Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 949 Novel adaptation is sought after

   The next person reporting to Ronald was his script assistant, David Simkins. If you want Daydream to start producing movies like an assembly line, you have to feed the head of the assembly line-a script that can be filmed.

  Although the script is tight now, David Simkins still got a lot of scripts. He had worked as a development manager at New World Films before, so he knew where to buy such low-cost movie scripts—the circulation warehouses of other film studios, and the offices of screenwriter agents.

  The script was shot dead by the CEO level, and it just lay quietly in the circulation warehouse. Turnround means that we will not shoot anymore, but if you can get investment from other people, we can sell it to them.

  Ronald looked at the outline of the basic script that was pasted on the cover of the basic script, and Simkins summarized it. These scripts are all well written, otherwise they would not have been approved by the studio in the first place.

  The reason why there is no filming may involve star schedules, budget issues, director issues, and even political struggles in the office. Some scripts were put in there, and they were forgotten, and even fell asleep for more than 20 years. Daydream liked it, and there was no big problem with the casting.

  The only disadvantage is that the studio that bought the copyright is too expensive, and the cheapest one costs more than 100,000 US dollars. This is also because if the studio wants to keep the copyright of the script, it must renew the contract within a few years, otherwise the original author can resell it to other willing investors according to the terms of the union.

  Other scripts were collected through lesser-known screenwriter agents. They'd love to get clients to sell some scripts and get a cut of the broker's fee. These scripts were piled up again. Their quality is not as high as those selected by the studio, good and bad.

  And even those well-written scripts may be suspected of plagiarism. There are so many movies in the history of Hollywood, as well as in Europe, Asia and other places, no one can claim to have seen a small part of them. If those screenwriters copied a script or two that were not well-known in America, the studio would face a very troublesome intellectual property lawsuit.

   "Not as much as I thought?" Ronald asked David Simkins. The movie scripts he collected during this time only filled two wooden boxes.

"There is no sign of the screenwriters' union strike showing signs of stopping, so the current scripts are very scarce. Especially for the scripts that have been put into circulation, if we want to buy them now, we will have to pay twice or even three times the price compared to last year." West Mkins shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands.

   "Damn strike..." Ronald picked out some kung fu movies and scripts suitable for female audiences, and put them on his desk. "Let's start with these two types of films. You can help me make an estimate. Those that can be shot with a budget of less than three million will be put on the special list."

   "What are the big studios doing now? What scripts are they going to shoot now?" Ronald remembered, and asked Simkins who had gone to the Seven Warehouses to change.

"Now they are snapping up the rights to adapt novels. Those people are either not yet members of the screenwriters union, or when they wrote the novel, they aimed at film adaptation. The novel contains a lot of script writing. This can bypass the strike restrictions. This is the case in recent years. The price of novel adaptation rights is at a new high."

   "Well, it's a pity we didn't grab a few copies before the strike."

  The two chatted about the copyrights of novels that major studios are vying for. Now, any novel can be sold for more than 300,000 yuan.

  The price of scripts in Hollywood has gone through a cycle after Ronald entered the industry. When he first came in, it happened to be a time when the presidents of major studios were changing, and his debut work was also sold for a good price.

   After three years of relatively stable management, the time period for large-scale script purchases has passed. Before 1986, it was no longer a matter of selling prices, but a matter of studios not purchasing.

  Extreme things will turn against each other. In recent years, the prices of scripts, which have always been sluggish, began to rise slowly again. After the strike, they suddenly reached sky-high prices. As long as it is a novel on the bestseller list, it will start at 300,000 yuan.

  Among them, one work in particular has been the subject of competition. One is "The Bonfire of the Vanities", the debut novel of Thomas Wolfe, who is praised as a genius novelist by book critics.

This work is aimed at the fierce conflict of racial contradictions in contemporary New York. It tells the story of a white man and his mistress strayed into the black area of ​​South Bronx. Uncover the stories that became hot.

  Because the book reviews are really good, he is even said to be the most gifted novelist in America. That's why the competition was particularly intense. The final winner, Warner Bros., paid $750,000 plus the condition of a small share after the release to succeed.

   Ronald took the novel Simkins gave him, and read it on the way home. It's really good to watch, Ronald finished reading it in one go, and it's time for dinner.

   When he watched it, he remembered that a similar incident happened in the New York subway a few years ago. A woman in the subway, suspecting that some blacks in the Bronx were going to rob her, shot and killed two black youths with a pistol.

  In the end, the public was still more sympathetic to this woman who commuted to get off work every day and risked being robbed by black people to work on the subway, and she ended up being acquitted.

  The ending in the novel is more dramatic than reality. In the end, the jury in the court had been deadlocked at 6-6 on whether the protagonist was guilty or not, so he had to declare the trial annulled and set a new date for a retrial. The six acquittals were all white jurors, and the six guilty ones were all black.

   This incident also attracted a lot of attention at the time. The racial discrimination in America that is really valued by the media is still against black people. A few years ago, the death of Chen Guoren, an ethnic Chinese, did not cause such a big disturbance in the media.

  Although the story is good, but Ronald saw that the purchase cost totaled more than 1 million. For this kind of big production, it is better to attract seven major investments. With a little more, daydreams are enough to make a movie.

  Junior Bud came to pick him up for dinner, and he suggested to enjoy the Denino Pizza Tavern on Staten Island and eat some famous local food.

  This is a rare food on Staten Island. It is praised by many Manhattanites as the best pizza in New York. There are no takeaways and chain stores, and the rich in Manhattan can only come here by boat.

  The pizza tastes first-class, but it is only eight inches in size and made very thin. Ronald had to order two more servings to barely eat enough for Little Bard.

   “I heard from my mom and sister that the pizza here is delicious, but I didn’t expect it to be so small…”

   "Hahaha, let's buy a few more, and you can take them back for your family to eat." Ronald waved his hand to call the waiter, and ordered another ten pizzas to take back.

"My mother and sister will be very happy," said little Bud, holding a large stack of pizza boxes and putting them in the trunk of the car. "They will all go to church tomorrow. I heard that the new church sponsored by Aunt Karen has confirmed its commitment." Builders, then we can go to our own church."

   "Are you going to church with my aunt?" Ronald asked. He knows that black pastors in general preach more "fiercely". Many of them speak like singing, and there are many self-deprecating IQs of their own ethnicity, which are different from the pastors of churches that white people go to.

"It turned out not to be. Now they are all working in your factory on Staten Island, so no matter what ethnicity you are, it is convenient to go there." Little Bard laughed, and he told Ronald that they didn't like the original church very much. preaching style, speaking as if he was bad.

   Especially Ronald opened his eyes, and his sisters also learned more about the world because of their work. The former secretary from Wall Street, Teresa Kate, told those black people a lot about how to be self-reliant. Some black people really listened to the persuasion and went to Staten Island Community College to attend night classes. After graduation, they were promoted and made more money.

  Opened their eyes and went to night school. These people can't listen to the old sermons that say that their ethnicity is not enough to lead them.

  The population in the southern part of Staten Island is mainly white, with a small number of blacks, not many Latinos, and some Chinese who immigrated from Manhattan. There are workers of all ethnicities, and they live very close together. On weekends, everyone goes to the church where Aunt Karen and other veteran widows often go, and gradually turns it into a social occasion.

  After Aunt Karen told them that she would donate to establish a new church, they all expressed that they would go to a church with her.

"The food there is delicious, especially the biscuits. The children of my sisters only like to go to that church." Little Bard said this, which made Ronald also interested. It happened that the next day was Sunday, and he Let's go and see together.

   "Are there so many people here?" Ronald looked at the believers who lined up to greet him after the church sermon was completed. They are more or less related to several factories in Ronald, including film lighting factory, tape factory, and several small factories of camera accessories.

  Seeing his parents coming over, they all came up to shake hands with him and say a word or two of thanks.

   "This is their home." Aunt Karen knew many people, and she would visit the small factory if she had nothing to do.

   shook hands with dozens of families, Ronald felt good. This small place is like its own little kingdom. Most people rely on themselves to make money, and they all live very close together, which is very interesting.

   "The new church is located over there..." Aunt Karen pointed to a well-leveled place on the opposite side and said to Ronald. It was also the land of Douglas Jr.'s grandfather. After seeing the design of the church, he simply donated some money for the rebuilding plan of the original church, and replaced it with a new church with a larger size and more modern facilities.

  In order to fit the colonial style of Staten Island for more than two hundred years, the appearance of the new church has been modified, using the same white neoclassical architectural style as the real monuments on the island.

   Seeing that Hansen's family and his own family began to be closely linked together, Ronald felt very good. America is a federal country, and by cooperating with Hansen, a local snake with a long history, the relationship between everyone can be better shared. In the future, there will be no troubles that any garden management office can make trouble for itself.

   After finishing his appearance in the church, Ronald went to inspect the garden of the house where "The Godfather" was filmed. Compared with the church, this is his real private "territory".

  A large group of people with Chinese faces are working on site. Engineer Wang came over to introduce Ronald.

  The garden began to rebuild a Soviet-style garden in a foreign land thousands of miles away according to the construction methods of the big families in the south of the Yangtze River for hundreds of years. All building materials, including special blue bricks and blue tiles, were specially shipped from Huaguo.

  Many construction methods are also Chinese-style, so Engineer Wang hired some Chinese and Chinese construction teams from China. Looking at the garden that was slowly being built in an open space, Ronald laughed out loud.

  The house that Michael Douglas asked him to go to is a real old building in California. After it is built, you can invite some friends to play.

   "Ronald, I have your call..." Little Bard said to Ronald.

   "Hello, Richard? What's the matter?" Not many people knew about Ronald's car phone, and it turned out that his agent was looking for him.

   "Your Australian friends are in America again. Crocodile Dundee and his girlfriend happen to be in New York. Would you like to meet them? They're here with a sequel."

   "Oh? Good", Ronald thought to himself, Paul Hogan, whom he met by chance at the time, was filming in New York, and later became a box office myth in 1986. I didn't expect a sequel to be filmed so soon.

   Ronald and the two main creators of "Crocodile Dundee 2" met in the apartment on Fifth Avenue.

  Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski, two people who fell in love because of drama, have really become a pair of lovers. The two behaved very intimately, and they were also very emotional when they talked about the incident they met on the streets of New York back then.

  Crocodile Dundee created a movie produced in Australia, box office records in America and the world. Paramount, of course, had a sequel on the agenda right away. It just so happened that Crocodile Dundee 2 had a good box office after it was released in Australia recently. Hogan and Linda came to America ahead of schedule with their new film, preparing for the premiere in America next month.

   "Is the second part still filming in New York?" Ronald asked.

  “It’s still the same structure, half in New York and half in Australia. But this time, New York is filmed first, and then Australia is filmed, which is exactly the opposite of the story of the first film.”

   "That's good, the audience liked this kind of contrast story of Australian countrymen in New York in the first film." Ronald said.

"The budget has increased a lot this time, so we've added a lot of big scenes. We also shot the opening off the coast of New York, at the Statue of Liberty. It was difficult to get permission to shoot in New York, but everything is fine, and we believe the sequel will Just as good as the first one."

   Hogan and Linda invited Ronald to see a copy of "Crocodile Dundee 2" that they specially brought in the evening to preview here.

   After watching it, Ronald felt that the two couples, especially Paul Hogan, knew exactly what could scratch the itch of American audiences.

   It’s still the crocodile Mr. Dundee who was raised by Australian aborigines. American people love to see how countrymen from other countries use unique methods to solve problems here.

"In my opinion, it may not be worse than the box office of the first one." Ronald felt that the editing was very good and compact. Unlike the first romance story, the second one also added the plot of Crocodile Dundee fighting South American drug dealers. .

   Just like Rambo, the character of Crocodile Dundee is still the same, but the scene is changed. And the whole movie has a very interesting place, his plot and the shots in the wilderness of Australia have a subtle imitation of the texture of Western movies in the golden age of Hollywood.

   It’s not that many viewers don’t like western movies, but they are tired of watching the plots of riding horses, shooting guns, and printing Indians or Mexican villains. In this way, Mr. Crocodile from Australia comes to fight South American drug dealers. The same plot is very comfortable for everyone to watch, and it is also close to the content of modern life.

   "That's unlikely. Our first movie sold around 300 million dollars worldwide." Hogan announced proudly.

   It appears that audiences in other parts of the world also want to see the life of the Australian rednecks. Ronald thought the international box office was very good. This movie doesn't really need to understand the deep meaning of the lines, and everyone can understand it by looking at the screen.

   "Now there is only the Eastern camp, and there are several places in East Asia. We haven't released it yet." Hogan said, feeling a little regretful. It's never been easy to get in there.

"Really? I'll make a few calls later," Ronald thought to himself. Dongying, Huaguo, and some of the relationships accumulated in Germany by sending copies of Dirty Dancing might be able to make this The movie really sold all over the world.

   "This movie was an accidental success, I get it. That's why I wanted as many people as possible to see it. See me and Linda on screen."

  Ronald expressed his understanding that if Paul Hogan wants to transform into a Hollywood star now, it depends on whether he performs well in other roles.

   "It's a pity that the sales of the video tape are not good, so we try to release it in as many countries as possible." Linda Kozlowski, who plays the female reporter Sue Charlton, added.

   "Not good? How could it be?" Ronald was surprised, "The last time I went to Blockbuster, your crocodile Dundee was still in a good position."

   "People from Paramount said that our films did not perform well enough in the video tape market..." Paul Hogan and Linda looked at each other. Why is what Ronald said different from Paramount's?

   "Really? I remember it's your movie, it's the best-selling selection in the door." Ronald frowned, he can't remember wrongly, there have been no movies with similar themes in the past two years.

   "How about we go and have a look? Not far downstairs, there is a Blockbuster video rental." Ronald asked the two.

  Hogan and Linda were also very puzzled. It happened that they came to New York in advance this time, so they could see the real situation. "Then let's go and see."

  (end of this chapter)