Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

"Giggle..." Diane smiled happily, then smoothed her hair and gave Ronald a wink. Her whole person was so charming that Ronald was stunned.

  "Honey, how do I look?" Diane put down the script and resumed her role as a good wife and mother. She was preparing her lines and waiting for Gregory Peck to come to the set for a script reading.

  Another accident happened to the crew. Because of his old age, Gregory Peck occasionally felt unwell and had a severe cough. He went to the hospital to check that he had some lung problems and needed to recover. Therefore, all matters related to "other people's money" are postponed for two weeks.

  The participation of older stars has both advantages and disadvantages. Ronald found a retired doctor who had worked as a studio resident at an old Hollywood studio and learned a lot about the things to note when making movies with older stars.

  In order to minimize the delay in filming due to Gregory Peck's health, he remodeled the crew's trailer and lounge, added oxygen equipment for Peck, and a nurse and masseur to take care of the old man's body throughout the process. . He also modified the soundproofing of the trailer so that the actors could rest well at any time.

  Therefore, Diane and Tom Hanks had some extra time to familiarize themselves with the script and figure out the psychology of the characters. From this perspective, it is more beneficial to their performance.

  "Well, in fact, Kate Sullivan is a smart and hard-working woman who made it out of a small town on her own. Such a person has a good career in Manhattan and won't get dizzy immediately after seeing Garfield's pursuit. She may appreciate this The pursuit of a successful person, but I don’t want to lose my job immediately and go all out to catch this Jewish rich man..."

  "Huh? That makes sense..." Diane thought for a moment and changed her expression. Now she looked like an elite like Catherine in "Working Girl". She seemed to have made a "How annoying, if not" to the phone. If you want to help Jorgensen solve the problem, I will not deal with you." Then his expression changed again, looking a little proud...as if to say, for such a billionaire to pursue me, it seems that my charm is quite good.

  "Very good..." Ronald took a look and realized that this was the right style. An elite female lawyer on Wall Street must have that kind of style. You can be cute behind others, but you must be tight-lipped in front of others.

  "Giggle..." Diane kept laughing again.

  "what happened?"

  "It's okay, it's okay, I just thought of Tom Hanks's expression eating your customized sugar-free donuts..." Diane changed the subject. She suddenly thought that at that time, she only wanted to marry Brother Ronnie and didn't care about her career as an actor.

  "I'll pack your suitcase for you..." Diane put down the script and went to drag out Ronald's suitcase. She does this kind of thing herself and never does it for others.

  "Thank you, honey." Ronald kissed his wife on the face. The postponement came at the right time. Yesterday, he received a call from Mario Casal, the president of Carloco Pictures. There was another big problem with the budget of "Terminator 2". After Cameron's storyboard script was released, statistics The estimated cost of the special effects shots will break Hollywood records. So he convened a meeting of all parties to decide the amount and share of capital increase.

  ……

  "Jim..."

  After getting off the private plane, Ronald directly saw Cameron who came to pick him up.

  "Ronald..." Cameron hugged him, "Mario Casal is at the hotel, let's go together... the investors are all here..."

  "Why did it cost so much again?" Ronald asked Cameron after getting in the car. Sixty million is already a top investment in Hollywood. Last year's box office myth "Batman" only had that much.

  "I made all the storyboards, and then calculated them based on the hours of work for the stunt shots, which was just about the same..."

  Cameron handed Ronald a thick form, which listed a detailed analysis of more than [-] shots that involved special effects personnel or required post-processing, including the working hours of stuntmen, the production costs of special effects models, And the machine time cost of post-production computer special effects.

  Ronald looked carefully at the light in the car and understood. The expensive special effects are all on the lens related to the T-1000 liquid metal robot.

  For example, he can change into other people at will. Such a shot requires a lot of computer CPU time to render. And his hands can turn into metal weapons, or turn into liquid, pass through the gaps in the fence door, and then return to a human being.

  The software required for these shots was experimented with by Cameron using seawater human-shaped lenses in "The Abyss". Now he is sure that it can be made, and he can estimate how much it will cost more accurately.

  And for some scenes, even Cameron wasn't sure how much time and money it would take to shoot them. I had to estimate a number first, and then write it in parentheses. It might be increased at any time...

  For example, the shot of the T-1000 liquid metal robot being frozen by liquid nitrogen leaking from a truck on the road and then shattered into pieces. What is needed here is a long shot composed of dynamic images of the human body turning into a liquid state, then turning into a solid state, and finally shattering.

  The cost of the special effects here is hard to estimate because no one has done anything like this before.

  Another example is that the T-1000 also transformed into Sarah Connor, played by the heroine Linda Hamilton, and her foster family members, John Connor Jr., there were many two identical people appearing in one scene. lens inside.

  Whether to use two shots of film and post-superimposition like Ronald's "The Ghost Story", or to use special effects makeup to create two Sarah Connors for long shots are still being experimented.

  ……

  "Mr. Casal, Arnold, Gale,...hello...hello..."

  When they arrived at the hotel suite, Mario Casal was already sitting there with many investors. Ronald shook hands and hugged them one by one. This is how Hollywood talks about etiquette, even if everyone has to talk about money and hurt feelings later.

  Since it was a capital increase meeting, not only investors like Ronald who actually contributed money, but also Gale Hurd, who used the copyright to offset the price, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who used part of his remuneration to offset the investment, were all present.

  "Today we are mainly going to talk about the amount of capital increase and how to allocate it to everyone..." After everyone took their seats, Mario Casal set the theme of today's meeting in his opening remarks.

  For a time, investors, especially those in the second round, began to complain. They all have to make money from the remaining profits after the first round of investors, such as Ronald, Gale Hurd, and Cameron, Schwarzenegger and other main creators, have received a round of profits. .

  The greater the capital increase, the greater the risk. The first round of investors will not have any impact, but the corresponding remaining profits for the second round of distribution will undoubtedly decrease. They are the most dissatisfied when they pay more and get less money.

  The rights holder Gale Hurd, the star Schwarzenegger who carried over from the first film, does not want to contribute any more money, but wants to maintain his share of the distribution. Their reason is also very simple. Without them, this movie would not have been made. Gale holds a quarter of the copyright, and Schwarzenegger is the absolute center of the script...

  No one wants to spend money, but the special effects of the movie without money are worrying, so to spend more money, first-round investors like Mario Casal and Ronald will take the lead in funding.

  "We in Caroco are going to increase investment by [-] million..." Mario Casal said the number first, and then looked at Ronald.

  "I'll add five million more..." Ronald didn't hesitate. Anyway, this movie would definitely be a hit. My good friend Cameron was really curious about what the movie would be like if he let it go. Hollywood should support such directors and let them expand the boundaries of genre films. As for how much you earn, that's secondary.

  But the other two parties didn't say anything. Their most ideal solution was for Ronald and Mario Casal to round up the increased investment, and we would just take a free ride.

  "Then the meeting will be adjourned now..." Mario Casal still felt that it was not possible, so he stopped the meeting and discussed it with Ronald and Cameron.

  The budget has now increased to 10 million, but the cost on paper is more than 20 million. And according to Cameron's experience in filming "The Abyss", the money is not very safe. There must be a [-]% to [-]% reserve fund to be prepared for accidents at any time (accidents will almost certainly occur with such pioneering special effects) ). “What should we do now? Can the special effects be reduced?” Mario Casal asked Cameron.

  Cameron shook his head slowly. The current combination of special effects is the most economical. If the special effects in certain scenes are reduced, the audience's experience will be greatly reduced, which will have a great impact on the box office.

  "Can we do it another way?" Ronald said about the way Kevin Costner invested all his salary and director's salary into "Dances with Wolves" as a budget.

  Mario Casal slowly shook his head. Schwarzenegger is different from Costner. He is the most popular action star now. They are also the first two stars whose salary exceeded [-] million (the other is Stallone).

  It is impossible for his agent to let him make such a compromise. If he compromises on the salary of a commercial film, the salary of the next film will fall accordingly. Who told you to reduce the price, so can you also reduce the price of our film?
  And Schwarzenegger also said that this sequel was the one I proposed first. If I hadn’t been in the middle, how could I have found Cameron as the director? How to find Ronald to mediate the conflict between Cameron and his ex-wife Gail and get the copyright?

  Schwarzenegger's salary of [-] million, plus a conditional bonus of [-] million, is well deserved. Any less than that would be disrespectful to the film itself.

  For a time, the negotiations reached a deadlock. Ronald and Cameron simply left temporarily and went to the office to rest and let these people calm down.

  "Arnold...Linda..." In the office, the main creators were all there. Ronald met many old friends from the first film and shook hands with them one by one.

  “How come the actor of John Connor didn’t see it?”

  "I haven't found it yet..."

  "Um..." Ronald thought to himself that Cameron's method of making movies was much more exciting and exciting than his own. I really have no experience with such a large investment. On the one hand, the money is not available, on the other hand, the special effects have not yet been developed, and there is less than a month to start filming, and even the second male lead has not been finalized.

  However, such a large-scale production that breaks the existing boundaries may require such drastic methods, and only a bold director can make it happen.

  "Linda, what are you doing?" Ronald was sighing when he saw the heroine Linda Hamilton over there, taking a pin to pick the lock of a pair of handcuffs.

  "Bang..." Linda Hamilton pried open the handcuffs and threw them over.

  "Oh my god, your crew's line reading session was really special." Ronald looked at the pair of handcuffs, which were indeed genuine stainless steel.

  "I've been practicing for weeks..." Linda Hamilton came over, took the handcuffs back and cuffed them, and then put the pin in to practice.

  "Hey..." Ronald was still convinced by Cameron. These big stars under him would do whatever they asked. Schwarzenegger was practicing reloading bullets from a shotgun with one hand. This action was very cool, but it was also difficult to practice. Within two attempts, his fingers were pinched twice by the gun, which almost hurt. Call it out.

  "Such a crew is really rare..." Ronald was still very envious. He had never made a movie that relied on special effects on such a large scale. If you don't have any leftover money, just make up some of it yourself. With a movie like this, and such dedicated actors and creators, it would be a shame if the movie was not made.

  This movie is very likely to change something in Hollywood...

  "Linda..."

  While he was thinking about something, Ronald heard a female voice outside the door, calling the protagonist Linda Hamilton.

  "Huh?" Ronald opened his mouth. It was an actress who looked exactly like Linda Hamilton. Is Cameron's makeup skills already so superb?
  "This is my twin sister, Leslie..." Linda Hamilton obviously knew that Ronald had misunderstood, and came over to explain to him, "She is also an actor."

  "Haha, I'm actually a nurse, living in New Jersey." Leslie explained that the so-called actors are just sisters who put money on their faces. Cameron asked her to come over and audition to see if she could be cast in the T-1000 possession scene, which would save a lot of money.

  "It's perfect..." Cameron saw the scene of the two of them together. Although Leslie Hamilton is not an actor, she is very similar to Linda. It's not a big deal in just one scene.

  "It's a pity that not all actors have an identical twin." Cameron shook his head. The budget can be reduced a little, but it cannot be extended to all actors transformed by T-1000.

  "You can find actors with twins to audition. If there are no twins, then you can just find twins to play the role."

  "Huh?" Cameron glanced at Ronald. This method...well, why didn't he think of it?

  "Do you remember when you worked as a special effects engineer for Roger Corman and you were able to build the interior of a spaceship using McDonald's plates and trash cans? You won't forget how to shoot movies like Guerrilla Are you done?" Ronald joked and said to Cameron.

  There are so many movies with sufficient budgets made in big studios. Sometimes, you may forget where you came from.

  "Just do it this way... Let me think about it, the scene where the T-1000 is frozen with liquid nitrogen can also be done this way..."

  Cameron regained the street smarts he had developed as a truck driver, making do with the elements and using whatever tricks were most convenient for filming. For the shot where the T-1000 was frozen by liquid nitrogen and fell into pieces, we made small pieces out of real metal and then used editing to fix it.

  "It's that shot of the T-1000 standing up from the pile of frozen metal fragments..." Cameron drew two strokes on the drawing board. Using traditional special effects methods, it is difficult to create a shot of a person standing up from the ground with mutilated limbs.

  "You find a disabled actor...and then use the Photoshop software on your computer to make a mask similar to the plastic scenery in the past..." Ronald took the pencil and drew a schematic diagram on the drawing board.

  The shooting method of the airport scene in "Die Hard 2" can also be used here. Use a green screen to wrap the legs of actor Robert Patrick in the T-1000 to achieve the mid-range shot. Close-up shots were shot using the legs of a disabled actor and then edited together.

  Cameron looked at it and felt that as long as the effect on the computer can reach the standard, he can achieve the effect he is satisfied with, so he asked Ronald, "Can anyone do this method you mentioned?"

  "Of course, I'll give you Van Fleet's phone number."

  Make up your mind, there is a cheap way to shoot it (actually it is not cheap at all, the budget of this movie may break Hollywood records). Cameron returned to the hotel with Ronald and others and told Mario Casal about his plan.

  "Very well, everyone, I have good news to announce. The director has come up with a better way to save the budget for special effects. Now we only need to increase the capital by [-] million, no, [-] million will be enough... Now There’s a shortfall of five million.”

  Those second-round investors looked at each other twice when they saw that the situation had changed. These people were not stupid. It seemed that the main investors wanted to get rid of them and solve most of the financial problems themselves, which shows that they have great confidence in the film. …

  Then they immediately rushed to say that they could invest the remaining shares. Those who did not get it are still very dissatisfied, and jointly demand that the [-] million share of the capital increase must be restored...

  Great art doesn’t come cheap!