Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 814 We have to watch it 100 times!

   After the party was over, Ronald focused his energy back on marketing the movie.

   Two things needed his immediate attention. When he and Helen went to two parties, the daydream's colleague had already blown the phone of Ronald's agent.

   This is the downside of being an artist and a businessman. It's one thing to be a director and a producer, it's another thing to be a distributor. Artists usually focus on the preparation, shooting, editing and even final completion of a project day and night for a few months. Then you can rest, recharge, or get inspired.

   And businessmen have to pay attention to the details of business every day, and then make big and small decisions, there is no time to rest. In English, business and busyness are a cognate word (Business), which makes a lot of sense.

  Ronald has now tasted the incompatibility of the two ways of thinking and the distribution of energy and time, which is attacking himself.

   But Daydream is still a small company, and Ronald has to be deeply involved in both before the distribution and production teams are cultivated.

  I really don’t know, how did Roger Coleman, who can produce more than 10 movies in parallel and is in charge of the distribution of New World Pictures, do all this?

   And Coleman is also opposed to the hierarchical management and business meetings of the enterprise. All things are decided by himself and then ordered by his subordinates.

   Ronald felt he couldn't be like Roger Coleman. If all the energy and time are put into daily management, I will have no time to learn and improve, and may stop at the current level for a lifetime.

   In the end, he still prefers to be a director rather than a businessman. It is also very simple to ask him to choose one or the other. If there is a suitable person, he will throw away the distribution business, and he will be more comfortable as a producer and director.

  There are two things to worry about. The first one sounds more troublesome, but it is actually easier to solve.

   Just like the explosion at the box office, there is also the album sales of the movie's original soundtrack "Spicy Body Dance". Because the release of the movie is delayed by a month, and the album that no one cares about, after the premiere, the inventory is depleted at a super speed.

  Especially those record stores located within a mile of the movie theater. Almost every day, new records are sold out by the audience who have just left the movie theater.

   And the record store that didn't stock it at the beginning was also calling the release department of the record company day and night to urge delivery. The calls were concentrated, and Jimmy Reiner was jumping at the empty record warehouse, and the day after the premiere, he went to contact the record company to talk about reprinting.

   But the original Columbia record company refused to continue producing for Ronald's soundtrack. All of their production capacity is occupied by Michael Jackson's new album. Since the 1982 release of "Thriller," which made MJ the highest-selling pop artist of all time, a second album, "Bad," will also be available in America at the end of the month.

   So Columbia's record factories are all stocking up, and there is no spare production capacity for "Spicy Dance".

  Jimmy Reiner urgently contacted other record companies, and learned about the status of "Dancing Hot" in the United States, and the grand occasion of the audience turning around to buy records after leaving the cinema. These companies are more than willing to take over the rest of the record production and distribution.

   The conditions given by two of them can meet the requirements of rapid production and distribution.

The    family is David Geffen's Geffen Records, who is willing to take over the "Dancing Hot" record. After all the marketing, distribution, production, etc. are all covered, Ronald's film company only needs to wait for the revenue after the release.

  The other is the old record RCA, they don't want to take over the record, but they are willing to provide production and distribution cooperation. The two parties also used the method of sharing to settle the settlement, but because they did not invest much, the amount of sharing requested was also lower than that of Geffen.

   "Who do you think is better?" Ronald asked Jimmy Reiner over the phone.

"I think RCA is reliable. Originally, this album was largely based on movies for marketing, and most of the customers wanted to buy it because they watched the movie or saw the theme song on MTV. of.

   So the conditions proposed by Geffen don’t really have much effect on us. The share he asked for was also too high, although it could be negotiated. "

   "Negotiations..." Ronald recalled the style of David Geffen's previous actions, and offered little hope that Jimmy Reiner could negotiate and take advantage of him.

  The owner of the record company signed John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles. Shot by mad admirers before Lennon's album was released.

   Geffen has also been in a relationship with Cher, the heroine of Ronald's next movie, "The Moonlight". A man who is interested in men openly falls in love with a beautiful girl named Cher, and when she finally breaks up, she has to take back all the jewelry given to her.

  Regardless of luck or shrewdness, Ronald doubted that he was not the opponent's opponent.

"We don't have much room for negotiation, Jimmy. What's important now is to make a lot of records as fast as possible, and then distribute them to the national market, and if the audience can't buy the records, wait for this movie craze In the past, we may have lost more."

"If you think so, Ronald. I'll get in touch with RCA one more time to see if I can negotiate better terms." Jimmy Reiner is still a broker. In his view, every transaction is a Let the employer get the best conditions and match the transaction, which is to pay attention to professional ethics.

   "Don't talk about it, just agree to their conditions and sign the contract as soon as possible. I happen to be in New York, you ask their people to see me."

   "Okay, boss. I'll tell you right away."

  …

   "Director Li, this is the headquarters of our RCA. Our company invented the 33-rpm LP in 1931, which can hold more songs than the 78-rpm commonly used at the time."

  Jimmy Reiner moved quickly, and Ronald arrived at RCA's headquarters in New York early the next morning. A distribution manager took Ronald on a tour of the RCA's Historical Honors Room.

   This factory, established in 1929, is a giant in the American recording industry. After entering the 1980s, supported by financial market financing, they acquired a 50% stake in Bertelsmann's Allista record company, and formed a joint venture with Bertelsmann to release each other's hit records in Europe and America.

After the second term of the commander, they signed Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross with a signing fee far beyond the market price. Trying to grab a bigger slice of the record industry in America.

   But luck is not on RCA's side, two big stars who were popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, and last year, the two stars quickly passed away under the fresh music style. RCA had to take back the $25 million worth of records it couldn't sell in record stores.

   This year has made things worse. The sales of their singers' records are weak, and they have met a superstar like MJ again. They have started to release their second album in five years, which has been eagerly awaited by music fans.

  The fixed budget that fans spend on records is that much in a year. And MJ only released one album in five years, so many new records from other companies have been hit hard.

   In the first half of the year, RCA is expected to lose nearly 40 million, and the annual loss may exceed 60 million. Therefore, compelled by the situation, the current RCA policy is to no longer invest huge amounts of money in the release of records that require a lot of publicity and marketing.

  Ronald's "Spicy Dance" soundtrack album is exactly what they need. It can not only use the effect of the movie to avoid marketing expenses, but also digest the production capacity vacated by the weak sales of the two superstars.

  So RCA all respect Ronald, a vice president deliberately discussed the details of cooperation with Ronald after Ronald visited the history of the record company.

   "We, RCA, also have many distribution channels in Europe. Will your films be released to Europe?"

"Of course, at the Cannes Film Festival, I had signed a release intention with many distributors. Now the box office of the film has exceeded expectations. I think we will also have many fans in Europe. They also want to buy a record, come Learn Mambo."

   Ronald was confident of selling copies all over the world, and in front of RCA's vice president, the good news was poured out.

   After all, the bigger the number of records released, the cheaper RCA's production costs, and the more willing they were to give a certain profit to Ronald's daydream.

   "If, I'm talking about that time, when Hot Body Dance is a box office success in Europe, we can distribute goods there. At that time, our share can be reduced by 10% on the original basis."

  The vice president did the math. According to the current momentum, it is just around the corner to surpass the platinum album, and even in the long run, it will sell several platinum sales. At that time, the average cost per album can be low enough to make the company's financial director laugh out loud, and now the most important thing is to win this list of guaranteed profits.

"make a deal!"

   When Ronald heard that there was such a good thing, he immediately reached out and shook hands with the other party.

   Now another factory as big as RCA has taken the initiative to extend an olive branch. All production capacity is ready-made, and it can be quickly produced and distributed to all towns in America within a week. What better partner than this?

   And they have a joint venture with Bertelsmann, the largest publishing group in Europe, and have ready-made overseas sales channels. "Spicy Dancing" will make RCA and Daydream both make money and make money.

   "Mr. Mitch Kanter's team will be fully responsible for our contract issues. He will come over tomorrow to talk to you about the signing. Jimmy Reiner, as my plenipotentiary, will sign with you as soon as possible."

   "Very good, we can actually start preparing for production in advance. After signing the contract tomorrow, the production line can be started." Mr. Vice President is very satisfied, such a refreshing person is really hard to find.

  …

   By night, Ronald and Cynthia Rhodes had boarded a plane to Nashville, Tennessee.

   Both of them sat in the business class and sat together. As soon as Ronald got on the plane, he took out his pen and notebook and began to write something.

   "Are you writing your next work?" Cynthia Rhodes just took off her shoes and was resting comfortably while reading the wine list. Ronald had just made a big hit at the box office, and he was so hardworking, but it made her feel that this person was destined to succeed.

   "No, I'm analysing why our movie is so successful in the South." Ronald showed the book to Cynthia.

"According to the average single-hall standard, the box office here is actually higher than New York, which is really surprising. I think this issue, I have to figure out, I can decide whether to increase marketing investment in the southern region, or even more Hold some fan meetings."

"I don't know, but the story of this movie really makes the girls in my hometown like it. They have called me a lot and said that I played well." Cynthia Rhodes is not interested in these, and I'm talking about my own experience.

"This is what I don't understand. Your hometown is a small town. Why do girls there like this movie? The story takes place in New York in 1963. A rich girl fell in love with a poor boy. What do you think? It doesn't fit the conservative style of the South."

  Ronald closed the notebook. This question had been bothering him for several days. If he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer, it would be a bit risky to rush to invest more.

   Although the box office expectations of "Spicy Dance" are very good, it will take a long time to settle the payment. Ronald doesn't have much money to invest in marketing now, so he can only choose a breakthrough and concentrate resources. Sprinkle a little money everywhere, firstly, it may not be effective, and secondly, it is not enough.

   "Nashville is actually not conservative. There are many record companies in the town, and it is the holy land of rock and roll. It is impossible to be conservative. But away from the center where many record companies gather, the rest of the place is still very conservative."

  Cynthia Rhodes gave Ronald a brief introduction to Nashville's style. In the southern state of Tennessee, it is considered open, but compared with New York and Los Angeles, it is considered to be much more conservative.

  …

   Soon, Ronald saw this mix of conservative and progressive styles.

   In downtown Nashville, the most prestigious movie theater is the Bell Court Theater.

   Not only various Hollywood and European avant-garde movies are shown here, but many record company employees come back to watch. On the other hand, it is also the resident of the Nashville Children's Choir, and nearby churches often come to borrow the venue to hold large-scale choir singing.

  …

   "We want to see Johnny, we want to see Johnny!"

   At the fan meeting, many female fans of the actor Patrick Schwytz occupied the venue, clamoring for Patrick Schwitz to show up.

   This is the opposite of the general movie marketing where female stars are more popular than male stars. This movie with women as the first point of view attracts fans who want to see the male protagonist.

They shouted the slogan "I want to see Johnny, I want to see Johnny", held up the paper sign "No one can leave Baby in the corner", broke the convention of the fan meeting, and clamored to see Schwytz .

   Ronald saw that the momentum was not right, and hurried up to ease the situation. He picked up the microphone, knocked a few times, and said to the bottom,

   "Do you want to meet Patrick? If you want to meet, stop and hear about the details of the arrangement with you. How can I meet Patrick Schwytz, would you like to hear it?"

   "Yes, please say it!"

   "Uh... Patrick Schwytz is in New York right now, we're planning his trip, and if the box office here is good, we'll arrange for him to come too and hold another fan meeting."

   "The box office? Our box office is very good here. If you don't believe me, ask the theater manager?"

   A blond woman in a T-shirt and jeans shouting at Ronald from below.

   "Please give her a microphone." Ronald sweated profusely and asked the staff to give her the first microphone.

   "What's your name, please?" Ronald asked politely from above.

   "My name is Kathy, when can Patrick come?"

   "Uh", Ronald felt sweat slipping down his back into his hair again, these fans are too real.

   "Like I said, we arrange fan meetings, depending on the box office situation in various places, and the itinerary of the actors, and consider it comprehensively. For example, when we came to Nashville this time, we invited the local-born Cynthia Rhodes.

   "Cynthia, hi, talk to the director, when will Patrick Schwitz come to us."

   "Cathy, I don't have the power, you have to ask the director." Cynthia also took a microphone and said to the old acquaintance below.

   Looking at Ronald's questioning look, Cynthia lowered the microphone with a smile and replied, "My middle school classmate."

   "So, as long as we can do well at the box office, you'll let Schwytz come, right?"

  Casey has the pungent side of a southern girl. She is usually gentle and amiable. When it comes to critical moments, she knows what it means to do her part.

   "Uh, actually, we don't rank fan activities completely by box office." Ronald sweated down again, which was too sturdy.

   "Come on, I get it, the box office is in place, you'll let us meet Johnny, can you make Schwytz dance with me if the box office hits a record?"

   "Haha, it depends on whether he is interested or not. He did dance with several audience members and film critics in New York." Ronald had to say this.

   "It doesn't matter, we have set up a 'Spicy Dance' movie club. We have watched the movie many times, and it will definitely make a good box office. Don't talk about it, director."

   "How many times have you watched it?" Ronald was a little surprised. It's only been a few days since the movie was released in Nashville?

   "I've watched it 6 times." Casey raised his chest proudly. "We have another one here. I've watched it 10 times, and I haven't pulled a single one."

   "Excuse me, but don't you want to watch other movies after watching several 'Dancing' every day?"

   "No, this is the best movie to watch. I can't stop watching it."

   "No, I still cry every time I see Johnny going back to find Baby."

   "You don't know, director, what a wonderful movie you made. When we watch the movie, it's like seeing our own life."

   In the end, it was the girl who watched 10 games and told Ronald the reason why they wanted to watch it over and over again.

   Tennessee is a very conservative and backward state. These girls often graduate from high school and have to get married and then have children.

   In "Spicy Body Dance", Baby's life is the kind of life they yearned for when they were young, but didn't get it.

   He has a wise, enlightened and wise father, a handsome boy with small eyes who is his lover, and can dance such a **** and beautiful dance.

  Baby Hausman, the role played by Jennifer Gray, wearing a sweater and an ordinary skirt, but being able to experience such a good love and dance such a **** dance, this is to live out their dreams for these girls.

   "Okay, I will discuss it with Patrick Schwytz individually and try to add a fan meeting for you as much as possible."

   Ronald was very moved, and after the meeting, he went to the burger shop next door to eat alone with Kathy and other stalwarts of the fan club.

These girls are really cute, they cut out stills from magazines and pasted them in scrapbooks, and they are drawing all kinds of dialogue with water pens, like they are doing a graphic novel for "Dancing Hot" Same.

   They also carefully pasted the movie ticket stubs on the scrapbook. The girl with the most has accumulated 11 tickets.

"Don't go and watch the hot dance again and again, we will start the production of the video tape soon, the price will not be higher than 40 US dollars, then you can take it home and watch it again and again. You watch the movie 10 times. The money is enough to buy one.”

  Ronald also asked his assistant to bring a list, register the names and addresses of all the girls in the fan club, and promised to send them a copy at his own expense when the videotape came out.

   "That's a videotape, the big screen in the movie theater we like to watch." Casey, the head of the fan club, waved his hand, indicating that the videotape is a videotape, and they will continue to watch this movie over and over again.

   "Why? Is my movie really that good? Of course, Cynthia's dance and performance are very worth watching. I'm just worried that you've spent a lot of money."

   "It's not wrong, it's just good-looking." Casey and other members of the fan club disagreed with Ronald's opinion.

   Ronald didn't look polite to them either, with an expression he didn't understand.

   "Cynthia, you told him", Kathy saw that Ronald still didn't understand, and let Cynthia Rhodes explain.

   "Ronald, you don't know the girls in Tennessee. At home, they have husbands, several children, and endless housework. Watching movies is the only time they can breathe a sigh of relief."

   Ronald sighed, this is something he has never experienced, and he has no such life experience. Going to the cinema to watch Baby in "Dancing Hot" do what they dream of is a rare time for these girls to escape reality and breathe a sigh of relief.

   Watching video tapes at home and being interrupted by things at any time is not the effect.

   "Well, I'll pay for all the tickets for tomorrow's shows, please watch." Ronald felt that it was not easy for the girls in the fan club, so he asked them to watch, wanting to save them a little money.

   "Oh yeah..." Everyone happily clapped the table with Coke cups.

   "It's my luck to have fans like you." Ronald also greeted them with an angry cola.

"When you see 15 or 20 games, you will almost be able to set a record." Ronald said with great emotion, "I rarely heard of people watching 10 games in a row in my previous movies. You really surprised me. ."

   "How can 15 shows be enough?" Casey put down the Coke and stared at Ronald, "Our club has an agreement to watch 100 shows in the cinema! Girls, isn't it?"

   "Yes! We're going to watch 100 games."

   "Oh oh..." Ronald almost couldn't close his mouth while eating the hamburger.

   (end of this chapter)