Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 416 Celebration Party
Box office numbers continued to do well Tuesday night, and The Atlantic threw a celebratory party for "Night of the Comet."

The Atlantic was particularly expensive, and booked a large room at the Hilton Hotel. The self-service party had champagne, oysters, and various snacks.Everyone involved with the movie was there to congratulate, Ronald in a tuxedo and bow tie, greeting people he knew and didn't know.

In the first week's box office, there is no suspense to see the trend break through 500 million.The investment can be recovered in the first week of release, and the leaders of Atlantic Films are full of pride and ambition.

"Ronald, why don't you sign a long-term film contract with us, and then we will invest in all your scripts, so that you don't have to worry about financing, and we can concentrate on developing distribution channels, which is a win-win thing. "

President Tom Coleman personally brought Ronald a glass of champagne and persuaded Ronald to sign at least three more film contracts with them.

"What type of movie do you want to make? How much can you invest in?" Of course Ronald knew that it was impossible for Atlantic to invest in all scripts, so there were still conditions.

"Certainly with movies like 'Night of the Comet', we predicted that teen-related movies would be the next direction, and you and Martha Coolidge's movies are proof of that, we just have to follow the proven formula Go forward and you can reap more success."

"Proven formula?"

“Yes, the teenage audience, plus genres. Or teenage genres, teen horror, teen romance, teen sci-fi, teen family relationships, as many successful genres as there are, we can make as many The teen version of success."

"This is a very good idea. I will discuss it with my agent." Ronald clinked his glass lightly, unwilling to kill the matter right away.The Atlantic seems to have tasted the sweetness, and wants to continue to make big gains in small-budget teenage exploitation films.

But Ronald still had doubts about Atlantic Pictures.The Atlantic did not perform very well in this film release. The release schedule was stuck before the summer release of several blockbuster films, and they did not have the financial strength to engage in marketing. In terms of contacts and experience, they all started from scratch.It's not so much that their distribution business is off the ground, it's better to say that they have found two good movies.

It's better to wait and see their next release performance, and the ability to collect money from theaters.

"That's a good idea. I'll let my agent continue to chat with you." Ronald pushed his agent, smiled and toasted Tom Coleman.

"Very good. In the future, if this kind of thing happens, you can push it to me." Nisita in the corner, after Tom left, quickly leaned forward, and he kept aiming at Ronald not far from the side, like Like wild animals staring at their own territory, they stare at every move of the person who wants to set Ronald.This will not hinder Ronald's social interaction, and he can keep an eye on the poachers at any time.

The cast and crew of "Night of the Comet" basically came to the party, except for Kelly Maroney, who plays sister Samantha.After the film's release, Maroney landed a coveted TV series recurring role and has returned to New York to film.

Catherine Mary Stewart also called her to go back and continue filming the original TV series.The writers brought her character back to life, running back and continuing to squabble with the other protagonists on a daytime soap opera.

This is also one of the reasons why Ronald likes to shoot his own movies. Those high-ranking executive producers in Hollywood actually don't have the ability to distinguish between good and bad actors.The set of theories they talk about is nothing more than an afterthought after the success of actors and directors.

If the movie is successful, all the actors will go to heaven, at least when other crews are looking for them, they will remember their success in "Night of the Comet", and they will charge a higher price.

The same is true of the staff, the art director John Muto has a wide range of interests, he has already been asked to be the visual director of an animation, and several live-action films have asked him to continue to be the art director.

Director of Photography Arthur Albert is even more sought-after. Many TV dramas, music videos, and commercials are queuing up to ask him to take the shot.

After all, the film was made with such a poor budget, and the end-of-the-world effects were so good that both of them became treasures. It is generally believed in the industry that the success of "Night of the Comet" owes a large part of the credit to the two of them.

James Cameron, the director of special effects, assured Orion and Heimdale, the two investors of "Terminator", that he was completely at ease. Gail said that the producer sent by the producer had a good attitude towards them. a lot.

The two have to leave early, and then go home to write "First Blood" and the sequel script of "Alien".After seeing "Night of the Comet," the two producers happily handed Gail an advance check.With this kind of special effects skills, they are very confident when writing scripts that require various special-shaped and explosive special effects. They all think that they have taken advantage of signing Cameron in advance before the movie is released.

William Morris' Italian agent Ed Limato also came up, "Ronald, you are a good guy, my two clients, after this, are considered to have stepped up, cheers!"

"Come on, I'm just here to thank Ronald on behalf of the client, who can take him away from you?" Limato saw Nisita, who had been by his side since he came, and had a chat with the fellow. joke.

After Kevin Costner made this movie, he had a little money and other commercials came to him to shoot.He could spend more time taking acting classes instead of working as a carpenter on the Paramount set to earn a living.

Nicolas Cage was happier, connecting and selling two low-budget films, a lead role and a cameo, and his film contract became smooth under the auspices of Limato.If it weren't for his preference for works that can hone his acting skills, there are also some commercial productions that come to him and wait for him to choose.

Ronald is very happy that his film has increased the value and opportunities of those involved.Hollywood is like this, if you can increase the value of others, others will be willing to cooperate with you.With such a good reputation, I will not worry about not having famous actors to act in my own movies in the future.

"Hey Mary, thanks for the kind words over at 'Interview' magazine."

Seeing Mary Voronov approaching, Ronald went up to hug him and congratulate him.

"That bastard Andy Warhol actually hired a young man who graduated from college to write a film review." Mary was still straight-hearted, saying whatever she wanted.

"But the result is still very good, praise your performance and the whole movie to the sky."

"That kid can indeed write." Mary drank the champagne in one gulp.

"Do you have a new movie contract?" Ronald asked.Mary Voronoff's movie participation has been inconsistent since Roger Corman sold New World.

"I get a lot of TV and movie offers, I'm not greedy."

"Actually, your acting skills are still wasted." Ronald knew that TV movies were filmed on film, but the purpose was to show them on TV, not movies shown in theaters.

This kind of movie is usually on a narrow screen, and the lens design and lighting also have strong traces of TV. For Mary Voronov, participating in a TV movie is as easy as drinking water and eating.

"You have to be careful, Ronald. Having a stable income is the most important thing. Now even the best-selling movies that are released have to be released on videotapes. From now on, those finely crafted acting skills will be the same on the small TV screen. It’s better to shoot more and earn more money.”

"Oh, yes."

Ronald also heard the news.Paramount's "Lightning Dance" has just been released for five weeks, and the weekly box office has been stable at more than 500 million US dollars for the first four weeks, but this week it dropped to more than 480 million.

With such box office results, in previous years, everyone had to celebrate and increase marketing investment, but this year, Paramount has already started recording and releasing the "Lightning Dance" videotape.

The Supreme Court's verdict has come out, and there are more and more stores selling and renting various video tapes on the streets of Los Angeles every day.

Paramount seems to be very pessimistic about the box office in theaters, and will start selling videotapes as soon as there is a downward trend.I'm afraid that the pirated version of "ET Alien" sold all over the sky last year will reappear.The idea of ​​capital is simple and practical.

Anyway, the verdict has come out, videotape dubbing is not illegal.Rather than giving the money to bootleggers, or viewers who rip at home, I'd rather make it myself.

At this time, Richard hurried in, "Ronald, this is the record of sending flowers. Will it still be once a week after that?"

It was the receipt that Ronald ordered Richard to send flowers to Helen Slater in London.He took out his checkbook and wrote Richard another one.

"Yes, let's continue to send according to this frequency." Since Ronald came back, he was a little concerned that Helen was alone in the crew and he couldn't visit the set frequently.So I often send flowers to remind Helen, and also show my presence to other crew members.

"In addition, there is news about the Darryl Vidal you asked me to find. He is now learning Wing Chun in the Zhenfan Martial Art Museum in San Francisco. A martial art that combines martial arts philosophy."

"San Francisco? How is he doing now?"

"No money, he has already learned Wing Chun almost, and also learned a lot of martial arts from other countries and schools, but he has no money to open a martial arts gym, so he can only work in Zhenfan martial arts hall to earn money."

"Then invite him to come to Los Angeles. I will pay for it. I want to chat with him about karate-related things in the script of the new film."

"No problem, he can come over anytime, and I'll rent him a motel." Richard agreed.

(End of this chapter)