Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 132 New Youth Exploitation Movie Casting
"Your performance is very natural, very good." Ronald said to Helen Slater.

"It's just too short. After two afternoons of shooting, it disappeared in 15 seconds."

Helen pressed the tape eject button of the video recorder and picked up the video tape of her advertisement.

"Here's another version. It's your version of Carpenter's song, but your father thought it was inappropriate to buy the copyright of the cover song for an advertisement, so he finally used your jazz version."

Ronald handed over another video tape, "I'll give you this copy as a souvenir." Then he picked up a book on the table and continued to read.

Helen Slater called Ronald after Thanksgiving, and her mother also wanted to see a copy of the advertisement in which her daughter played, and made an appointment to come to Ronald's house today to pick it up.

She took the Carpenter version of the video tape, happily put it into the video recorder, and began to enjoy it.

After showing her own performance a few times, Helen was very satisfied.Seeing that Ronald was looking down at the book and didn't see his advertisement, he felt a little lost for no reason.The director didn't seem to care much about his film and television debut, and was more interested in the book with a black cover and a soft cover in his hand.

My own performance looks perfect. The young director must be editing it every day, so no matter how good the performance is, I don’t feel it anymore.Or is his book too captivating?

"What book are you reading?" Helen Slater looked at Ronald with big blue eyes.

"Endless love, I gave my cousin Donna a Thanksgiving gift, but she said that Aunt Karen would not let her read this kind of novel, let me not tell my aunt that I gave it to her, temporarily put it in my place, and wait for her next year Go to Stuyvesant High, then take it to see."

Ronald bowed his head while reading a book while answering Helen. There are some very explicit descriptions and deviant plots in Endless Love. No wonder Aunt Karen doesn't like it. Ronald began to quickly flip through the novel in his hand, skipping through it.

"Your cousin is admitted to Stuyvesant, she is really good."

"That's right, it's a purely IQ test, and Donna is pretty good."

Ronald remembered the day after Thanksgiving when he had visited Stuyvesant with Aunt Karen and Donna.

Donna's grades have already surpassed the admission threshold of Stuyvesant High School in the past by nearly 40 points, and she will definitely be admitted.The three of them first went to high school to visit Donna's future school.

This is a high school that asks nothing but IQ tests (math, reading, logic).Jews have always been the majority of the students, but they see a lot of Chinese in the school, and I heard that the proportion of Chinese enrollment has been increasing rapidly recently.There are basically no Latinos and blacks.

The school also offers more than 50 advanced placement courses, which can be earned for college credit in high school.In addition to increasing the probability of admission to Ivy League universities, it can also be deducted from the hours spent in the university, which can save a lot of tuition fees.

In addition to mathematics, science, and English, students also study three foreign languages, art, music, and other courses.

In addition to academic courses, there are also skill courses such as gymnastics, fencing, equestrianism, health management, public speaking and so on.Basically, it is a public school that cultivates social elite talents according to the curriculum of private preparatory high schools, and residents of New York State can attend for free.

All in all, Aunt Karen and Donna were very satisfied, and so was Ronald.

"Your performance is perfect, I actually prefer this version of Carpenter's song." Ronald finally finished the novel, looking at Helen who was rewinding, "Is Gerald giving you a new role? "

"No, Daddy said that I will wait for me to learn more acting lessons." Helen already has her own acting career plan, "Don't talk about it, I'm going to my mother's place."

"I'll see you off." Ronald got up and picked up his coat.

After seeing off Helen, Ronald went to the casting studio for the regular Saturday photo session, and returned the old script that was borrowed last time.The studio's Julia Taylor saw him reading old scripts last time, and promised to take one home every time and return it next time.

"Ronnie, you're here, we're going to get busy soon, and there's another youth film that needs to be cast across the country. Be prepared, there will be a large number of young girls coming to take pictures." Julia Taylor saw him, Assign him a job immediately.

"Like last time at the Blue Lagoon?" Ronald asked.

"The scope of casting is even wider than that time. This time it may need to be aimed at ordinary people who have no acting experience." Julia Taylor said.

"What kind of movie, such a big battle? Romeo and Juliet?" Ronald couldn't think of any movie that required teenagers to audition across the country.

"Basically, it's an adaptation of a love story." Julia Taylor replied, "Because the producer, Casablanca Records, is the first time to get involved in filming, and this is also part of the film's marketing plan."

"So are you really looking for an ordinary person who has no acting experience and has an outstanding appearance?" Ronald felt a little unbelievable. Helen Slater, his own director, had already worked very hard. Finding an inexperienced person was really difficult. .

"This possibility is very small, but it is not unheard of in the history of film, and there are many girls who have reached the sky in one step."

"So which novel is it? Jane Austen, or Dickens?" Ronald wondered.

"Neither, it's the latest best-selling romance novel, Endless Love." Julia Taylor replied.

"Is this the novel?" Ronald waved the book in his hand, "It's not really a romance novel, the author's writing is very controversial, it's more like a novel about the world."

In Endless Love, in addition to minors eating forbidden fruit, there are also very controversial plots such as arson, teenagers committing felonies and being sentenced to psychiatric hospitals, and mothers seducing their daughters lovers.Ronald doesn't believe that this novel can be adapted into a pure love movie.

"Sometimes the adaptation is like this, only the name and protagonist setting of the novel are borrowed, and the rest can be rewritten. But I can't say for sure, it depends on what the people at Casablanca Records decide." Julia Taylor has not seen The script, also not sure.

"Casablanca Records prepared a budget of 800 million, and they got a quota of 1 million US dollars from Polygram for filming. So they will definitely do a big job in this movie. I heard that they invited Martin Scorsese Seth's regular screenwriter, Paul Schrader, is directing the film."

Julia Taylor told Ronald about the background of the producer, "If the casting of this film can be successful, we will be indispensable to the films invested by Casablanca in the future."

"Don't worry, I will work hard. I have completed the four courses in the first semester well. Christmas will be the winter and Christmas holidays soon. I can spend more time on this matter."

"Very good, this is another youth exploitation film, it is expected that there will be a lot of nude scenes, you are a well-known screenwriter, if you have time, please help us to check the audition candidates, the intuition of peers is the most accurate. "

Ronald was interested in Scorsese's screenwriter and being invited to direct the film, and he was ready to go this way.Paul Schrader, who wrote the screenplay for Scorsese's critically acclaimed film "Taxi Driver," is also the screenwriter for the new film that Scorsese is currently working on in post-editing.

Ronald intends to have the opportunity to ask Scorsese how to become a screenwriter and switch from screenwriter to director.

……

"Mr. Paul Schrader, I'm Keith Barish, the producer of Casablanca, our invitation is very sincere, how to spend the budget of 800 million US dollars, how to decide the male and female lead in the national audition, it's all up to you to decide."

Keith Barish was the main mover behind Casablanca Records' move into the movie business.Seeing the "Saturday Night Fever" invested by Robert Stigwood, the two musicals "Grease" were sold well, and his RSO record company sold tens of millions of records.

In particular, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album by the Bee Gees, from January to July 1978, ranked No. 1 for 7 consecutive weeks.The 28 singles in the album took the first place in the singles chart.The entire album has sold 5 platinum in North America alone, selling 16 million copies.

The movie also brought about the re-popularity of disco, and a large number of disco singers such as Donna Summer became popular.

Casablanca, like other record companies, was very jealous, thinking that they had found the wealth code, and they joined the film industry one after another. This is the real reason why Hollywood began to invest in musicals again in 1979.

Even the Hollywood dancing king of the 50s and [-]s, Gene Kelly, who had been out of acting for many years, was called back by the film company to come back. He said earlier that he would start shooting his first musical film in many years.

"Keith, may I call you Keith?" Paul Schrader has several blockbuster screenwriting films, and now is the time when studios are begging him to direct.

"You know, I just finished the post-production of my movie American Gigolo, and I'm waiting for it to be released in February next year. I have to participate in the promotion of the movie, why don't we talk about your new movie then."

If it sells well after its release, Paul Schrader's net worth will not be what it is now.Producer Keith Barish is a newcomer in the film industry, but he is well aware of the calculations of these directors, and they are no different from negotiating contract renewals with singers.

"Mr. Schrader, this is our first film in Casablanca. We will value it very much. This is also an important reason why I am here and ask you to cooperate. We believe in your artistic expression..."

Paul Schrader has actually read the novel "Endless Love" before. Although it is very controversial and critical of American society, in his opinion, it is not powerful enough.At least compared to his own director, "American Gigolo" which will be released soon is much worse.

So despite Keith's hype, I just didn't let go.We still have to wait for the news from Universal. They have approached the bankrupt RKO film department to discuss buying the remake rights of the classic movie "Cat people".

He still knows how to choose between the 1200 million investment in Global and the 800 million investment in the fledgling Casablanca.

"Okay then, Mr. Schrader, we will keep you up-to-date and wait until the updated version of the script comes out before visiting."

(End of this chapter)