Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1115 Wet Beach
Brandon Tatikov was overjoyed when he received a call from Ronald. He had long wanted to have the opportunity to attract a talent like Ronald to film a TV series for NBC.But generally speaking, film directors are not willing to shoot TV series, let alone a popular star director like Ronald?
Who knew that just when he was trying to get online with Ronaldo, Ronald's own phone call came.

He immediately made an agreement with Ronald's agent, Nisita, and invited Ronald to go to NBC's location in Malibu Beach as soon as he got off the plane. Tartikov happened to be in Los Angeles to inspect the shooting of the new TV series.

"Ah, Ronald, I wish I had the opportunity to be in a film like When Harry Met Sully when I was young, then I might not be in TV, but work in Hollywood... Hahaha..."

Brandon Tartikov was tall, but unattractive, with a slightly hunched back, he didn't look like the good-looking handsome guy you often see in the entertainment industry.Not even Disney's boss Eisner's slightly above-average looks.

"Oh, that won't work. My aunt will be very disappointed. She is a loyal viewer of your SNL Saturday Night Live and also likes to watch the current TV series Family Ties." Ronag saw that Tatikov had a great sense of humor. , enthusiastic.So I boldly responded to his joke.

The two walked on the fine sand beside Malibu Beach, where the TV series was filmed, chatting while walking, and hit it off right away.

"I'm glad your aunt likes our show. I hope she likes the one we're making now, too. Tell me Ronald, as a successful Hollywood director, what do you think is the most important thing about a movie? ?”

Tatikov's character makes people feel very happy to get along with him, especially when he wants to please you deliberately.As president of NBC, now the most successful public television network, he humbly asked Ronald for his knowledge of filmmaking.

This kind of veiled flattery is actually much better than when those Hollywood actors came to flatter Ronald.

"I think it's important to let the story hold the audience tightly, and don't let them get distracted during the one-and-a-half to two hours in the cinema." Ronald thought for a while, and gave the simplest Answer.

"You are the most successful TV person in America. I don't know what is the most important thing in TV series, um... or other TV programs?" Ronald returned the flattery to Tatico intact. husband.

"In this way, it is actually similar to a movie. The most important thing is that the story must be interesting. Isn't there a joke? It takes several TV station producers to change a light bulb? The answer is... why is there a light bulb? In the story of the TV series It's just too tedious to change a light bulb."

"Hahaha……"

Ronald admired Tartikov's sense of humor.The two stopped at the place where they were blocked from the location.Filming is taking place there.

"Action!" The director gave the order and the camera started moving.

A few handsome men and women in bright red swimsuits, holding red inflatable life rafts tied to their wrists with ropes, ran hard on the sandy beach where the waves were slowly beating, with a very rhythmic sense.

Ronald and Tatikov stood outside the circle, not interrupting their filming.Ronald took out the director's viewfinder that he had always carried with him, and looked at it.

The waves wet the legs and bodies of the actors in red swimsuits, and the fishy sea water, shining like golden scales in the sun, stuck to their bodies.

The actors and actresses all have very good figures, and they are running vigorously on the beach.The sun shines on the swimsuit wet by the sea water, and the whole picture exudes a healthy and upward atmosphere.

"Cut!"

The director stopped, and Tatikov turned around and asked Ronald, "What do you think of this TV series? Is it good enough? Can the story attract TV viewers without changing channels?"

"I can't think of a better theme to attract the audience," Ronald put down the director's viewfinder and said, "Handsome guys and beautiful women, beach swimsuits, wet..."

"Hahahaha, you are such an expert!" Tatikov smiled happily, and after a preliminary test with Ronald, he is worthy of the name, a director and producer with an extremely sensitive sense of smell for American audiences. Filmmaker.

"Girls and boys, we have visitors here." Tartikoff put his hands to his mouth and called to the set.

Although Tatikov is the president of NBC, he still retains the background of a curious Yale student. He watches all the NBC dramas and other live talk shows and live shows for himself before making a decision.

"Oh, God, isn't that director Ronald Lee?" The actress with the largest bust among the actors at the scene cried out and covered her mouth with her hands, expressing disbelief.

"Hello, Director Ronald, I really like the movies you shoot." The actress took the initiative to introduce herself to Ronald, "My name is Erika Elenick"

"Hello, Erica." Ronald looked at her beautiful body that kept shaking, and found it hard not to be drawn to her eyes.

"Let me introduce to you, this is David Hasselhoff who plays our head... the German." Erica Ellenik was very excited, and introduced some of the actors in the crew to Ronald and Mr. President behind.

"Nice to meet you, I wish your new play success, by the way, what's the name of your new play?" Ronald greeted them one by one politely.

"Bay Watch" Erica Elenik responded excitedly.He finally had another chance to have a face-to-face conversation with Hollywood's leading directors.

"Do I still have a chance to see you?" Erika Elenik saw that Ronald was leaving, and couldn't wait to release the last trick.

"Of course, these are my business cards." Ronald took out two business cards with the agent's office phone number on them and distributed them to Erica and her colleague Hasselhoff.These people have a good image, with excellent muscular lines. If you have the opportunity, you can enrich the actor pool of Daydream. If there are low-cost action movies, you can find them.

"Hey, Hollywood director, no wonder he's so charming." Billy Warlock, another member of the ambulance team who played Erica's male and female partner in the play, couldn't help looking at his business card and said sourly.

"Huh, what do you know? It's very difficult to say a word to these big Hollywood directors." Erica looked at the dry spots on her body and simply stuffed the business card into her chest.

She had just shot Playboy Girl of the Month and won a TV role, but her dream had always been to be a movie star.

This is not surprising. When she was only 12 years old, she was an extra in Spielberg's "ET", playing the little girl who was kissed by the male protagonist Elliott in school. .

"Oh oh...", David Hasselhoff is a German actor recruited by NBC president Tatikov himself. He already has a very popular TV series "Knight Rider", in which he played a character with a car Smart, talking cars act as sidekick detectives.

However, he knew very little about the film industry, so he carefully held his business card in his hand after hearing what Erica said.

……

"So I heard Rick (Nisita) say, you want NBC to give 'Seinfeld' another chance, right?"

After leaving the set, Tatikov and Ronald got into the company's luxury car. In the back seat, he poured a glass of whiskey for Ronald himself, and the two chatted about business.

"That's right, I watched the pilot episode, and I think it's a movie that fits the mentality of young audiences in big cities." Ronald took a sip of his whiskey and said to Tatikov who was sitting next to him, "I have a hunch , this drama will be very popular."

"Ah, that's right. Ronald, can I be honest with you? I've been in this business for so many years, I've seen countless producers and directors, and I have a gut feeling for every TV show, or you guys Call him the sixth sense of God's revelation, everything is good... But all the TV series that have been proven to be good by the market, in the end, there is only one indicator, which can explain the prediction in advance, and that is the ratings of the first season..."

"Hey..." Ronald understood as soon as he heard it. Tatikov is an expert. There is one thing that is very similar to making TV dramas and movies. The series will surely be loved by the audience.

The so-called ratings of the first season, in other words, like the pilot episode, the intuition of the director and producer, and the feedback from the audience of the pilot episode, the opinions of internal experts are all unreliable.Tadikov played another cold humor here. Before the final ratings data comes out, no one can predict in advance.

"However, some people's intuition must be more sensitive than others, such as a master like you who knows what stories the American audience wants to see." Talikov changed the subject, his real purpose was to seduce Luo Nader went into television.

"Is there any special reason you can convince me that the character Seinfeld will really be loved by the audience?"

"No, it's just my intuition. I don't have any factual evidence to prove my point." Ronald also shook his head. I can't tell you that I dreamed about this show and filmed a lot of it. After that, it must be a bestseller.

"I understand what you mean, but no one can say for sure about this kind of thing. We recruited 400 viewers, and the score given to him is almost the lowest score of all the pilot episodes since I joined NBC. And this The cold humor in this series is too New York and too Jewish, and I suspect that even the audience in Los Angeles may not be able to understand it outside of New York."

The car soon arrived at the NBC office building. Tartikoff invited Ronald into his office and the two continued to discuss.

"You really like this TV series, then I think we can make a deal, as long as you can come up with a reason that I can understand and convincing, I am willing to give them a new opportunity to make another pilot episode have a look……"

Every word of Tartikoff hits the point. This is a CEO who really understands the television industry.It is completely different from those CEOs who know nothing and hang out among the top management.If Ronald were to compare himself to one person among the senior executives of the seven major studios, only Frank Price, the original president of Columbia and Universal, was similar to him.

"I don't think I have any evidence and facts to convince you for the time being, Mr. Tatikov. But I have a request. If NBC is not interested in the Seinfeld Chronicles, can I take it over? Then go to other TV stations and try to sell it?"

Ronald simply retreated before advancing. He felt that this TV series must have a bright future. If NBC doesn't want it, he can go to 20th Century Fox, which he has a good relationship with, or the ABC TV network to sell it.Even PBS, where Helen Sweet's father was.Although they mainly order foreign TV series and documentaries, they do not completely reject domestic TV series.

"Ha, it seems that you really like this TV series, so let me change one condition. If you want this TV series to be purchased by us NBC, why not let us place another order with your production company, order a How about the TV adaptation of your movie?”

Tatikov expressed his true thoughts, which is what he wanted to discuss with Ronald.

"Hey?" Ronald didn't expect that there was such a trick waiting for him, "What TV series do you want to order from me?"

"Working girl..."

"Oh, that's right. My Daydream Productions is producing the Working Girls series, and then you can order Seinfeld and Working Girls. Am I understanding this correctly?"

Ronald understood that this is actually a kind of bundling that often appears in the film and TV industry.When everyone disagrees on which TV series will be sold, then two or more TV series can be bundled together and sold to TV stations at the same time.

This practice was also very popular in the Hollywood film industry.But later in Paramount's antitrust case, this article became an important evidence that Paramount was recognized as a monopolistic behavior, and it disappeared in Hollywood for many years.It wasn't until the previous commander-in-chief relaxed the control that such methods began to reappear.

"It seems that you are really optimistic about the TV series adaptation of this movie. Can I ask why?" Ronald wanted to learn a few tricks from Tartikoff. He was not very clear about why the other party concluded that this TV series would have a future. What about the audience?
"It's very simple. This movie is a very popular movie, and the social response is also very large. So we can save a lot of publicity. In addition, women, career development, romantic love relationships, and battles with bosses, these elements, All of them have been successful in different episodes, and if you put all these successful elements together, I think there is a high probability that she will be successful as well."

"Okay, I understand. I will consider the feasibility of this matter with my colleagues in the company and make a feasibility report as soon as possible. Then we will discuss this matter after we have the script..."

"I'm very much looking forward to it..." Tartikoff raised his glass and clinked it with Ronald. There are many good movies that have been adapted into successful TV series.As long as he can get this started, Ronald will have many blockbuster movies, and there will be a steady stream of adaptations...

"I'm looking forward to it too..." Unexpectedly, NBC had such high confidence in the production of its own TV series.He thought for a while, and then said, "I'll still let Seinfeld go to other TV stations to try their luck, but this doesn't affect my cooperation with NBC on the working girl series..."

"Good luck..." Tatikov also raised his glass.In fact, he didn't like Seinfeld's drama. On the contrary, the working girl he wanted the most has already got his hands...

……

Ronald returned to the hotel and met Diane, whom he had not seen for several days.Diane seemed to have a lot to say to her husband, hugging his neck and not letting go.

"Honey, I have another call..." Ronald kissed Diane, and then dialed Steve Bannon.

"About Seinfeld, NBC President Tartikoff was relieved. I think we can try our luck at other public television stations."

"That's great. As long as you make the move, there's nothing you can't do in Hollywood..." Bannon breathed a sigh of relief. If Ronald made the move, he would be able to make an explanation to all the money owners on Wall Street up.

"Another thing I have is that NBC is interested in an adaptation of my film Working Girl. You are very experienced in the production of TV dramas. Are you interested in getting the financing done? Let's work together again..."

"I'm so interested, Ronald, I told you a long time ago that movies are just a small business, and the real big money is still in TV dramas."

"Whatever you say, come up with a plan as soon as possible, and we will hold a meeting with the top management of Daydream..."

"Honey", as soon as Ronald put down the phone, Diane immediately put his arms around him, "I miss you so much, I have so many things to tell you..."

"Okay, I'll listen to you one by one..." Ronald felt Diane's attachment to him.

"I'm so disappointed in Julia Roberts. After she got the leading role, she started to leave me aside... She wanted to do a lot of things according to her ideas..."

"No way, Julia Roberts doesn't have much star status in the industry, she's nowhere near you. Her starring role in Tsuna Mulan hasn't been released yet..."

"You don't know, this kind of girl is used to ordering men to act according to her own ideas..."

　There is only one chapter left today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)