Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1331 Sugar-coated trap and stepping stone
Perot was a self-made entrepreneur who, after retiring from the Navy, worked as a salesman for IBM and immediately set annual sales records. After IBM rejected his proposal to replace traditional paper records with electronic storage, he founded his own company, Electronic Data Systems, and won the government contract to store health insurance records.

This made him successful and he was later hailed by Fortune magazine as the fastest person to become a billionaire.

This man did not act like a traditional American tycoon. He used naval methods to manage his company and respected honor and records. What is most well-known is that during the Persian Revolution, he organized a private army to enter Tehran and rescued the company employees trapped there.

Perot also found the famous novelist Ken Follett, who wrote a novel based on the story, "Eagle Wings", which became a bestseller and was made into a TV movie in 1985, which was watched by more than million viewers.

After becoming famous, his company was acquired by General Motors for $2.5 billion. This year, his personal wealth was valued at $3 billion.

Therefore, Perot had the confidence to say that voters who supported him should not donate more than five dollars, thus opposing the election system of the two parties that relied on large donations to PACs. Moreover, he showed his true colors as a businessman, and refused to advertise if he could go on a free talk show.

He has appeared on shows hosted by more serious talk show hosts such as Larry King and Barbara Waters, and promoted his own ideas, winning the support of a large number of rational Elephants in the suburbs and Donkeys in the city who agree with old Ronald's ideas.

"This is a master at discovering and exploiting public opinion..."

Ronald came to this conclusion after spending some time watching Perot's talk show.

He knows what people like to hear, and he also knows why those people who were unwilling to vote are disappointed with this country. Therefore, his ideas are very popular among such people.

For example, he advocates that the rich should spend more than ordinary people to eliminate the budget deficit, and although he himself is a rich man, he is more popular among the poor than the grassroots governor of Arkansas.

For example, he packaged himself as a business expert, although his business was actually the kind of government outsourcing business that relied on his connections in the navy and government relations, and he did not perform better than his competitors in free competition.

Have the concepts of today's moviegoers changed significantly? Ronald thought of the movie he dreamed of on the plane and picked up the phone to call Richard.

……

"Oh? They also question your client's appeal to the audience?"

"No, I'm not his agent now. I'm here to talk to you as a producer for C/W Productions."

Hearing the news that Ronald would work with Tom Cruise again, his former agent and current partner Paula Wagner was so excited that she went to meet him as quickly as possible. She apologized to Ronald first and, through her husband Niceta, she intercepted the negotiation before Cruise's agent did, which was not very conventional.

Now Tom Cruise and Shirley Lansing have reached an agreement on cooperation, and the two sides will form a close alliance. Lansing will give Tom Cruise the opportunity to earn more than the usual profit, while Cruise will contribute some projects with a low return on investment but guaranteed profits.

This kind of cooperation relies on Tom Cruise's super appeal to movie fans. This is not something that ordinary people can compete with. It has been certified by Cinema Score, the most authoritative audience reputation survey company in Hollywood. He is the only superstar in Hollywood who can improve the bad audience reputation by himself.

Generally speaking, the Cinema Score rating can roughly tell how many times the total box office of a movie will be the box office of the first weekend. This multiple index is correct for most movies. One of the few exceptions is "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Shue.

This movie, which had a very bad reputation among the audience, received a box office multiplier that was two levels higher than the word-of-mouth rating. It couldn't be that Elizabeth Shue brought this about? As a result, the producers looked up to Tom Cruise, because with him, they had double insurance.

With such ability, people still doubt whether she can get the box office she deserves. Shouldn't Shirley Lansing be such a fool? She urgently needs a superstar to bring a hit project to build confidence in her new position. I have never heard of such a veteran being so stupid as to bargain before the project is completed and ruin the cooperation...

"This is other pressure from within Paramount..." Paula Wagner did not hold back to Ronald and explained the current situation within Paramount.

Now Shirley Lansing has become the vice president of production. She is now in the necessary stage of changing CEOs in large studios, a handover period of about six months. The studio business is not like other businesses. Many projects need to be watched by the person in charge until they are completed. Otherwise, the person who takes over in the middle may mess up the project because he does not understand the situation (or deliberately).

Although this may be embarrassing for the predecessor, it is good news for the new one, but it is not good for the stock price of the listed company... So there is usually a six-month handover period to allow the old person to complete the projects that they are supposed to do, and then the new person can move forward without any burden.

But Sherry Lansing botched one thing when she released her own independent film, School Ties, early before she even took over, trying to get some extra box office revenue before the competitive summer season and thus establish more authority for herself.

Shirley Lansing originally thought that this kind of movie for teenagers would be as popular as John Hughes's teen movies back then, both critically and commercially successful. It is also about teenagers, and there is no dramatic conflict, but there is a reflection on teenagers and a prospect for adulthood.

However, the film's box office was a mess, and the box office did not even recover the production costs. Shirley Lansing was immediately questioned, and some people began to ask whether she was the best candidate for the future CEO of Paramount.

"Oh, can't she wait until she takes office to try this trick?" Ronald understood immediately that this was a way of abusing her power to sell her lousy work for a good price.

"Shirley thought this movie would be a hit..."

"John Hughes' teen movies were about the reality of teenagers in the 1980s, and those audiences saw themselves on the screen. Who the hell wants to watch a few handsome guys acting out a story from the 1950s?
A Jewish person is discriminated against because of his identity? I hope they don’t discriminate against other people? Sorry, I shouldn’t say this in front of you…”

Ronald was cursing when he remembered that Paula was also Jewish.

"It's okay. I want to call her a bitch too. How can this guy be so short-sighted?" Paula Wagner was anxious. She hated Shirley Lansing's stupidity even more. He had just tied Tom Cruise and Shirley Lansing together to some extent in order to find a stable distribution channel for his C/W production, not to clean up the mess for an unqualified CEO.

Both sides cursed Shirley Lansing harshly, but laughed in return. The more stupid she was, the higher the terms of cooperation with her could be, right? Paula Wagner's pressure was also swept away. As long as Ronald and Tom Cruise worked together again, any objections would be eliminated.

Because the people at Paramount's parent company would not listen to any other objections as long as they heard that the golden combination of "Top Gun" was working together again.

"What kind of subject do you want to shoot? Lawyers, business? Another Wall Street?" Speaking of formal cooperation, Paula Wagner also wanted to get a better type of film for Tom Cruise. She was a little surprised to hear Ronald's idea.

I originally thought that Ronald would continue to make business war films, or return to movies for teenagers like Top Gun. Unexpectedly, Ronald would come up with a slightly darker subject, which seemed like the kind of subject that only Martin Scorsese would shoot that reflects the dark side of America.

"No, I want to make a movie that caters to the perceptions of today's audiences. Haven't you seen that Perot's approval rating has reached 15%? Many people actually have complaints about Wall Street and gangsters who make money by breaking the law. I want to make a movie that can help the audience relieve stress, let them become like clowns in the movie, and be fooled around by traditional American small town boys like Tom..."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember a script. When we were filming A Few Good Men, someone passed the script to Tom through a connection. It was an adaptation of a thriller novel about a tax lawyer for a wealthy man.

But they wanted Tom Cruise to direct and star in the film, just like Kevin Costner and Barbra Streisand. Tom knew he wasn't a good director, so he turned it down."

"Oh? What's his name?" Ronald didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard the news. Few people outside the circle knew that Tom Cruise was a dyslexic. It was really difficult for him, a man who had difficulty memorizing lines, to be a director who had to convert text into audio and video language. No wonder he turned it down.

……

"Oh, this project is really strange..."

When Ronald got the novel called "The Firm" and the adapted script, he found that the script was not quite what he had imagined.

The author of this novel, John Grisham, had his manuscript spotted by Paramount executive Lance Young before it was published, who paid an advance of $350,000 to buy the rights to the adaptation. The novel was then published and became a bestseller.

However, due to the change of senior management at Paramount, this project became a project without a master. The main person who promoted this project was an independent producer, Scott Rudin. After the change of senior management, he found that no one cared about his project, so he began to desperately look for interested stars everywhere to get funding.

The fact that they asked Tom Cruise to direct the film was a perfect reflection of their desperation. They also asked a playwright, David Reb, to revise the script. After paying tens of thousands of dollars for the revision and receiving two revised drafts, the script had completely turned into a black film.

Ronald smacked his lips as he watched it. This was truly a noir film. Tom Cruise played a Harvard Law School graduate named Mitch McDeere, and his wife was named Abby.

In the revised script, the two became a tragedy just like the Warren Beatty project that lost a lot of money at the box office and awards the year before. Abby was raped, and Mitch broke into the law firm with a gun and killed everyone with a pistol, including the bad boss and the gangster client...

"I wanted a little bit of a dark thriller without going for a true noir. Who the hell is going to watch Tom Cruise kill everyone in desperation and then shoot himself?"

Ronald was so angry that he threw the script on the table. What's wrong with these people? This is not the Great Depression. At that time, there were still many audiences willing to watch this kind of crazy revenge under the desperate mood.

Now is the era of celebrities, and Tom Cruise is certainly upholding the positive spirit of traditional American small-town youth, using his talent, courage, and true love to correct those things that are not right in this society, and finally gaining a rebirth in love and career.

The most important issue for a movie is to resonate with the audience. People are just dissatisfied with the share of economic development they have enjoyed. Their lives have improved a lot compared to the 1970s.

At this time, if you give them such a tragic ending, they will not have empathy for the bad guys, but will think that Tom Cruise's character has a bit of antisocial tendencies.

Tom Cruise is definitely not someone who can solve problems with brute force. He should go to Schwarzenegger or Stallone for that kind of thing. He should use his wisdom as a Harvard law graduate to defeat those stupid villains and finally win a new chance in life.

Paula Wagner immediately followed Ronald's advice and hired an expensive script doctor to rewrite the script.

Shirley Lansing was even more grateful, this kind of timely help is rare in Hollywood. In order to repay this friendship, she agreed to give Tom Cruise a salary of 12 million US dollars to break her own record, and also gave Ronald a salary of 5.5 million, which is exactly 500,000 US dollars higher than the current market price of a first-line director.

In addition to this prestigious salary, Ronald and Tom Cruise also got a chance to share in the box office revenue, as expected. This was not announced as part of the film's promotion. Since Jack Nicholson made a fortune as the Joker, this kind of profit-sharing contract has become evidence that the producers have no negotiating power.

……

"Tom, Nicole, look here, look here..."

To celebrate Ronald and Cruise's collaboration again and the first production after the establishment of C/W Films, Tom Cruise took the initiative to bring his wife Kidman to attend the premiere of Ronald's new film.

Originally, "Ultimate Soldier," a collaboration between Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme, would not have attracted a star like Cruise to the premiere, but Tom Cruise, grateful for Ronald's help, took the initiative to show his support.

"Oh, you know, I've always liked action movies. Myself? Not ruled out, haha..." Tom Cruise was very considerate and said a lot of good things about the two action stars. He also took photos with the two leading actors.

Of course, Lundgren was on his left and Jean-Claude Van Damme was on his right. The two still didn't talk to each other, but smiled when taking the photo, and snorted and glared at each other when they were done.

This mutual hype gimmick has a beginning and an end, from the project launch to participation in the European Film Festival and the premiere.

"Tsk, even with all the hype, the box office still didn't perform beyond expectations."

On Monday, the box office figures for the premiere came out. The film was screened in more than 1,900 theaters, contributing only over 10 million in box office revenue. Cinema Score also gave it a B rating. It seems that this film will stay in theaters for a maximum of five weeks...

"Is it the director's fault?" Distribution Director Michel Cannold was very puzzled. The plot of this movie is good, and the performances of the actors, especially Jean-Claude Van Damme, are quite outstanding. This action star, who made his debut in dance films, has continued to learn over the years, which has given him good acting skills.

"It has nothing to do with Roland Emmerich. It's the audience's taste for celebrities." Ronald didn't want to blame the German director. It was actually his mistake. The audience's taste drifted very quickly. Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme's square chins are now rapidly losing the favor of mainstream audiences. They should make those pure action movies, only then will they have fans.

"What to do next..."

"I will plan some movie ideas that are suitable for them..." Ronald shook his head. The biggest fear of stars is that they are born at the wrong time. If Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme had debuted ten years earlier, they might have been able to compete with Sylvester Stallone in the 1980s. Now... of course, everyone prefers stars with small cheeks like Tom Cruise.

"That's great." Michelle Cannold looked at his boss Ronald eagerly, wondering when the creative idea would come up.

"Wait a minute, I have other things to do..." Ronald waved his hand, indicating that he would not give him an answer right away.

After the other party left, he took out a document from the drawer. It was the complaint letter he wrote to the other party because "Hey, Frank" could not be released.

Someone had written a handwritten note on it, “We should carry out pilot projects of various forms of film art cooperation with Hollywood artists who are friendly to China to meet the people’s higher demand for literary and artistic works.”

With this instruction, it is simply a real stepping stone to the other side of the strait market. Ronald needs to think about how to use this thing to the highest value.

(End of this chapter)