Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 58 The Script Battle

  Alan Parker stood up immediately, "Please wait a moment, this movie will be very good, it will greatly increase the reputation of this school and attract more students to apply."

A school administrator with steel-gray hair and half-rimmed glasses immediately retorted: "Our school has been on the map for 40 years, and every year there are hundreds of qualified applicants who are not admitted because they exceed the number of applicants. . Admissions promotion is the last thing we need."

  Producer Da Silva also stood up: "I assure you, this will be a film of very high quality and taste, not the kind of work that defames and slanders the reputation of the school."

   The school administrator who spoke also stood up, put his hands on the table, and looked directly at the director and producer:

   "Gentlemen, I can't take this risk. Let you smear our school's gold-colored signboard as you smeared the reputation of the Turkish prison in the last movie 'Midnight Express'."

   "Why? When I approached you last time, everything went well, why did you suddenly make such a decision?" Producer Da Silva asked the principal.

   The principal raised his hand and motioned for the steel-gray-haired school manager to speak.

"Last time when you came to the Academy of Performing Arts, one of our teachers heard the content of the script of 'Hot Lunch' being discussed by the cast members, including female students being pregnant, school bullying, racial discrimination, etc., all made up The plot of the."

"She reported the situation to me. I don't think these episodes will ever show up at our school and don't represent the image of New York High School for the Performing Arts. After an emergency meeting of our school board, it was decided to suspend and 'Hot Lunch' crew. Full cooperation."

  The school director raised his head very high and said with the white eyes of the crew members.

   The principal finally added:

   "This is a joint decision of the School Board and the New York Board of Education."

   "Crack!" Director Allen slapped the table angrily, and the school manager began to question his last movie, which was already a personal attack.

   Everyone had to get up and leave.

   "Destroy the reputation of the Turkish prison, does that place have a reputation? Or is the reputation of your school the same as that of the Turkish prison? Inexplicable!"

   "A group of **** who don't understand art, manage a school in the name of art, ridiculous!"

   The director was still angry along the way.

   Ronald followed out of the principal's room, and opposite the playground outside the window was the auditorium, which could accommodate more than 2,000 people.

   was originally planned to be used to organize this large-scale audition. All the senior and graduating students of the school will come to participate in the audition. It's all a bubble now.

   "Crack, snap, snap..." came the sound of baseball. Ronald saw that there were three boys who looked like students playing on the playground.

   The catcher caught the pitcher's ball three times, the lad who swung was not skilled, missed a single hit, and was struck out.

   The group walked out of the gate of the school, and Ronald turned to look again.

   This is an old-fashioned stone building built before the First World War. The stone walls, with red doors and windows, give the arrogance of an old-fashioned capitalist.

  The Academy for the Performing Arts is located on 46th Street in midtown Manhattan, not far from Times Square, right in the center of the capitalist world, and they do now have the right to be arrogant and get the "Hot Lunch" crew out.

  …

   "Dxmnit, who leaked the script?" Producer David Da Silva yelled, "If I find out, I'm going to... I'm going to kill this bastard."

   "Don't do this, David. The high school in acting will always find out in the end. The focus now is not to hold responsibility, but to come up with a solution." Director Alan Parker said uncharacteristically, calmly and rationally.

   "Not necessarily, you can actually give them a fake script..." Ronald thought to himself.

   "Coffee is here", Margery walked into the conference room with a plate of coffee, and Ronald hurriedly stepped forward to help.

  Everyone is suddenly attacked by the school board of directors at an acting high school. Now back to the casting studio, an urgent meeting is held to discuss countermeasures.

   "Alan, you should consider going back to Christopher Gore's script. Let's go back to square one."

  Christopher Gore, that name sounds familiar. Ronald turned over the script in his hand, and sure enough, in the author column it said "Christopher Gore"

   "No, Chris's version is still a Hollywood package. When I agreed with the director at the beginning, I said yes, you will let me write a version of my own script, and Chris only reserves the right to authorship."

"Gosh, Ellen. Why are you so stubborn, the acting high school's attitude is clear today, they won't agree with those plots you write, poor black boys, getting rich white girls pregnant? What other New York parents? , will you send your daughter to the high dance ballet of the Performing Arts College?"

   Producer Da Silva jumped off the stool with excitement.

   "And they also refused us to borrow a shooting location. Where do we go to shoot? If there is a set, at least an additional budget of 5 million is required. The original budget of 8.5 million is based on real-life shooting."

"That's your problem. If you only want Chris's script, why would you ask me to direct it?" Alan Parker bluntly said, "David, you must have wanted to make a movie that was different, right?"

The director went on to say: "It's 1979, not 1959, and the audience no longer buys those false stories. A blockbuster movie must make the audience feel real and believable. Are they after the baptism of the 'Godfather', can they still Can you watch the 'Wizard of Oz'?"

  Producer Da Silva is reluctant to step back:

   "Of course I know that audiences need to see real stories, but truth does not mean copying news documentaries. Movies are a kind of entertainment, and audiences still have to get an upward ending in the end."

   "And we also have to take into account the attitude of the school, an appropriate compromise is necessary."

   "Compromise? Art doesn't compromise. A little compromise here, a little compromise there, and in the end you're going to end up with mediocre rubbish."

   The producer and the director, the louder they were, the more fierce they became. Their heads were about to touch each other, and their saliva splashed into each other's faces as they spoke angrily.

   Seeing that they are a little out of control, they have blushed and thick necks. Margery couldn't persuade him either.

   Ronald had an idea and deliberately sent the script forward. The script fell to the ground and made a loud "pop", interrupting the dispute between the two.

   "Sorry." Ronald picked up the script and said.

  "Ronald", the two bosses turned back and called out his name at the same time.

   "You happen to be the same age as the story. Tell me what you think, whether you like the real world or a fake story." Director Allen took the lead in throwing a high-speed straight ball.

   "Yes, Ronald, for you, do you want them to end up making adult movies and not find jobs to serve dishes, or do you want them to realize their dreams when they end up."

   Producer Da Silva hits the ball from the perspective of America Dream.

  Ronald is very regretful now, so what if these two old **** fight?

  Why do you want to be such a good guy, like a bad catcher, caught between the pitcher and the strong stick, what should I do?

   If you agree with the director's opinion, you will offend the producer, and your job opportunities will definitely go to waste in the next few months. Agree with the producers, that's even worse, the director might have fired himself on the spot.

   "Uh... uh..." His heart turned rapidly, Ronald picked up the script to cover up, flipping left and right.

   Eyes swept over to the plot of the singer character CoCo, who was tricked into making a film by a director who made an adult film and cried very sadly.

   "Why don't we combine the two?" Ronald wondered.

   combined? The director and the producer went crazy together again, "If this can be combined, what are we arguing about?"

   "For example, CoCo, she can be deceived, but why not let her get a small job in the end? In this way, her experience is not only in line with reality, but also a small dream of her own at the end." Ronald whispered.

   "It makes sense, what do you think, Ellen?" producer Da Silva asked the director.

   Director Parker stared at Ronald: "This idea is very good, Ronald, you are the same age as the character in the play, and your idea is of great reference value."

   "Let's make modifications on this basis and contact the Academy of Performing Arts again?" The director turned his chair to the producer and asked.

   Producer Da Silva replied: "That's it. Next we have to think about how to find alternative locations, how to find other suitable people to audition."

   Hearing this, everyone was a little discouraged, but the atmosphere was much better than when the sword was drawn, and they began to actively think of ways to solve the problem.

  Margery gave Ronald a thumbs-up in secret.

As a result of the    discussion, the producers decided to take a three-pronged approach.

   The first is to continue to revise the script and try to negotiate with the New York Academy of Performing Arts again to make them change their minds.

   The second is to find other art high schools in the New York area, such as the New York School of Music and the American Ballet Academy. Although the scale of students in these schools is not as high as that of the performing arts majors, they can add up to some suitable shooting locations and audition students.

  The third is to expand the scope of joint auditions between the two casting companies, and issue audition notices to Broadway, Hollywood, and even high school entertainment clubs. In New York, the crew held an audition with a scale of 1,000 people to select eight protagonists.

  Those who can't be cast as the protagonist can also play secondary roles and extras.

   Director Alan Parker came over and said to Ronald, "Take this script back with you, and think about how to revise it when you audition with me these days."

   Ronald nodded quickly in agreement.

   "You are your peers, and maybe there are some perspectives that we can't see. So instead of reading the content of the script, learn its writing format. Then focus on two places."

   "The first is the ending of the eight protagonists, and what small success they achieved in the end. For example, when you said CoCo found a job, you have to think about what kind of job she can find, earn money and support herself after graduation."

   Ronald quickly nodded in agreement.

   "Don't worry about being incomplete, you can think of as many protagonists as you can."

   "And then there are the real life scenes. Which scenes in art high school are attractive to you, which you and your high school classmates would like to see on the movie screen."

   "Write well, if you write well, I will add your name to the list of screenwriters." Director Parker finally drew a big cake.

  …

  Everyone has left, and producer Da Silva personally sent director Parker away, continuing to talk while walking.

  Ronald stayed at the end, packed his coffee cups, and took his seat by himself.

   Picked up the script and weighed it. To realize the dream of being a director, the screenwriter is an inescapable link.

   (end of this chapter)