Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 815 Over 10 million box office in five days

   These movie fans have ordinary jobs, and many of them are housewives, but they are just willing to spend their few pocket money to go to the movie theater to watch "Spicy Dance" over and over again.

Ronald and their head Kathy said okay, don't rush the 100 club feat, "Dancing Hot" will be shown for a long time, at least until the end of the year, and then it will switch to long-running screenings at that time. cheaper.

"In short, I don't want you to watch it to break the record or to achieve your wish. We make an agreement that every time you watch it, you want to see the story of Johnny and Baby, not for the record. . If you can do it, I will come to congratulate you when the time comes."

"Oh yeah!"

  The women's fan club cheered happily, "You have to bring Patrick Schwytz."

   "Hahaha..." Ronald scratched his head, these fans are really cute.

   "I want to do something for you, Kathy. I've never made a movie before, and I've never had this experience, and no one has come to tell me that she'll love movies to the point of seeing dozens or hundreds of them."

   "Really? Can we make a request?" Several fans were overjoyed. It was not easy for the director to make such a promise.

   "As long as Schwytz doesn't dance with all of you..." Ronald recalled the sight of the actor Schwytz being asked to dance to a song everywhere after the movie was released, and he was also asked to say that line. Had to half-jokingly let these loyal fans give up this request.

"No, no, it's not this." The head of the fan club, Casey, said with a smile, "We watched the movie and liked the dance in it. We also formed a dance club and were in the classroom of the elementary school in town every week. Dance.

  However, the soundtrack for the movie sold out as soon as it came out, and it's hard to find even in Nashville, the music city, and we hope you can send us a batch. "

"Just this little thing?" Ronald was surprised that they didn't ask for more, "In this way, our new record is being produced day and night in the factory, and when the first batch comes out, I will ask them to send you 50 copies first. , followed by posters of Patrick Schwitz and Jennifer Gray."

   Ronald snapped his fingers and called Daydream's staff to seal the deal.

  …

   Saying goodbye to these lovely southern girls, Ronald did not continue the fan meeting tour of the South with Cynthia Rhodes, but flew back to Los Angeles.

  "Here is the list of people who want to meet you", Nisita returned to Los Angeles ahead of schedule and handed Ronald a bunch of invitations. What Hollywood lacks the most is money. Now that it is clear that Ronald will make a lot of money, he will be the next insider who can invest and make movies by himself. Celebrities want to strengthen their relationship with him.

   "Rick, you help me filter first, who I need to see, and then I will meet again." Ronald looked at the thick list and whistled.

"Actually, you don't have to go to see them, it's their turn to see you. I might as well find a company for you, hold a few parties, and you can send a lot of people at a time. If you're interested, just chat for a while, if you're not, just perfunctory. Your current Status, you can follow Spielberg's style."

  Rick Nisita looked at Ronald and knew that he had not yet transitioned from a famous director to a powerful film company owner.

   "Oh yeah? Can I?" Ronald let out a breath and threw the list on the table, "Then please help me choose."

   "Of course." Nisita smiled and put away the list, "David has something to ask you, and he squeezed a bunch of scripts there."

  Nisita was the first to chat with Ronald, and he nuked David Simkins behind him.

   "Ronald, this is the script we recently received." Script assistant David Simkins had five tin boxes filled with scripts. "Dancing Hot" was a low-budget film, yet another independent release from Ronald's Daydream Pictures.

   This gives endless hope to those who want to make their own script into a movie. So the script is now quickly gathering daydream, ten times the scale and speed.

   Ronald opened the tin box and took two random copies inside. It was obvious that the cover was dusty, and it was rolled over by someone.

"It's those old scripts again. You help me choose first, and I'll take the time to read them carefully." Ronald knew that every time he made a successful movie, there would be a large number of unwilling screenwriters who wrote their own "hard work". 's masterpiece, sent to try your luck. I hope this director can know the goods.

   There's good stuff in here, buried in the studio warehouse for some reason and not being filmed. But most were crap, rejected by multiple studios, most likely because the script itself was faulty, or not suitable for filming (some scenes were too expensive).

   "Okay, boss."

"Our records can be sent to retail stores all over the world right away. After the RCA contract was signed, the first batch of productions used a different cover. As soon as the weekend came, the situation that there was no stock everywhere could be solved. Fight for MJ's 'Bad' was on sale for two weeks before the new album."

  Jimmy Reiner came for the third time, and RCA, in order to show its sincerity, paid for the record production. As for the marketing link, the demand from various places is very strong. As long as the albums arrive, they can be sold immediately. The effect of movies and records pulling each other is very obvious. RCA also did not do more budget.

   When the payment for the goods is returned, RCA will be split with Daydream.

   "It's still too slow to get the money back." Ronald took out his checkbook and wrote a check for attorney's fees to Mitch Kanter, the barrister in Los Angeles.

  The money from Daydream has been used for marketing, and now there are additional events such as fan meetings in various places, and roadshows in various states of America. Ronald, on the other hand, was still talking to the lab about overprinting copies. The current multiplex theaters are optimistic about the box office stamina of "Spicy Dance", and hope to introduce more copies and play them on a loop.

   The money invested by Douglas Jr. in the later period is like a drop in the bucket, and it will dry up in less than a week.

   And according to the share ratio of the two, Ronald also has to invest millions of funds, otherwise the two will sit down and have a lawyer and an accountant to recalculate the share ratio of the two.

   Now there is only one way, that is to use the future box office revenue and record revenue to mortgage loans to financial institutions, and then use the current cash depletion to pass.

   Fortunately, the box office results of "Spicy Dancing" are obvious to all, and the album is expected to get good sales next week, so it is not a big problem to loan out millions.

   Another person who came to chat with Ronald was Steve Bannon, the producer of "Love Is Not For Sale".

   "My relationship on Wall Street, at least I can do the interest of this figure." Bannon took the calculator on Ronald's desk and typed a number on it.

   "If that's the case, I might as well ask the boss of the 'Silver Fund', you know, I have a good relationship with their directors.

   Ronald pushed the calculator back.

   "Okay, it can be as cheap as that, but you have to borrow at least 10 million." Bannon typed another number.

   "Ten million? Does my collateral have such a high value?" Ronald looked at the interest, but he was satisfied. It was ten million. It seemed that the box office distribution contract and the record contract were not worth so much.

"I personally vouch for you. I don't believe your movie is worth so much money. Ever since the release of Love Is Not For Sale, I've been going to the cinema every other day to watch the audience's emotions and reactions. Your 'hot dance' After the release, I can say responsibly that your box office will at least double that of mine."

  Bannon shook his thick neck from side to side, tie and shirt holding him tightly. When talking about his confidence in Ronald, he got a little excited and loosened his tie.

   "What do you want?" Ronald was more satisfied with the interest rate. Bannon offered to help like this, and he had to see what the cost would be.

   "Can you take me with you for your next movie?" Bannon tossed the tie he was playing with and whispered to Ronald.

   "I can't guarantee that you will be able to participate in the films I directed, but I will be open to investment in the films that I like to produce next."

   "It's a pleasure to deal with you." Bannon stretched out his thick hand and shook hands with Ronald, "Let the accountants and lawyers do the rest of the contract work."

   The last person to come in is Daydream's distribution director Michelle Cannold.

   "Tonight, we'll be able to exceed $10 million at the box office."

  Cannold came up with good news.

"Tonight? Are you sure? Today is the fifth day?" Ronald was a little surprised. He was expected to rush to the first 10 million box office before the weekend of the second week, but how could it be several days earlier? ?

"Yeah, the Deep South, and the Midwest are seeing unexpected growth. I've added a few more fan meetups in Alabama, Georgia, etc. Those small town female audiences, really I really liked the movie."

   "Yeah, yeah..." Ronald stroked his beard. The biggest accident of "Spicy Dance" was that it won a large number of **** audiences in the conservative Deep South.

   "So we have to speed up the production of the videotape" Michelle Cannold took the opportunity to push a videotape release plan.

   "This?" Ronald looked at the summary. The plan in it was good, but the cost was also very expensive. He almost invested most of the loan he had just finalized with Bannon.

   "We have to hurry up. In the second month of the release, some pirates will take a fancy to the box office of the movie and start trying to bribe the film projectionists in the town.

   And from the second month to the third month, movie theaters in many small towns began to lease copies to their peers, and loopholes began to appear in the management here. Generally, movie piracy came out during this period.

   We must store a large number of videotapes in videotape rental shops before the risk of piracy. "

   "Okay, let's do it like this." Ronald looked at the back, Cannold's estimated sales and rental income, and immediately signed the proposal to confirm.

   Now spend all the money on "spicy dance", and the return next year may be several times the return.

   "However, can this production cost be reduced?" Ronald asked, pointing to the unit price of a single videotape. "I know the details of some of the 'Top Gun' video releases, and they seem to cost less than ours."

   "That's different, Top Gun is sponsored by Pepsi and they're $6 cheaper per plate," Cannold said to Ronald, pointing to the average cost figure.

   "Oh, I forgot about this." Ronald patted his head, "If only we had such a deep-pocketed corporate-sponsored videotape. I'd love to do commercials for them. But it's a rare occurrence."

  Cannold was about to ask Ronald when he was given an answer with a look of frustration.

   "Actually there is also a company that can give a cheaper production cost, but..."

   "Oh, how much cheaper?" Ronald was interested. If all the loans were spent on production, there would be no production budget for the new movie, and his personal account would basically run out of savings. It's always good to save a little.

   "It's a lot cheaper, but they're a Hong Kong company."

   "What happened to Xiangjiang?" Ronald asked.

   "Piracy is rampant there."

   "Oh", Ronald thought for a while, then forget it. If the manufacturer insists on self-piracy, the pirated videotape may be released with the genuine, or only a short time behind, which will eat up the sales of the genuine, and regret it too late.

   "Actually, their production capacity is good, the quality is consistent, and it's cheap." Manager Liu also brought a large number of videotapes made by them. I think the colors are accurate. If it wasn't pirated, it would be appropriate to give them to them.

  Cannold asked his assistant to bring in a box of videotapes from outside, all of which were written in Chinese on the cover. The one at the top, starring Ronald's acquaintance Jackie Chan, is named the very strange Spartan X.

"You put it here, let me take a look." Ronald knew that the other party was also tempted by such a cheap cost. If the sales were very good, or if the video tape market in Europe was opened, then the America market would have been eaten up anyway. Less, to not care about more piracy in Asia.

  The last person who came in was Ronald's most trusted agent, Richard and Nisita.

  Nisita has contacted a PR agency and set a party time for Ronald. Richard took a bunch of information about important people and wanted to go through it with Ronald.

  The working hours passed quickly, Ronald and the two brokers had discussed it, and it was almost night.

   "Ahhhh..." Ronald yawned and stretched, "It's enough these few days, traveling between the east and west coasts, the marketing roadshow is really tiring."

   "Maybe, you should consider renting a private jet. It saves time than civil aviation, and you can rest on the plane."

  Nisita put the book together and made a suggestion.

   "Forget it, I'm in a cash crisis right now. I've been spending, spending, spending this year, and I won't be able to sit in first class if I don't see any money back."

   "Uh..." Richard hesitated.

   "What?" Ronald saw his little movement.

   "When you were short of money in the past, didn't you make it for commercials? You can finish shooting in a day or two. Now your reputation is still rising, and the prices offered by manufacturers are increasing."

   "Someone asked me to shoot a commercial?" Ronald laughed, "That's a good thing, is that company?"

  “P&G…”

   "Pass", Ronald interrupted immediately. During the filming of Hot Body Dance, because of the abortion plot, Procter & Gamble withdrew the placement advertisement of Keliying Acne Cream, which made Ronald very passive. This time it was obvious that the other party intended to extend an olive branch, but Ronald was not interested in reconciling with them.

   If it's a big deal, just save some flowers, or borrow a little more, or go back to New York to eat your aunt's meal, hehe. Ronald doesn't want to feel wronged anymore.

   "Okay, I'll see what I can do, let me know if you're willing to accept advertisements, and see what the result is."

   "Very well, Ronald rubbed his eyes, he's never finished his work, but that's it for today."

   Grabbed a few boxes of videotapes from the Hong Kong Company, Ronald picked out a few Jackie Chan movies and went back to watch them for entertainment.

  …

   "Spartan X" Ronald looked at the English title on the cover of the videotape, and there was a line of "food truck" written in very light Chinese below.

   What movie is this? The name doesn't reveal much about the content.

   Ronald put the videotape into the machine, and after a burst of blue-and-pink piracy titles passed, the movie began.

   "This anti-piracy technology is still pretty good, and it's better than last time." Ronald thinks that piracy is probably top-notch.

  The opening scene is Jackie Chan and one of his brothers, the two of them getting up, because the Italians fought and blocked the stairs, and the two decided to cut corners.

  Jackie Chan jumped down from the balcony. There is a canopy in the fruit shop below. He splits on the canopy, flicked it, and then flipped down and stood on the ground.

   "Oh, Shxt", Ronald stood up, how was this shot taken?

   He quickly grabbed the remote and rewinded it.

   "Hey, there seems to be no editing point." Ronald muttered, "Is this a real dance?"

   He pressed the play button.

"what…"

  The owner of the fruit shop closed the canopy, followed by another actor who jumped down, named Yuen Biao, who turned over from the second floor and sat on the ground.

   "Isn't this also a real shot?" Ronald exclaimed.

   Such a dangerous action of doing somersaults directly from the second floor and sitting on the ground with one **** on the ground could lead to injury or even disability.

   "This is also willing to dance? No way, how can there be such a stupid person? There must be some special method." Ronald finished the movie, which was filled with many such action scenes, and played very beautifully.

   But what impressed him the most was the scene where the opening scene flipped down from the second floor, was caught by the canopy and bounced back to the first floor.

   encountered this kind of technical difficulty, and Ronald's directorial addiction was aroused again, and he wanted to know how this was filmed.

   After thinking about it for a long time, Ronald looked at his watch, it happened to be in the morning, and decided to make a phone call.

  …

   "Brother Long, there is a ghost guy looking for you, who speaks English, he said it was a call from Los Angeles."

   "Ghost? Who called me?" Jackie Chan had already woken up early and finished exercising, and was getting ready to eat after taking a shower.

   "Hello? ThisJackieChan", Jackie asked word by word in his slightly accented English.

   "Ronald, this is Ronald..."

   "Sister Jiao, come and listen to me, this ghost speaks so fast, I don't understand."

   "Hello", the beautiful woman called Sister Jiao came to pick up the phone and was asking in English.

  Ronald switched to Mandarin here, "I'm Brother Long's friend, my name is Ronald, Ronald Lee, if you say Ronaldinho is looking for him, he'll know."

   "Oh, Ronaldinho." Jackie Chan picked up the phone, "Are you alright in Los Angeles? When will the new movie come to Hong Kong? We are getting together."

   "I'm here to ask you a question about filming..." Ronald said on the phone.

"I don't dare to ask for advice, let's learn from each other." Jackie Chan was very happy, made an exaggerated face at Sister Jiao, and showed her in a low voice: "This ghost Xiao Luo, he asked me about the movie, he was the top gun last year. The director, the one you've seen."

   "I just watched your 1984 movie 'Food Truck', the scene where you jumped from the second floor and was bounced by the canopy, how was it filmed?"

   "How to shoot? Just shoot it." Jackie Chan stopped to play with Sister Jiao, and Ronald replied to the phone. He thought it was a bit strange, this action was quite difficult, he did it five or six times before he found the feeling, and took the smoothest one.

   But what difficulty do you say with this shot? That's not at all, just put the camera there to shoot. Not as difficult as the fencing shot from behind.

   "Shoot directly? Are you really jumping down and taking one shot to the end?"

   "It's all real dancing. In my movies, all the scenes are real." Brother Long began to show off to Sister Jiao again.

   "Then that actor at the back, Yuen Biao, he also really jumped from the second-rate and fell to the ground?"

   "Of course, we have other martial arts, and we can jump down from higher upstairs."

   "Okay, I'm done." Ronald chatted with him a few words and hung up the phone, "It's a bunch of people who don't want to die."

   "Ghost Xiao Luo convinced me..." Jackie Chan danced happily and turned somersaults in front of Sister Jiao.

  …

   "Ronald, I heard back early this morning that Coca-Cola wants to work with you. Just like you did for Pepsi last year, you also shot a Diet Coke commercial for Coca-Cola, which they used for their main TV commercials.

   Their bid is very good, a little higher than Pepsi.

   In addition, if you are willing to shoot a 60-second commercial, they can also follow the cooperation method with Pepsi and insert an advertisement in front of the "Dancing Hot" video, and they are also willing to subsidize you $6 per box of video. "

   Early the next morning, agent Richard called Ronald to announce the good news.

   "You know what? Richard, you made me happy all day. I promise, you let them find someone to talk to?"

   (end of this chapter)