Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1287 Hollywood's Biggest Gossip
"Help me make an appointment with Jerry Weintraub and meet him when I'm in Los Angeles." Ronald called his temporary agent Kevin Huwen.

The high-quality asset that Yoram Globus was referring to was Weintraub's film company, a library of nearly 2000 British films that he bought from them before Giancarlo Paretti took over Cannon.

At that time, Cannon encountered a financial crisis, and Weintraub obtained a $150 million credit line from Bank of America and signed a 20-year distribution contract with Columbia, and began to make great strides.
Winterraub's first big move was to swallow up the British film assets in one fell swoop, hoping to become a comprehensive film and television group.

But the stock market crash and Wall Street's interest rate hikes were fair to all Hollywood companies that had borrowed money to buy out. Both of Weintraub's big projects failed.

One project follows Cannonball's past successful path, first pre-selling in Europe, obtaining a bridge loan from Credit Lyonnais, and then investing in "The Big Blue," a sports film by new French director Luc Besson.

However, this project tells the story of ocean divers and dolphins. The audience is too small and the marketing is poor, so even the production costs have not been recovered.

The second project is the Broadway adaptation of the musical "Evita", directed by Oliver Stone and starring Meryl Streep as Evita.

The project was supported by Argentine President Menem, who promised to provide 50,000 free extras to ensure that the film would be shot in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, riots broke out in Argentina and the film had to be stopped for security reasons.

They then moved to Spain for filming, and the grand scenes caused the production costs to soar to 35 million US dollars.

At this time, news came that "The Big Blue" had failed at the box office, and Bank of America cancelled his credit line because of this project. Without money, he couldn't make a movie, so the "Evita" project had to be cancelled.

At that time, Weintraub had no choice but to ask Ronald for help. After filming "The Karate Kid 3", he recovered some of his strength. With the help of his new president Harry Usher, Bank of America re-signed a credit line of US$ million with Bank of America, and the situation was considered to have recovered.

However, Weintraub's business is still unstable. He is called a "mini-big studio" by the Hollywood media, which means that although it is small in size, it always shoots big productions, starring stars, supporting famous directors, and adapting famous works.

What Weintraub wants to be is a smaller version of Orion…

The real Orion couldn't stand this business model and was struggling to operate. Now it was looking for buyers. The smaller Orion would directly declare bankruptcy.

Before he filed for bankruptcy reorganization, it was a good opportunity to purchase the "British 2000" film library that had passed through several buyers.

The two romantic comedies that Ronald invested in, Pretty Woman and Ghost, grossed 176 million and 216 million respectively at the domestic box office, which was just around the corner.

That's more than enough to buy a "Britain 2000" film library.

Unfortunately, the actresses of the two films, Julia Roberts and Demi Moore, have seen their value rise dramatically, and may not be willing to shoot similar films. If they want to repeat the box office success of romantic comedies, they have to wait for the right time...

……

"I'm sorry, Ronald, but now Weintraub seems to have disappeared from Hollywood and no one can find his whereabouts..."

As soon as he landed in New York, Kevin Hu Wen called him.

"You asked for his lover... No, your assistant Susan didn't? If you asked her, she should know where Weintraub is..."

"Susan?" Kevin Hu Wen was obviously unfamiliar with this.

"Susan Eakins, his personal assistant, should be the producer of Weintraub Pictures now, or the director of the president's office..."

"Okay, I'll go check..."

"By the way, what's the news in Hollywood these days while I'm in London? Have you sorted out the important articles in these days' newspapers and magazines for me?"

"Um, sorry, I'll ask my assistant to send it to you right away..." Hu Wen said awkwardly.

Ronald shook his head. Richard was more familiar with his own affairs. Hu Wen was not as proactive as Yang Yanzi. His advantage was that he had a wide range of friends and deep connections...

"It's okay, I'll find someone to take care of it..." Kevin Huwen is a very capable person among the young agents at CAA. There are many potential benefits to winning him over to his team, so a small mistake is fine. However, he still needs to find a capable assistant in the future.

"Hello, Richard, I've been away for a few days. Is there any news you need to know?" Ronald still called Richard.

"Probably only about Julia Roberts..."

"Huh? What happened to her? Wasn't she filming a Spielberg movie?"

"She and her boyfriend canceled their wedding the day before..."

"Um……"

A few hours later, Ronald finally got the full report on this big gossip. It was really exciting, in some ways even more twisted and bizarre than a Julia Roberts movie.

Julia Roberts was filming "Pretty Woman" when an earthquake hit and she felt vulnerable, but the appearance of her boyfriend Kiefer Sutherland made her feel like she had met her soulmate.

After that, their relationship progressed well, and they even starred in a movie together. They also appeared as a couple at the Oscars.

The two had planned to hold their wedding this fall and had invited many young actors as guests. After Madonna and Sean Penn, another famous Hollywood celebrity couple was going to hold a grand wedding, and the paparazzi were waiting opposite their love nest, hoping to take exclusive intimate photos of the fiancée.

But just three days before the wedding, rumors were circulating in Hollywood circles that the couple had canceled their wedding, although neither party came out to clarify.

Even more outrageous is that on the day of the wedding, Kiefer Sutherland moved out of Julia Roberts's Beverly Hills house, and Roberts then openly drove away with a man.

Gossip reporters jumped on motorcycles and followed the runaway bride and the third man to the airport. There they bought tickets to Ireland. While at the airport, reporters approached and took a photo of the man. After identification, the man was also an actor named Jason Patric.

What's even more outrageous is that this Jason Patric is Kiefer Sutherland's good friend, or rather, a former good friend.

According to subsequent reports, Jason was considered to be the best man, but Kiefer canceled the arrangement and later removed him from the guest list.

Just when everyone thought it was a gossip drama about two good friends fighting for a beautiful woman, new gossip broke out a week later. Kiefer Sutherland was kicked out because he was caught by Julia Roberts having an affair with a stripper a few days before the wedding.

For a while, whose fault it was became the biggest topic of discussion about the couple's escape from marriage. The National Enquirer, the largest gossip media in America, even wrote a series of columns to follow up on the incident.

The gossip titles are also very interesting, ranging from "Runaway Bride", to "My Best Friend's Wedding", to "British Lover" and so on.

Ronald felt like he had missed out on a once-in-a-decade piece of gossip, and he was very interested in reading it all the way on the plane back to Los Angeles. When they got home, Diane saw that he was still reading the National Enquirer, so she curled her lips and said, "Is it so interesting?"

"Hey, the audience found it interesting. I might find someone to adapt it into a movie script someday...hahahaha"

This gossip is dramatic, with a before and after sequence. It's also about one of the most box office-appealing actresses in Hollywood playing out a movie plot in her real life. The only flaw is that the two male protagonists are not very famous.

If the man is also a heavyweight movie star, then even the scandal of sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas, the first black Supreme Court Justice nominated by the current President George H.W., would have been overshadowed before the Senate voted to approve this historic nomination, which was exposed by his former colleagues.

"Oh yeah? Can it really be written into a movie script?" Diane was a little unconvinced.

"Really? These National Enquirer titles can actually be used as movie script titles. They are topical and can arouse the audience's curiosity. It would be best if Julia Roberts could play the role herself. Hahaha..." Ronald put his arms around Diane's waist and kissed her on the mouth.

"By the way, Richard just called and said he would come over." Diane's uncomfortable mood was dispelled by Ronald's kiss.

"Oh……"

……

"Weintraub is in hiding...his company is about to go into bankruptcy..."

"Does he owe a lot of money?" Ronald was also very sad about the situation of his old friend.

"It's not about the debt. That's not difficult to deal with because he still has a 20-year publishing contract with Columbia. With that, he has no worries about food and clothing and can maintain a wealthy life without any problems..."

"Then why don't you see anyone?"

"I called Jane Morgan, and she asked Susan Aikins to come and see me in person. She said Weintraub had fallen into depression and isolation. He felt that his business failure was ridiculous and didn't want to see anyone in the circle anymore, so as not to lose face."

"why is it like this?"

Ronald understood. No wonder Kevin Hooven couldn't find him. Fortunately, he knew Weintraub's wife Jane Morgan and his lover Susan Aikins, so he had a chance to find him.

……

Susan Aikins, dressed in ordinary clothes, came to chat with Ronald for a while. Then she got into Ronald's car and went with him to a secluded suburban villa, which was a gift bought for her by Weintraub with his own money. Now Weintraub was hiding in it.

"Jerry, Jerry..." Susan Aikins asked the servants to keep an eye on Weintraub when she left. But when she entered the house and didn't see Weintraub, she became nervous.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ronald was also shocked.

Then, Weintraub's hoarse voice came from a small study on the second floor, "Susan, who did you bring? Didn't I say that I won't meet anyone from Hollywood or the record industry? And those vampires on Wall Street, no, no, not a single one..."

"It's me, Ronald." Ronald answered from outside the door, "I don't see you either? Come out Jerry, or I'm going to bang on the door."

"Oh..." When he heard it was Ronald, Weintraub was no longer afraid of embarrassment and he immediately opened the door.

There was thick cigar smoke inside and the lights were off. Susan turned on the light and opened the window to disperse the smoke.

"What's wrong with you? Jerry, the Weintraub I know is a man who never compromises and is always full of optimism..." Ronald looked at Weintraub, who was only wearing a bathrobe, with a decadent look on his face.

"Hey, Ronald, I'm done, I'm completely done... I now understand that the success of The Karate Kid is not due to my unique vision, but the result of your writing and directing ability. Without talented directors and writers like you, I would have been fooled by them in Hollywood..."

Weintraub did not hide anything from Ronald. It was Ronald who helped him to alleviate his previous financial difficulties. Ronald was the only one in Hollywood who would not make him feel ashamed because he had lost face long ago.

Winterraub took a bottle of Martell brandy and drank from it, while telling Ronald exactly how he was tricked by the people on Wall Street.

It turned out that the various financing contracts he signed were full of loopholes. When the projects of Weintraub Pictures were progressing smoothly, they could use these to leverage and fight for big success with small. With one movie, they could get rid of the status of "mini-major studio" and become a "medium-sized major studio" like Orion in one step, relying on their vision in selecting movies and big directors and big stars to win.

But after two big projects failed, his funds were very tight, and even The Karate Kid III couldn't completely save him from danger. So Weintraub took another big gamble and filmed a "Peter Pan" movie imitating "Batman".

Who would have thought that after finally attracting the interest of Dodi Fayed, the young master of a Middle Eastern billionaire, who was willing to invest in this film, Paramount expressed interest, bought the production rights, and prepared to start filming.

Who knows that after a few months of delay, Paramount sold the film's production rights to Mike McDavoy, vice president of TriStar Pictures. Mike McDavoy found his former client Spielberg again, knowing that Spielberg had long been interested in making a Peter Pan movie.

As a matter of course, Spielberg brought in two more stars, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, to play Captain Hook and the adult Peter Pan respectively. Julia Roberts, who had just made a big gossip, also had a role as Tinker Bell.

But big stars mean big trouble. Dustin Hoffman's old problem came back, and the method actor was dragging his feet to find the feeling of a pirate captain.

Robin Williams also had many ideas of his own. He wanted to include a Peter Pan who had grown up, married, had children, and had forgotten his childhood identity, which required extensive changes to the script.

As a result, the filming of the movie which was originally scheduled to start at the beginning of the year was delayed for a long time.

This delay did not matter, as Weintraub's cash flow dried up. When his loan came due, he could not renew it with his share of the profits from Peter Pan, and his credit line was cancelled by the vampire bankers on Wall Street.

To some extent, Bank of America was looking forward to his bankruptcy and reorganization. They wanted to take over some of the high-quality assets in Winterraub's company after his bankruptcy and reorganization. The profits would be much better than the interest on the loan.

"Hey, I'm here to buy assets from you too..." Ronald thought it would be better to be frank. "Originally I wanted to buy some of the copyrights of the Britannia 2000 film library that you acquired from Cannon. Now if you need it, I can find some private investors to buy more... Of course, it's up to you whether to sell it or not, and how much to sell it for. If you decide to go bankrupt and reorganize, I can also accept a court auction afterwards."

"How are you the same? You are really knowledgeable about buying things. These film libraries can be put to the greatest use in your hands." Winterlaub jumped up. If he had this money to save his life, his production company would be saved, and he would not have to be laughed at by his "friends in the circle".

Not only is his film library willing to sell to Ronald, but also the Karate Kid series he produced. If you like it, you can sell it. Do you want the copyright of the works you directed? You can remake or shoot a sequel in the future...

"No, that's not possible. That's your favorite movie series. When we were filming the third installment, you said that this was the movie you wanted engraved on your tombstone. I can't steal your love."

"Hey, we are old friends. The Dragon Boy is more your success than my success..." Weintraub was afraid that Ronald would not want to buy it, so he hurried to persuade him...

"I can buy it, but even if we shoot sequels or remakes in the future, you will naturally be the producer. I will reserve this power for you..." Ronald really had no interest in filming the Karate Kid series again. If Weintraub still wanted to be a producer, he would definitely put 100% of his energy into it because of emotional and financial factors.

"Hey, you are a true friend, I finally understand..." Weintraub hugged Ronald with tears in his eyes...

The selling price is really too discounted...

(End of this chapter)