Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 940 Bad news for small and medium producers

  Long Island is too reserved and social. Ronald simply ended his vacation early and returned to Los Angeles.

   "I thought you were going to be in New York for a while?" Ronald asked Diane who was going back to Los Angeles with him. Now the strike of the screenwriters union is still going on, and the approval of new film projects has come to a standstill. The originally busy audition work is now very rare, and I don't know what Diane is going back to do.

  “Someone saw my performance growing up and called Paula specifically, saying they wanted me to audition, and Paula said it was very suitable for me.”

  Diane finally got the clothes to match the plane. Today she is wearing a Marilyn Monroe style. Maybe every actress has a dream of becoming Monroe.

   "What movie is it?" Ronald felt very strange. Now that the script can't be changed, what studio is willing to bet at this time? Will the betting strike be over soon? The news I heard from the Producers Union was not like this. This time I went to Los Angeles, and I had to attend a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

   "It's not a movie", Diane made a Monroe-style kiss.

   "Is that a TV show?" Ronald asked.

   "It's not a TV series either," Diane giggled, "It's the mini-series that CAA launched a few years ago."

  A mini-series is a TV series with about six episodes. Compared with a normal TV series with more than a dozen or even dozens of episodes in a season, the difference between a mini-series is that the number of episodes and the direction of the plot are determined.

  And the length of each episode is relatively long, and the shooting techniques and budget are closer to movies than to TV dramas. Ten years later, CAA broke into the agent market through a mini-drama called "The General" about the Warring States Period in Japan, until it became one of the smallest companies in the agent industry today.

  That kind of devotion makes us doubt that Minahan Brian is a capable liar.

  Before Wayne was willing to shoot, so he kept it on the shelf. That time it was changed to seven episodes, a total of eight mini-series..."

   "You are outside the script warehouse every day, looking at these old scripts decades later, which ones can be used instead."

   "That was a script that Peter Bogdanovich participated in writing, and it was going to be made into a movie nearly seventy years later, and it was going to invite John Wayne, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda to cooperate.

   Xiaojia was very disappointed, but the situation forced Xiaojia to have no choice but to discuss how to apply for exemption clauses and what conditions need to be met before applying for exemption, and then fill out the opinion form and submit it to President Nick for reference.

It seems that the strike, the least affected Hollywood is the medium-sized production company, no matter how big the production company, such as Roger Corman's ultra-high-cost filming, is affected by the strike instead. It is small.

  Now the producer can find a film screenwriter who belongs to the screenwriters union but does not have a certain level, which is something to be proud of and show off.

   "I'm so worried, you just have to find a Chinese screenwriter to revise your new film." Big Walton said with a smile.

  Samuel filled it out carefully, focusing on the conversation with the producers around him.

"Did we put forward any new requirements, and did you modify the terms? You retreated completely according to the arrangement of the negotiating envoy sent by the little commander. The reason for the breakdown of the negotiations was that Minahan Cong Lanpeng was able to persuade the committee of the screenwriters' union to refuse to accept it." That condition. We still insist on a compensation of 200 million U.S. dollars, as well as adding a smaller creative initiative to the screenwriter (there is no smaller right to speak in determining the director and actors).”

  The kind of excessive conditions, of course, hit the head and blood on the way out of the negotiation, even if the little commander personally intervened in the federal government negotiating envoy sent by him, it would still allow me to succeed.

   "Is he still thinking about Rain Man?" Paula only asked Samuel.

   "I'm worse than you. I heard that the next film was halfway through filming, and the funds were withdrawn by the bank. I had to sell it to another publisher."

  Then it's the small studio's turn to complain.

  This is Cong Lan De Laurentiis, an Italian producer. This is a Lesian who has no old grudges with Samuel because of the movie "Year of the Dragon".

   "I really have a trick. I just installed a fountain in the studio. When there is a topic, I let the fountain spray water on myself."

  Samuel almost couldn't help laughing. It seems that the situation on TV is even more serious. It is usually the kind of talk show that is broadcast every night, and it needs to stop producing jokes, especially since there is no scriptwriter team to serve the host.

   "The strike that lasted for less than a month is hopeless, Xiaojia, hurry up and resume abnormal shooting." Outside the Producers Union, various important production factories gathered together to complain about the strike.

   "Am I trying to refuse?"

   That script is Xu hired a screenwriter to modify certain scenes? Forget it, just tear up that scene to save money. And very few of my screenwriters are unionized untalented people.

   "You are laughing at yourself, are you going to Israel to hire a screenwriter." Samuel laughed.

   "What's the matter? Tell me, you love to hear that." Samuel stared at Diane De Laurentiis amused.

  Samuel frowned. The market for westerns has shrunk very much. Only western movies are watched, and even the ratings of western TV series are very poor.

  Under the plane, Cong Lan told Samuel a little about the script called "Lone Pigeon Town". Cong Lanpeng is actually too interested in that kind of old themes. The story of a group of Texas cowboys driving their cattle to Montana, with eight positive heroines, reminds me of the classic Hollywood business card "Red River".

   Then all the low-cost scenes were deleted, and a supporting actor was added to fill in the deleted scenes. Just cast my dead boyfriend, Stratten's sister Louise, in that role. Earn all the money you can.

   Cong Lanpeng nodded, that's the key point.

   "Very wrong, suitable for Dino, you are expected to become a cold-selling TV series. The recent script shortage is very slight, and you are also lucky to get that old script."

  You will continue to keep in touch and negotiate with the screenwriters union, and try to help Xiaojia get some exemption clauses. "

  Rob Lowe’s idea of ​​going to the next level with this film was completely defeated. I have to be careful that I will be caught by the wonderful word-of-mouth of the movie, and act as soon as possible to restore the influence by acting a movie with a good reputation or a good box office.

   "Actually, you don't even have your own big production company..." Big Walton Godwin laughed, our family has nothing to do with Milo Mei, except for a little trace under the name. "What are they talking about? Bad looking very unhappy?"

  Minahan Bryan could only pretend that it was just a temporary setback, as long as he continued to strike, he could get the promised conditions.

   "I am satisfied with what terms, you can't talk about it..."

  Samuel dared to go up, and at that moment, I heard a sigh...

   "Huh..." Cong Lan muttered, turned and left. It **** to be laughed at in your face.

   "When did he come, you saw him just now."

"You still have the same answer, unless Tom (Cruise) chooses to play this strong wit." Samuel still thinks that there is no unexpected effect as long as the beautiful Cruise is not allowed to play the strong wit . And Nisita warned herself that Dustin Hoffman, who was originally scheduled to play the strong brother, was difficult to deal with on the set.

   Cong Lanpeng also pursued Peter Bogdanovich for a while, and wanted to sign me, who was out of date, as the exclusive director of Cannon. But Bogdanovich seemed to like me, so he finally found Diane, who had made few classic commercial films.

   Cong Lanpeng Bryan, who has a way, has no choice but to go back and report the good news. But these low-level screenwriters who were bewitched by me agreed. On behalf of our committee members, they definitely allowed Minahan Bryan to agree.

   On the seventh day, Samuel went to the Producers Union meeting. Cong Lanpeng, the negotiator of the Screenwriters Union, Cong Lanpeng, will speak softly to the media in the next week, saying that he will consider accepting the $70 million compensation proposed by the Producers Union, and will go outside the union to persuade the representatives of each branch .

   Originally, Bogdanovich wasn't filming for money, but it looked bad, so he immediately arranged for his confidante Colin Garp to play the leading role. Anyway, the two have worked together a few times, so they know how to fool around.

  Samuel looked up, and it turned out to be Cong Lanpeng Golan of Cannon.

   "Is the situation on their TV station really that bad?"

  Samuel sat in front and basically understood. That writers union negotiator, Minahan Bryan, won election to that position by inciting low-level writers. The reason I persuaded the Negotiating Committee of the Screenwriters Union is not that I will definitely listen to myself in eight years, that I will not be able to get 200 million at all, and take back the creative initiative from the greedy and professional producers.

   Cong Lanpeng looked at the small and big producers around him, always with a melancholy face. It's even worse that the strike has little impact on my business. When I go to shoot Dirty Dancing by myself and invest money from myself, friends, and family members, when I encounter such a strike, it's just...

  So based on that false confidence, the negotiation committee of the Screenwriters Union formally agreed to the employer's conditions and announced the continuation of the strike.

   But we have a small minority in the union. Originally, we also got the remaining dividends caused by rebroadcasting on some TV stations. Those people were too idealistic, too complicated, not even sophisticated sometimes, and the difficulty was exploited by people like Minahan Bryan.

"Why…"

   "That's right, but the few details of these scripts are old and appropriate, and I found bad screenwriters to modify them. Bad screenwriters are all union members."

   "Haha, what's my name? Is it from Xiangjiang?" Cong Lanpeng thought for a while. Could it be Tsui Hark who can write scripts in English in Xiangjiang? Am I in Hollywood?

   There was a burst of wailing from the CUHK producer. We expected to not get a new contract today, and we were all disappointed when we were about to resume work.

   "Puchi...quack..." Ronald finally laughed. It caused the other party to look back.

   "What's the subject matter?" Samuel thought to himself, it's strange that Dino will pick it up. When you can't choose, sometimes you don't have requirements for the quality of the character.

   "You see, one day, you will all be driven to places like Australia and Canada. Is there any harassment from labor unions here, and you can find English-speaking screenwriters."

  And we all believed Cong Lanpeng Bryan's confident appearance in the later stage, and he was too optimistic about the propaganda of trade union members. It made us believe in nonsense, actively participated in the strike, and established a supervisory committee to make screenwriters who wanted to work work.

  It is the same as that small studios do not have a lot of scripts, and the shortage of scripts in large and medium-sized studios is very slight. Moreover, our financial pressure should be less, and if the project is delayed, the interest of the bank can crush people to death.

  The small factory representatives here gathered in another group to chat. What we are more concerned about is how much we can control the share of the screenwriters outside the agreement. Those low-level managers rely on that to write their own year-end summary.

   "Forget it, who of them watched David Letterman's show last night?"

   "I approached Peter Bogdanovich, and wanted to use my talent to promote Rob Lowe, another female star of the Brad gang. As a result...any purpose was achieved anyway."

  Xiaojia can't use his own channels to tell the friends of the actor's union vague truths. If the farce continues, it will do no harm to anyone.

   "You have read, you can only find screenwriters from Australia and Canada to change the script, what happened?"

   "He's still bad, he doesn't have a base in Israel, and the English skills of the screenwriters here are also very bad." Samuel comforted his old friend, pointing his finger at another medium-sized producer opposite.

  The structure of the story is almost the same, but the details are the same, stretched to seven episodes. But you can say that to Dino, and now your interest is strong.

  As it is now, it is less difficult to play a supporting role, but it is brilliant, why? Does Cruise still have the confidence in his acting skills?

   It’s too late for me to be relieved, it’s my own project, Dino can shoot whatever he wants. Anyway, Paula's vision is wrong, and she will cheat you. Even if there is a falling type, there will not be some good works.

   "The level is very wrong. I graduated from the film department of a New York elementary school. I heard that I didn't find a job in a few years. I took the children out of the house. You also found me by accident."

Samuel waited until Paula Wagner who came to pick you up, and only asked you, "How is the quality of Lone Pigeon Town?"

   "Who do we think we are?"

  …

   As a result, a few days after the filming of "He who broke the law" started, Diane informed Bogdanovich that the film's budget had been cut and that the script had to be revised to accommodate a higher-budget shooting.

   "You can accept these..."

   Having seen the kind of starlet who gets a salary of 8 million yuan, Samuel thinks it is worse to find difficult cooperation. It must be discovered by myself, and Tom Cruise, who has worked with me, will play the leading role. I am not interested in getting me an Oscar nomination.

   "Hehehe...", Cong Lanpeng and Ronald laughed for a while. Both of them were directors. Of course, they knew what kind of damage would be caused to the film if the director deliberately made money.

   "Hey hey...", Samuel looked back with a smile without any disguise.

   "Walton?" Cong Lanpeng recognized the person, who was the son of Walton Lowdwin, the founder of Mime, and the producer of this messy Oscars ceremony.

   "Samuel, Ronald..." Finally, no one came down to say hello to the two producers who got along.

  Everyone refuses, if you can give up the creative decision-making power, even if it is partly to the screenwriter, then Bad Hollywood will become Bad Hollywood. You are not divided and unanimous, continue to spend with us. The screenwriters who approve of the agreement are mainly low-level screenwriters who have written a blockbuster movie or TV series independently.

   Definitely go back to the conditions put forward by the Producers Association in the past, which means that what Minahan Bryan said afterwards is all deceptive nonsense. So for those committee members elected by the union members, the last reelection will be wonderful.

"You just came, Cong Lanpeng... Seeing him really made you unhappy. You have nothing to be unhappy about recently. I thought your small project would not turn around. If there is a way, you can only go back to Tel Aviv to find him. The screenwriter can modify your script."

  You guys didn't just let us soften with the fact that if there is no work, there is no salary, now we are looking for star actors to raise funds for the strike and to help the writers through the strike time without salary.

  Maybe it was the timely laughter of the two, which made the producers around look over.

   Cong Lanpeng is normal, does he have the usual indifference. The speed of speech has been accelerated.

  The president of the Producers Union, Nick Counter, waved Xiaojia to be quiet, and then introduced the details of the retreat of the negotiation and the breakdown, and answered Xiaojia's questions.

   "Western"

   "Gentlemen..." Nick Counter, the president of the league, came out more than ten minutes later than the scheduled time, "Good news, the screenwriters union has officially agreed to your conditions."

  "The pressure on Hollywood is not the least now," President Nick concluded below, "Now the TV station's new fall TV series is about to end production, and the screenwriters are also seeing this opportunity and want to force you to submit.

   "Oh, Shxt..."

   "He's coming too?"

  (end of this chapter)