Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 318 The Influence of Piracy

Ronald turned on the TV, he received a call from his aunt, the famous movie star Ingrid Bergman passed away.

"Ingrid Bergman has died in London. After a long battle with illness, the famous film star passed away on her 67th birthday, accompanied by her ex-Fra Schmidt.

She won two Oscars for Best Actress for "Gaslight" and "Princess and Truth".In her personal life, her extramarital affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini shocked American society.

But her performance with Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" may be the scene people talk about when they recall her. "

"Ronnie, have you read the news?"

Helen also called, and she also saw the news of Bergman's death.

Americans like "Casablanca" the most, and the TV station has begun to look back on Bergman's life. Before she was interviewed and filmed "Casablanca", the video was also found and replayed.

"When I played 'Casablanca,' I had no idea it was going to be a classic," says an elderly Bergman on TV, being interviewed by three talk show host Dick Cavett.

"I asked them whether they should love my husband or Humphrey Bogart. They (director and screenwriter) said that it hadn't been decided yet, and you should play the middle route. When I watched the movie's own performance later, They were all deadpan, because they didn't know that they should love that character."

"It's sudden news." Ronald also sighed.This star with a heart-stopping demeanor is reaching the third golden age of an actress. When a lot of grandma dramas come to her door, unexpectedly...

"I called her daughter, Aunt Pia, and said that Bergman's body will be buried in his hometown in Stockholm. They plan to hold a memorial service and will invite us to attend."

Pia is already an American, and her sister Isabella has also lived in New York for many years.The memorial service will be held in accordance with the American custom.

There was not a lot of sadness, but the relatives and friends of the deceased talked about the details of getting along with Bergman, and some people's speeches were very humorous. The audience smiled and diluted the sadness a lot.

Bergman's official funeral will follow in Stockholm.

At the memorial service, Ronald also saw Bergman's other daughter, Isabella Rossini, and they had a chat.

Isabella decided to debut as a model. Although she is thirty years old, this daughter who is most like Bergman is still very beautiful.She has her mother's legacy in the fashion industry, and many brands and photographers are vying to cooperate with her.

"I wish you well." Ronald wished her well. In any case, being a model at this age is indeed a bit of luck. "Is Marty okay? I saw him not in good health last time."

"He should be fine." Isabella said goodbye to Ronald and Helen, then turned and went into Pia's house.

"Did I say something that shouldn't be said?" Ronald asked Helen beside him.

"She seems to have separated from her husband." Helen heard some gossip.

No wonder Scorsese did that last time... Ronald thought.

The beauty wants to be an actress, but the famous director's husband is in his own movie, and he doesn't let his wife play any role.The last time Isabella acted in a movie was her Italian colleague Roberto, who made a guest appearance in an Italian movie.

However, in this kind of matter, in America, which values ​​privacy, it is difficult for outsiders to know the real reason for the breakup if the person concerned does not speak up.

It was late when he got home, and Ronald saw his cousin Donna was still looking at the stars with a telescope.

"Have you seen Halley's Comet?"

"No, but I saw the two split comets." Seeing that it was her cousin who had returned, Donna stepped aside and asked him to look at the telescope as well.

"Is this the big broom?" Ronald looked at the telescope, and there was a big comet in his field of vision, with a bright head and a thick, short and curved tail, a big star.

"Yes, you might not believe it, Ronnie. That bright comet tail is sweeping past Earth. But we don't feel it at all. It's made of very thin gas and dust that reflects the sun's light to shine... "

"People on Earth don't feel it? It's interesting." Ronald felt that it was a good thing for Donna to go to a key high school. A cousin with a lot of knowledge would hardly understand it.

The next day, CAA's agent Richard came to see Ronald again.

"Universal sold the 'Fast-paced' TV show rights for 200 million yuan, and the box office of the film has already exceeded 500 million yuan.

The TV version of your edit has passed the review of the TV station, and they are very satisfied with your edit. The dirty words and nudity scenes are replaced by dialogue, and they are directly given a G grade.

According to the latest labor agreement of the Directors’ Union, you will get the “residual” if you broadcast the TV more than ten times and sell video tapes. For this part of the money, you will receive a check from the Directors’ Union every quarter. .

Ronald nodded, "What's the matter with video tape sales? I don't seem to see anyone selling movie video tapes. Department stores and supermarkets only have Jane Fonda's fitness videos."

"Universal is in a lawsuit with Sony, the Japanese VCR maker. They believe that videotapes will destroy the movie industry like television did.

Mr. Spielberg has officially rejected Universal's request to sell ET VHS tapes. Although VHS and Universal are suing Sony's BetaMax is not a standard video tape, they are competing. "

"I don't understand. Isn't it possible to make a lot of money selling videotapes? Why did Spielberg refuse?" Ronald had dreamed of watching videotapes. It seems that videotapes will become the main way to watch movies in the future. Why refuse?

"Hollywood is very afraid of videotapes now. People in Japan have made videotapes very convenient to copy. You only need two VCRs and you can copy them at home. Who wants to go to the cinema to watch movies?"

"That's right," thought Ronald. "What about our movie?"

"Mr. Sinberg decided not to release the videotape, no matter what format. The Universal vs. Sony case has reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and all of Hollywood is watching the outcome of this case. His judgment will become a precedent later.

Universal is not going against all of Hollywood. "

"Then will we win?" Ronald felt a little uneasy when he heard that it would become a case.

The impact of the television invasion on Hollywood still lingers.At that time, a large number of creative talents were unemployed, and the market shrank.If I really want to be repeated by the video recorder, I am afraid that the opportunities to make films by myself will become less and less in the future.

"It's still relatively optimistic. Universal and other major studios sued Sony in the Central District Court of California in [-]. At that time, we were ruled by the judge on the basis of the First Amendment. The court ruled that ordinary customers using VCRs are not illegal. .

However, after appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a very favorable result was achieved.If a user pirates a videotape, Hollywood does not need to bear the burden of proof, while Sony and other companies that sell VCRs will automatically bear joint and several liability.

Now the Dongying people have appealed again, hoping to reopen the hearing.But Hollywood is generally optimistic about the prospects of the case. "

"Then I'm relieved, it's a good thing we don't release the video tape, at least the box office can sell more tickets."

……

"FBI seizes movie piracy ring!"

A few days later, the headlines of the Hollywood Reporter released an astonishing news.

ET was pirated, and Universal was unwilling to release an official videotape, but pirates helped him sell hundreds of thousands of pirated videotapes.

This is the first time a Hollywood movie has suffered serious losses due to pirated videotapes, and it has also dragged Ronald's "fast-paced" box office.

The cause of the matter is very simple. "ET Alien" continues to be popular. In many small town movie theaters, copies have not been available for a long time. The residents of the small town complain a lot. Any movie theater that can borrow a copy of ET can become a town hero.

Noticing a shortage of copies of the film in small towns, pirate gangs paid off a Tennessee projectionist to sneak a copy for the pirates to reproduce.

Based on this copy, the bootlegger successfully produced a videotape master.Then a large number of video tapes in VHS and Beta formats were copied and sold to all parts of the country through the distribution network.

Because ET is too popular, many regular stores have also bought and sold it.Selling pirated videotapes as genuine ones, with a price tag of [-] dollars, is still bought by many people.

This time, the projectionist and the bootleg factory in the Bronx, New York were captured.However, a large number of pirated video tapes have been circulated, and new pirated versions have been dubbed on this basis, and have flooded the country.

"How much is the estimated loss this time?" Ronald called his agent and asked about the loss to ET's box office due to the piracy.

"The estimated value of the case is more than 2000 million." Richard replied, "If the pirated video tapes are copied again, and the lost box office is therefore not seen in the cinema, the total loss is estimated to be 4000 million."

"What about the effect on us?"

"Universal ordered to rectify the management of copies, and 'fast-paced' will no longer produce new copies. Movie theaters on the east coast and central China will not be able to get copies until after the west coast is released."

"This is really an innocent disaster." Ronald lamented.

The copy theft of ET aliens made Universal executives furious.Originally, this film was expected to break the box office record of Star Wars A New Hope at the end of the year, but now it can only be postponed until next year.

Distributors all over the world have begun to strengthen the management of copies because this time the piracy is bribed by the projectionist to steal the copy of the movie and reproduce it.

It didn't do much, but it did succeed in slowing down the rotation of a copy between local movie theaters.It also caused resistance from major studios such as Universal to print more copies.

Orders for the last reprints of "Fast Pace" were cancelled, and old prints were transferred to the central and southern states after they were released in West Coast theaters two weeks earlier.

"This is good, and my box office will be several million less." Ronald complained.

"It's all the fault of those pirates." My aunt also echoed.

"In fact, Universal is also responsible. If they are willing to sell genuine video tapes, there won't be so many pirated copies." Donna just chose economics and came to express her opinion.

"Forget it, this is something beyond my control. Besides, the box office has far exceeded my expectations." Ronald ignored these troubles and began to organize his clothes, preparing to meet Helen and go to Flushing Park Stadium together. Old friend "High School of Rock" starring Vincent Van Patten.

The actor/tennis player made it to the third round as he wished, and met the world's No. [-] "bad boy" John McEnroe, who he had defeated before.

(End of this chapter)