Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1324 Breakthrough Star
"I'm sorry, Ronald, I feel like I did something stupid and made you suffer this insult. I'm annoyed by these idiots..."

Kevin Costner took the idea of ​​Ronald's participation to discuss new partners with the distributor Warner Bros., but their president Terry Temel personally ordered the rejection of the cooperation.

He offered a choice between two options: either Kevin Costner rejected Ronald's cooperation and the rest of the matter would be done according to the originally agreed terms, or he accepted Ronald's money and took the "Bodyguard" movie project from Warner at the market price.

In short, it's either Warner Bros. or Ronald's daydream, you choose one of the two.

During the discussion, Terry Temer was not so blunt. He pointed out that according to the previous contract of the project, Warner had the right to veto new investors. They felt that Daydream could neither be distributed overseas nor add value to the project in terms of creative content. If they wanted to invest, they could only share the second round of investment quota with external capital.

This condition is undoubtedly an insult to Ronald, an insider. A producer with a good investment vision can only enjoy the investment terms of an outsider, which is equivalent to saying that we don't welcome you in this project, you can't add any value, this project depends on two stars Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, nothing else matters, so don't stick your spoon in to drink the soup.

"Nah, this has nothing to do with you. This is directed at me. Mr. Temer and I have some disputes over the script..." Ronald certainly understood that the two helmsmen of Warner, Terry Temer and Robert Daley, as Jews, might have a greater role in this matter.

They just don't want outsiders to come in and gradually take over the voice of Hollywood. Ronald repeatedly asked them to buy the filming rights of the "Forrest Gump" novel, but was rejected. There were also some verbal conflicts in the process, which increased the dislike between the two sides.

"So what do we do next?"

"Of course I'll listen to you. If you're willing to buy this movie, I'm willing to pay half of the money. Whitney is also willing to contribute part of the money, but you have to get the distributor..."

"Hey, which company is Whitney signed with?" Ronald thought to himself. It seemed that Warner Bros. didn't understand the potential of this movie. As the producer of the two most successful movie soundtracks in history, "Dirty Dancing" and "More Dirty Dancing", he understood that it didn't matter if the movie lost money, as the money could be made back from the records.

"She? I don't know, maybe CAA?" Kevin Costner was stunned by the question.

"Idiot, I'm asking about her record company. Never mind, I'll just ask him directly, and then we can work together on a project."

……

"I take care of most of Whitney's business matters..."

Ronald soon found out that Whitney Houston was signed to Arista Records, the parent company of Columbia Records.

Isn't this just a coincidence? Ronald quickly found Whitney Houston and discussed with her about buying the project and transferring it to Columbia Pictures for distribution. After all, they were all subsidiaries of Sony, so could his little face still be of any use?
However, Whitney Houston was feeling a little unwell, so all major matters were handled by a female assistant named Robin Crawford.

Robin Crawford actually looks a bit like Whitney Houston. They are both thin, which is rare among black women. They are also very tall. They look very close, and it is obvious that they are not just assistants.

"OK, this is what Kevin and I think. What do you and Whitney think?" Ronald didn't understand the relationship between the two, so he tried to test them.

"I think Whitney is the core of this movie, isn't she? She has to sing and act..." Robin Crawford actually opened her mouth, as if she could be the master of Whitney Houston.

"Robin..." Whitney Houston covered her mouth and came out to stop Robin. She smiled apologetically at Ronald. She knew Ronald's position in the industry.

"I trust Kevin very much, and I also trust the person he trusts the most, Ronald. This is my first time acting in a movie, and I will follow your terms..."

"Okay, these are my terms. You can ask your lawyer and agent to take a look and see if they are fair. If you think they are okay, we can finalize them and then go to Columbia Records and Columbia Pictures to promote this project."

"Oh, that's very generous. I agree." Whitney Houston was not stupid. She was also actively controlling her own business activities. So she could see that she had taken advantage this time and was able to cooperate with two Hollywood bigwigs on relatively fair terms. This was also due to her status in the music industry. At least in the conditions given by Ronald, the film soundtrack was very important...

Ronald achieved his goal and left. The commercial potential of this project is still huge.

"Whitney, this is totally unfair. Your status as a singer..."

"Shut up, Robin. This is my first time making a movie, and Madonna has already made three or four. Now Madonna can only be the third or fourth female lead in the movies produced by Ronald, and I can already be the first female lead. This is the best condition... In the future, you are not allowed to disrespect Ronald or Kevin like this. Oh, and Bobby..."

Whitney Houston scolded her companion and assistant, then called her boyfriend Bobby Brown and asked him to come see her.

The promotion at Columbia Pictures went very smoothly. CEO Guber personally met with Ronald. After reading the script and the terms, he immediately agreed and expressed his willingness to give Ronald the best time slot at the end of the year.

He was under a lot of pressure in Sony Columbia Pictures. The two old guys from TriStar Pictures put a lot of pressure on him. Now Ronald came to discuss the script project and the leading star, so he had to accept any conditions.

Even if the movie loses money, as long as they can show goodwill to Ronald, they won't have to worry about problems in future cooperation with him. Anyway, all the big studios want to cooperate with him directly, but they all want others to explore the way first to see which is better, his cooperation model for filming or the packaging model of Ovitz of CAA, and which one can bring more profits and better evaluation indicators to themselves.

The production of "Bodyguard" went very smoothly. After paying the cost of buying the project from Warner Bros. in advance, Bannon's Wall Street fund quickly entered the second round of investment list. They didn't understand Hollywood. Ronald and Kevin Costner joined hands, plus Whitney Houston, no one wanted to miss the second "Dances with Wolves". The subscription for investment quota was very active, so much so that they had to open a few more places.

There were some problems with the negotiations with Columbia Records, because the production and release of Whitney Houston's new album was already on schedule, so Arista, a subsidiary of Columbia, was very unwilling to cooperate with this kind of extraneous matter. They all wanted to prohibit Whitney Houston from making movies, so that she could have more time for her music career.
In the end, it was President Tommy Mottola who solved the problem for Ronald.

Tommy Mottula knew the sales of Ronald's "Dirty Dancing" album. Although the old guys in the record industry didn't like this kind of "evil" thing, sales were sales, and Mottula didn't care about these things at all. It could increase his performance and would also be good for his future position in Sony's American system.

After Ronald called him for help, Tommy Mottola put pressure on Alistair. If a singer can obtain the status of a movie star, it will be a great boost to the sales of the album. In the past, Barbra Streisand and Doris Day had successful experience.

Temporary trouble in exchange for long-term profits may not be a matter of concern to people like Alistar, but Motura's status and vision can be seen very clearly.

In the end, the two sides reached a compromise. None of the good songs that Alistair had stockpiled for Whitney Houston could be used in the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard", and the producers had to find them themselves.

But most importantly, Whitney Houston was able to make time to sing the theme song for The Bodyguard and some new songs as interludes for the movie.

Ronald, who always believed in letting professionals do the work, let Whitney Houston's team handle the matter of finding the "bodyguard" episode.

Ronald also had some things to do, such as the filming of "A League of Pink" in New York and "City Heroes" in Los Angeles. Professional crews can usually handle it, but there are also some things that need to be coordinated from a high-level level, such as the Yankees' difficulties in renting the baseball field and the LAPD's difficulties in some road closures in Los Angeles. Ronald had to come forward to coordinate such things.

Fortunately, he had relatively deep political connections, and the New York State Senator personally called to inquire about the matter, and the California Senate candidate formally raised the issue of facilitating the filming of the movie at a campaign rally. After the filming was delayed, it was still resolved.

On another matter, Ronald did not get a good solution even after coming forward.

Paula Wagner is shuttling back and forth between the seven major studios, trying to find a fixed long-term distributor for C/W Films.

But these executives seem to have the same plan, which is to wait and see, as they don’t want to be the first to try something new.

Ovitz launched an offensive against the Jewish executives in the seven major studios, trying his best to prevent Tom Cruise from signing a long-term distribution contract with them.

It is not uncommon for directors and independent producers to sign distribution contracts for multiple films with major studios. Even many retired executives of major studios, whose own small production companies, will receive guaranteed distribution contracts for about five films from their original studios as part of their retirement agreements.

In fact, these are not enough threats to CAA, or Ovitz's business model, but when the production company of a popular star gets this kind of contract, it is a visible threat.

If Tom Cruise really did it, would all stars be able to do the same thing in the future? Then what is the need for CAA, as a monopoly agency? Their package agreements will no longer threaten the seven major studios or the stars themselves.

There are actually precedents of celebrities signing multi-film distribution contracts (for example, releasing three big-budget films in the next five years).

That was in the early days of CAA, when Columbia Pictures was still under the leadership of Frank Price. At that time, there was an urgent need to sign star contracts to boost stock prices, and they had signed such a contract with Jane Fonda's production company.

But that was a chaotic period when United Artists had just collapsed, Paramount was acquired by Gulf and Western, and was still fighting internally with Disney.

After going through a difficult period of declining domestic box office, and Spielberg's ET the Extraterrestrial boosting the total box office, the seven major studios were no longer willing to sign such agreements.

Jane Fonda gradually faded out of the film industry and married media tycoon Ted Turner. Only the aerobics videos released every year can show her figure to appease the thirst of fans.

The film studios are reluctant to sign distribution contracts with stars, but are willing to sign with producers. The reason is actually very simple.

Because stars are the guarantee of film project financing. Producers cannot rely on their looks to obtain bank loans and capital investment.

In the current situation where modern media has monopolized the information channels of everyone in the world, movie fans and audiences only like to read gossip and news about stars. No one wants to read news about a director, a producer, or a supporting actor.

This also leads to the fact that only stars in the world can get a certain number of audiences to go to the cinema to watch the movies they have shot in advance. Producers and directors do not have this magic.

When film studios, producers and directors sign distribution contracts, they still have a lot of initiative in the negotiations.

If they are not optimistic about your project, they can cut the budget or even suspend the project. The distribution contract only guarantees the number of films to be distributed, but does not guarantee the distribution of those few scripts.

But celebrities are different, because they have natural audience appeal, so they themselves have strong bargaining chips.

But to be honest, compared with producers and directors, stars have a much lower overall control and vision for projects. So if a star can get investment by relying on his influence but does not have a good vision, the failure rate is likely to be very high.

This is a fatal problem for the senior executives of these big studios. Losing money is not a big deal, but if it leads to the loss of their jobs, it will be difficult to deal with.

Moreover, compared with producers and directors, the say of stars in such projects also makes studio executives feel uncomfortable. It is not certain who will have more say at that time.

Just like the project "Bodyguard" that Ronald recently produced, once Warner says no, if the star has confidence in it, he can leave with the project. Those executives who usually look down on stars to gain a little self-esteem do not want to see this happen.

Therefore, Columbia Pictures, which is closest to Tom Cruise, only offered him a distribution contract for one movie, and required each script to be negotiated separately, and was unwilling to sign a long-term contract.

Although the beginning is always difficult, there are not many studios in Hollywood that can sign such a contract. Although they are called the Big Seven, MGM has basically stopped its production business under the management of Las Vegas tycoons.

However, Disney's size is not enough to support large-scale productions starring stars like Tom Cruise.

Ronald had no good solution for this. Besides, Wagner and Cruz had not taken the initiative to ask for help. It might not be a good idea for him to rush to help at this time. The key point now was to find a new president like Frank Price of Columbia and take the opportunity to sign a contract that broke the convention.

Just then, a headhunting company poached Ronald from his daydream.

(End of this chapter)