Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 257 Chapter 2 Countdown
Timothy Hutton, starring Tom Cruise in the absurd comedy "Lights Out," in which cadets rebel against real estate demolitions, has finished editing the entire film and has begun internal testing.

Through the test screening feedback, 20th Century Fox does not have much confidence in the box office prospects, and does not want to compete with "ET", "Rocky 3" and other big productions for next year's summer vacation.

The president, Shirley Lansing, took the lead and arranged the production with a budget of 1400 million for the Christmas file at the end of the year, and urged the director to make a second revision based on audience feedback.

"The Texan", invested by Disney and produced by Kinneman, has completed filming in the rural town of Oklahoma, Tulsa, the hometown of the original author SE Hinton.

Disney expects the film to receive a PG rating due to the film's heroine Meg Tilly waking up in low-cut pajamas, some violent language, and a suspect using a gun after escaping from prison.

This has a great conflict with Disney's principle of always G-rating and attracting children to watch.Disney's president, Ron Miller, spent a lot of energy to suppress the opposition of a group of old courtiers and insisted on releasing the film.

But he took charge of Disney as a door-to-door son-in-law, and had to make some compromises with the conservatives headed by Roy Disney Jr., his wife's cousin. Instead of using the Disney logo on the opening credits, "Texas" uses the publisher's branding of "Buena Vista."

Ron Miller decided to put this film, which was added to the production cost of 600 million in the later period, as a test of the transformation direction of Disney's youth live-action film, and put it on the big screen in July at the end of next year's summer.

Paramount's teen flick, Grease 2, the sequel to the hit musical, was a mess.The director Patricia Birch lacks experience, and the people below are intriguing in order to choose the cast, and they rushed into this 1200 million big production to stuff their own people.

Those with power compete for leading roles and supporting roles, and those without power can mix in a few singing and dancing ensemble performances. Every day, the casting meeting is very lively.

Except for the heroine Burch who had already settled on Michelle Pfeiffer, the choice of the leading actor has already been fiercely killed.Birch nearly lost control of the crew, and the two producers were still arguing over the leading actor as the crew neared the start of operations.

The script began to be further revised to accommodate different leading actor candidates.If this chaos continues, the script may not be finalized when the project starts in November.Director Birch's hair is graying.

Universal's teen flick "Richmond High High" was a small $300 million production.Including the all-American hamburger brought by the young director and the sponsorship of Vans canvas shoes, the production budget is exactly 310 million.

Assistant director Albert came to the production office to meet the young and over-the-top director Ronald.The director chose him between him and two other candidates, which gave him mixed feelings.

Albert, who just entered the industry not long ago, was serious and responsible for his work. He once served as the first assistant director in "Urban Cowboy". The movie was released at the box office and he got more job opportunities.

The job of the first assistant director is to help the director manage all the personnel and processes on the set, so that the director can focus on directing the performance.Whether the box office is good or not has little to do with him.

However, the three films after Albert failed at the box office. Albert did not have a long-term cooperating director.

It happened that Universal's small production was recruiting, and the director selected him, and he got a job and was able to support his family.But he was also afraid that the film would fail to be released, which would have a worse negative impact on his resume, and that his future work would become a problem.

"Hi, Al. The director is losing his temper with the producer." It was Matthew, the director of photography of the crew who called him, and the two had known each other before.

"Go to the office and wait, Ronald is waiting for you." Matthew reminded him and walked out.

Al added another level of worry. This director is not only young, but it is his first time making a film. If he gets angry with the producer Lin Sen...he was recommended by Lin Sen.

Many studios will assign young directors who are first-time directors with an experienced first assistant director to assist them on their way.But this Ronald Lee... why did he have conflicts with the producer before the filming started?

He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Al pushed open the door and heard Ronald talking loudly with producer Lin Sen.

"It's not fair, why do we put Dolly Parton in an ad for her movie and she doesn't put an ad for us?"

Lin Sen chuckled, he was also used to Ronald's caring style.

"Come on, Ronnie. Our 'Fast Pace' is a period drama, and it's not normal to have a poster of the protagonist in front of the movie theater where they work. Dolly Parton's 'Best Chicken House in Texas' It’s a period drama, how to implant our current story?”

"Fair, fair, Mr. Lin Sen. They can't just order us to do this and that for free just because Ms. Mona from Texas got a 3000 million budget." Ronald replied.

Ms. Mona is the role of Dolly Parton in the movie, who runs a small chicken house with many beautiful women.

He had a brief encounter with Dolly Parton at the Oscars, not that he had a problem with her personally.

"Okay, I'll talk to the old folks and get their theaters to give us some teaser trailers. But you can't expect too much."

"I know, it's better to have something than nothing." Ronald knew that he had a small production of 310 million yuan, and there was no room for equal exchange with the other party.

"Cough..." the first assistant director Al cleared his throat.

"Oh, Al, here you are. I just gave you the finalized script. You can start dissecting the script next Monday." Ronald handed over an all-white copy of the script. If you want to revise the script in the future, just Will change the white paper of the modified part to blue and other colors.

All these trivial matters are handled by Al, the first assistant director, and his assistant director team.Usually, a woman will be appointed as the second assistant director to take charge of the fine work of documenting.

Al took the script, with the title "Fast-paced Richmond High School" written on it, with a line of small print on the lower right, the final draft.

He let out a long breath.

I don't know the talented person in front of me.Many new directors, even great directors, have made this mistake.The script was not finalized for a long time, and other departments of the crew, costumes, sets, lighting, photography, etc. could not work, and it was a mess after the start-up.

Ronald is very organized. He finalized the script at the first meeting, and the others spared their working time. In fact, it is also possible to revise the finalized script later.He and the producer are not arguing, but fighting for the crew's due interests.

What kind of novice director asked him to help? Isn't this a replica of the urban legend circulating in Universal?
When Spielberg directed the film for the first time, a novice director in his 20s acted like a veteran director.

Ronald saw Al flipping the script, and added, "Next Monday is the last four weeks until the start, so you should first find the candidates for the assistant director team, and try to use experienced people who have worked with you.

Then start to break down the script, make a shooting schedule, I will take you to the set office first, then the costumes, and the props.The last is my office, which is huge.You will work with me there. "

Said Ronald took Al out of the producer's office.The crew is taking shape day by day, and the original preparatory office is no longer enough, and it has become the accounting department.Now that the number of staff is increasing day by day, Universal allocated a lot of new offices for the crew to use.

Al followed Ronald around sets, props, and costumes.Ronald and the person in charge are very familiar with it, especially the clothing department. He also picked out pictures of two sweaters for the protagonist Stacy and asked them to make them.

This made Al look up to Ronald again.Many directors with a background in art, such as David Lynch, spend all day with costumes, constantly selecting and making exquisite costumes.Word has spread in Hollywood of his new title, chief costumer.

On the other hand, directors who focus on performance have not yet met with the costume department when the shooting started. They were not satisfied with the costumes when filming started, and they couldn't change them immediately, which was very troublesome.

"This is Cameron Crowe, and this is our first assistant director, Al. He will be here next Monday." Ronald finally led Al to the screenwriter and director's office.

Al looked at his desk, which was the largest.It seems that Ronald is not a director who only pays attention to the hierarchy of the set, and has flexibility.The assistant director team has a lot of paperwork, and it is very convenient to have a large desk where you can spread out the papers and organize them slowly.

He said goodbye and left.It must be comfortable to work in such a crew.Although the budget is not high, the boss knows how to do it, and the various departments prepare early, so that the shooting can be done in an orderly manner and move forward quickly.

However, this type of director may be less artistically creative, and Spielberg is a special case after all.But why think so much, can an exploitation film with a budget of 310 million still expect to win an award?
Ronald sent Al out, turned around and said to Cameron Crowe, "The producer has hired us to implant a new film for Dolly Parton in the movie theater scene at the beginning of the film. Advertisement. What do you think about it."

"It's that nerdy 'mouse' Mark, the movie theater that works as a ticket checker? Then let them take out a poster, and we can stick it next to Mark's ticket gate."

"A little bit more, we have to be serious, how about adding a line to Mark's friend Mike the scalper? Let's just say..." Ronald thought of an idea for Crowe.

"Hahaha...you have a great sense of humor." Crowe laughed and started typing on the typewriter.

"I've always been a little curious, and the countdown will start right away, aren't you nervous?" Crowe asked while typing.

"I'm not nervous, I'm very excited. I can finally realize my dream. Cameron, you will also experience it when you become a director in the future."

The penultimate week...

The first assistant director, Al, finished processing the breakdown of the script, and initially took out the shooting schedule to discuss with Ronald.

"There are two nude scenes here, have the contracts been dealt with?" Al reminded the director.

"Yes, the actors are all adults and have signed consent forms. We told each other at the beginning of the audition, and the actors union has checked."

"There are two children's scenes in the first day of filming. Do you need to move back for two days? After all, children's scenes are difficult to direct."

Ronald took the shooting plan and looked at it, and Al's reminder was necessary.According to Hollywood legend, children, animals, and water are the three subjects that directors fear most.What they have in common is disobedience.

It is often easy to waste time and delay the shooting process.It's easy to be caught by the deputy producer Heikelin.

But he flipped through the filming schedule, and still shook his head, "I have no choice. The mall scene has to be filmed after the mall closes at nine o'clock in the evening. Afterwards, the filming schedule is very full, and children have labor union regulations. You can't shoot too late, after 11 o'clock in the evening is a violation.

We only have a relatively empty schedule for the first day, which can give them enough time to make mistakes. "

After all, the budget is still too small, and it is impossible to set up the scene to shoot the interior of the mall.

The penultimate week...

The first assistant director Al and Ronald came to the Sherman Oaks department store again.This week, according to the shooting progress, we will check the shooting scenes one by one, and work with the art director and photography director to ensure that each scene can be shot as expected.

"We will find a way to hide the lights here, consistent with the lighting system inside the mall, so that the scene can be illuminated without looking like a real mall." Matthew, the director of photography, took Ronald to look at the lights layout.

“The first week of shooting would be normal color tones, what the human eye would see on film. Then I’d be here to stare as you transitioned to shoot other scenes, decorating the mall like a Christmas decoration. When you come back, we will shoot another Christmas scene for a week." Art Director Dan added.

"Does the mall agree?"

"They are very happy that they can save their own expenses on decorating the Christmas atmosphere. Anyway, it will be almost Christmas after we finish filming."

"very good……"

Penultimate week...

Ronald is having separate meetings with the actors to discuss the performance of each character.

"How are you getting on with Robert Romanus, who plays Mike?" Ronald asked Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was trying on a sweater.

"He is a very nice person, and he has done a lot of work for our family. My mother couldn't bear him to leave after filming." Jennifer laughed.

"How about this set? The neckline was specially modified to match her double ponytail hairstyle." The costume took a double ponytail wig from the hair stylist and put it on for Jennifer.

"Very good, let's order this set. You can find another one for her to match the shawl." Ronald ordered.

Jennifer had two passionate scenes, and Ronald specifically asked him how he felt about getting along with the actor.But Jennifer came from an acting family, so Ronald wasn't particularly worried.

He was more worried about Phoebe Cates.Because the crew of "Paradise" edited her revealing scenes of doubles, which made her angry.Openly accused "Paradise" of plagiarizing "Blue Lagoon" in the newspaper.

It made him a little worried that Phoebe might be put off by "fast-paced" revealing scenes.

Among the other leading actors, Judge Reinhold's conversation with Ronald was neither salty nor dull, and it seemed that he was still biased towards Heklein.Judge's acting skills are still qualified, and Ronald hopes to calm them down when the film starts, so that the filming will go on the right track.

The only one that left him scratching his head was Sean Penn, who has another stage play in Chicago and hasn't returned to Los Angeles yet.And I heard Tom Cruise say that Sean is a methodist. When this kind of actor plays with a non-methodist, it is better not to have any problems.

The penultimate week...

"All the shooting schedules have been confirmed. This is the announcement for each actor." The first assistant director Al was very powerful, and the documents were organized in an orderly manner.

Ronald picked up the notice and handed it to producer Lin Sen and associate producer Heikelin. On the last weekend counting down before the start, they met to check all the preparations and prepare for the start next Monday.

"All the group performers have signed the consent form. All American Burgers also agreed to open the back kitchen to us. This is the consent form..."

Items are ticked and confirmed, and the crew will officially start the production.

"Wish us success." Ronald shook everyone's hand.When holding Hekelin, she also smiled.The two left with a smile, just waiting for the good show to begin.

(End of this chapter)