Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 804 Cinema Betting

"I liked the two movies you daydream about, 'Dancing Yourself' and 'Love Is Not For Sale', and I was very excited to see them. Especially my mother, 'Dancing Dirty' is just right. It was a matter of her youth, she also participated in the Peace Corps project and went overseas to promote the concept of the JFK commander."

   It was the theater manager from New Jersey and New York who said this to Ronald, Thomas Stephenson Jr., whom Ronald used to know at the Western Film Show in Las Vegas.

   His father owned five theaters in New Jersey and continued to invest in new multiplex theaters in department stores on the outskirts of the city. The business gradually expanded to New York State, and formed alliances with chain theater operators in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and other states in the northeast.

Ronald's Daydream Films has initially reached an agreement with them on the intention to release, this time with "Love is not for sale" which has just been edited and received an R-rating from MPAA, together with "Spicy Dance", together I did a test screening to them, hoping to get a better release time and screen.

  Thomas Stephenson Jr. liked Ronald's films very much. After the preview, he came over to chat with Ronald and Douglas Hansen Jr., an important shareholder of Daydream.

   "So, how many copies are you going to order?" Ronald asked the aggressive cinema heir. Sr. Thomas gradually put him in charge of all aspects of movie theater operations, preparing him for shifts when he had enough experience.

"My personal liking is one thing, but business is another." Thomas Stephenson Jr.'s current position is the buyer of his father's theater chain and several theater partners in New Jersey. The schedule, the number of copies, all have important suggestions.

"Oh, why do you say that? You have a good eye, and your tastes are very similar to those of the average American audience. I think for business purposes, you should also order more copies of our company's films. "

   Little Douglas and him are the same age, they are the second generation of wealthy people, they plan to inherit the business of their ancestors in the future, and they both like movies.

   "Personally, I like these two films very much. Especially the "Dancing Hot" directed by Ronald, the narrative of this film is very smooth and the emotional mobilization is in place. I was so moved that I almost cried when I saw it at the end.

   But business is business. Our movie theater operators in the northeast still mainly purchase movies from the seven major studios. I hope you can understand. "

   "Yeah, I understand, marketing issues." Ronald nodded.

   This question is something he often hears when he and Cannold, the distribution manager, meet with movie theater buyers on the West Coast.

  The seven major studios will invest heavily in the marketing of the film. They release a fixed number of films every year, and they have fixed suppliers for purchasing TV commercials, newspaper pages, buying film critics, and even making posters on site.

  The purchase volume is large and stable, and it can have a big discount.

  Daydream is like setting up a distribution company to shoot "Spicy Dance". "Love is not for sale" came from the side. All marketing costs are 30% to twice as high as the purchase price of the Big Seven.

  If two movies are assumed to be of the same quality and budget, cinemas are of course willing to buy movies from the Big Seven with deep pockets, and the marketing they invest will be able to attract a lot of audiences.

   On the other hand, none of the movies on Ronald's side are starring famous stars. The only thing the audience remembered was Ronald. And the movies released in the same period of the seven majors, either starring stars, or old-fashioned series like 007, as long as the audience sees a name, they will want to watch it.

   That's why Ronald set aside twice the production cost to spend on marketing. At least let the cinema feel that it is not a loss to buy their movie screenings.

   But this is all known in advance. Ronald is neither disappointed nor blindly optimistic.

In the weeks following his return from Cannes, he was with Michelle Cannold's team, starting in Los Angeles, California on the West Coast, San Francisco, California, Seattle, Washington, and then Las Vegas, Nevada. , and then into the deep southern states.

  There are no mega cities in the southern states. For example, Texas is Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The time spent is evenly distributed among all the cities, which is very hard.

   finished a circle there, then turned north, went to Chicago, Detroit and other industrial cities in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest, and finally passed through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and finally came to the location of the earliest thirteen states in America.

   Along the way, Ronald basically understood the mentality of movie theater buyers and operators.

   Running a movie theater, it doesn't matter to them which movie is a hit. The most important thing is to ensure that the movie you purchased will not be released for less than a week just because the audience is insufficient.

   Among the movies released every year, only about 20% or less can reach an attendance rate of more than 50%, which can make movie theaters a lot of money.

   For those other movies, the most important purpose is to keep operating without losing money. If you accidentally buy an independently-produced movie, but because of insufficient marketing and not enough audience, the attendance rate is low, and those losses will make the movie theater operator lose everything.

   In the end, the movie theater business is a game of competition, who can fill the seats more fully.

   Along the way, Ronald has grown accustomed to their lack of confidence in their marketing investments. So he was about to explain his marketing plan to Thomas Stephenson Jr.

In addition to having invited film critics from major media to attend the film critics' special session, Ronald also cooperated with Universal, Paramount, and Disney's three major studios. Borrow their media resources.

The most important thing, of course, is to advertise on MTV and other TV stations with real money, and with the contacts accumulated over the years, I and several starring actors have participated in many talk shows and TV shows, as well as interviewed by talk shows, expanding the popularity of ordinary audiences. influences.

  "I really believe in the strength of daydreaming", Thomas Stephenson Jr. smiled a little baby-faced, "You mentioned these in the media package, of course I believe in your determination."

  Some producers will stop investing in marketing due to bad box office, bad reviews from film critics, and low ratings from audiences. Therefore, the operators of these cinemas are usually not very convinced of the promises of the producers. Ronald only repeatedly explained and assured.

   "Actually, I'm worried about two other things," Thomas Stephenson Jr. said to Ronald.

   "Please say, we should be frank between us. There is nothing we can't talk about in order to make money." Little Douglas Hansen immediately showed his sincerity, took Little Thomas' hand, and asked him to sit down and chat. It is rare for a movie theater operator to be able to express specific concerns to the producer.

   After all, film is a very risky industry, and you need to calibrate your understanding of reality at any time. Many directors and star-turned-producers often can't tell whether other people's words are flattering or the truth. It is only after the final box office hit that they realize that they are surrounded by lies.

   "The first thing is the MPAA rating of 'Love is not for sale'. The operators of our cinemas don't really like R-rated movies..."

  Thomas Stephenson Jr. explains the idea of ​​movie theaters now. When the movie rating system first appeared, movie theaters felt violent, and **** had the potential to attract more adult audiences into movie theaters.

   But several X-rated movies have failed at the box office, and the average box office of R-rated movies will not be higher than that of PG.

   Those ordinary family audiences who watch "The Sound of Music" will not go into the cinema to watch even if they hear a good X-rated movie, and they still have to worry about the impact on their families and children.

   Now go to the cinema to see the main force, teenage audience. Although they like those exciting plots, R-rated needs to be accompanied by adults after all, and many female audiences do not like too many violent scenes.

  In the past few years, under the vigorous public relations of Spielberg and other big directors, MPAA passed the new PG-13 classification. The new rating has a lot of less violent and… footage, but still provides enough sensory stimulation. Best of all, viewing a PG-13 does not require viewing a driver's license.

  So PG-13 quickly replaced PG, and R-rated, as the favorite of the teen audience of movie assistants, and the average box office is also the highest.

   More importantly, watching these irritating and nervous, or blood-sucking shots will make people excited and eat more chips and popcorn. Unusually high amounts of salt, or sugar, in there will make people thirsty and boost Coke sales.

  PG-13 is also stimulating the sales of other soft drinks and snacks in cinemas in addition to the box office.

"'Love is not for sale,' our director, Steve Rush, is already working on urgent revisions and will be submitting it to the MPAA for re-rating soon. We discovered this issue while we were on the west coast, so it was urgently dealt with, and it will be next week. There are results."

   On Ronald's first stop on a national sales tour, Los Angeles knew that it and a gang of rookies daydreamed had made a mistake. An emergency meeting was held, and the conclusion was that "love is not for sale" should be significantly revised.

   Many of the plots that director Rush put in the finished film, such as an intimate scene between the heroine Cindy and her ex-boyfriend football player, and many high school students' very explicit conversations about boyfriends and girlfriends, have been deleted.

   Director Steve Rush's creative freedom was interfered with, and he lost his temper with Ronald. Says he's no longer the director who made epoch-making youth films like "fast-paced Richmond High", but a mercenary businessman.

   This made Ronald very sad, and he was really speechless.

Rush's anger makes sense. If "Love Is Not For Sale" doesn't describe the real life of high school students, it will completely degenerate from a "fast-paced" realistic movie to a teen romantic comedy, which is just a touch of reality. crossed.

"Make money first, as long as you can make money in this movie, you will have more creative freedom in the future." Ronald thought for a long time, and had to repeat what Roger Coleman said to him back then. listen:

   "Listen, Director Rush. As long as you modify this film according to my opinion, you will never have to work for me in the future."

  Steve Rush was really moved by Roger Coleman's golden lines, and cut the film to PG-13 standards exactly as Ronald meant. Ronald saw the revised version there last week in Chicago and has been urgently submitted to the MPAA for revised rating.

   "Very good, if I can get a PG-13 rating, my theater will increase the number of copies purchased, and I will also persuade other operators in the league. They are all optimistic about my vision."

  Thomas Stephenson Jr. is very happy that his opinions are valued by Ronald. Daydream is now in the initial stage, and it is good to be able to value the opinions of movie theater operators.

   "The second thing is that you want to get better reviews." Thomas Stephenson Jr. held out a second finger.

“The suburbs in the northeast are one of the most educated places in America. The kids here take drama classes and art classes in high school. Most of their parents are college graduates, and their judgment on film is fairly high. Rely on movie critics' recommendations.

  Especially in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and DC, there is a strong trust in several New York newspaper film reviews. "

   The box office of a film in its first week of release is determined by the number of viewers it attracts. In the Northeast, the effect of film critics is much greater than in the Deep South and Midwest.

  Sometimes, the film reviews on the New York Times and the New York Post, this doctrine, that genre of evaluation, can only be understood by higher education residents in the middle-class neighborhoods of New York suburbs.

   "This is what we are working on. I can at least guarantee that the media in New York will probably say good things for us."

  The matter of buying film critics cannot be talked about. Ronald said this level, compared to the practitioners of the cinema can understand.

   In addition to spending heavily on sponsoring their annual meeting at the Film Critics Association in Chicago, Ronald is also sponsoring a retrospective of their favorite women’s films at the Film Critics Association in New York, as well as next year’s New York Film Critics Association Awards.

   Of course, these money are distributed through various foundations, trusts, and cultural promotion associations through the relationship of the old money in Little Douglas.

  At the same time, Ronald also found his personal lawyer Lindsay Dole, and through his boss's relationship in New York City Hall, sponsored some government-subsidized large movie theaters with ancient history.

   In short, for the first two films released by Daydream, it became an instant hit. Ronald turned around to find a lot of connections, spent a lot of money and resources, and must do his best.

"Then I have no doubts, I will order copies of your films according to the highest standards." Thomas Stephenson Jr finally let go, "Besides, my mother really likes 'Dancing Hot', can I help her and Her sister Amoy, a special one?"

   "Haha, no problem, Manager Cannold will arrange it." Ronald shook his hand tightly.

"You have to watch out for the Jewish groups in the New York film circle. I heard some news that someone is going to target you for a hot dance." Thomas Stephenson whispered in Ronald's ear secretly when shaking hands. sentence.

   Then he raised his eyebrows at Ronald and Douglas Jr. and turned to look for Cannold.

   "What did he say?" Little Douglas asked Ronald when he saw that Ronald's face was wrong.

   "He said the Jews in the New York film circle wanted to do something small with our films." Ronald covered his mouth with his right hand and told little Douglas.

   "Hmph, there's a lot of Hollywood here, what kind of storm can the Jews make?"

   "Don't care about them, we just do our own thing."

  The filming tour continued, Ronald's last stop was New York City. This is not only a sweet hometown, but also a place that is criticized by film critics, as well as the most concentrated place for large-scale movie theaters in the country.

  New York has always been one of the holy places of theater, and various large-scale movie theaters have been built very early. The population density here is also the highest in America.

   So New York has inherited many large movie theaters from history, and there are many large theaters that can accommodate thousands of people, and even three or five thousand people.

   After entering the 1970s, the impact of television made these cinemas decline. The occupancy rate has a much greater impact on the lobby than in medium and small movie theaters.

   These cinemas, either demolished due to urban sprawl or only showing some midnight movies, are dubbed the Mill Cinemas.

   There are also some of the most luxurious and top-notch locations. The once star-studded Grand Theater was subsidized by New York City Hall. A large number of retired corporate executives, the second generation of old money, have taken up committee positions of various names after retirement, providing subsidies to these places that bring them memories.

   At the same time, they can also get more scarce tickets for ballet, opera, or movie premieres starring stars. These are the statuses that distinguish these people from ordinary people. Not those Broadway musical tickets for tourists.

   So, the movie screenings held in New York were different from the previous ones. The people who came were all in suits and leather shoes, dressed as if they were going to the opera.

   "We hired a few experts to help us evaluate the two films of Daydream." Several cinema operators came over to introduce Ronald.

   received subsidies. In fact, these large movie theaters are not private enterprises to some extent. All kinds of people who have the power to issue subsidies have to show their power.

   Therefore, it is rare that there are not all movie buyers here. There are many people who do not understand movie management. They have to hire some experts to help them make judgments.

"This is Aaron Russo, the producer of the now highly rated TV series 'SWAT 4587 (WiseGuy)'." Ronald shook hands with him, and he recognized the fat man who thought he was tall but greasy , was the expert hired by Weston Pictures when the 'Spicy Dance' project was established.

   "This is the Jew trying to trouble me?" Ronald thought to himself.

"Who is this…"

   "Mr. Diese needs no introduction." Ronald shook hands with another so-called expert, the patron of New York University's Diese Institute, the youngest son of the Diese family. Their family is old money, and they own a part of the New York Giants of the NFL League.

   When I wanted to do "Dancing Hot", it was this Steve Tish who was uncomfortable with the script's depiction of a Jewish girl falling in love with an Irish boy.

  The two sides did not continue to speak, and Ronald felt the maliciousness in the other's eyes.

   "We're showing 'Dancing Hot' now," Daydream distribution manager Michelle Cannold announced the opening of the screenings.

   After 100 minutes, the movie ends with a carnival dance to the accompaniment of the theme song. The subtitles begin to scroll upwards, and the lights in the hall come on.

  Cannold invited several experts to the front desk to give their opinions.

   "What else do I have to say, I've never seen such a ridiculous movie, burn the copy, and claim it from the insurance company."

   That TV producer Aaron Russo came to the front desk and started ranting about "Dancing Hot"

   "Huh?" Ronald stopped Douglas Hansen Jr. who was going up to reason with him.

   He himself jumped onto the stage in front of the screen.

   "What, am I wrong? What are you filming? The daughter of a Jewish doctor, who also elopes with a dancing poor Irish-born ghost? Filmmaking must have a realistic foundation."

   Aaron Russo looked at Steve Emperor sitting below, and was encouraged by the latter to continue provocation.

   "Who the **** are you? It's up to you to comment on my movies." Ronald was not polite to him, and pushed Fat Russo into a jerk.

   "You Loser, you fought with me for the production rights of this movie and lost, and you just ranted here, I think you should get out of the way."

   was not enough, Ronald pushed Russo several times and knocked him off the stage.

   "Where's the rubbish, let's continue talking about business." Ronald saw Douglas take over, locked Russo with a wrestling technique, and pulled him out.

   He turned his eyes to Steve Dies below, and asked, "Who else of you has some credible art reviews of movies?"

   (end of this chapter)