Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 874

In the new building of Twentieth Century Fox, the scene of "Die Hard" is still being filmed.

Some places where the interior decoration was supposed to be carried out were suspended, and the messy construction site was kept, and the decoration began after the filming was completed.

The most affected is the company's legal department. Their office is just one floor below the shooting location, and is often disturbed by noise and dust.But the employees liked it because they could sneak up and see the shooting scene.

"There is no problem with this version of the contract, you can sign it now."

After reading the new version of the contract sent by the legal department, Ronald's business lawyer, Mitch Kanter, a well-known barrister in the Los Angeles entertainment industry, whispered something in his ear, saying that he had helped him rule out Fox's burial. All mines in the contract.

Goldberg, the president of Fox, gave Ronald one of the top salaries a commercial director could get to direct "Working Girl."But the price is that Ronald's daydream can only be signed on the production company symbolically, and there is not much dividend.

With the hard work of Ronald's agent and company executives, Daydream finally got a commensurate amount of small investment and enjoyed the preferential rights to share.Fox's legal department pre-buried a lot of director obligations in the contract, and it was linked to the final share.

For example, whether the film can be nominated for an Oscar, the box office performance, and the marketing activities that Ronald must attend as a director, etc.

But these elites in the legal department are all the title partners of the famous Los Angeles law firm, the boss of Kennedy Jr. when he was a lawyer, and the disciples and grandchildren of Mitch Kanter.

Of course, these little tricks could not escape his discerning eye.

After arguing with reason, Fox's legal department had to back down on many contract terms.Today, when Ronald flies back from New York, he can come and sign the contract.

"Cheers!" Goldberg took out the champagne and celebrated this small victory. Recently, under his governance, several projects have been pushed forward smoothly.Many projects have found popular stars to play the leading roles. In addition to Ronald's, there are also female director Penny Marshall's projects that are about to start production.

"Can your casting be faster? We don't know if we can release the news of the casting of 'Working Girl' during the Christmas holiday?" Goldberg is really good at public relations marketing.

"I can't promise anything, but I'm going to meet with my casting director later to see a female lead candidate."

"Ah, you always put the producers at ease and walk the talk, Ronald. That's why Hollywood likes you so much...hahaha..." Goldberg drank the champagne in satisfaction.

Everyone finished the brief signing ceremony, and the photos taken by the photographer will appear in the latest news column of newspapers such as the Hollywood Reporter tomorrow, as a small news announcement for the launch of the project.

"Ronald..." At the elevator entrance, lawyer Mitch Kanter stopped Ronald, "Can we talk?"

"Of course..." Ronald walked with him to the side window, separated from the others.

"May I ask, why did you back down on the terms of the box office share, and then win back on the video share? You are more optimistic about the video share? Did Top Gun's video sales numbers give you confidence?"

Mitch Kanter, as a senior lawyer in Hollywood, is very concerned about the industry's trends. Ronald, uncharacteristically, did not care about the box office dividends this time, which made him feel that another change in the distribution of benefits seems to be in sight.

Reminiscent of the recent frequent contact between several major labor unions and the Producers Association, Mitch Kanter would like to know the thoughts of Ronald, a director known for his high return on investment.

"In fact, no one can predict the box office of a movie, Mickey." Ronald spread his hands, "in this business, no one actually knows what to do (to make money)."

Seeing Mitch Kanter's disbelief, Ronald added, "But I know that the refund of the video tape is far easier than the box office of the movie. My accountant told me that there is room for manipulation. Far less than the box office. And you don’t have to wait a year after the release to get the money back from the cinema like the box office. You see, Dirty Dancing movies are about to be released now, and I haven’t gotten a point yet. What about the money back?"

"Great business observation, great." Mitch Kanter admired Ronald's business sense. A young director who can be successful in art, but also has business thinking. One person has two at the same time. A genius in the field is rare.

"Has the box office of Dirty Dancing exceeded [-] million? The girls in my family like to watch it very much."

"It's still close. I don't expect to break through until the end of January next year." Ronald smiled. The box office performance of Dirty Dancing in North America has exceeded everyone's expectations. It has already exceeded 8000 million, and it is about to exceed 9000 million. Ten thousand.If some copy rental fees for overseas distribution are added, the book profit has far exceeded [-] million.

But as Ronald said just now, the return of the box office has always been a very tricky matter. Presumably the movie theater has been procrastinating, and will not pay the box office dividends until the end of next year when the law stipulates that they can sue.

However, the earning power of this Dirty Dance is not solely at the box office.

The film's soundtrack album, Dirty Dancing, has quietly spent many weeks at No. [-] on the sales charts.Sales have been suppressing Michael Jackson's new album, until recently MJ personally called Ronald to say hello, only to give way to the reported sales figures.

But even so, the sales in America have already made RCA very happy, and it is expected to exceed 1000 million sales next year, bringing huge wealth to the record company and Ronald himself.At the end of the year, there was another huge check, which would make Ronald pay huge income taxes.

Strike the Iron Hot, RCA and Daydream's second soundtrack album "More Dirty Dancing" has also been completed. The 10 songs that have no chance to be included in the first album, but appeared in the movie, and the 5 new episodes selected by RCA to match the style of the movie, will be on the shelves at the end of February next year.

By contrast, Ronald's well-crafted, Coca-Cola-subsidized $6-a-copy "Dirty Dancing" video is only expected to come in third for a film that cost less than $500 million. look.

Fortunately, the videotapes that will be sold around the Super Bowl next year are short-term business, and the money will be paid back quickly.Ronald will receive the first payment before the Oscars next year.

Even recently, the President and Congress want to abolish the preferential treatment of personal income tax, and investment in the stock market cannot be deferred or exempted. How to deal with such a large amount of tax needs to be carefully considered. It is really impossible to buy a house and forget it.

Ronald, who has been counting money until he is energetic recently, works 10 hours a day without feeling sleepy, waits for the income from records and video tapes to arrive in his account, and then he can hurry up to buy a house in Los Angeles and decorate the landscaped garden on Staten Island The progress of the project.

"Mickey, would you like to go up with me and have a look? Die Hard is being filmed there. It's a good movie." The happy Ronald saw that Julia Taylor, who came with him, was already waving to himself in front of the elevator. So an invitation was also sent to Mickey Kanter.

"Why not? Is this a movie you supervised?"

"Yes, a film that takes place in the building of First Blood, you know what I mean?" Ronald went upstairs with guests like Skillful and Mickey to find the crew to visit.

……

"Alan, what are you doing here?"

When he arrived on the shooting floor, Ronald saw Alan Rickman at a glance. He had a big beard that looked bad and was chatting with the crew.

"Hi Ronald, I'm practicing my American accent with them." Rickman came over to greet Ronald. When they chat, imitate their accent.

A theater actor from London's West End who is constantly honing his craft.

"Where is Joel (Silver)?" Ronald saw that not only the supporting actor Rickman, but also many staff members were chatting and playing on the set as if they had nothing to do, and suddenly felt Joel Silver's The producers are a bit dry and irresponsible.

"Ronald, Ronald...you fucking...you are finally here, just come..."

Just as he was talking, Joel Silver came over from a distance, "Go to my lounge and talk."

"This is my attorney, Mr. Mitch Kanter, whom you know. This is my casting director, Julia Taylor, of New York."

Ronald couldn't show such eagerness, and introduced everyone to Joel Silver as usual.

"Mickey, Julia, everyone is on their own, I have something urgent..."

Joel Silver knew Hollywood regulars, so he took Ronald to the lounge next to him.

"What's the matter? Where's the director John McTiernan?" Ronald entered the room and asked Joel Silver, who was sweating with anxiety.

"I didn't investigate carefully before. McTiernan is an 'on-site director'. Fortunately, you can come, and this matter needs to be resolved..." Joel Silver took a script and handed it to Ronald come over.

Ronald opened it, and saw that the script was much thicker than when it was turned on. There were many blue, pink, yellow, orange... inserts of various colors on it.

According to the rules of Hollywood, the script is locked after it is turned on. Once it needs to be revised, it must be copied with a different color of paper, and then the original white paper must be replaced.Every time there is a modification, a new color is used, so that the actors and crew can see it at a glance, and everyone is in sync.

The colorful papers that Ronald saw showed that Director McTiernan continued to revise the script on the spot after the machine was turned on. Fortunately, Joel Silver's on-site management was excellent. The version of the script will be wrong, and there must have been a lot of problems.

"How's the progress?"

"The progress is okay, but the daily overtime hours are very long. Just like now, the crew is waiting for that bastard McTiernan. He was halfway through filming and felt that the original plot was unreasonable, so he had to modify it. This kind of thing happens every day. Things, our crew inevitably overruns."

"If you overspend, just overspend. What do you want me to do?" Ronald was also mentally prepared for such a thing.Not all directors have been trained by Roger Corman.Many people have new inspirations while filming, and it's not right for you not to let them come out.

This is why, every time he cooperates with a new director, Ronald will relax 20% of the budget, and this part of the money will be used as a reserve fund, in case the director takes half of the filming and various unexpected situations arise.

"You have to show me, will these modifications improve the quality of the movie? Or is it purely to satisfy the director himself?"

Joel Silver has nothing to hide from Ronald, and the two are ultimately in charge of the film project, and both are in the same boat.At this time, it is most reliable to listen to the thoughts of Ronald, who is also the director.

"Actually, it's okay... I haven't seen the sample film. Judging from the modification of the script, John McTiernan didn't mess around. But his inspiration is really not good? I see that many plots are only halfway through filming. rewritten?"

Ronald picked up the shooting log. Many of the shooting records on it are the number of scenes and lines rewritten by the director after half of the shooting.If it weren't for the ability of Joel Silver's assistants, these chaotic shot numbers could kill the editor in post-editing.

"That's okay, I have to pay the assistant girls more overtime pay, order delicious food to reward them every day, and often disassemble all the copies of the script every night, replace and rebind them, and it is very common to work overtime until midnight. "

"Where is the director and starring Bruce Willis?" Ronald gave Silver a reassurance. This kind of script modification, according to Ronald's experience, and John McTiernan before filming "Predator" In terms of image quality, it is still going in a good direction, but the creation process is a bit messy.

"McTiernan was holding back the script. He said there was a plot twist that was difficult to deal with. Bruce was 'resting' with his girlfriend." Joel Silver gave him a wink.

"Take me to meet them..."

"Okay, okay..." Joel Silver managed to get Ronald, a busy man, back to the shooting scene, just to make him useful.

"John, I heard there is a turning point problem?" Ronald entered the director's lounge. He tried his best to act like a fellow director discussing with McTiernan, and did not show the negative emotions brought about by his producer duties. .

"Ronald, you're here, look at this, I just found out today, the plot where the villain Hans Krupp found out that McClane was the one who was against them lacked drama..."

"End of Act Two, on to Act Three, huh?"

Ronald listened to McTiernan's narration, and the problem still appeared before entering the finale of the last act.

The well-mannered villain finally discovered that McClane was the hero who opposed him.On the unfinished floor, he suddenly encountered McClane played by Bruce Willis.

The two pros and villains who have never met before meet suddenly here. How to separate them again, then go back to regroup, and finally face off again on the rooftop is a big problem in the direction of the plot.

The duel between heroes and villains must always be at the end.So this encounter was just the first time the two faced each other, and each found that the other was the opponent in their own destiny.

But this episode must be dramatic, and it must arouse the audience's sense of tension. It is also necessary to let the second act end here, and all the contradictions cannot be alleviated.

Both John McClane and Hans Krupp must realize that unless they kill each other, they cannot fulfill their destiny.

This fate, for McClane, is to rescue his wife, and his colleagues in the company become a hero, trying to find a way to reconcile with his wife.For Hans, it was to kill McClane and take away a large amount of unregistered national debt.

"Why the hell didn't you think of it before?" Ronald cursed secretly, and sat down to watch the plot written by McTiernan.

Artists work in different ways.I heard that Francis Coppola also has the habit of changing the plot on the spot.Some extreme directors, even after starting the film, can make changes while filming according to the performance of the actors, and it is very common to film the supporting role as the protagonist.

For example, Julia Taylor, the casting director who came together, and her former long-term partner Woody Allen, often do this, forgetting the main line while filming, and finally complete the story in the hands of the editor.

When Hans Krupp met John McClane, he wanted to recognize him as the one who opposed him.However, conflicts cannot erupt at this moment, delaying the final battle until the end of the third act.

Ronald read it for a long time, and McTiernan wrote all around this theme.

Maybe it was the first time I saw this storyline, maybe it was a hint of the plot in the dream, Ronald had a flash of inspiration and said to McTiernan, "You know that Alan Rickman can already imitate the American accent now. Yet?"

"Oh?" John McTiernan still didn't know what Ronald meant.

"The kidnapper speaks with a German accent, but McClean has never seen him, so he doesn't know what he looks like. What if he will change into an American accent?" Ronald thought that this person's qualifications were not good enough, and he even hinted so clearly. .

"You mean, Hans Krupp can speak with an American accent, pretend to be one of the hostages, and get away from McClane?"

"What do you think? You didn't meet the two of you before, did you?"

"No, no, you're such a genius idea. I'll change it right away, and I can start filming after it's done. All the clues of the second act can be contained here, and then the two will naturally enter the final battle. Because McClane met Hans, it was only natural that he finally found out that he was the leader of the kidnappers..."

"Okay?" Joel Silver looked over at McTiernan and wrote quickly, "That's it? You're a genius."

"Is Bruce Willis 'resting'? I have to..." Ronald walked out, and McTiernan estimated that he would have to change for half an hour, just in time for himself and Julia Taylor to do business.

"Okay, I'll take you there. He's tired of being with his girlfriend every day, and he's resting when he's not filming."

Joel Silver ran to Willis' lounge and knocked on the door, "I'm Silver, Bruce, are you there?"

"What's the matter?" Bruce Willis, wearing a white vest, poked his head out from behind the door.

"It's Ronald here, he wants to talk to you, you know he has a new project..." Joel Silver still respects this very dedicated leading actor, although he was noisy during the break A little bit.

"Hey... Ronald. Come on, I just don't have a turn, Demi, Demi..."

Demi Moore poked her head out from behind, her hair a little messy, her hands tucked into her clothes.

"Hi, Ronald!" She tried to be as natural as possible.

"Ronald came to talk to me about a new play, can you believe it? I was a TV actor before, and now a big director like Ronald is coming to me...Huh?" Bruce Willis was very happy, Shooting this kind of action movie is really in line with my own wishes, and it is much more enjoyable than "Blue Moonlight" that can't be written anymore.

"Demi, help me order some delicious food. Ronald and I need to talk carefully...McTiernan is always dawdling. It's not when the filming will start. I'm starving."

As he said that, Bruce Willis took out a tart of $20 bills from his pocket, which looked like more than $200, and handed it to Demi Moore.

"Oh..." Demi Moore was a little annoyed, but that's what a bad guy boyfriend is.

"No, you're mistaken, I'm here to talk to Demi..." Ronald smiled and pointed to Demi Moore, watching Bruce Willis' face change.

"Well, didn't you always want to play a movie with a real protagonist? It must be no mistake that Ronald came to you." Bruce Willis stood up to hide his loss and embarrassment, "I'm going to buy you some pizza .” He put on his coat to go outside.

"I want pineapple," added Demi Moore, who is on a diet and doesn't want to eat too much meat.

"Let the assistant go," Ronald pointed to Joel Silver with a smile.

"I'll go, I'll go", Joel Silver came over with a smile, and took the cash from Bruce Willis, "Cowboy, let's have some meat..."

"That's right, pizza is meat." Bruce Willis was handed the steps, and walked out with Joel Silver.

"Demi, this is Julia, Julia Taylor, my casting director... I'm asking you this time, do you look like a heroine..."

"The heroine? You directed it?" Demi Moore's eyes lit up, did she finally have the chance to wave to herself?

"Yes, but you will play a secretary who is close to 30 years old...it may damage the image." Ronald said the difficult part first.

"No problem, you won't make the heroine ugly forever, I understand you, Ronald." Demi Moore didn't hesitate, I asked my agent to contact you, and you can arrange when the audition is. "

"Very good..." Ronald looked at the casting director Julia Taylor beside him.

Julia Taylor nodded secretly, indicating that at least she would not be eliminated.

"Do you think she is suitable?" Ronald asked Taylor after walking out of the lounge.

"That's right, at least her character of sacrificing everything for an opportunity is very similar to Tess. As for her appearance, she is a little too pretty. Let the makeup artist look ugly..."

(End of this chapter)