Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 249 The Big House and the Little Bee

Spielberg's big house, not far from Universal Studios.

After "Jaws" saved the American film industry and created a miracle of summer movies, Universal gave Spielberg this big house with a market price of 100 million US dollars, complete with a studio, rec room, and resting place .

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Spielberg took out the latest version of ET's revised script by screenwriter Melissa Matheson, and handed it to Ronald who came to visit in the evening.

Ronald took a look. Some pages were pasted with post-its on the right side of the script. After flipping through it, he saw that these were the pages that had been replaced with blue paper, which was the revision of the latest version of the script.

Ronald quickly finished reading. ET's new version of the script removed many dramatic conflicts, but added a lot of friendship between children and ET aliens.There are not many violent conflicts in the whole film, and there are no villains. It can be said to be a warm story.

Of course, there are also aliens in the story. I don’t know if they are vicious or kind. Children should still be very curious about this unknown creature.

"What does ET look like?" Ronald asked.

"It's a million-dollar question," Spielberg laughed, and Ronald, a young man, got right to the point.

"Carlo Lamberti, the VFX modeler for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is modeling for ET, and all I can say is he's an ugly, intelligent creature, like a cross between Hemingway and Einstein .”

Universal's modelers have spent $70 for this ET model.Spielberg was completely dissatisfied and asked his old partner to remake it. The president of MCA, Simberg, is very supportive. The current model has some appearance, which is ugly but gentle.

"Puchi", Ronald couldn't help laughing.Spielberg had a great sense of humor, Hemingway had a notoriously ugly face, and Einstein was the smartest man on the planet.Put the two together, isn't that... Hey.

"Isn't that Master Yoda in Star Wars?"

"Hahaha, yes, George said that too." Spielberg also laughed, and George Lucas's first reaction when he saw this description was the same, so he asked Lucas for Master Yoda's Copyright, let him also make a cameo appearance in the film.

The relationship between him and Lucas is very strong. When George Lucas finished cutting "Star Wars", the special effects of the X-wing fighters and Tie fighters at the end were not added, and the air combat documentaries of World War II were used instead.

Among the few directors who watched the test screening, only I insisted that it was a movie that would sell well.

Ronald said at this time, "Steven, thank you for inviting me to evaluate the script. But I don't think I have much to offer. The charm of your movies lies in the wonders and monsters that give people real feelings.

I can't tell from the script, I'm afraid only in your own head can you know what it will be like after shooting and editing. "

Spielberg nodded. This is also true, so he has to keep the ET model absolutely secret. Even the name of the crew's office has become "A Boy's Life" to confuse the outside world.

"Your last evaluation was very interesting, so I invite you to chat and see if you can give me some inspiration."

Ronald looked down at the script, pointed to a place and asked, "I saw a plot where children lure ETs out and sprinkle chocolate beans along the way."

"Yeah, do you think this is bad? To do it another way?" Spielberg asked.

"No, I just had a whim," Ronald said. "Why don't you have Mars or Hershey's chocolate beans here, for a close-up shot? Just like 007 Bond's Alfa Romeo car, every Every time I give a lot of close-up shots of his car”

"Genius idea, how did you come up with it?" Spielberg turned to his assistant, "Catherine, Catherine, can I trouble you to come here?"

"I filmed Hershey's chewing gum commercial, and there was a small plot. I just think this plot is very similar to the commercial." Ronald replied.

"A very good idea. In the past, only car companies and airlines were willing to pay for their products to appear in movies. No FMCG company has done it yet. Let's give it a try."

"Katherine," Spielberg said to the incoming assistant, "send a memo to Mr. Sinberg saying I want to try selling an ad for... Mars M&Ms."

Catherine jotted down Spielberg's thoughts quickly, and then began drafting the memo.

"Really great inspiration, and a million dollar idea. What do you want, Ronald?
If you have a new script, you can send it to me. I recently registered my own studio, An Bolin, and I am purchasing scripts. If investors are satisfied, I may have the opportunity to direct.

You know, Robert Zemeckis, they say he was my apprentice.Recently he gave me a script, and I asked him to go back and polish it so that he could sell it to the studio. "

"Spielberg also wants to be a producer." Ronald thought to himself, but he had already got the opportunity to direct, "Okay, I have a new script and I will consider it."

"I've always loved your films, Steven. So when my little production 'Fast-paced Richmond High' started, could you please be there? I think that would give me a lot of validation and encouragement. "

"Why, what trouble have you encountered?" Spielberg had heard about Ronald's new project, and quickly guessed Ronald's real intention.

"Yeah, I'm having a little trouble, so I hope you'll be there to give me some support," Ronald admitted.

"Catherine?" Spielberg turned to Catherine and asked, "My schedule?"

"Shutdown planned for late October." Kathleen Kennedy reported the date.

"My film reservations are on at the end of October."

"Okay, Catherine, please remember the time, remind me at that time, I will go to your crew to see."

"Thank you, Steven." Ronald didn't expect that his main purpose of coming today would be achieved so easily, so he quickly thanked him.

"I am very happy today. I will show you around my entertainment room and studio." Spielberg stood up and showed Ronald around the big house.

"This is the latest arcade game, Little Bee, come and play." Spielberg turned on an arcade machine and dropped two coins into it.Invite Ronald to play.

Spielberg's character is like a big boy, in his eyes the movie is a game.Of course, because of his Jewish genetics, his business experience is also very good.He treats both business and movies as a game, and he can stand out from the crowd, what a genius.

Ronald held the joystick in his left hand, and pressed the button to fire with his right hand.There is a plane at the bottom of the screen, you can dodge the bullets from the enemy plane above the screen left and right, or you can press the button to fire the bullet to shoot down the enemy plane.

Ronald seems to have played with this thing before, and he got started quickly.Moving left and right skillfully dodged the bullets and knocked out a lot of enemy planes above.

"Oh, have you ever played it before?" Spielberg exclaimed.

"No, I just think it's easy. It's a matter of attention distribution. You can't dodge while aiming at the enemy plane and firing. You have to find a main direction of attention distribution."

While talking about the game, Ronald was killed by the enemy's bullet without paying attention.

"Hahaha." The two laughed loudly.

"You broke my record," Spielberg said, pointing to the subtitles on the screen.

"Aha, let me leave a name." Ronald manipulated the joystick and typed the six letters of RON LEE on the screen, leaving his name on the high score record of this game console.

Spielberg looked at Ronald, and he really felt that this young man was right for him.When other people come to visit the big house, they don't take it seriously when they come to this game room.Many people compliment him perfunctorily for keeping his childlike innocence.

In fact, when Spielberg was a child, he was a lonely child with few friends. Only these toys and game consoles were his childhood "partners".

Only Ronald really likes these toys. Looking at his level of playing "Little Bee", he must be a die-hard player.

The two continued to visit the big house.

"I was at Universal Television and I waited a long time for my first directing opportunity. I loved movies, sneaked into an empty office at Universal, pretended to be management, went on and off sets, taught myself a lot of things."

Spielberg talked with Ronald about his history along the way, "I was finally discovered and kicked out of the studio. It was Mr. Simberg who gave me a chance. I directed the first film in my life when I was 22 years old. A short film called Ann Bolling, which is why I used that as the name of the studio."

"This is my work room. It's messy inside. Don't move my things, or I won't be able to find them."

Ronald looked up and saw that the room was full of various props left by Spielberg's filming, and there were many scripts piled up on the big table.

"I started directing TV when I was 23, and I started making TV movies when I was 27. George Lucas also waited a long time before he could make his first movie. The first work is very important. It really needs support. You turn it on Remember to notify Catherine in advance, and I will go."

"Thank you, Mr. Spielberg." Ronald thanked again sincerely, having Spielberg's support, especially when he had just made the blockbuster "The Lost Ark of the Covenant."

This is tantamount to using his own fame to endorse himself. As long as Steven appears on the set and says that Ronald's filming is good, no one will be able to shake his position in the crew.

"Is this the script you collected?" Ronald was grateful and saw several piles of scripts on the table.

"Yes, this is the Zemeckis script I told you just now." Spielberg took out a copy and handed it to Ronald.

Ronald took a look, and there was a strange name on it, "Back to the Future.

Ronald opened the script and turned a few pages. He felt that the name was very familiar, and he was about to continue and read the content of the script carefully.

"Ronald!" Spielberg shouted, and Ronald came back to his senses.

"You seem to like this script very much? You might as well take it and have a look, give me an evaluation opinion, and I will pass it on to Zemeckis."

"Okay, no problem." Ronald took the script and followed his master out.

Walking back to the living room, Ronald wanted to say goodbye and leave.Finally, he remembered the crash course in directing that Coleman had given himself, and wanted to ask Spielberg to teach him some tricks.

"I don't have much know-how. Movies are as natural to me as eating and drinking. Maybe my reading comprehension ability is not good enough. I like to use images to tell stories since I was a child.

I just want to say, don't forget your original thought.During filming, there are many disturbances and inspirations, and it is easy to go astray. At this time, try to think about the original intention of making this film, and then you can get back on track. "

(End of this chapter)