Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Don't say you can't name the director, not even Joe Dante." Roger Corman used Joe as an example.

"Because the Directors Guild (DGA) stipulates that, except under very special circumstances, a film can only be signed by one director. This is to prevent the studio from exploiting the director by letting him shoot most of the shots first, and then If you fire him, you can add your own name and be the director alongside him."

Roger continued to explain: "Not only that, but to be named as the director of a film, it must be reviewed by the Directors Guild. At least two-thirds of the original shots were shot by this director."

"As long as you are a registered member of the Hollywood Directors Guild, your interests are quite protected. The producer may not give you the final editing rights, but he cannot deny your signature. What you shoot is what you shoot."

"Because of this, the Directors Guild is very strict about signatures. They don't accept applications and only proactively invite new directors to join the union. If I put a new person on the director list of 'Rock High School', the union will quickly come and invite him to join the union. And this opportunity is what I leave to Alan Aikush.”

"Oh, Mr. Coleman, you misunderstood. I have no intention of being signed as the director. I just want to appear in the subtitles at the end of the film. I know that the crew assistants generally have no chance to appear in the subtitles."

"I can add your name in the assistant column at the end of the film, but why do you need to add subtitles?" Roger Corman was a little strange. Ronald also had the naive idea of ​​leaving a name, "Generally Audiences don’t know how to read subtitles, and a person’s name only appears for a few seconds. If you don’t pay attention, you won’t be able to see the names of important members at the beginning.”

"It's like this, Mr. Coleman." Ronald explained, "My current income mainly comes from taking audition photos of actors, which cost $30 a set.

If my name was in a movie that would be shown in theaters, I could raise my offer to at least $50, and I could pay for college while working as a photographer. "

"Does it have such a big effect if your name appears in the subtitles?" Roger Corman was a little curious.

"Yes, Mr. Coleman. Almost all the actors who come to me to take audition photos have never made a movie. They want to appear in movies, but they often have a lot of random ideas about how to take audition photos.

If I've been involved in a movie, my words have more authority. Not only can you charge a higher price, but you can also save a lot of time when shooting. "

"Oh, that's a good idea. You have to keep it up. It's good business thinking. Many good directors don't understand business. But great directors always find a balance between business and art."

"Mr. Coleman, don't you know you need a still photographer? I can take stills for 'Rock and Roll High School' for free. All you need is the money for film and printing." Ronald took the opportunity to sell his services.

"Do you have any samples?"

"Yes, here, look." Ronald took out a prepared stack of photos from the folder and handed them to Roger Coleman. These are all portraits taken in New York.

"Very good. You can go to the filming location next week to take some stills. Remember to keep the receipt."

"Thank you, Mr. Coleman, I'll go out first."

"Let Jim in by the way."

Ronald closed the door and slowly walked to where Gale was. He had an intuition that Roger Corman didn't want to give him a directorial title. His statement about the Directors Guild may not necessarily be the complete truth.

First of all, members of the Directors Guild cannot all be directors. What about the assistant director? What about the second group of directors? Their rights and interests also need to be protected by trade unions. Is it impossible to be a member of the Directors Guild without being credited as the director of a film? Roger said Alan Aykoush needed Rock High School to get his Directors Guild status. The qualification here probably refers to the level of a signed director of a film.

Second, Roger Coleman paid very little to his employees. Forget about college graduates like Gale whose family conditions are acceptable. Why are Joe, Alan, and Jim, who are the breadwinners of the family, willing to take such low wages? This shows that Roger exploited their skills and allowed these talented professionals to work for him for almost free. After completing a movie, he could join the labor union. Once he became famous, he would go to the eight major studios to make movies. Then Roger Corman recruited a new batch.

Before watching the dailies, Ronald heard Roger Corman say to Jerry Zucker, "If you make this movie, you'll never have to work for me again." This calculation is very clear.

In turn, they, the professionals, were exploiting Roger Corman. Hollywood unions are very harsh on newcomers like Ronald or Jim. If you are a union member, you can enjoy very good treatment, and films registered with the union will give you priority. If you are not a union member, you must have worked in a film registered with the union for a certain number of days before you can apply for membership (the exception is the Directors Guild, which is an invitation system). The problem is that in Hollywood, non-union members have almost no chance to make union-registered movies.

This is like the novel "Catch-22" that Ronald read in high school. When making movies, hiring union members is preferred. To join the union, you need to have made movies. This is a logical knot. No newcomer can join the union no matter what. The only way to break the situation is for bosses like Roger to be willing to hire non-union newcomers like Ronald to union projects.

Ronald raised his hand to greet Gail. He let Jim, who was waiting outside, in. Jim was very relaxed and was flirting with Gail just now.

Seeing that Gail was not very busy, Ronald asked tentatively: "I brought a camera today to take some photos with Jim. If you like, I can also take some portraits of you." Then he took out the sample photos and spread them on the table for her to see.

"Wow, you took a good photo. Will it look good if I wear this kind of clothes today?" Gail immediately began to look at her clothes and shoes.

After Gail finished looking at the photos, Ronald also pulled a chair and sat down. "Gail, you've seen a lot in the film industry. Do you know what the Directors Guild is all about?"

Gail looked up at him, took a piece of paper from the table, picked up a pen and wrote while saying, "The Directors Guild is an invitation-based organization. If you want to join, you don't need to apply. As long as you can leave your name in the project, the Directors Guild will get the list and send you an invitation letter."

"The members of the Directors Guild are divided into three levels: film director, assistant director, assistant director/second group director. Each level should have different membership fees. You can go to the library to check the specific information."

He folded the paper in half and handed the information about the Directors Guild level to Ronald.

"Is Alan Ekush also a member of the Directors Guild?"

"Of course, he is a second-level assistant director. Joe Dante directed "Piranha" last year and was promoted to the highest level of director."

Ronald took the paper written by Gail and put it in his pocket, thinking: It seems that his judgment is right. The reason why Roger Corman can produce at a super low cost is that he relies on his wisdom to identify talents and use the union's membership qualifications to card people.

Similarly, Roger Corman had to exploit him for several years before he could have the opportunity to independently direct a low-cost movie. If he went to college, Roger would not lose anything, but if he was obsessed with the dream of making movies and wanted to direct his own movies, it would be difficult to refuse the visible path Roger gave him.

No wonder Roger asked about his dream when he met him. This set of sales techniques, as long as you have a dream of making movies, and you are from the bottom and lack opportunities, who can resist it?

Ronald shook his head. Even if he went to college, if he didn't forget his dream, he would have to come back to Roger in all likelihood. It was too difficult to enter the film industry.

At this moment, three people suddenly came up the stairs and rushed to Roger Corman's office.

One of the people was Jerry Zucker, and of the other two men, one had similar facial features to Jerry, and the other was slightly taller. The three wanted to go directly into Roger's office.

Gail quickly stood up and stopped them, "Excuse me, Mr. Zach, this... sir, Mr. Coleman is meeting a guest, please wait outside."

"No, please don't stop me, Gail. This is between Roger and me." Jerry Zach pushed Gail's hand away and wanted to go in.

Seeing the three people excited, Ronald hurried forward to help Gail calm them down.

Jim also opened the door to check, it seems that Roger Coleman also heard the movement outside.

The accident happened suddenly...