Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Ronald and David Simkins, as well as some other screenwriter friends, went back and forth for many rounds before finally making an important decision.He decided to make a modest modification to the part of the movie he saw in his dream.

First of all, he was unwilling to let Danny DeVito play the protagonist Garfield, because DeVito's comedy performance structure largely relied on his appearance that makes people laugh at first sight, and his strong personality. brought by language skills.

This is a very realistic business war drama. If too strong comedy elements are incorporated, it will dilute the overall drama theme and make the audience feel more fragmented while watching the movie.

Secondly, he was also determined not to overplay the sexy and glamorous heroine in the original work.Based on Ronald's experience in dealing with lawyers and Wall Street elites, these people may be beautiful or handsome, but they are not the kind of people who have no brains or are inexperienced in the world.The actress in the dream is so sensual that the audience cannot believe that she is a successful Wall Street M&A lawyer.

For example, in "Working Girl" directed by Ronald, when working as secretaries, Melanie Griffiths and Joan Cusack couldn't be too sexy.But when pretending to be a manager, Griffiths had to put away his sexiness, put his hair up, and show a shrewd, sophisticated, restrained sexiness.

Diane couldn't just show off her sex appeal, but had to transform into a successful career girl, as beautiful as the current American business world allowed.In other words, she can gain some advantage through her looks, but she can never directly sell her beauty like Vivian in "Pretty Woman."

As for the overall tone, Ronald tends to adjust this "Other People's Money" into a business war drama with romantic comedy elements.

Such a script requires two elements as the necessary characteristics of the male protagonist.One is that one can have a chemical reaction with Diane.The second is to have a certain sense of comedy and make the audience sympathize.

Based on these two elements, Ronald began sending audition invitations to the right people in Hollywood.Three main candidates were finally identified.

The first one was Billy Crystal, directed by Ronald. His "When Harry Met Sally" happened to be a hit in America, and female audiences especially recognized his charm.His comedy talent mainly relies on his lines rather than his appearance, so he is a very good candidate in terms of box office appeal.

The second one is Batman "Michael Keaton". Although he became famous through Batman, his previous role as the male protagonist in "Gung Ho" was a man who made a petition to Japanese automobile company executives to reopen the Detroit factory. This resulted in a series of commercial films about cultural conflicts.

The third one is undoubtedly Tom Hanks, who has worked with Diane to "grow up".He and Diane have proven on-screen chemistry.However, in terms of business and drama, it has not been effectively proven.

Ronald basically followed this order and sent them the script to test their reactions.

……

However, before waiting for a reply from Billy Crystal, Ronald got an unexpected offer.

NBC suddenly contacted Ronald. They wanted to give "Working Girl" a full-season broadcast contract and invited his production team to negotiate terms.

"It turned out to be a replacement quota..."

At NBC, Ronald and the head of the writing staff, Lawrence Conner, met with Rick Ludwin, the head of evening drama.

After chatting with him, I found out that the reason why NBC suddenly changed its mind was that they canceled three long-running TV series and six new TV series this year due to a sharp decline in ratings.

There are three TV series, all of which were broadcast in [-] before the writers' strike, and received good ratings.However, after the general strike, the ratings fell sharply last year, and the performance this year is even worse. Advertising revenue dropped sharply, and the show was directly ordered to write a finale and end it hastily.

One movie is called "A Fu at Home", about a happy family where an alien creature comes to the family. A Fu, who looks like a wild boar, is a family comedy.Ah Fu actually feels a bit like "ET" back then. He was ugly but kind-hearted and had super powers. Unfortunately, his spaceship crashed on the earth and he met a group of kind-hearted people to help him.

A movie called "My Two Dads" tells the story of a 12-year-old girl whose mother unfortunately passed away. Two single men, a financial consultant and an artist who both pursued her mother, jointly raised the orphan.This is actually an idea brought about by the blockbuster movie "Three Dads and a Baby".

Both series use a time-tested blockbuster formula, a core concept of a blockbuster movie, reshaped into a story that fits the rhythm of a TV series.Since the beginning of this spring, the ratings have dropped miserably, and there is nothing the writers room can do about it.

If the first two parts only made NBC feel regretful, then the third part made NBC frightened.The series is called "Apartment 227," a sitcom that tells the story of two gossipy black women and their family in an apartment in Washington, DC.

This kind of popular drama with ethnic characteristics is supposed to be stronger than ordinary white family dramas, because black people are always more tolerant of black stories.But the TV series with the longest history and the most attempts to save it (finding many black stars to guest star) has also fallen below the red line.

There are also six new series released last year, all of which had high hopes after the general strike, and they were all tragically unable to even make it to the end of the first season.

This has driven NBC's entire ratings to decline, and their leadership has been under tremendous pressure on Rick Ludwin, the head of evening TV series and talk shows.He had to watch the eliminated episodes to see if there were suitable substitutes to fill the vacancies.

After being reminded by Late Show host David Letterman, Rick Ludwin remembered that this year, NBC lost its weekend ratings championship for more than a year in a row because of the Oscars show produced by Ronald.

He dug out the pilot episode of "Working Girl," watched it for a long time, and decided to give Daydream's new TV series the top spot.

"Then what..." After talking about the temporary replacement of "Working Girl", Ronald remembered Bannon's request, "That Seinfeld..."

"The ratings of the five-episode trial last year were not ideal...Hey, but if this trend of large-scale decline in ratings continues to spread, maybe I will let them try again..."

The right time, place and people made it easy to sign a broadcast contract. Ronald and Lawrence Connor got the twelve-episode contract for the first season on the same day.

They still had a few weeks to continue to produce the episodes after the pilot episode, so they immediately summoned the actors including the heroine Sandra Bullock, and the writers' room was activated again, and they started filming against the clock.

"God, I can film again..." In a cafe in New York, a waitress received the page and called her agent to get the good news that the TV series in which she was the heroine had resumed filming.She shouted out on the spot, causing the boss to quickly stop her, "Sandra, what are you doing?"

"Your waitress got the diva," a customer reminded from the side.The boss, who was silent for a while, began to applaud Sandra Bullock, and finally everyone in the cafe applauded this lucky girl.

Sandra Bullock made a bow as in a classical drama. She immediately took off her waiter's apron and rushed to the Los Angeles studio as soon as she got the flight ticket booked for her by the crew.

A few days later, Ronald saw the girl in the studio, where the crew's makeup artist and hairstylist were adjusting her.Ronald asked the on-site director and screenwriter for their opinions. Sandra Bullock's performance was full of passion, and the entire crew was motivated by her.

Doing something you love can really transfer that passion to those around you.

"Well done, Sandra..." Ronald went over to encourage her.He also deliberately established Sandra Bullock's status in the crew.Because the filming time of TV series is longer, the pressure to keep up with the schedule is greater. Generally, the staff just wait and see what is done.

Ronald's face-to-face encouragement helped Sandra avoid a lot of messy fights on the set.After all, the series Daydream is rushing to be broadcast nationally on NBC, and there is no time for them to engage in any gossip about the crew.This seemed to have given the crew the wrong hint. All of a sudden everyone thought that Sandra Bullock was the boss's woman, but it succeeded in achieving the effect Ronald wanted - everyone worked together and did not feel guilty. Fight hard and make progress while maintaining quality and quantity.

"Why on earth do these TV series suddenly stop working?"

Ronald held a few video tapes, pressed the fast forward button, and quickly watched the TV series canceled by NBC.

This abnormal phenomenon always made him feel a little uneasy.After comparing the quality of the three TV series when they first started airing and before they were cancelled, Ronald felt there was not much of a quality gap.

There are no major personnel changes or strategic direction adjustments within NBC.He also confirmed with NBC executive Rick Ludwin that it was indeed due to a sharp decline in ratings that the show was canceled on a large scale mid-season and replaced with a new one.

Ordinarily, the writers' strike has passed for so long, so it can't possibly still be affecting the quality of TV series production, right?
Ronald seemed to have caught some inspiration, but he was half a step away and couldn't explain the reason. He felt very upset, so he had to press the remote control of the video recorder, making random noises, and fast forward and rewind over and over again, hoping to be able to Recapture that vague feeling.

"Ronnie, do you want to watch it?" Diane was annoyed by his actions.

Ronald made an apologetic gesture, "I was trying to find out why no one was watching these episodes suddenly."

"Forget it, I'll go to the study to take a look. Little Roger happened to be asleep..." Diane waved her hand. She quite liked the movie "My Two Dads", and it happened to show two possible fathers. When you do a DNA test to find out who is the biological father of your child.Diane picked out the next two boxes of video tapes and went to the next room to watch them.

"Well..." Ronald simply turned off the remote control, installed the ejected video tape, and then threw it into the frame next to it.Sometimes, if you think too much and too quickly, you fail to grasp the essence of the problem.

As it happened, Billy Crystal had finished reading the script for "Other People's Money" and called him to meet and chat.

"Hi, Billy..."

"Hi, Ronald..."

The two met in a cafe next to Bibberley Park and hugged each other and said hello.Billy Crystal hosted the Academy Awards show to great acclaim and was the most acclaimed host in the past five years.

Billy Crystal's reputation in the industry is rising rapidly.Compared with before, he has received much more project financing and scripts.

But he still liked the script Ronald sent him.The last time "When Harry Met Sally" brought him a success that no other previous film could match, and he is also looking forward to working with Ronald again.

"I would very much like to play the role of Garfield..." Billy Crystal expressed his intention when he came up. "But I have just received financing for my own new project and am still looking for a publisher, so I don't know what your plans are regarding the schedule. When will the film be shot?”

"Filming will start in the second half of this year. Is this your project?" Ronald reached out and took the script from Billy Crystal's hand. "Is this the cowboy film project you said last time that you planned to invest in it? ?”

"Hey, yes, I have always wanted to make a different cowboy movie. It is a deconstruction of the traditional cowboy western movie. It is also a new era of urbanization, and a reminiscence and tribute to the western cowboy movies of the past."

Billy Crystal talks about his project very smoothly. He has practiced it countless times when looking for funds, and now it is very smooth.

"If you are still looking for a publisher, I can recommend Columbia and Disney..." Ronas probably guessed what Billy Crystal meant, so he took the initiative to point it out.

"That's great, but if this happens, I might not have the time to participate in your movie."

"Hmm..." Ronald was flipping through Billy Crystal's script "City Hillbilly."The script of this movie is really well written. Today's Western cowboys no longer do the traditional job of driving cattle and driving cattle to the slaughterhouse.

After large-scale urbanization, high-income urban white-collar workers are generally willing to go to the countryside to experience the life of western cowboys seen in movies, and the tourism that welcomes people from these cities has become the cowboys on the farms now. largest source of job income.

This movie is about a few city white-collar workers who have no power to control chickens. They engage in cowboy life and make fakes come true. They really rely on their own courage to drive the cows to their destination and find the precious things they have lost while living in the city. s story.

If Billy Crystal just stars in this movie, then it won't be a problem to catch up on two movies this year.But if he is also a producer and is responsible for a lot of financing and distribution work, it will really be difficult to find him to take care of two movies.

Especially since this is his first time doing this kind of work, he will definitely have to invest a lot of time and energy.

Ronald nodded, indicating that he already knew the limitations of his schedule.This is also common among famous Hollywood stars.It is determined by the industry characteristics of film production itself, and it does not delay the friendship between the two.

"Does my daydream have a share of investment?" Ronald wanted to invest in his movie instead.

"Of course, I can't ask for anything more. Your investment is a very good recognition. My future financing will be much easier..." Of course Billy Crystal would not refuse.

"Well, thank you." Ronald flipped through the script, and suddenly he discovered that there seemed to be a vase in it.An urban professional woman who also participated in a cowboy tour group because of her own emotional problems.

She was harassed by the cowboy tour guide, and the three male protagonists did not dare to stand up for the beautiful girl. As a result, they attracted a real cowboy, a man who was about to change and teach them the true meaning of cowboy life.

"I'm talking about proportions. Can I arrange a personal audition for this female character?" Ronald asked, pointing to the character named Bonnie.

"But isn't Diane preparing for your new movie? Or do you want to wait for me to free up my schedule..."

"Hahaha, I'm not recommending Diane..." Ronald chuckled. In fact, he felt that the quality of this movie was good, and the vase role was suitable for Helen Slater's superficial acting skills. In this kind of comedy, she It’s okay to overact.

"Ah ha, no problem. I will send the script before the audition. This role is also very important. The key turning point in the story was caused by her..." Billy Crystal understood instantly and acted immediately. I promise, as long as you don’t know how to act at all, this role will be your recommendation.

"What did Billy say?" Diane, who had just finished feeding her son, asked Ronald as he came home.

"He has his own project and the schedule is not suitable. I have already asked someone to contact the second choice, Michael Keaton."