day opening weekend."

   "Can't get it wrong?"

   "No, I checked it three times. The daily average box office for a single venue has dropped slightly, and it is also over $1,200."

   "Call the lab and ask them to print a copy. Fxck! How can this kind of film be printed so much."

   Soon, calls from theaters across California and the West Coast to urge copies came to Universal Pictures.

   "Fxck! It's a f*ck movie comparable to a small ET, why not do it nationally? It's too late to say anything now. Arrange media interviews for a few leading actors, including newspapers and TV."

   The head of the marketing department also began to scold, "I made an overall marketing plan at the beginning. I don't know which fool canceled it. Now it is temporarily arranged. Where can I find the layout and interview time?"

   "Be quiet, Tom Mount canceled it." Colleagues pulled him and signaled that several vice presidents were passing by the media office.

   "Humph!" Tom Mount in the corridor heard the complaints of his subordinates, and returned to his office and began to sulking.

   "Ring, ringing, ringing..." His direct line phone rang.

   "Hello, I'm Tom."

   "Nicola." His wife's voice was on the phone.

   "Honey, what's the matter?" Mount changed his voice and said softly to the wife who helped him a lot in his career.

   "Why did the boss of HBO, cancel my promotion plan, did you do something that made the whole industry know about it?"

   "I..." Tom Mount finally coaxed his wife and began to call friends in the circle to find out the news.

   A circle of friends are yelling at themselves, only the old father-in-law told the truth.

   "Tom, it's time to save some respect."

   (end of this chapter)