Exploiting Hollywood 1980

On Tuesday night, the box office data continued to be good, and Atlantic held a celebration party for "Comet Night".

Atlantic spent a lot of money and booked a large room at the Hilton Hotel. The self-service party had champagne, oysters, and various snacks. People related to the movie came to congratulate. Ronald wore a suit and a bow tie and greeted people he knew and didn't know.

The box office in the first week, judging by the trend, exceeded 5 million. The investment can be recovered in the first week of release. The leaders of Atlantic Pictures are full of ambition.

"Ronald, why don't you sign a long-term contract with us, and we will invest in your scripts from now on. In this way, you don't have to worry about financing issues, and we will concentrate on developing distribution channels. It's a win-win situation."

President Tom Coleman personally brought Ronald a glass of champagne and persuaded Ronald to sign at least three film contracts with them.

"What type of movies do you want to make? How much can you invest?" Ronald certainly knew that Atlantic could not invest in all scripts, and there were still conditions.

"Of course it's movies like 'Night of the Comet'. We predict that movies related to teenagers will be the next direction. Your movies and Martha Coolidge's movies have proved this. As long as we follow the proven formula, we can reap more success."

"Proven formula?"

"Yes, the teenage audience group, plus various genres. Or to say, make genres teenage, teenage horror, teenage romance, teenage science fiction, teenage family relationships, there are as many successful genres as there are successful teenage versions."

"That's a good idea. I'll discuss it with my agent." Ronald clinked his glasses lightly, unwilling to say the final word right away. Atlantic seems to have tasted the sweetness and wants to continue to fight big with small-budget teenage exploitation films.

However, Ronald still has doubts about Atlantic Pictures. Atlantic did not show much strength in this film distribution. The release schedule was stuck before the release of several blockbusters in the summer season. There was no financial strength to engage in marketing. In terms of connections and experience, they started from scratch. Rather than saying that their distribution business started well, it's better to say that they turned over two good movies.

It's better to wait and see their next distribution performance and the ability to get money back from the theaters.

"That's a good idea. I'll let my agent continue to talk to you." Ronald pushed his agent and smiled and toasted with Tom Coleman.

"Very good. If there is such a thing in the future, you can push it to me." Nicita, who was in the corner, waited for Tom to leave and quickly came up. He kept staring at Ronald not far away, just like a wild animal staring at its territory, staring at the every move of those who wanted to come to Ronald. This will not hinder Ronald's socializing, but also keep an eye on those who come to poach him at any time.

The main actors and staff of "Night of the Comet" basically came to the party, except Kelly Maroney, who played the role of sister Samantha. After the movie was released, Maroney got the coveted TV series resident role and returned to New York to shoot.

The TV series that Catherine Mary Stewart was originally shooting also called her to go back and continue shooting. The screenwriter resurrected her character and she returned to the daytime soap opera to continue quarreling with other protagonists.

This is one of the reasons why Ronald likes to shoot his own movies. Those high-ranking executive producers in Hollywood actually have no ability to distinguish the level of actors. The theories they say are nothing more than after-the-fact cannons after the success of actors and directors.

If the movie is successful, all the actors will rise to prominence. At least when other crews look for them, they will remember their success in "Night of the Comet" and will offer higher prices.

The same is true for the staff. Art director John Muto has a wide range of interests. There is already an animated film that asked him to be the visual director, and several live-action movies have asked him to continue to be the art director.

Director of photography Arthur Albert is even more popular. Many TV series, music videos, and commercials are lining up to ask him to take charge of the camera.

After all, the film's meager budget produced such a good apocalyptic effect, and both of them became treasures. The industry generally believes that the success of "Night of the Comet" should be attributed to them.

Special effects director James Cameron made Orion and Heimdell, two investors of "Terminator", completely trust him. Gail said that the producer sent by the production company also treated them much better.

The two had to leave early and then go home to write the scripts for "First Blood" and the sequel to "Alien". After watching "Night of the Comet", the two producers happily gave Gail the advance payment check. With such special effects skills, they were very confident in writing scripts that required various aliens and explosion special effects. They all thought they had taken advantage of Cameron's signing in advance before the movie was released.

William Morris's Italian agent Ed Limato also came up, "Ronald, you are a good guy. My two clients have stepped up after this. Cheers!"

"Don't be like this. I'm just thanking Ronald on behalf of my clients. Who can snatch him away from you?" Limato saw Niceta, who had been beside him since he came, and made a joke with his fellow villager.

After Kevin Costner made this movie, he had some money and other commercials came to him for shooting. He could spend more time taking acting classes instead of working as a carpenter on the Paramount studio to earn money to support his life.

Nicolas Cage was even happier. He sold two low-budget movies in a row, one as the main character and the other as a guest star. His film contracts became smooth under the auspices of Limato. If he didn't prefer works that could hone his acting skills, some commercial productions would also come to him for selection.

Ronald was very happy that his movies increased the value of those involved and gave them more opportunities. This is how Hollywood works. Only when you can increase the value of others will they be willing to work with you. With such a good reputation, you will not have to worry about not having famous actors to act in your movies in the future.

"Hi, Mary, I haven't thanked you for the good words you said in Interview magazine."

Ronald saw Mary Woronov coming over and went up to hug and congratulate him.

"That bastard Andy Warhol actually found a college graduate to write a film review." Mary was still very straightforward and said whatever she wanted to say.

"But the result is still very good. Your performance and the whole movie are praised to the sky."

"That boy can write well." Mary drank the champagne.

"Do you have a new film contract?" Ronald asked. Ever since Roger Corman sold the New World, Mary Voronov's participation in movies has been unstable.

"I have received many invitations for TV movies. I am not greedy."

"In fact, your acting skills are still wasted." Ronald knew that TV movies are shot with film, but the purpose is to be played on TV, not in theaters.

This kind of movie is generally narrow screen, and the lens design and lighting also have strong TV traces. For Mary Voronov, participating in TV movies is as easy as drinking water and eating.

"You should also be careful, Ronald. Having a stable income is the most important thing. Now even the hot-selling movies that are released have to be released on videotapes. In the future, those carefully crafted acting skills will not make much difference on the small screen of TV. It is better to shoot more and make more money."

"Yeah, that's right."

Ronald also heard the news. Paramount's "Flashdance" has just been released for six weeks. The weekly box office has been stable at more than 5 million US dollars in the first five weeks, but it has dropped to more than 4.8 million this week.

With such box office results, everyone would have celebrated in previous years and increased marketing investment, but this year, Paramount has already started recording and selling "Flashdance" videotapes.

The Supreme Court's ruling has been made, and various videotape sales and rental stores are increasing day by day on the streets of Los Angeles.

Paramount seems to be very pessimistic about the box office of theaters. As soon as there is a downward trend, it immediately starts to sell videotapes. It is afraid that the phenomenon of "ET the Alien" being sold all over the sky last year will happen again. The idea of ​​capital is simple and practical.

Anyway, the ruling has been made, and it is not illegal to copy videotapes. Instead of giving this money to pirates or viewers who copy at home, I might as well make it myself.

At this time, Richard hurried in, "Ronald, this is the record of sending flowers. Will it still be once a week in the future?"

That was the receipt that Ronald asked Richard to send flowers to Helen Slater in London. He took out his checkbook and wrote another one to Richard.

"Yes, keep sending at this frequency." Since he came back, Ronald was a little concerned that Helen was alone in the crew and he couldn't visit her often. So he often sent flowers to remind Helen and to show his presence to other people in the crew.

"Also, there is news about Daryl Vidal, the one you asked me to find. He is now learning Wing Chun at the Jun Fan Martial Arts School in San Francisco. I heard that after he finishes his apprenticeship, he wants to open a karate dojo and teach Bruce Lee's martial arts that integrates martial arts philosophy."

"San Francisco? How is he now?"

"No money. He has actually learned Wing Chun almost completely, and has also learned a lot of martial arts from other countries and schools, but he has no money to open a martial arts school, so he can only work at the Jun Fan Martial Arts School to earn money."

"Then invite him to Los Angeles. I'll pay for it. I want to talk to him about the karate-related things in the new film script."

"No problem, he can come anytime, and I'll rent a motel for him." Richard agreed.