Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 736 Intensive preparations

   Ronald took Emile to see Walter Murch.

  Murch has not been able to find a new director since his "Return to Oz" failed at the box office. He himself has several children to support, so he started to take over the editing work again.

   Ronald has been very busy during this time, and several crews have to follow up. Big and small things in the "Spicy Dance" project have to report to him and wait for him to make a decision.

  After filming the movie, he will immediately start the preparations for "Moonlight Sultry". So this time Ronald invited Walter Murch, who is also a teacher and friend, to be the editor and sound editor of "Dancing Hot".

   "You're giving too much, Ronald." Murkey took Ronald aside and told him privately.

  Murch saw the number on the contract given by Ronald, and this price was the market price when he was a gold editor and sound editor before he became the director of "Return to Oz". He has wasted two years in preparing and directing this film, and now he has returned to the professional market, and there is no such market price.

"I didn't give it to you all at once, and you know that I am a small production." Ronald pushed the contract back, "Now I can only give you one-third of the total price, and I have to wait for the release to pay back the money. , to pay you the full amount. This means that you have to wait a long time to get paid, so it is normal to be higher than the market price.”

   "Okay, I'll do my best." Walter put away the contract and the advance check and put it in his bag. "Let's go see those dancers now."

  Walter Murch has a deep understanding of both editing and sound editing, so he generally only takes two jobs together on projects that he is responsible for.

   He is different from the general editor in joining the crew after the filming is completed. At the beginning, he has to see the script, then the actors and the location, and intervene in the filming of the film from the beginning. He believes that only in this way can we grasp the temperament and tonality of the whole film as a whole.

   "Today they're going to Palm Springs, and the dance training is very grueling, so let them relax."

   Ronald picked up Murch and took turns driving with Emile to Palm Springs.

  Gail Hurd is from Palm Springs. She helped contact a company because the director of "Top Gun" was coming, and she also offered special discounts in the off-season.

   "You should dance—yay!"

   Arrived at the resort, the dancers had turned on the tape recorder and started playing the BeeGees' famous song "You Should Dance", and a group of people started to disco.

  The dancers had dance bugs and left the rehearsal area. They didn't want to dance the mambo-based hot dance, but chose disco, which was not so popular.

  Ronald was also by his side and danced a few times with them.

   "Oh yeah!" The group performers began to scream strangely. The director's dance level was okay. It seems that this movie will not be messed up, and those introductory dance steps are regarded as classics.

  Walter Murch took out a stopwatch, compared the scene in the script, and started watching the dancer's dance rehearsal, and picked up the stopwatch.

   "What is this doing?" Assistant Director Emile asked Ronald in a low voice.

"This is a way of Murch's work. He is used to estimating the duration of each scene in the script before shooting. Then when he sees the finished film, he compares it with his own estimation. There is a big difference, that is, The major difference between the director and his own understanding of the scene needs to be carefully considered.”

   Ronald explained.

   "Yeah, that's it", Murch heard Ronald's answer and smiled, "Emile, come and time with me."

   Ronald was so happy to be alone, he walked to the side and picked up a glass of juice drink and drank it.

   "What happened to that Richard yesterday?"

   Ronald saw the two main characters, Patrick Swaytz and Cynthia Rhodes, approached to chat with himself, put down the drink, and asked some privacy questions.

   "As a director, it is very useful to know about the actor's private life. On the one hand, it can be used to guide emotions, and on the other hand, it is convenient to avoid trouble.

   "It's Cynthia's suitor", Swayze smiled and took a sip of his drink, then left, letting Ronald and Cynthia chat privately.

   "He chased me very persistently, but I don't really want to be with him."

   "Why? Looks like a good guy." Ronald laughed.

   "He's several years younger than me, still very naive and immature." Cynthia shook her head and glanced at Ronald.

   "You can control it yourself, don't affect the shooting. It's okay to let him come to visit the class when the time comes."

   Ronald also took a sip.

   "Ronald, can you let them dance for me according to the music in the script?" Walter Murch took a stopwatch and came over and asked Ronald.

   Ronald, who was interrupted, started looking for choreographer Ortega.

   "The copyright of the song has not been obtained yet. I'm not sure what song will be the backing dancer at the end, so I always use a metronome to tune to the rhythm of the 1950s swing dance and let them dance along."

   Ronald was in a hurry, "Why haven't we done it yet? Emile, Emile..."

   He hurriedly called out the assistant director, "You go and ask Danny Goldberg, our music director, what song does he want me to use for the interlude?"

  The choreographer Ortega saw that the complaint was successful, and immediately took out a cassette, "We still play the tape of Miss Eleanor, the screenwriter, although the sound quality of the dubbing is average..."

   Ronald waved him to do it himself, helping Murch to better estimate the time of each shot.

  He found the phone himself and got a call from music director Danny Goldberg.

   "Danny, how long are you going to have? The dance rehearsal here is a week away. Do you want me to use a metronome to accompany them when I start shooting?"

   There are many things to worry about. The first film that Ronald himself invested in, all the unsatisfactory parts, felt that it was magnified countless times compared to when he was shooting other people's films.

   Every time a small setback, Ronald felt his account numbers turn into bats and squeak away. And every time I solve a small problem, I feel that the green banknotes are attracted by the movie and fly back.

Ronald is now more able to feel the mood of Weintraub when he asked him to be the director of "Longwei Kid". It is really stressful to invest his own money in film projects. .

"Don't worry, I'm negotiating with major record companies right now, all you want are the famous songs of the time, and the property rights are complicated. We don't have a lot of budget, I don't want them to feel that we want these songs very much, so we can only slowly Let's talk about it, can't reveal our true purpose..." Danny Goldberg is still operating in a leisurely manner.

  Ronald couldn't take it anymore, "I'm about to start filming soon, you can get it done as soon as possible. If you can't get it done, tell me earlier, so I can find someone who can handle it..."

   "Crack..." Ronald hung up the phone angrily.

   "What's wrong? Is something wrong?"

   It was Ronald's other agent, Richard, who had returned from "Nanny's Adventures" to help Ronald.

   There were some small problems with the investment in "The Nanny's Adventures". The investment share of the second phase of the "Screen Fund" where George Jr. was a director was directly allocated to Michael Eisner.

  The first issue, before George Jr. intervened, was evenly split between HBO and Britain's EMI production company.

   Wall Street is riding high, and the Dow is up a lot more than it was a few years ago. The third tranche of the screen fund has begun to be sought after by high net worth private investors. Roland Bates, who is in charge of the issuance of the fund, wants to increase the financing amount of the third phase from 190 million in the second phase to US$300 million.

   Faced with such a large sum of money, both HBO and Disney are fighting for the right to use the funds.

  The condition given by HBO is that the Screen Fund has the right to decide on the project. Disney's Eisner, on the other hand, demanded full control over the project.

The reason he moved out is that there is a director and producer with outstanding vision like Ronald working for Disney, and Wall Street is the capital, as long as they hide behind the professionals, let them decide on art and please the audience, and just count the money after the release. .

  Therefore, Eisner called Ronald and asked to put "Nanny Adventures" on the day after New Year's Day next year. In this way, this Ronald-led, high-probability blockbuster movie can be included in the investment scope of the third fund.

  With this golden signboard, investors will have the upper hand in giving Disney the right to use the third phase of the screen fund.

   "Our music director, Danny Goldberg, has not yet negotiated the copyright of the episode, which is enough time for a pregnant woman to give birth to a child." Ronald began to sneer.

"Goldberg is Jewish, I know him." Richard said quietly in Ronald's ear, seeing no one around, "These songs of the 1950s have never really been taken seriously. Dan Nicky is procrastinating like this because he wants to make this a big business.

   If I'm thinking right, the next thing he'll say is that some singer-songwriters have passed away and their relatives are more difficult to negotiate. "

   "Huh? He did say so." Ronald looked at Richard Lovett, his manager was also Jewish.

"I'm not like them. I'm a Jewish boy raised in the countryside of Wisconsin. There are only 20,000 Jews in the whole state. I went to public school with Puritans and Catholics as a child. two.

  These Jews who grew up in Los Angeles, California, when they became adults, realized that there are not only Jews in the world...but they still use those Jewish business rules to treat customers from other cultural backgrounds. In their view, as long as they can make enough money, it is their own ability. "

  Richard pushed up his glasses and said.

   Ronald nodded. Richard has always been very loyal to himself. This kind of thing, himself, his biggest client, is the greatest guarantee of his interests. He must be telling the truth.

Danny Goldberg's ineffectiveness should be a strategy of his, not only to buy the copyright without delaying Ronald's affairs, but also to pay a price that is neither high nor low to make a little money for himself .

"Do you have any advice?"

"The hot dance has a Jewish girl's plot problem, so I suggest finding a non-Jewish agent to handle the copyright purchase of the episode." Richard leaned closer, speaking in a lower voice, "The key is , the person who buys buys it as your company's purchasing identity, don't expose that you are the person behind the project, if you act fast, you should be able to get it done quickly."

   Ronald woke up like a dream, if he didn't invest himself, he directed his own film project. Then "Dancing Hot" is just a 4.5 million investment, insignificant, boring movie about the love story of high school girls in the 1950s, who would be excited about it?

  The songs of the 1950s, and then the famous songs of the time, can be thankful if they can sell a little copyright fee now.

   "I'll go to Weintraub and borrow someone." Ronald figured out the crux and smiled.

  Danny Goldberg also wants to take advantage of it, eat both ends. As long as Ronald pays attention to secrecy and plays fast and slow, he will get things done before he can react.

   (end of this chapter)