Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1263 How to defeat Ovitz?

"Hello, Director Hu. I've heard of you for a long time."

In his early years, Hu Jinquan worked as an editor for a radio station in America. He had a green card and even met his wife while he was in America. It happened that he had several film projects and wanted to find investors. He had been traveling between Hong Kong and America for a long time, and he happened to be there at this time.

Yang Yanzi quickly contacted him and asked him to come and talk to Ronald.

"Hello, Director Luo, I have heard several people talk about you. You are a good friend of us Chinese people. This is the first time in so many years that I have met an investor who is interested in my project."

"There are many Chinese here, and they also have some cinemas that show Chinese-language films. I just need these cinemas to distribute my other films. This is a win-win situation... Please sit down, this is the black tea I got from the mainland. "

"Thank you..." Hu Jinquan frowned when he heard that it was a business consideration. His movies are notoriously poorly received.

"This is the first draft of the script that I asked a Chinese young man named Huang Zhelun to write. I brought it to you for your review."

"I don't have time to read it. Do you have a summary?" Ronald waved his hand, knowing that Director Hu didn't know the rules of Hollywood.

"It's basically a story about a Chinese laborer in the 1860s, more than a hundred years ago." Hu Jinquan simply told it vividly. He spent his teenage years in the Mainland and speaks standard Mandarin.

This story tells that in the 1860s, a large number of Chinese workers participated in the construction of the transoceanic railway. When they arrived in California, they saw people panning for gold. A Chinese man also found a rich mine by relying on the gold panning knowledge he learned in his hometown.

They thought they would make a fortune, but the gold mine they found was occupied by white American bad guys. After escaping the gold mine, they continued to escape and came to a Swedish mine where they stayed to work.

At this time, the bad guys caught up again and wanted to occupy this gold mine again. The Chinese united and fought against the bad guys, using many martial arts and native methods, and finally defeated these bad guys.

"This?" Ronald felt that the overall structure was okay, but the plot of defeating the bad guys was really too old. It seemed that it had been out of touch with Hollywood for at least twenty years.

"The name Huang Zhelun seems familiar." Ronald looked at Yang Yanzi.

"He is also a Chinese-American playwright. He didn't come to the promoter's dinner last time, but many people said otherwise. He is the author of 'M. Butterfly', which is currently on Broadway."

Yang Yanzi is now very familiar with the situation of Chinese-American filmmakers. I immediately took out my notebook and told the general situation of "Mr. Butterfly".

"Huh? This show is a bit out of the scope of Daydream's production." Ronald frowned. This story is full of Americans’ assumptions about the Chinese and Chinese people, and it captures the stereotypes in their eyes. In addition, the plot is absurd and bizarre, and it is not the way of a commercial film.

"Hahaha, Director Luo is really quick to talk. I also feel that this script is not a Chinese story, but a story understood by Chinese people who grew up in America." Hu Jinquan felt that Ronald was a close friend. .

"Director Hu, I think this script is still a bit far from our production standards. At least these martial arts scenes should be deleted. This is a drama, not Jackie Chan's martial arts scene. It is very abrupt.

Yanzi, if you can, please do more work. Contact Director Hu and see if there is a professional screenwriter who can help him with some polishing. "

Ronald felt that this movie could actually take the form of a western. Dances with Wolves has just overturned the case for the Indians. It may not be impossible to make a western movie with a Chinese protagonist.

"Okay, Director Luo, I only have three requirements. First, this movie must oppose racial discrimination. Second, America is a place where people of all races can realize their dreams, so Chinese people must also struggle to succeed. Third, we must oppose The old stereotype of Chinese people in Hollywood.”

"What you said is very good, and I think it is okay. However, it is not easy for purely Chinese stories to succeed. So I think we can add a white protagonist, who is also an immigrant like the Chinese protagonist, and succeeds after struggle... What do you think?"

Ronald learned from the experience of promoters and also had to have some white people in order to sell well.

"Yes, but the Chinese must be the first protagonist..."

"Okay, after the script is revised, I can invest half of the budget. Director Hu will go back to Hong Kong and XX to find some distribution channels. It is in line with commercial operations for this kind of movie to be released in two places."

Ronald promised to give out half of the pie first. This kind of movie still needs to be co-produced by China and the United States. Otherwise, relying solely on the market here would be too risky.

"By the way, who do you want to be the leading actor?"

"The Last Emperor's Dragon..."

"He can do it, he's good..." Ronald nodded as soon as he heard this. This man has acting skills, is handsome, and is a familiar face to the audience.

……

The busier Yang Yanzi became, the happier she became. Ronald let her go and ran to Scorsese's place. The Coca-Cola commercial still had to be filmed, and Ronald went to the scene to support Scorsese.

Coca-Cola has already found two camps from both sides, with almost five directors from each side shooting advertisements and then broadcasting them on TV. However, judging from the effect, there is not much difference.

Coca-Cola's top executives were indecisive, not knowing whose story to believe. Is it Ovitz's speculative approach to predicting stars who will become popular in the next few years, or is he directly looking for famous directors like Ronald and Scorsese to bet on the odds?

"Darcy, what is the situation now? Which advertising effect is better?"

The person sent by Coca-Cola's advertiser was Ronald's old acquaintance, the female director Darcy Maguire. The two hid aside and chatted about the advertising situation.

"In fact, for a product like Coca-Cola, the advertising effect is just a metaphysics?"

"Huh? What do you say?"

"There are only a few beverages in the Coca-Cola product line. This time, the dozen or so directors shot the classic version of Coke. Consumers around the world have been drinking it for decades. As long as the Coke can appears in the advertisement, I The effects are almost the same..."

"So?" Ronald felt bad. He also thought too much. The chewing gum, Diet Coke and other advertisements he shot with Maguire were all new products. It’s easy to attribute the increase in sales to advertising.

As for a classic product like Coca-Cola, as long as it is aired on television for enough time, consumers will restock when they see the red can of Coca-Cola. As for creativity and celebrities, it really doesn’t matter much.

"Besides, I saw Ovitz going to Coca-Cola's headquarters for a meeting. His rhetoric sounded like that of an advertising company, not the CEO of a brokerage company."

"No way? You mean, he wants to open an advertising agency?"

“I’ll just tell you one person, the boss of my company was in the conference room at the time and wrote a word on my notebook, it broke!”

"Does he really want to open an advertising agency?" Ronald felt that Ovitz was also very imaginative. As an agency, you can just do your best to attract business from celebrities. At first, he wanted to be a film studio, but after Qida became suspicious, the packaging business also encountered resistance, and now he wants to open an advertising agency.

Ogilvy, BBDO, and JWT are all old companies with decades of history. No matter how smart a person is, he can't be the boss in three industries, right?

"I think what he was talking about in front of Coca-Cola's CEO Keogh was not the director's and star's schedules, but Coca-Cola's advertising strategy. I think his thoughts were not only visible to me and my boss."

"Coca-Cola trusts him so much? If it were me, I would definitely trust the experts from your 4A advertising company..."

"Hey, this is also our own problem." Darcy Maguire was a little embarrassed. Today's multinational companies are huge in size, have huge annual advertising budgets, and their products do not require much creativity. In fact, their core competitiveness is focused on customer relationship management. Coca-Cola sees that they make so much money every year, and each of their advertisements looks uglier than the last, so it’s not incomprehensible to think differently. It's just that after decades of inertia, most multinational companies can't even think of it. And once Coca-Cola opens this hole, it will be difficult for advertising companies to do business.

"Also, Ovitz didn't charge for the meeting this time..." Maguire added. Compared with the expensive consulting fees of advertising companies, Ovitz's move impressed Coca-Cola very much.

"What, Ovitz, you don't know yet? If he doesn't accept it now, he will accept it no less than you do..." Ronald thought of the seafood restaurant where Magnets and Dances with Wolves were.

"Really? That's good news for us," Darcy Maguire hurriedly wrote down the name of the restaurant.

"However, despite this strong evidence, the creative problems Ovitz accused us of hit home to us."

Ronald nodded in understanding. Everyone is competing to "manage customers", and creativity is not so important...

"I think you may still have to take action at that time. This is not a problem for our advertising agency. The entire Madison Street wants to unite and take down Ovitz. This is our common goal, and it is actually a win-win situation... "

"I don't think I can be any better than Marty and Francis in advertising." Ronald nodded and agreed. But I still knew in my heart that Ovitz was very good at selling, and the senior executives of Coca-Cola might have been persuaded by his words.

Unless he comes up with a great idea that can invalidate Ovitz's idea of ​​predicting future stars through CAA's industry-unparalleled data, there will no longer be any advantage that could prevent him from moving to other industries to make big money.

But where did Ronald himself think of it? Even if he had any creativity before, it was all through dreaming. Daydreaming is your primary productivity.

Thinking of these, an idea suddenly came to Ronald's mind. If you haven’t dreamed, can you take the initiative to find the feeling of dreaming? Anyway, the most suitable thing for me to dream about recently is flying.

"Swallow, swallow?"

"Yang Yanzi is busy with the Joy Luck Club. If you need anything, I'll help you." Helen, wearing a red housecoat, came over with a smile...

"Ah, it's okay. I want her to book a business jet for me." Ronald smiled and touched Helen's waist.

"Are you going back?" Helen was put into Ronald's arms and twisted twice in protest.

"Well, it's a bit urgent..." Ronald put his head on Helen's shoulder, smelling the fragrance of shower gel in her hair, "Forget it, I'm not in such a hurry..."

"Hmm..." Helen felt a stream of heat blowing from the back of her neck, and couldn't help but scream out in comfort.

"When are you going to shoot at Billy Crystal's place?"

Some time later, Ronald and Helen were lying on the big bed in their Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan, chatting side by side.

"It's just these two days, my scene has been filmed." Helen's breathing has not completely calmed down.

"Then why don't you come with me? It's more convenient for us to be on the same plane." Ronald couldn't help but remember that a few years ago, being with beautiful women seemed to have the effect of promoting dreaming. How about combining the two?

"Do you really want to stay with me for a little longer? Hee hee." Helen misunderstood and thought that her lover wanted to stay with her for a longer time. She was so happy that she turned over and sat on top of Ronald.

……

"Why is it the Gulfstream III again?"

When Ronald got on the plane, he felt that he had made a mistake. The plane Richard ordered for him this time was also an old version, mainly used for business aircraft leasing business. So there are standard seats on the plane, and there is no privacy at all.

Ronald's plan failed, and he felt a little disappointed. He still had to put the purchase of a plane on the agenda. Who among my friends has a private jet? Go ask the door.

Ronald figured it out, maybe it was the investor Warren Buffy, right?

I fell asleep briefly on the plane and dreamed of nothing. There was no assistant this time, so Ronald had to help Helen carry her luggage.

"What is all this? Do you have so much luggage?"

"There aren't many female stars..." Helen Slater rolled her eyes at him. Hollywood actresses, don’t they have to take them with them when they go out?

"And this, what is this?" There is a soft cloth bag in the middle of the luggage.

"This is my stuffed toy... I'm used to sleeping with my arms around it." Helen took the bag and inside was a stuffed bear toy, which looked very big. Used when Ronald isn't around.

"Um..." Ronald was speechless and looked at the big bear... "I'll stay with you tonight. I'll call Richard and tell him I won't be back until tomorrow."

At night, in the suite of the Beverly Hilton, Helen hugged Ronald and slept very soundly. Slow breathing blew on Ronald's body, and it was obviously more comfortable to hold the real person.

Ronald fell asleep in this peaceful atmosphere.

Who knows, when you don’t think about it, dreams will come quietly by themselves.

A fluffy black and white panda, boxing in a dream. There was a turtle next to him, talking to him.

"Eh? Is this a computer-generated special effect?" Ronald looked at the naive panda and found that the hair on his body was very real.

Including his movements and expressions when speaking, they are all very similar to real people's interpretations. What technology is this? So similar?

"Oops, I'm going to be late, dear, I won't have breakfast, you can make your own arrangements."

The next day, both of them rarely overslept.

"Is it okay, let me call Billy?" Ronald smiled as he watched Helen getting dressed in a hurry.

"No, I don't want them to say I'm special." Helen stopped with a smile. "It's all your fault, I slept too much last night..."

"I must be better than that teddy bear?" Ronald also laughed.

Helen called a car to Billy Crystal's meeting, and Ronald was alone in bed, thinking. The panda I dreamed about last night was obviously very real. I wonder when technology developed to this point?

If the cost of this technology is not high, wouldn’t live-action stars have to lose a large part of their market to animated characters in the future?

"Huh?" Suddenly, Ronald thought of something. He got up and dug out the phone number of his special effects supervisor Van Fleet from his notebook.

"John, if I want to make a panda with hair effect, can it be achieved with current technology?"

(End of this chapter)