Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 372
"Press your clock, Lindsay. I still don't understand why the legality of recording a TV show determines the success or failure of Sony and Universal's lawsuit. From the fair use just said, you are giving me explain."

Ronald was making a long-distance call to his personal attorney, Lindsay Dole.There has been a major incident in Hollywood these days. The Supreme Court may overturn the judgment of the Ninth Circuit Court and re-judgment the videotape infringement case between Sony and Universal, and Sony will win.

For a while, people in Hollywood were in panic, and everyone was saying that the second TV crisis would come, and this time Hollywood would be completely beaten down.

After hearing some rumors, Ronald didn't understand the point at all, and didn't know who was right, so he simply called Lawyer Lindsay for advice.

"Okay, Ronald, let me sort it out with you.

First of all, in [-], Universal Studios sued Sony Corporation, arguing that the video recorder technology they manufactured was used to pirate movies, and asked the court to rule that Sony was the applicable object of the automatic relief clause.

As long as Universal discovers that a video tape has pirated Universal's movies, it can automatically claim corresponding compensation from Sony and other video technology manufacturers. "

"I understand." Ronald nodded. According to the law, if the judgment of automatic relief is established, then the film studio will not need to bear the burden of proof in the future. Sony and other Japanese companies will be automatically considered jointly and severally liable for piracy.

As long as it is found that someone is using Sony's video tapes to pirate, Sony has to automatically lose money. .In this case, the product of the video tape is tantamount to being sentenced to death in the American market.

"However, [-] happened to be the time when the copyright law was revised, leaving a hole for individual consumer infringement, which is called fair use.

For example, if the footage of the assassination of the Grand Commander broadcast on public TV is used in a documentary filming this event in the future, it is considered fair use.Because the main purpose of documentaries is not to make profits, but to educate the public. "

"I understand that too." Ronald knew this was a special case. The movie should be based on some public event footage broadcast by public TV stations, which can also be used reasonably.

"So Sony's lawyers, starting from the perspective of fair use, believe that consumers record TV programs at home and then watch them when they have time, which is a fair use. Because TV programs are educational and meet the first Amendment Speech Exception.

Since it is legal to record television shows, videotape companies cannot be prohibited from selling VCRs and blank videocassettes in America.This brought great convenience to personal piracy. Universal appealed to the circuit court and the judgment was changed to Universal's victory.Sony finally appealed to the Supreme Court.

The District Court ruled that Sony won, and the Ninth Circuit Court changed the judgment to Universal to win, and now the Supreme Court seems to have won the majority support, and it can win with 5:4 votes, and the judgment is changed again to win the lawsuit. "

"But I heard from my agent that the Supreme Court supported Universal 6:3, why now?"

"You are talking about the first discussion. The Supreme Court can have two opportunities to discuss a case. After the first discussion, the judge who wrote the minority opinion knows that he has a chance to win two votes, so he writes the minority opinion as the majority opinion. tone.

Sure enough, Justice Brennan was persuaded to jump from a position in favor of Universal to a position in favor of Sony.In the end, they persuaded O'Connor, the first female justice in history, to be nominated by the current general.So the verdict they are going to write immediately is that Sony won 5:4. "

"What happened? Lindsay, if you can rip the videotape so casually, doesn't it mean that no one will go to the movies?"

"I have read the Supreme Court's opinion that if individual users don't have time to watch TV, it is fair use to record it with a video recorder and watch it when they are free.

Television stations actually like this invention. Viewers use video recorders to record programs, which means that more people will see the programs of the television stations, so that advertisements can be sold at a higher price. "

"Shxt, then our movie deserves to be unlucky?"

"Does this affect you a lot? I heard that the plaintiff is joining six other studios to lobby Congress to try to pass legislation to ban the sale of blank video tapes and the copying function of private video recorders."

"I can't tell. My agent is already discussing whether to increase the TV drama business of actor clients."

……

Universal may lose the lawsuit, and the news that video tape producers can enter the American market in a large scale spreads more and more in Hollywood. Many practitioners begin to think about the impact of this judgment on themselves, and the film actors union even begins to consider organizing demonstrations.

Shirley Lansing, who is working as a producer on the film "Footloose", also began to adjust the production strategy accordingly.

"Isn't Michael Cimino back yet?" Lansing asked the assistant.

"His agent said that Cimino has been collecting songs in Oklahoma, and his new version of the script has been sent out, and it should arrive soon."

"Call his agent, make sure he gets through, don't think I don't know about all the tricks he's doing at United Artists, I guess he never went to Oklahoma, he's hanging out at a strip club in Los Angeles right now, Then send me a bunch of bills for tens of thousands of dollars.

Tell his agent that if I want to reimburse those bills, let him move his fat ass over here. "

"Shall I tell his agent exactly?"

"Reporting the exact words." Shirley Lansing waved her hand and asked the assistant to go out.

"Hey", Lansing covered his forehead with one hand and let out a long sigh.The judgment of the Supreme Court came at an inopportune time. I had to reconsider whether I should go to Paramount as the vice president.

Production company executives are judged by the success or failure of the film.Video tapes will bring a lot of piracy, so next year's performance will definitely not be good. If next year's revenue drops too much due to piracy, that smart guy Eisner will definitely put the blame on himself.

Instead of this, it is better to temporarily leave the management position of the studio and organize an independent production company with partner Stanley Jaffe.Using Jaffe's production ability and his contacts in major studios, he would be able to give full play to his strengths.

Call Jaffe later, he's a smart guy and will give himself better terms than his old partner Melnik.

And compared to office politics, I actually prefer going to the set to watch movies.Although Lansing is a pretty bad actor, the experience of working with John Wayne's male stars is still fresh in her memory and very pleasant.It's not a bad thing to run more to the set.

The assistant knocked on Lansing's door again, "Ms. Lansing, Cimino's courier has arrived."

Lansing nodded and opened the package, which contained a script and a bag of documents.Lansing opened the script, Cimino changed a lot of things, the whole story became darker, the way the town treated the foreign high school student Lun was more cruel, and finally the pastor of the town also united with everyone to expel their family .

"Tsk," Lansing frowned.In the trend of blockbuster movies in the past two years, audiences have begun to like comedy and warmth. This kind of movie plot with bitterness and hatred is no longer very attractive.Moreover, Cimino's script has a full 140 pages, and it may be a blockbuster film of more than two and a half hours.

This Cimino, does he think of himself as those laymen from United Artists back then?Even if it is nine to ten minutes in length, it cannot be more than one minute.

She opened the file bag, and there were a lot of receipts inside.Lansing flipped through it casually, but luckily it wasn't too much. She was about to sign when she found a piece of paper mixed in with the receipt.

"Application for payment, based on re-editing the script, I request the producer to pay part of the cost of script adaptation in advance, 25 US dollars."

"Ring..." The phone rang, and Lansing picked it up.

"It's Cimino's manager." The assistant's voice sounded through the microphone.

"Come in", Lansing adjusted his sitting posture, so that the air flow can be more thorough, and the middle air can fully reach the throat.

"I don't know why your client thinks I'm going to be ripped off by him, maybe he doesn't know what's going on in Hollywood right now, everyone's cutting budgets, and he dares to offer me $25 for the first script adaptation.

... You told him he was fired! "

Lansing finished speaking in one breath and fired Cimino on the spot.I pressed the call button again and found my assistant.

"Give me a call to the agent of two people, director Ron Howard, and actor Tom Cruise."

……

Not everyone, after hearing the news of the Supreme Court, was like Lansing, whose first reaction was to cut the production budget to adapt to the more sluggish film market next year.

For example, the newly purchased three lawyers from New World Productions are discussing how to find a talent to run the company.

They used the leverage of the financial market to raise funds to buy New World. The purpose was not to operate a film distribution company.Instead, he felt that Roger Coleman's distribution channels were far underestimated by him.

They want to buy it, split it up, and sell the production capacity and distribution capacity to capital interested in investing in Hollywood.As for those exploitation film libraries, they are actually worthless, so let Coleman take them away.

However, the judgment of the Supreme Court made their valuation of the company disappoint, and now New World will not be able to sell at the expected price in a while.

The three lawyers are now forced to find a knowledgeable insider to run the new world. If they are lucky enough to make a few blockbuster movies, they will have time to sell them.

"What does Universal's Tom Mount say?" a lawyer asked another lawyer who contacted Universal.

"He has the distribution guarantee from Universal. Over the past few years, the films produced by his own production company have been distributed globally. And he seems to have found a partner and is going to raise funds in Japan, so Mount has no idea about becoming the CEO of New World. Interested. What about the Paramount side you contacted?"

"Katenberg is comfortable at Paramount, he's not willing to risk the New World. Where's the woman at Fox?"

"Lansing's level is not good, and she was fired by Fox's new boss. She also turned down the invitation of the headhunter."

The three continued to name several high-level names, but there was no good news from the headhunters.

"It seems that these executives at the level of presidents and executive vice presidents who used to hold power will not come to New World. They are all companies that integrate production and distribution. I really don't understand why they don't like New World?"

"It seems that we have to look further down. Are there any suitable candidates for the subordinates of these candidates, among the vice presidents who report directly to them?"

(End of this chapter)