Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 170 The President of Columbia Who Read the Script
"That's not an easy thing." Katzenberg laughed. "It's relatively easy to make an Oscar-winning movie and a box office hit. It's not easy to make films that stand the test of time."

"Why? I don't quite understand, Mr. Katzenberg."

"Anyway, there is still some time. If it ends now, my secretary will bother me with the waiting list." Katzenberg is passionate about movies, so he simply chatted with Ronald a little bit more.

"Do you know how many movies Hollywood makes in a year?"

Ronald shook his head.

"The current film production has shrunk significantly, but there are still more than 300 films that can be shown in theaters across the country a year. The number of films produced by Hollywood every year is at least 10 times that number."

"If it were in the golden age 30 years ago, when there was no TV, this number would be several times higher. But how many movies released before 1950 are still remembered by people?"

Ronald fell into deep thought. He had only watched nearly 100 old movies in Scorsese's film classic appreciation class, plus the TV evening theater recorded on video tape.

And this is from the birth of the film to 1950, the total production of all films in the 50 years, after 30 years of sifting, the classic films selected.

It seems that it will be circulated for 30 years, and some people remember that this requirement is indeed very high.But I just want to direct a movie that is remembered by others. Maybe I can work towards this goal, add luck, and have a chance to dream of a movie, maybe I can achieve it?
"Yes, Mr. Katzenberg, I know the difficulty of this matter, but this is also the goal I want to pursue in my life."

"Well said, I like young people like you." A middle-aged man opened the door and walked in.

"Mr. Eisner." Both Katzenberg and Ovitz stood up and said hello to the president of Paramount.

Michael Eisner shook Ovitz's hand, then pulled him into his arms for a hug. "I have Jane Fonda's new movie, how about it?"

"Jane Fonda demands fair competition as long as your bid is the highest." Ovitz replied with a very professional smile.

Ronald also stood up and looked at the most powerful person in Paramount.

Eisner, with deep-set eyes and a square jaw that resembled Superman in the comics, was wearing a yellow T-shirt and a lavender coat.The lower body is dark gray pants, and white leather shoes, and a white belt is tied around the stomach, which is very eye-catching.Only the hairline seems to be a little further back than Katzenberg.

Eisner looked as if he had just returned from a golf course.

"You must be Ronald, the author of the script. I heard Jeffrey mention your name. Hollywood needs young people like you." Eisner actually knew Ronald's name, and shook hands with him , a word of encouragement.

"Michael, you and Jeffrey continue to discuss the details, I am waiting for good news."

Eisner was like Caesar in purple, who visited the tent of the subordinate centurion, chatted with each soldier, and then walked away.

This style of work is completely different from Disney's high-level executives, and it gives you the illusion of dealing with friends.

After chatting about the bidding method and details, Michael Ovitz took Ronald out of the gate of Paramount.

"With the first bidder, the subsequent negotiations will be much easier."

Sure enough, as Ovitz expected, in the next few days, the negotiations became smoother and smoother.Every more studio that is willing to bid is negotiated, and the next one is less difficult to negotiate.

In the film market, no one knows whether a project will make or lose, but since other people are optimistic about this project, the prospects must be good.It is possible to use the vision of a popular producer like Katzenberg to judge the film's box office prospects, and the subsequent studios quickly agreed.

"So your script is sure to sell?" Pfeiffer still came to the hotel to accompany Ronald in the evening.

"I don't know. If it can be sold, it will be due to Jane Fonda." Ronald and Pfeiffer sat on both sides of the dining car pushed by the waiter, eating the dinner delivered.

"Now I'm not sure about my commitment to anyone. In the past two days, Mr. Ovitz and I met with Paramount, [-]th Century Fox, Orion, and Warner Bros. I was in charge of selling the script for about half an hour speech, hoping to impress the producers."

Ronald popped a piece of pizza into his mouth and took a sip of soda.

"Everything I hear is: We'd love to invest in anything that Jane Fonda approves of, we love the Vietnam War thing, we love the script very, very much... But in two days, I haven't heard from a single studio executive He was instructed on the spot to prepare to bid and compete for the contract.”

"I don't know very well. Does it mean that in Hollywood, I like it very much, which means that New Yorkers say I don't like it? It means you are looking for someone else, right?"

"Giggle..." Michelle Pfeiffer was amused by Ronald, "I don't know the producer's speaking style, but the manager Limato said that many stars talk like this."

"So I'm not very confident that I can finalize the contract this time, and I'm going to meet Columbia President Frank Price tomorrow."

"You'll make it, Ronald." Pfeiffer said, shaking his hand.

"How are you? Are you still getting used to the acting class?" Ronald held Pfeiffer's hand backhand and asked about her situation.

"It's okay, but emotional memory often makes me very broken."

When Ronald heard this, his hands visibly trembled.Memories of the Actors Studio in New York came flooding back.

"What's the matter, Ronald?" Pfeiffer felt Ronald's nervousness, "Don't worry, I know some classmates, they are more experienced than me, Peter told me, as long as the selected emotional memory is suitable for playing , like a crying scene. There’s no big problem.” Michelle Pfeiffer in turn told Ronald to relax.

"Really? What memory did you pick?" Ronald drank water again, suppressing his nervousness, "Do you want me to analyze it for you?"

"Hahaha, I don't know if you're not an actor, emotional memory won't work when you speak it out."

"Okay...that's what you said." Ronald remembered the method of emotional memory, that emotion must only belong to the actor himself, in order to achieve the best effect.

When you have time, ask Diane's father Burt. He used to hold acting training classes. Maybe there is a better way.

"By the way, who is Peter?" Ronald forked another piece of pizza.

"Hahaha... I thought you wouldn't ask. Peter is also an actor, and he often plays supporting roles in TV dramas. He is a classmate in my acting class." Michelle Pfeiffer laughed at Ronald jealously.

"I won't be here tomorrow. There are a lot of exercises in the acting class and physical training in the afternoon."

"I will miss you." Ronald reached out his hand and wiped away the tomato juice on Michelle's mouth, and the atmosphere in the room immediately became ambiguous.

"Are you an actor to become famous, or to make money?" Ronald put his arms around Pfeiffer, and the two whispered on the bed.He remembered what Katzenberg said, it is easy to make money and become famous, but it is difficult to beat time and pass it on.

"I don't know, I just like acting. After I became the Miss Orange County beauty pageant champion, I called the agents in the yellow pages and asked them how to act in movies." Michelle leaned on Ronald shoulder said.

"I was really naive at the time, but I was lucky. My first agent treated me well. Unfortunately, I met those two liars later. He was too old to represent me. I heard that Then retired."

"Why did you enter this industry?" Pfeiffer talked about his original intention of entering the showbiz, and asked Ronald in turn.

"What about me? At first it was to make money. Then I wanted to create something, and it would be best to leave some traces in Hollywood."

"Hee hee..." Pfeiffer posted the initiative. She liked the temperature of Ronald's body heater. "By the way, who were your parents before? I never heard you talk about them."

"They are just ordinary people who lived in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts." Ronald said, "Our family used to have a house, but after their car accident, I had no money to repay the mortgage, so I was sued by the bank and auctioned off in court."

"I never heard you say that. You must be very upset."

"I stayed in the hospital for a long time and suffered from aphasia. Some of the insurance money and the remaining money returned to the bank after the house auction were used for medical expenses."

"Poor Ronnie..." Pfeiffer pulled Ronald closer.

The next morning, Ronald and Ovitz reunited, and the two went to the last studio, Columbia Pictures, to pitch "My Brother's Protector."

Of all the studio executives Ronald had met, Frank Price was the least executive-like.He looks more like a senior accountant, or a high school math teacher.He has a big forehead, but the suit doesn't fit very well.A red tie wrinkled the shirt a little.

"Welcome, my friend Michael. You are welcome too, little Ronald." Frank Price embraced the two very warmly.This sale is more like talking about scripts among friends.

Ronald did not expect that the president of Columbia would be so familiar with his script and asked many detailed questions.How did you come up with the name "My Brother's Protector", why set up a fool, and why make the fool the protector of all warriors?
Ronald answered one by one.

This made him feel that none of the previous executives of the studio had read his script carefully. Compared with Price, Katzenberg was more like asking his subordinates to read the script and write a summary.And he himself only read the synopsis and the comments of his subordinates.

"Where's your favorite director?" Price asked Ovitz.

"James Bridges, the director of Huaguo Syndrome," Ovitz replied, "he worked well with Jane, and Jane fell for him."

"I know him. Paramount just came out with 'Urban Cowboy'. He directed it. John Travolta and Debra Winger are notoriously difficult to deal with. actor. I agree in principle."

"Jane also wants Bruce Gilbert to be a producer..."

Frank Price scratched his head, "Ronald, can you give me a private conversation space with Mr. Ovitz." Then he pressed the button on the table and called in his secretary, "Please Take Mr. Li to the lounge for a while."

Ronald followed the secretary to the lounge and drank the coffee brought by the secretary.Knowing that Ovitz might have to discuss some key issues with Price, he couldn't help worrying about gains and losses.Frank Price reads the script the most carefully of all, and probably the most likely to pay for it.

At the same time, in the office, Frank Price was a little annoyed, "Michael, you have increased the conditions again. Do you want Jane's IPC Films to participate in the investment?"

"Bingo, Orion and Paramount have all agreed to terms."

“But none of them could possibly come up with a $350 million budget.”

"Yes, but they weren't bitten by the hyena either."

Frank Price was silent.Last year, the Las Vegas tycoon Kirk Kerkorian, who took control of MGM and then ruined it, has his eyes on Columbia again, aggressively increasing his stake in Columbia in the capital market. The stock has lost nearly 25%.

After that, the Ministry of Justice launched an antitrust investigation against Kerkorian. He controlled the two major producers of MGM and Columbia, as well as some theaters, which touched the antitrust red line.

Kerkorian's contacts are so deep that he actually turned the antitrust lawsuit into a judgment in his favor.He wasn't allowed to increase his stake in Columbia or any of the major Hollywood studios, but he wasn't forced to sell the 25 percent he already owned.

During this time, Kerkorian was even preparing to sue Columbia Pictures for the strange reason that he failed to do his duty to create benefits for shareholders.This is a combination punch aimed at executives such as Price. It is intended to clean up the original management, unite with other non-film industry shareholders to take the controlling stake, and then slowly empty Columbia like MGM.

Having seen Kerkorian's approach to bringing MGM, most of Columbia's shareholders are very dissatisfied with the casino operator making trouble, but it is also a reality that Columbia lacks lucrative star productions.

Now Price needs this Jane Fonda movie more than anyone else to win over all shareholders.

"So your complete conditions are?"

"A production budget of 385 million, Jane Fonda starred in a guaranteed contract of 200 million, director James Bridges, producer Bruce Gilbert and IPC Films entered the game."

"Let's talk about any other conditions."

"Declaring a large investment to the outside world, I'll help you stir up the heat in the media. Let's start with young screenwriters selling sky-high scripts, how about it?"

"Do you have a complete publicity plan?"

"Yes, let this news slowly ferment and repeatedly appear in the media. It is best for the young screenwriter Ronald to fire the first shot. The 20-year-old screenwriter wrote the Vietnam War script, which attracted Oscar-winning actress Jane Fang In the end, five Hollywood studios bid for it, and it went to Columbia..."

"I love this media headline."

(End of this chapter)