Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

The success of "The Love between Humans and Ghosts" has also brought about a series of chain reactions.The most obvious thing is that the salaries of several leading actors have increased significantly.

Before Demi Moore was released, she accepted a movie called "A Thing".In order to play the heroine, she also roped in her husband Bruce Willis to make a cameo appearance.Demi's salary in this movie is considered to be the market price of a second-tier female star, not exceeding 30 US dollars.Because the budget of the entire movie is only 700 million.

But after the release of "The Love of Ghosts", her market for accepting films immediately changed.A Paramount movie also had a plot with a psychic, "The Butcher's Psychic Wife" approached her.

The original candidate for the heroine of this movie was Meg Ryan, who shined last year.But after “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Man Who Jumped,” starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and directed by John Padraic Shanley (screenwriter of “Moonlight”) A box office failure.

Paramount decisively gave up on Meg Ryan and let her star in the "Doors" biopic directed by Oliver Stone.Turned to Demi Moore.

Romantic comedy, psychic plot, audience favorite, Demi Moore satisfied multiple sub-items of the blockbuster formula, so her agent asked for a high price that few female stars can get, $300 million.

What if Hollywood is a place that believes in the Gospel of Matthew?With the box office of "The Last Days" exceeding [-] million in six weeks, if Demi Moore had offered a low price, would Paramount still wonder whether her contribution to the film's box office was not high?
They agreed to the asking price and provided many crew benefits that were previously reserved for first-line male stars, such as a first-class and spacious trailer, first-class air tickets to Los Angeles every two weeks to see their daughter, resident beauticians paid by the crew, and massages. Master, wait...

This made Demi Moore's confidence soared, and she started to show off her power in front of her husband Bruce Willis, and made him change his diapers several times.

The same goes for supporting actress Whoopi Goldberg, who has exceptional comedy talent.She is very suitable for playing some comedy supporting roles, but due to her poor appearance, she cannot play heavyweight roles. The roles she plays are all with few roles, and she has no chance to appear in big productions.

Before "The Love of Ghosts", she had to act in about three or four movies every year, then become a TV host, and then participate in some stage plays. Although it was much better than when she first entered the industry and slept on a friend's sofa, it still required To maintain a certain standard of living, you still have to work non-stop.

As soon as "The Love of Ghosts" was released, her acting skills were immediately recognized by Hollywood.According to audience interviews, she was among the top three characters who were most impressed after watching the movie.Many viewers said that the reason for recommending it to their friends is also because of Whoopi's hilarious effect.

Good times suddenly befell this black actress. She was immediately offered a role in the comedy film "Soap Platter", which featured many stars. Her co-star was two-time Oscar-winning actress Sally Field. She had great potential. Young female star Elizabeth Shue, and Jewish future star Robert Downey Jr.

The salary offered was also much higher than the level of traditional Hollywood supporting actresses. When Whoopi Goldberg called Ronald to express her gratitude, she smiled from ear to ear.

As for the leading actor Patrick Schwytz, his situation is different.This actor who has finally climbed to the A-level stardom is actually a very ambitious person.He never chooses movies according to the career path planned by his agent, but according to his own preferences. If he thinks the script is good and interesting, he will participate in it, regardless of the salary.

However, being able to act so willfully is also due to the expensive dividends given to him every year by Ronald's "Dirty Dancing".In addition to acting, Schwitz can also afford his two expensive hobbies: running the family ranch and raising racehorses for competitions.

This time he fell in love with a mid-level production, "Point Break".This is a script that was almost filmed in [-], but because director Ridley Scott dropped out, the script fell into the hands of Kathryn Bigelow.

She had just finished filming "Blue Steel" and liked the script very much, so she took Cameron to revise it together, and finally got the director's position.

Because they are all friends of Ronald, the meeting to confirm the starring role was held at Ronald's home.

"When will you start production on your new film?" Cameron asked about the business when he saw Ronald.Both of them are madmen who are very focused when it comes to their careers.

"Next month I'm going to New York to see the scenery and cable factories. I've found a few real cable factories to see. Don't tell me, it's not easy to find manufacturing industries on the east coast of America now..." Luo Nader talked about his arrangements, and then asked Cameron, "Where is your Terminator sequel? I thought you had already started filming."

"It's also next month. I've been helping Catherine revise his script during this time..." Cameron smiled, showing great love for his new wife.

Ronald glanced at Cameron and then saw Kathryn Bigelow talking to Patrick Schwytz and another handsome actor nearby.

Cameron wasn't like this before.In order to make a movie, he divorced his first wife, a coffee shop waitress whom he met when he was a truck driver.The second Gale Hurd, who had the script rights for The Terminator back then, had no choice but to put her name on it because she needed Gale to finance it.

How can you have the energy to help Bigelow with the script while not working on your own project?

"Point Break" is a police drama. In order to catch a few criminals wearing the masks of the former commander-in-chief and robbing banks, FBI agents undercover a group of surfers and compete with the robber leader.During the process, the two still cherished each other...

This kind of movie is full of identity contradictions, being both friends and enemies, and requires a lot of skill in character creation.The idea of ​​wearing a commander's mask was something Cameron helped come up with. It was both interesting and could be cut into a trailer to attract attention.

"I just want to lend you your special effects team... Terminator 2 has a lot of shots that need to be keyed. Catherine Kidd in your team is the best in Hollywood..." Cameron asked for someone.

"Okay, I asked her to transfer some better engineers over. The helicopter air combat on the Firebird side is actually not a heavy task for image correction..."

Ronald nodded in agreement.The shots of the air combat are all short and fragmented. A large number of short shots are edited together. Under the rapid switching of shots, there are actually some problems that the audience cannot see. They only notice the impactful shots.

But shots like Terminator 2 require quite careful processing.Deformed in prison, frozen to pieces by liquid nitrogen on the ground and then restored to shape. In this kind of slow-motion shot, if there are any flaws, it will give the audience the impression that this is fake.

Besides, Carocco Company is very wealthy and spent nearly 2000 million to secure the copyright before filming even started.Ronald's special effects team must also like this kind of money-making business.

"Very good..." Cameron is ready to sprint for "Terminator 2".He is already gearing up to do something big.Carloco gave him almost unlimited filming funds. All he had to consider was the effect. There would never be a situation like "The Abyss" where he wanted to shoot better but had no money.

After chatting for a while about the application prospects of computers in special effects, Ronald got up and went to help Diane. She had already poked her head at the door several times.

Unlike Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, who always quarrel, Ronald and Diane are more tolerant. If Diane sees something wrong with Ronald, she will not come to disturb him.But today I happened to take little Roger to the hospital for vaccination. The weather was very good, so Diane thought of enjoying a family outing with Ronald.

"Ronald..." Patrick Schwytz greeted Ronald, who played the robber in the movie, and introduced the handsome guy who played the FBI agent, "This is Keanu, Keanu Reeves... …”

"Director Li..." The handsome guy looked a little dazed, but his face was really photogenic.

"You can call me Ronald..." Ronald nodded with them, walked through the porch, saw Diane who had already put on sunglasses, stepped forward to pick up little Roger, let him sit in a strap, and went to He was hung up on himself.Little Roger was so comfortable that he had a big snot bubble in his face.

By the time Ronald and Diane came back from playing outside, it was already evening.Cameron has left, leaving Kathryn Bigelow still chatting with the two handsome guys.

Ronald smiled. Bigelow was a little afraid that he couldn't command Patrick Schwytz, so he used Ronald's name to suppress him. It seems to be working well now.Schwytz and the handsome guy named Keanu both seemed to be very obedient to Bigelow, the female director. "Ronald, you have some guests who have been waiting for you for a long time." Richard emerged from the side. These guests wanted to talk to Ronald about something they needed him to do, so they also waited here for a long time.

"Ah, hello, let's go to the conference room next to us to chat..." Ronald took seven or eight guests to another room.The maid brought coffee and fruit and locked the door.

"Is it a Fantastic Four thing?"

Ronald invited them to sit down. These people were all the main creative staff of Minahan Golan's "Fantastic Four" sold to Warner Brothers. The fat Minahan was also sitting next to him. It seemed that this movie things.

"That's right, Ronald, they..." Minahan Golan laughed a few times before speaking.

"Let us speak for ourselves, please, Mr. Lee?" the actor who played Reed, the Noodle Man, said directly to Ronald, ignoring Minahan.

"Please..." Ronald gestured, "Please speak faster, if you can..." His time was precious.

"We were deceived by Mr. Minahan Golan and we want a better outcome."

It turned out that in order to play mind games with Warner Bros., Ronald and Minahan had asked these leading actors to go to the San Diego Comic Con to interact with fans.

These leading actors are very happy, and they all think that they will soon become the leading actors of the next "Batman", and that fame and salary increases are just around the corner.So I worked very hard, everyone put on various costumes, and made up on the spot to look like the characters in the movie.

On the spot, Minahan also held a live screening, and comic fans were invited to attend the screening.

Those who came to the comic exhibition were all die-hard comic fans, and they were extremely satisfied with the leading actors and their highly restored appearances in the comics.For the first time in their lives, these leading actors were surrounded by people signing autographs and taking photos, as if they had tried out the feeling of being a big Hollywood star for a while.

Afterwards, several leading actors felt that their future was bright, and they even used their own money to buy some props for road shows and life-size display boards.The cost of this movie is not high, but fans are so enthusiastic that they cannot be disappointed.

In the end, it was the lead actors who were disappointed.The film copy was bought back by Warner Bros. and Marvel, and there was no chance for it to be screened.The things they bought, just like the dreams of being a star, would be put into a warehouse and then lie there unnoticed...

The few people who were so angry went to Minahan's company every day to cause trouble. Minahan, who was unbearably annoyed, did not dare to let them come to Ronald's place. It was not until the leading actors threatened to expose their behavior to the media that they had no choice but to bring him. Come with them.

"So what do you expect?" Ronald was a little amused.He understands the disappointment of these people, but he also takes the matter of becoming famous too simply.How could such a B-level movie, which cost only 100 million to produce, make them as famous as the starring actors in "Batman"?
He also gave them some compensation and let them audition for some roles in Daydream or the new film shot by Minahan's lawsuit.Unfortunately, these people regard the popularity they received at the Comic Exhibition as the star status they will surely gain after the movie is released.

This is obviously an expected problem.

"We want to get this movie re-released, and we've put a lot of effort into it..." The actor who played Noodle Man Reed began to speak on behalf of everyone again.

"This is impossible. The success of a movie is luck. How can you expect a small production worth 100 million to turn into a giant film like Batman? Even Superman ten years ago cost dozens of times more to produce. For you.

You probably don’t know how much investment is required to distribute a movie, right? "

Ronald patiently explained to them that even if it was released, it would probably only be in theaters for a few weeks, and then quickly enter the video distribution. At most, they would occasionally be recognized by customers when they went to Blockbuster to pick up the video...

Everyone was convinced by Ronald. Similarly, what Minahan said was hard to believe, but once Ronald said it, they were quite convinced.Coupled with the priority auditions promised by Ronald, these actors who want to break into Hollywood still have something to gain.

Ronald shook hands with the actors one by one and sent them out.It's not easy to offend these little people. Otherwise, if you really go for an interview, even if you can suppress it, it will always be a storm.Ronald behaved reasonably politely.

"What do you do?" The last person to shake hands was a fat guy with an unshaven beard. He looked young, but he was already bald on the top of his head.

"I'm not an actor, I'm the unsigned screenwriter of this movie..." Fatty was at a loss and didn't know what to say, his face turned red all of a sudden.

"Ah, what do you want?" Ronald thought to himself, if you were nodding your head at what I said just now, I would have thought you were playing a supporting role.

"I admire you, Ronald. I've watched your movies many times. I'm here to..." Fatty excitedly held Ronald's hand and wouldn't let go.

"Do you want an autograph? Or a photo?" Ronald was happy. Although he was more successful than Diane in the film career, when we went out together, Diane would always be recognized and asked for an autograph, but there was no one for him. reason.

"Ah, no... no, I mean I want an autograph and a photo... Ah, no, I mean, I came here to ask you to read my script. It would be best if I could take a photo with you."

"Oh?" Ronald thought, yes, he is a screenwriter, so this is right. I am a director, how can I have so many fans?
Ronald took over the script, which was bound with copper nails and in standard script format.It's a standard ninety-page, nine-ten-minute movie script.

After opening it and flipping through it, Ronald suddenly frowned.

"Buffy recognized that the person in front of her was the fang in her mouth. She thrust the sharp wooden stake forward and pierced the vampire's chest..."

Isn't this name and plot the same TV series I dreamed about before?
Is it...?
"Is this a movie script or a TV series..." Ronald closed the script, and sure enough, the name "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was written on the cover, and below it was the signature, Joss Whedon, "Mr. Whedon?"

"Please call me Joss... This is a movie script... It's my first feature film script. You are really amazing. You can see my background as a TV screenwriter at a glance. Is there something in my script? Are there any traces of TV drama writing?”

"Interesting, do you want to direct it yourself?" Ronald thought to himself, you brought this to your door...

(End of this chapter)