Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 950 Solicit investment for new films

  Ronald, Hogan, and Linda went to the Blockbuster videotape to see the sales of the first part of "Crocodile Dundee".

  The two of them couldn't wait for little Bud to drive over, so Ronald had to walk with them across three streets to a newly opened chain store on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

  This is a downtown area with a lot of people. Many of the people who visit the video store at this time are white-collar workers who work nearby and tourists who come to New York. This new store has a large area, and there is an advertisement of Ronald's Dirty Dancing at the entrance, and a human figure stand of Patrick Schwyz and Jennifer Gray embracing each other.

   Ronald put on sunglasses and entered the store with two friends. Paul Hogan also tried to cover up, skipping his signature crocodile leather jacket and pairing glasses. He also doesn't want to be recognized by fans on the road, otherwise the purpose of coming will not be achieved.

   "Do you have 'Crocodile Dundee' here?" Ronald came in and asked the clerk at the counter inside.

   "In the best-selling selection, the pile at the door is."

  The three of them came to the pile of video tapes pointed by the clerk, which was on the shelf facing the entrance. They were all the best-selling and leased video tapes. Ronald's "Dirty Dancing" and "Top Gun" are impressively listed, and "Crocodile Dundee" is also in a prominent position.

   "Are there any new ones of these films?" Ronald asked the clerk with samples of the three films.

   "Uh... Dirty Dancing is gone. If you don't mind, you can buy our rented version, which is cheaper."

   "Forget it, just Crocodile Dundee and Top Gun, bring two new boxes and help us wrap them up." Ronald said to him.

   "At the place where the action movie is, you can get it yourself and come over to check out."

   Ronald saw that the business was still going well. The clerk behind the cash register was still dealing with a few customers queuing up to rent movies, and had no time to help them.

   "Are the sales of these movies good? I want to watch them when I entertain friends over the weekend, won't they be popular?"

   "Of course, these are the best-selling ones in our store..."

   "What about leasing? Are there many renters?"

   "There are a lot of them. Buying and leasing are synchronized. If you rent more, you will sell more."

After taking the two packaged video tapes, Ronald, Hogan and Linda went out, "It seems that there is indeed a problem with the sales statistics. Do you have lawyers and accounting firms in America? I think Paramount needs Some audit work."

  Ronald chuckled, did Paramount show its attitude towards Australian bumpkins? Nor were they afraid of Mr. Crocodile Dundee's wrath.

   "Do you mind if I ask about the sales of your Dirty Dancing video?" Paul Hogan and Linda said a few words, obviously showing agitation. They felt that they must have been cheated by Paramount, but they didn't know how much. There is no foundation in America, so I had to ask Ronald for advice.

   "I don't know the latest sales figures. Last month they told me that they had broken through one million boxes." Ronald knew that Paul Hogan wanted to compare the sales of his movie Dirty Dancing. After all, both videos are bestsellers.

   In fact, Ronald didn't tell the truth completely. The Dirty Dancing video was released for a month and has already exceeded one million sales. This speed has set a record, even faster than "Top Gun". As of today, the sales volume of video tapes is actually close to 2 million. Ronald doesn’t want too many people to know about this kind of commercial figures, so he only gave Paul Hogan an order of magnitude concept. Anyway, they can check it out by themselves. .

   "To tell the truth (Fairdinkum), these vampires are really outrageous." Paul Hogan was so angry that he said an Australian slang. "Do you know any good lawyers? I need to let them know, Stanley Jaffe. Mr. Crocodile won't be cheated so badly."

Stanley Jaffe is a vice president of Paramount. He also has an independent production company with Shirley Lansing. They produced the "Fatal Attraction" to Cher after losing the Oscar. of.

   These two people are shrewd. When Lansing was the president of Twentieth Century Fox, Jaffe put his main energy on independent production. And when Lansing lost his job, Jaffe focused more on Paramount, and Shirley Lansing was responsible for the business of the Jaffe-Lansing production company.

  These two Jews play a balance between the roles of studio executives and independent producers, which is very Jewish. As long as the two continue to produce works like Kramer and Fatal Attraction, the big studios really won't do anything to them.

   "You can find the most famous Mickey Kanter in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. We all call him Gray Eyes Mickey. You don't want him on your opponent's legal team."

Of course, Ronald did not introduce his personal lawyer to him, but found Mickey, who is familiar with the entertainment business. Anyway, Mickey Kanter, who is also Jewish, would not mind giving Jaffe a legal license under the premise of conforming to professional ethics and God's will. And Lansing stabbed in the back.

   "Hello, are you Crocodile Dundee?" A young and beautiful woman interrupted the conversation between Ronald and Hogan.

   "To tell the truth (Fairdinkum), I am, but don't spread it out. If you want to sign a group photo or something, let's come alone, and don't attract crowds." Paul Hogan's popularity in America may be higher than his hometown in Australia. The only problem is that fans seem to only call him Crocodile Dundee.

   "The place where I work is just opposite. If you don't mind, you can sit and rest for a while at my place. It's a gallery. There are no customers at this time, so it's very quiet."

  The beautiful woman smiled and pointed to the opposite, which is a modern art gallery.

   Opposite the Blockbuster on Sixth Avenue is the famous Chelsea neighborhood. There are many high-end galleries, and stores such as custom luxury goods. It has always been to receive customers from the upper class who are either rich or expensive. So the clerks are also very polite, and they don't scream when they come up like ordinary fans.

   Both Hogan and Linda signed autographs for the beautiful shop assistant and took a group photo together. Then enjoyed coffee. Unrecognized, Ronald looked at the paintings on the wall by himself.

   "This style is so familiar..." Ronald recognized a group of prints that looked like soup cans sold in supermarkets, which were exactly the works of Andy Warhol that he had collected several.

  "Campbell's SoupCans", Ronald recognized the logo on the painting by himself, "Is it really the soup cans sold in supermarkets?"

"Yes, many of Andy Warhol's works are in the style of product packaging. The concept of pop art is to use popular culture and objects in daily life as the subject matter of art, emphasizing the artist's attention to consumer culture and A challenge to pop culture..."

   "How much is this one?" Ronald interrupted the long talk, he only cared about not depreciating too much the few paintings he bought.

   "Sotheby's auction house not long ago sold a set of 32 Campbell's soup cans, with a total price of 220,000 US dollars..." The beautiful clerk was familiar with it and quoted the price.

   "Isn't that less than 10,000 U.S. dollars?" Ronalda lowered his face. When he bought it, it cost 20,000 U.S. dollars. "Forget it, the ones at my house are bigger than this..."

   "That set is a combination of paintings of soup cans with different flavors, and the price of selling them alone is cheaper. If you need to know more..." The beautiful clerk also went to pick up a presentation material.

   "No, there is no need..." Ronald left in a hurry. What kind of thing has depreciated by more than half in less than half a year after buying it.

  …

  "They played too much and underreported so many sales. Mitch Kanter is a well-known tough lawyer in the industry. He plays hardball. This time Jaffe is a little troublesome."

  The Australian Cowboy moved quickly. Just after the weekend, Ronald heard the news from his agent Nisita. Although exploiting foreign artists is a very common practice in Hollywood. But this movie, which has sold more than 300 million yuan, has been concealed in terms of video tape sales, which is a very exaggerated amount.

  Gray-eyed Mickey's lawyer's letter, and now that the sequel is about to be released, they don't want to cause any negative news, so Jaffe and Lansing have to spit out some of the benefits they wanted to secretly swallow into their pockets.

   Ronald smiled happily, and he didn't mind making trouble for these Jews who were entrenched in the upper echelons of the studio.

   "How do you know this gossip?" Nisita has a sensitive nose.

   "When they came to New York, they asked me to watch the Crocodile sequel, and talked to me about Paramount..." Ronald believed that Nisita could guess the truth from it. Don't admit this kind of thing to anyone, even on the phone.

   "You said who was looking for me?" Ronald changed the topic back to the original intention of Nisita's call.

   "Sybill Shepard" Nisita replied.

   "What is she looking for me for?" Ronald asked strangely.

   "Remember how Die Hard Bruce Willis got a schedule? His co-star on the Blue Moon TV series, Sybill Shepard, had a baby and recovered to continue filming the TV series.

   But the writers strike has kept her out of filming for now, and the new season is almost certain to be delayed. She is now looking for scripts everywhere, and wants to take the opportunity to make a movie.

   Now that the screenwriters union has passed the review, there are not many film projects approved for release, so she heard that you plan to invest in a film, so she found CAA here, and she wanted to cooperate with you. "

   "Huh?" Ronald remembered that in order for Bruce Willis to film Die Hard, it seemed that he had promised Sybill Shepard a favor.

"I only invested three million in this movie, why is she interested?" Ronald felt amused, Sybill Shepard is not like the darling of Hollywood when she was with Peter Bogdanovich, but she is also The heroine of a popular TV series will not come to film this kind of...

   "No, she wants to increase investment?"

  Ronald knew that he wanted to go wrong. It was obvious that Shepard liked the role in this script, so he wanted to participate. As for the budget, it can always be added.

   "I have no objection, there are only two conditions. First, Emile Adorino will be the director. This is the opportunity I gave him. Second, Sybill Shepard should not change the script randomly..."

   "Now she can't change it even if she wants to, the union is still on strike..."

   "Oh, that's right, then it's fine for Emil to be the director. As for her wanting to increase investment, it's fine for my daydream to enjoy the priority of dividends."

   "She wants to meet you once and convince you to be a director."

  …

   "Ronald, I really like the touch of women in your films. I am also fascinated by the characters in this film, and I feel that Colleen Jeffries is myself..."

   Soon, Sybill Shepard met with Ronald under the arrangement of CAA.

  She recovered well after giving birth to twins, and she is one of the few white actresses who is not too old. But when it comes to excitement, the blue veins on her hands still reveal that she is thirty-eight years old.

   Ronald looked at the female star whose youth had passed away, and after listening to her talk for a long time, he already understood most of the other party's thoughts in his heart.

  After thirty-five, for beautiful female stars, they have entered a very embarrassing age group. Especially this kind of actor who is famous for his beauty. How amazing it was in "Taxi Driver" back then is how embarrassing it is now.

  She still instinctively wants to play a beautiful woman and fall in love with a beautiful boy on the screen (there is nothing wrong with the screen). But at this age, I can gradually play the role of mother. Once a Hollywood actress plays a mother, she has to keep acting until she plays a grandmother, and she can no longer receive scripts for the heroine.

   This Life After Life (LifeAfterLife) happens to have a very special plot. At the beginning, Colleen Jeffries was still a fiancée, and by the time the plot progressed to the reincarnation of her dead fiancé, she was in love with her daughter, and she had become a middle-aged mother.

  But the plot makes her develop a relationship with her daughter's boyfriend, especially when the hero finally convinces Colleen that he is the reincarnation of her fiancé.

  A film like this, which can play both a beautiful young girl and a beautiful middle-aged mother, can allow the audience to seamlessly bridge the pivotal transition of Sybill Shepard's acting career.

   “I would love to challenge myself to play a young girl in a movie, and a mother with a grown girl. I feel confident…”

"I won't be the director. I'm still working on editing the film. Emile is a great director. My Dirty Dancing has a lot of contributions from him in the choreography. You see a lot of classic romances between the hero and heroine. The scene was arranged by Emir with help."

  Ronald declined Sybill Sheppard's idea of ​​directing himself, which was a work for Emil to practice.

   "Since you praise him so much, I think he must be a very good director." Sybill Shepard said a lot about her understanding of acting, but Ronald was unmoved. Hey, could it be that the charm that fascinated all the men in the crew back then is gone forever?

   "Then when the news of my participation in the leading role is officially confirmed, how much budget will I spend? I haven't made such a small-budget movie yet." Shepard backed down, after all, scripts are rare at this time. She was willing to take a small pay cut in order to star in a movie funded by the Ronald Corporation, but with an increased budget.

"That depends on the efforts of our Daydream production department, and the recognition of the current cast of this movie by several major studios." What Ronald actually wanted to say is that it depends on Shepard's current cast. How many people have sold their accounts.

   Her time as a movie star has undoubtedly come a long way. Since entering the 1980s, she hasn't acted in a theatrical movie.

   But as a TV star, she is now popular. Ronald wasn't sure how much appeal a TV star would have when he jumped back into the movies.

  The investment in a movie actually has a lot to do with the star status of the protagonist. If an A-level star starred, it would be impossible to use the shooting standards of a B-level movie. All technical personnel, equipment, and framing must be upgraded.

  If this movie, with Shepard joining, no longer pulls in a budget of at least seven million, then it loses the meaning of production.

  Now the production department of Daydream is facing this embarrassing problem. David Simkins asked around in the circle, and Sybill Sheppard's appeal was neither high nor low, and he just got stuck on the line. None of the major studios is willing to pay more than five million additional budget.

   Now the distribution cost of movies is getting more and more expensive. A medium-sized production worth 10 million yuan is almost the same as a large-scale production worth 30 million yuan in terms of distribution and promotion costs.

   Or 3 million for a small production, take the cheap guerrilla distribution route. Or it will cost more than 10 million to produce, and it will come from the distribution route of the regular army. The 8 million calories can't go up or down, which is very uncomfortable.

"If you don't increase the budget..." Simkins suggested to Ronald, "we'll just have to put the project on hold. Wait until Sybil goes back to shoot the blue moon." Simkins actually wanted the project to happen, so he You can recommend more new scripts, which is also good for your own influence.

   "Safe operation also has the benefits of safe operation, otherwise a movie will put too much pressure on us. It is necessary to stick to the original investment figure"

   Michelle Cannold, who was behind, didn't insist on giving the green light. In his opinion, the return on investment of this kind of movie is actually not as good as shooting five small productions.

   "The appeal of female stars is still not comparable to that of male stars." Ronald had no choice but to sign the report. He couldn't go to Sybill Shepard directly and tell her that it was not worth the extra two million.

   "Your phone..." Cannold answered the phone and handed it to Ronald.

   "Ronald, someone is willing to invest in your LifeAfterLife, starting with an additional 10 million investment, without any additional requirements."

   "Who is it? I don't know how to direct this film." Ronald thought to himself, is there still someone who is so optimistic about me?

   “The people at Tristar, they said it was a direct instruction from the parent company to give your project the green light.”

  (end of this chapter)