Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1278: Talk Show Successor Controversy

Doris Day is the only one of the four stars who is still alive. She has achieved enviable results in the recording and film industries, but her husband, Martin Melcher, is just a producer and record company owner who relies on Doris' talents.

After the sudden death of Martin Melcher, Doris Day discovered that her tens of millions of dollars in property had been squandered by her husband and his lawyer Rosenthal, and she also owed huge debts.

Later, the lawsuit between her and the lawyer went to the Supreme Court. The hotel in Las Vegas and the oil well in Ohio that she invested in were all sold by the lawyer. In the end, what was recovered through out-of-court settlement was only a drop in the bucket.

Ronald came to her to discuss copyright matters, and Doris Day was very happy that she could still meet her audience and friends after retiring for several years.

She was even happier when she knew that Ronald was going to use her image in "The Grudge of Pipa" instead of her current image as a middle-aged and elderly woman.

"Oh, my dear, you are just like the legend in the circle, you are particularly considerate of female celebrities..." Doris Day really doesn't want the audience to see her old appearance now, and hopes that her young and beautiful image will remain forever. in the memory of the audience.

"Then it's settled? I'll ask the lawyer to sign some authorization documents with you..."

"Dear, I heard that you donated a lot of money to Taylor's foundation. I also have a foundation here for..., would you like to participate in a charity auction?" Doris Day was still the first person on TV A host embracing... patient, star Rock Hudson. She now mainly keeps herself busy with these charities.

"Okay, I'll come with the check. I'm your fan..."

After the copyrights of the old celebrities were secured, the new advertisement was being produced quickly. Elton John flew from London to perform a song live in a studio in Los Angeles...

"I'll just order a burger..." Ronald lay down on the sofa, picked up the remote control and turned to the NBC channel.

"That's fine, my plane is about to arrive. Anyway, this latest model of Gulfstream can fly across the Atlantic. Just because of this advertisement, I have to fly to New York to go to Madison Street."

"Are these all substitutes?"

"Oh, God. Will there be no need for celebrities to perform from now on? Just find someone to replace it? Fortunately, I am a singer, and the computer can't sing for me...right?"

……

"Director Jonathan Demme will take the main creator there. He is the biggest contributor to the movie."

"Yes, come and take a look at this..." Ronald pulled him to look at the finished clip.

Ronald heard Elton John say something about the princess. He and Diana were "best friends". Now the media in London are vaguely speculating about the situation of some princes and couples, including the change of interest between the two, and their apparent incompatibility in various public activities... There is also some news that the prince's lover makes the princess very dissatisfied...

When you see such a person, no matter what you think he does, you will never think that he is engaged in a profession related to speaking.

"Who is this man with the big chin?" Ronald discovered that today's Tonight Show was not hosted by Johnny Carson, but by a man who looked like a man with a short philtrum and a long chin, which was a bit reminiscent of A presenter for the main character in "Rain Man."

Just like a typical American man, he returned home and put his children to sleep. His greatest pleasure was not in the bedroom, but in front of the TV watching Johnny Carson telling jokes.

Elton John looks at these people. They have similar bodies, but their faces are nothing alike.

"You haven't eaten yet?" Diane had just finished yoga and quickly called Wang Ma to prepare dinner for Ronald.

"Then you have to come too. Princess Diana also told me that you invited her to attend the royal premiere. She is not in a good mood right now..."

"Jay Leno, don't you know him? He has been on several shows this year, filling in for Carson. Sometimes Carson's show will also have him co-host." Diane came over and took a sip of Coke.

After treating Elton John well and letting him happily perform commercials, Ronald got home very late that day.

"But there is a lot of inspiration, and there is no partner discussion. Without talking about this, when will you go to London for the premiere of The Silence of the Lambs? Our artists there are going crazy about Dances with Wolves, and they are crazy about it. Come out with a thriller..."

"Hey, not bad, your toy is good, I want one too..." Elton John's current record is a hit...

"It's not that strong. You can't help but look at this short commercial." Ronald pointed to the sudden flicker on the screen. As long as you make a big move, the head change part will have flaws..."

"Maybe?" Ronald wasn't sure. "At least the production cost is cheaper."

"Computers have really changed our professional capabilities. In the past, when I wanted to arrange music, I always had to find musicians, and everyone would discuss it on the spot, and slowly a good arrangement would emerge. But now I only need to use it on the computer With MIDI, you can tune out the entire band by yourself, and you can finish the work by yourself. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing..."

"How many times have you been on duty?" Ronald felt there was something wrong, so he called Richard and asked him to contact David Letterman.

"Ronald, what's wrong? Do you have something to do with me?"

By midnight, Letterman finished his Late Show and called Ronald back.

"There's no problem with you taking over Carson's job, right?"

"What's the problem? Who else can take over besides me?" David Letterman said with a smile on the other end of the phone. "NBC just needs a suitable time to announce..."

"However, I saw today that a host with enlarged chin was filling in for Carson. Is there really no problem?"

"Hahaha, what's wrong with you? You are the second person to call me today and tell me about this. I told you, there is no problem. They are already planning a program and let me be a guest on the Tonight Show. It is very possible that I will take this opportunity to inform the audience about the shift handover during the live broadcast..."

"Someone else called you, who was it?"

"It's Ovitz from CAA. He also said that Jay Leno, the guy you said has a fat chin, his agent is in public relations. But I think this is all a talking technique for him to sign me. …”

"Okay, you can figure it out yourself. I'm going to New York soon, and I'll find you then..."

……

"I think Letterman may have been careless." On his way to board the just-delivered Gulfstream jet for its maiden voyage. Ronald and Richard were communicating about this matter.

"There are rumors in agent circles that Jay Leno's agent is helping him go crazy with public relations. There are many rumors spread, to the effect that Letterman's hosting style is only suitable for the adult humor of late-night shows and is not suitable for the family fun of the Tonight Show time period. audience.”

Richard also learned some things through some connections in the industry. "Does Letterman still have a chance?"

"It's hard to say. Ovitz is working hard on public relations to win him over. But David Letterman is very stubborn. He just wants to spend his weekends with his family, and no one in the industry can find him.

In addition, he now thinks that he is the only natural candidate, so it is difficult for Ovitz to persuade him to change his agent, and he has also started a public relations offensive..."

"Hi, Bozo..."

Ronald arrived in front of Gulfstream's new aircraft. He had already recruited Bozo, the naval aerobatic pilot from Top Gun, to be his special plane pilot.

"Ronald...I thought it would take you a while before you came to me..."

"The Gulfstream is definitely much more comfortable to fly than a cargo plane. This time we are going to New York, and next time we will go across the ocean to London to test the performance of the new aircraft."

"Roger..." Bozo saluted gracefully. His children were going to college. The salary of a business jet pilot was higher than that of a cargo jet pilot, and the business was easier. He was very grateful.

"Daydream One requests runway..."

……

The Gulfstream stopped at the New Jersey airport very briskly, and Bozo's landing was very smooth. It didn't look like the excitement of flying the F-14A past the tower and landing on the aircraft carrier.

Ronald stretched himself. Bozo's driving skills were indeed very good, and he slept soundly all the way.

"Ed, did you hear about Johnny Carson?"

Ronald said to Ed Bastian, the general manager of his television and media company, who came to pick him up.

"Let me guess, his retirement has been announced a long time ago. Now you ask, is there something wrong with David Letterman's succession plan?"

"Ha, you are really powerful. There is indeed something wrong." Ronald asked Richard to tell him the information he had found out.

"Do you think David Letterman has a chance to fight back?" Of course Ronald wanted Letterman to take over. In this TV show with the largest audience in the United States, the host is his old friend, which makes many things much more convenient.

"There must be some, but his problem is not mainly about business capabilities, but about human relations."

"Huh?" Richard also pricked up his ears. This general manager was in charge of several TV stations, radio stations and newspaper distribution in Ronald's hands, just like a Wall Street banker playing a children's game of chess, taking care of it casually. Well done.

And because it is located in New York, it has a good relationship with several major television networks such as NBC, CBS, and ABC, which are headquartered here. Not only is it well-informed, there are also many cooperation projects. Among them, ABC and CBS both intend to add one more TV station to join in New York.

"It was probably last year, and David Letterman's show has always been famous for his outspoken speech. He pointed at the ceiling and called the new president of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, an asshole.

If it were an ordinary person, they would just laugh it off. But Brandon Tartikoff's pride made it difficult for him to accept such ridicule, so the two formed a feud. "

"Brandon Tartikoff, I'm familiar with him. Do you want to hook them up and let them chat in person?" Ronald thought of this executive who took over his "Working Girl" TV series. , has now been promoted due to the increase in ratings of the new TV series.

"If you can, then it will be a good offense and defense to prevent Ovitz from taking down David Letterman." Richard also became interested. He was not only thinking about Ronald...if Letterman could Get this sorted out, and he'll be Letterman's new agent of course.

"Actually, I am familiar with Brandon Tartikoff and David Letterman. They are not very bad people. It's just that one is a successful host and the other is a newly promoted president. They are both very successful men. …

As long as someone can sit them down and work things out, Johnny Carson will still be his successor. It's a pity that I don't have the ability to make them sit down and chat. Only someone with your industry status can..."

Ed Bastian is also very interested in this, which is a good thing for his TV station to get more say in New York.

With tens of millions of viewers and the highest-rated program in the United States, if it can handle this, it can even make a name for itself in the television industry.

Both of them were very interested and quickly discussed how to handle this matter.

"The problem now is that David Letterman doesn't quite believe that he will be replaced by Jay Leno's PR offensive. What we have to do is to give him some reasons to doubt and then believe that this is a huge crisis."

"This can be done. Our CAA has a lot of records of Jay Leno's public relations activities this time. I believe that as long as he can see these, he will understand the urgency of the matter. It makes him believe that after the crisis , how to get him to apologize to Brandon Tartikoff will be a problem..."

"This is actually easy to solve. What our agents are best at is making the client understand that doing so is good for his career. Being a night talk show host is his favorite career, and he will definitely give up some irrelevant things for this purpose. Dignified.”

The two of them got more and more excited as they talked, and they also felt a sense of sympathy for each other. Speaking of Ovitz's approach of starting with movies and packaging stars to sell to studios, in fact, this approach is most suitable for the television industry...

"So we asked Ronald to give him a call and arrange a meeting where we were confident we could convince him."

Ed Bastian and Richard both looked at Ronald, now they only owed him face.

"Just give him a fight, that's it for me..." Ronald vaguely felt that this matter was not that simple, but the enthusiasm of his subordinates must also be taken into account.

Richard picked up the phone and dialed his secretary's phone number, where he had many resources he had accumulated in the industry. Not to mention hosts like Letterman, he can also find a way to contact the bosses behind the three major wireless TV stations.

"Hey, please get me David Letterman from the Late Show, please..."

"Pa..." Ronald stood up suddenly and pressed Richard's phone.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this?" Richard and Bastian both looked at Ronald.

Ronald's face was full of solemnity, "Ovitz must have thought of what you said, right?"

(End of this chapter)