Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 970 Literary and martial arts

   Tsui Hark is still the same, very thin, with messy hair.

   Ronald took him and Corey Yeun to a very expensive restaurant to clean up for them.

  TsuiHark also studied in America, and his English is better than AngLee. Being able to talk to Ronald directly, plus Ronald can understand a little Cantonese, the three of them put aside the translation and chatted directly at the dinner table about the progress of the new film.

  The script that Corey Yeun came up with is called "Twin Swords of the Dragon and Phoenix" (Twin Swords of the Dragon and Phoenix).

  The background of the story is set in San Francisco and Xiangjiang in the 1980s. San Francisco film star Kate Thompson (Kate Thompson) has no filming for a while because of her divorce from her producer husband.

During her break, she developed a strong interest in the Chinese martial arts in San Francisco. After learning some Wing Chun techniques with a master who served as a stand-in in "Longwei Boy", she made rapid progress and liked this kind of martial arts very much. Fighting is quite feminine martial art.

   Kate Thompson decided to go to Hong Kong, the source of Wing Chun, to further her studies. And looking for opportunities to develop in the Hong Kong film industry, I heard that there is a film production center in East Asia. His agent also reminded him that Xiangjiang has an action star named Veyron who just needs white women to participate in his new play.

   Arriving in Xiangjiang, Kate met a Chinese martial arts master, Lin Feilong. He heard that Kate wanted to learn authentic Wing Chun, so he took her to meet his grandmother, Bai Guizhen, a martial arts teacher who had practiced Wing Chun for many years.

  Bai Guizhen saw Kate's excellent physical fitness, and was willing to learn, and the professor showed no secrets. Even Wing Chun's trick "Dragon and Phoenix Swords" was also taught to Kate. After a few months, Kate was playing in style and had no problem making an action movie.

   At this time, Veyron's new film is facing some difficulties. The film's investor is a mafia boss, who intervened indiscriminately in the script and filming, and Veyron was under pressure as a result. After Kate joined the filming team, the mob boss took a fancy to Kate's beauty and tried to forcefully intervene in her life.

   Lin Feilong, as Kate's friend, served as her bodyguard in the crew. In the end, the gang boss couldn't help but behaved rudely to Kate. In the end, Lin Feilong used Wing Chun taught by his grandmother to face the investor and his younger brothers. Kate fought side by side with him, and the two used dragon and phoenix swords to knock down the black boss' younger brother.

  At this time, Boss Hei took out his pistol. Seeing that it was about to escalate into an international accident, the superstar Veyron, who also served as the producer, couldn't help but shot, and he stepped forward with a folding stool and knocked Boss Hei to the ground.

   At this moment, the consulate counselor who received Kate's call to the police arrived with O Ji and CID to bring the black boss to justice.

The movie was about to fail without an investor. At this time, Kate’s agent rushed to Hong Kong. There was a big director in Hollywood who wanted to make an action movie. After seeing the script that Kate sent to his agent, he appreciated it and decided to invest in shooting in San Francisco. this movie.

   Lin Feilong, Kate, Veyron and others went to San Francisco together. The filming was a great success, and Lin Feilong and Kate finally got married.

   "Hiss..." Ronald scratched his head. The completion of this script is not very good, and the plots in many places are empty. For example, in the fighting scene, write that the hero and heroine fight here for five minutes...

   And he can also see that many characters in it have borrowed Jackie Chan and some other real characters as prototypes. The whole script looks like a peculiar Xiangjiang B-movie.

  Seeing that the two Xiangjiang friends were looking at him eagerly, hoping for an answer from him, Ronald put away the script and cleared his throat.

"The story of the script is not bad. It is a good practice to shoot in Hong Kong and San Francisco. However, Hollywood has different requirements for the script. The fighting scenes need to be refined, and the story itself needs to be revised. Kate's character is still a bit problematic. .I can help you find a script doctor.

  How do you divide the work now? The screenwriter is responsible for this? "

   The two glanced at each other, and finally Corey Yuen pointed to Tsui Hark "he is the screenwriter". The final English script was written by Tsui Hark.

   "Ah...Okay, I'll arrange for you to meet. He is also of Chinese descent, so we can chat." Ronald put the script on, and then looked at Corey Yuen, "Then you are the director?"

   "Yes... yes..." Corey Yuen was excited, where did he have the opportunity to direct a multi-million dollar movie in Xiangjiang. The biggest star there, Jackie Chan, the sequel to Plan A in the previous step, is only a budget of 3.8 million US dollars. Who would have thought that he would have the opportunity to take over such a big production.

   "Well, find a time, and I will arrange for you to meet with the casting director. Kate has to choose a very beautiful actress."

   "Here, Director Luo? Kate has a lot of martial arts in our show. You can't just look at her appearance, but also know how to fight."

   "Can fight? No need to know how to fight. This is an action movie. The heroine only needs to be good-looking and make gestures that look like that." Ronald didn't understand why this kind of movie had a female star who played Kate to fight.

"You might as well go and see two movies in Hollywood in the past few years, one is 'Excalibur', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Brigitte Nelson. The other is 'Crocodile Dundee', in which Comparing the cultural landscapes of America and foreign countries is very ingenious, and you should make more revisions in this direction.

   Then these fighting actions also need to be written in detail. We have a star insurance system in Hollywood. If there is no proper description, no company will be willing to insure. "

   "This...We in Xiangjiang made a temporary decision. Tomorrow we will shoot a martial arts show, and today we can arrange it with a few martial arts directors and martial arts masters. It's not a literary play, we have to write a plot first."

   "This... We in Xiangjiang make action movies, and the literary and opera directors are in charge of love and broken love. The martial arts are all directed by martial arts directors. I asked Tsui Hark to come together, because I wanted to divide the work with him to direct the literary and dramas, and I came to the martial arts."

"Hahaha..." Ronald rushed over to laugh, "This is not acceptable. All Hollywood practitioners here must be supervised by the union. According to the regulations of the director union, there can only be one director for a film, and it is impossible to divide any Literary and martial arts..."

   "This..." Corey Yuen was very disappointed when he heard that, so everything was done according to the rules, and Ronald, who didn't know how long it would take to modify the script, was satisfied. With this effort, all three films in Xiangjiang were finished.

   Tsui Hark, who once studied in America, knows the rules here better, "Director Luo, it's not that we don't respect the rules of Hollywood, it's just that our technicians, dragon and tiger warriors, are used to our working methods."

  Tsui Hark filmed a film "Dao Ma Dan" co-starred by three female stars in Xiangjiang, which cost a lot of money, but the box office was a failure. I had no choice but to help several other shareholders in the company do some unsigned behind-the-scenes work behind the scenes.

  That's why he was persuaded by Corey Yuen this time to shoot this $5 million "big production" that Xiangjiang people have never shot.

  He wanted to persuade him again, but Ronald raised his hand to stop it. "Well, you are also tired today. I have booked you a Hilton executive suite, so you can take a good rest. Get rid of the jet lag, and we will continue our chat tomorrow. You also have time to think about it and think maturely."

  Corey Yuen went back to talk to Xiangjiang's martial arts masters about the progress, and then fell asleep. TsuiHark was still very interested and proposed to visit the studio of Daydream.

   Ronald asked his assistant to take him to see Daydream's equipment showroom. There were lightning lights, camera stabilizers, and all sorts of tape, a portable toilet to hang on the back of the trailer, and some expensive wire.

   "These steel wires are all in line with the guidelines of the Hollywood Stunt Union. The quality of our production is very good, and they can be used repeatedly for more than 3,000 times without any fatigue or loss of strength."

  The assistant saw that he was very concerned about the steel wire, so he came up to introduce him.

   "How much is such a one-meter wire?" TsuiHark touched it, and it felt really good.

   "Seventeen and a half dollars a foot..."

   "How much?" Tsui Hark sighed in his heart, the quality is good, but the price is really expensive. In Xiangjiang, this kind of wire can be bought for ten Hong Kong dollars per foot.

  He looked at the prices of other equipment and got an idea.

   "Corey, wake up." As soon as Tsui Hark returned to the hotel, he knocked on Corey Yuen's door.

"It's not that simple. The cost here in Hollywood is very expensive. A group performer costs more than 200 US dollars a day, or 5 million US dollars. This is not a big production here. When I was studying abroad, it was not so expensive. Now the price is negotiated. Three times, it has risen sharply."

   "It's so expensive? It's not like our Xiangjiang, it's good to have a lunch box for the extras."

The two now understand that Ronald said that he had a shooting budget of five million U.S. dollars, which was calculated based on the cost of shooting in Hollywood. Of course, the money is very valuable in Xiangjiang, so it is best to negotiate the budget. Most of the shooting If you put it in Xiangjiang, you will be rich.

  The next day, regardless of fatigue, the two came to Ronald's office to ask for a meeting. Tell them what they have discussed.

   "This?" When Ronald heard the plan of the two, he felt a little bit down. This is not to dare to shoot serious productions in Hollywood. The film industry in Xiangjiang was operated as a B-level film from the beginning.

  The shooting speed is fast, the script is not standardized, and the actors and directors play a lot on the spot. Let them change their minds, and they may really not be able to shoot. Unless you stay in Hollywood for an internship for a period of time, you can follow a crew to make movies in the Hollywood way.

   "If you want to shoot like this, it's a B-grade movie. My company can't invest too much, and you have to find a suitable Xiangjiang investor."

  Ronald explained that Hollywood is a long-arm jurisdiction. If your company casts and shoots movies overseas and has more than 50% of the shares, it must abide by various union regulations and file with the American Film Association.

   Otherwise, if you want to use Xiangjiang’s shooting method, if you don’t file the script with the Producers Association in advance, it will be regarded as an overseas film and you will have to import it. The taxation, marketing, and distribution channels of the two are not the same.

   The two friends who are Xiangjiang seem to have been poured a bucket of cold water, which is really unexpected. No wonder the two speakers of Golden Harvest would rather invest in Hollywood projects or do overseas releases than come to Hollywood for filming. It seems that they have suffered a lot.

   Ronald looked at the two of them, thinking that if nothing was discussed this time, then the cooperation with Xiangjiang would be cut off. In order to open up a new production base and introduce Xiangjiang's talents and knowledge, I have to complete this project, even if I lose money, I have to set a model.

   Just can’t pay too much.

"In this way, although my company cannot cast Xiangjiang movies, I can invest in your company in my own name. After you make a film, sell me the distribution rights in America, Japan, and Europe. In this way, we can It's a win-win." Ronald thought for a while, and decided to invest 1.5 million US dollars to shoot the two.

   "Overseas distribution..." The two looked at each other without speaking. Films released overseas by Golden Harvest have always been shirked for various reasons and do not settle overseas profits for satellite companies. Asking about the two gentlemen is losing money...they have no ability to check the accounts.

   Ronald continued to offer conditions.

   "I personally invested 1.5 million US dollars, and you also provide talents and equipment accordingly. I put two high-end cameras at Brother Long, and you can borrow them. The equipment and film are all provided according to high standards.

   You can handle the release in Hong Kong by yourself. If the box office makes money, we will share the profits. For overseas distribution, I will pay you a copy fee in America, and then I will share with you for settlement after the release.

  For distribution in other places, we will go to Cannes and Tokyo next year to participate in the film festival exhibitions. We will negotiate the price according to the market. But don't get your hopes up too much, there are all buyout fees, and it's only tens of thousands of dollars for a country. "

   "What do you guys think about the conditions? If you are not satisfied, we can talk about it."

   "All satisfied, Luo Sheng, you are so generous." Corey Yuen and Tsui Hark were about to cry when they heard this condition. Xiangjiang filmmakers, apart from Jackie Chan's Dongying box office, where have other people seen what the overseas box office profits look like?

   "But I also have conditions." Ronald continued.

  The two looked at Ronald with wide eyes.

  “First, I personally have to enjoy the right to produce the film, and the rights to follow-up episodes and all script adaptations will belong to me.

  Secondly, in this movie, you guys need to do more tightrope scenes. Our American audience likes this. "

   "No problem..." Corey Yuen gritted his teeth and agreed, and took more pictures of hanging wires. Those old people who practice martial arts, such as the head of Liu's class, must laugh at themselves for not shooting kung fu, but dancing.

   But for the sake of money, what can't be filmed? You haven't made a movie with this much budget, old man, have you?

   Both sides smiled, Ronald asked a lawyer to draft the contract, and then handed it to them.

   Seeing that Corey Yuen was about to sign, TsuiHark secretly pulled him down.

  Ronald immediately said, "Don't be so anxious, go back and discuss it with your lawyer first. If there are any terms that are unclear, we can discuss it later."

   "It's okay, Luo Sheng is familiar with Brother Long, and he is also a great benefactor of our Xiangjiang martial arts. He will not lie to me. I completely believe in Luo Sheng's character. I will sign now."

   While talking, Corey Yuen and Tsui Hark both signed their names. They all have small film companies or studios under their names, which happen to be used to take on this job.

   "Hahaha... good..., it's a pleasure to cooperate with you", Ronald was very happy when he saw that the other party had signed. Instruct them to accompany them to visit Los Angeles at the same time, and give each of them some tourist souvenirs and Sony electronic products as gifts.

   "Hey..." Ronald was very happy looking at the contract, and locked it in the drawer. According to the contract, I have priority for Corey Yuen and Tsui Hark's next five films each. As long as they are filming in Hollywood, they must first find themselves to cooperate, and they can only find others if they do not agree to invest.

   From now on, who else can make Hollywood Xiangjiang-style action movies besides yourself? Moreover, the copyright of this "Dragon and Phoenix Twin Swords" videotape also belongs to him. As long as he has 80% of the level of Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Boxing King", isn't this investment a big gain?

   "Hey..." Leaving the office to visit Warner Bros., Corey Yuen and Tsui Hark were both snickering in the back seat of the car. Director Luo really doesn't know how much Xiangjiang saves money in making movies. With an investment of 1.5 million, they can make this movie well without any investment themselves, and maybe they can also make a copy and sell it to a distributor.

   Moreover, Ronald also promised to give them a share of the overseas distribution. In the future, such cooperation, why not pay more? Director Luo also signed a five-film intention for each person. If this movie is a hit, they can do it five more times in the future.

  The two stayed in Los Angeles for a week, during which time they also auditioned some Hollywood capable actresses and stuntmen. A Polish-born martial artist named Cynthia Rosrock fit the bill. Able to perform martial arts moves and has a good figure.

  She is the champion of Taekwondo National Exhibition Competition, and was also elected as the best female athlete of the year by the "Black Belt" magazine that year.

   What is more comfortable is that before she joined the Screen Actors Guild of America, she also played a supporting role in a Lunar New Year movie "Rich Train" in Hong Kong, and she also has a Chinese name called Luo Fuluo.

  Hearing that this kind of theater movie was looking for her to be the heroine, Luo Fuluo happily agreed. Ronald nodded after seeing himself, and the project of "Dragon and Phoenix Twin Swords" was basically confirmed.

"Then what, go back to Xiangjiang and say hello to Jackie for me. I'm going to buy a film company soon, and I have the property rights of his films in America. I want to release other video tapes of his films in the future. Please ask him for help. If you're interested, let's find time for an interview." Ronald came over to bid farewell to the two Xiangjiang filmmakers, and let the two keep an eye on the future.

  …

   At the same time, Ronald's acquisition of 21st Century Films is also going on simultaneously.

   Obviously besides them, there are other people who also want to reorganize the company that filed for bankruptcy, and they also filed an application like the court. However, because Ronald's valuation of Xiangjiang's old kung fu movies is different from other people's, his reserve price is higher than others.

  However, in terms of business, Ronald entrusted a team led by Mitch Kanter to take full responsibility for the negotiations.

   "Ronald, I feel that our competitor, EMI Films, doesn't seem to be in a hurry. It doesn't have to be the 21st Century Films. We can wait.

   Their new president is Italian, and maybe he'd prefer to buy the also struggling De Laurentiis Productions. If they go and buy De Laurentiis instead, we can delay for a few more days and get the creditors to take a big discount on the twenty-first century debt. "

  Miss Lindsay Dole was about to go back to accompany her son, so she came to Ronald's office, and after reporting on the negotiation situation, she shared some of her intuitive feelings.

   "Is that so? Let's wait, I'm not in a hurry." Ronald still had great trust in Lindsay's level and loyalty.

   Ronald is not in a hurry, someone is in a hurry.

   Soon, an old acquaintance rushed into Ronald's office.

   "Ronald, Ronald, you bad boy, do you want to steal what belongs to me?" Minahan Golan came over and supported the desk with his hands, glaring.

"What's wrong with you? Minahan? Is there something to talk about? How did I steal your stuff? By the way, you Cannon will release my movie Boxing World in Cannes. It should be you who stole my money. "

   "Hey, a cannon is a cannon, I am me..." Minahan sat down slumped, "I need 21st Century Pictures, don't fight me, Ronald."

   "You sit first, I'll pour you a glass of brandy." Ronald got up and closed the office door, then poured Minahan a glass of wine.

   "Drink some, calm down first, and tell me what's going on?"

It turns out that this company is being acquired by EMI Films for one purpose, to give it to Minahan Golan in exchange for him to resign obediently and hand over all the power of the cannon to his cousin Yoram and the new boss Italian Giancarlo Paretti.

   "So, this is part of your golden parachute?" Ronald suppressed a laugh. Minahan was eventually fired by Cannon and his cousin. When a person of this level resigns, in order to silence him, the original film company always prepares a big gift package, such as funding his own independent production company, cash rewards, and a long distribution contract to continue to support him in the future. movie.

   Minahan bowed his head and admitted that he was very sad. Cannon pinned his movie dream, but unexpectedly, he was stabbed in the back by his cousin, the best distribution manager brought out by him, and kicked out with outsiders.

   "I said, there is no conflict, right?" Ronald handed Minahan a box of biscuits, and he picked it up and ate it. Under Minahan's anger, he had a particularly good appetite.

"There are a lot of companies like 21st Century Films in Hollywood now. Many companies are facing financial difficulties. You can ask your cousin to buy another one for you." Ronald knew that this was an independent producer. Part of the company, part of Minahan's departure spree.

   "Don't mention that bastard, poof..." Minahan spat on the floor.

   "I said, why are you..." Ronald laughed angrily at Minahan's childish behavior, "Eat slowly, these are the cookies my aunt baked for me."

   Ronald took the cookie box back, "Tell me, why is the 21st century so important to you?"

   "..." Minahan was angry that the biscuit was snatched back by Ronald, and he didn't say a word.

   "If you don't tell me, I won't consider giving up the 21st century to you."

   "Okay..." Minahan muttered a few words, "It's all because of an exit clause."

  (end of this chapter)