Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 626 Touchstone Films

"Your public relations consultant, Eva, has a good idea. This reporter obviously divided the young and promising actors into two groups. The first wave only got praise, and they also focused on honing their acting skills. Ralph Mazio can enter This lineup will add a lot of topics to the sequel of 'Longwei Boy'."

Weintraub hosted Ronald at his home in Los Angeles.If it wasn't for Ronald's tip-off this time, it would be troublesome if there is a problem with the protagonist Mazio in the sequel.

"Did the statement from Ralph come out?"

"At this."

Weintraub handed over a public statement. Ralph Mazio said that he and Emilio were only working together in "The Urchin of the World". The two did not have a deep friendship. Get ready for the sequel to "The Dragon Boy."

And he said that he disagrees with the statement of the "Stinky Boys Gang". They are not a gang, they always make movies together like the Rats Gang, but they are looking for their own careers separately.

"It's about the same caliber as Tom Cruise's side." Ronald heaved a sigh of relief, it was taught by a public relations manager.

"Little George's mother, Barbara, called me. After you talked with Eisner, give her a call back. Now he is very caring as a fund director. Among his friends, ask him if he invested What movie, he couldn't tell, it was very embarrassing."

Weintraub's wife, Jane Morgan, saw that Ronald and her husband had finished chatting about the new film, and took the time to whisper to Ronald the request of his friend, the deputy commander's wife, Barbara.

Barbara's eldest son has never loved work so much, and now he is laughed at by his friends every day, saying that he voted for a liar, and he has not seen a single movie.He didn't even talk back, and only said that it depends on Disney's long-term operation.Seeing that the mother was very distressed, she called to care about her son's career.

"I will, Mr. Eisner has arranged for me to meet and chat this weekend."

"That son of Martin's is such a scourge that he has involved some of the most promising actors in Hollywood at once."

Eisner met Ronald privately in a small, intimate restaurant.

"Who said it wasn't? Fortunately, I was clever and asked Cruise and Mazio to make a statement. Otherwise, my two new films have not been released yet, and the male lead will be in controversy."

Now Emilio's "Boy Gang" has become the hottest topic in Hollywood.All male actors, when interviewed, have to criticize them for being unprofessional, disrespecting acting skills, and only know the spirit of pleasure, and draw a clear line with them.

In private, they were warned one by one by their agents and production companies not to be interviewed by reporters in private, and all interviews must be checked by a professional public relations company.

"It's a good thing he didn't involve Molly Ringwald, a minor, otherwise parents all over the United States would tear him alive."

Eisner was still angry, and Martin Sheen had bought for his eldest son the copyright of the adaptation of Hinton's Oklahoma Boys Trilogy, the last novel "This Time, That Time", which was owned by him at Paramount. Issue contracts signed during the period.

Although I am now at Disney, the responsibility is still on my head.Originally at Disney, he also wanted to sign a contract with their father and son to release Emilio's first self-written and directed film "Wisdom".

Now that there is such a scandal, he just wants to blacklist both father and son, slap him to death, and never hire them.

"Ahem..." Ronald walked around for a while before getting to the point.

"Now the mother of one of the directors of the Screen Fund found me and wanted to ask about the use of Disney's funds. You know, she has always taken good care of her children."

"I know. The contract I signed with the Screen Fund can only be used to invest in live-action movies. But now the veterans in Disney, headed by Roy Jr., want to completely negate the strategic direction of the former son-in-law Ron Miller .”

"Then what should we do?" Ronald understood Eisner's implication.

Roy Disney Jr., the nephew of the founder Walt Disney, used the reason that his son-in-law Ron Miller invested in live-action movies and lost all his money, forcing him and his cousin to grow grapes in Napa Valley.

The newly introduced duo of CEOs Eisner and Katzenberg privately agreed with Ron Miller's live-action film policy, and were unwilling to invest in traditional Disney cartoons with high costs and slow turnover.

"When will you help me make a movie?" Eisner avoided talking about the investment, and instead invited Ronald to play the role.

"I've just been working on Top Gun, and I need to rest, and then there's the sequel to Dragon Might Kid..." Ronald meant that he didn't have time.

"Then you can help me choose the script, and recommend any director who can make small and medium-budget films." Eisner still wants to catch Ronald, the second phase of the Screen Fund, Ronald is the key person in the middle, if He can make a blockbuster live-action movie for Disney, and he can continue the third and fourth fund releases, so he doesn't have to worry about the source of funds.

The cost of this kind of private equity fund is much lower than that of bank loans, and it is also much more convenient.

"My production company, Daydream Films, can I invest in it?" Seeing that Eisner gave him the opportunity, Ronald immediately hit the snake with the stick.

"The investment of the Screen Fund will also give some share to the production company, but it's really only a little bit." Eisner made a small gesture.

"As long as you can participate."

"I will ask my assistant to send the script to you. It's still the same sentence. You can shoot whatever themes you want, and let whoever you want to star in the starring role. But now I can only give you the right to decide the budget of small and medium-sized productions. Say, I can give you the green light for movies with a budget of no more than 600 million."

"Why?" Ronald couldn't help being curious when Eisner gave a specific data.

"If you are willing to direct, how much money is negotiable. If you don't direct, but only participate in the production, I can only give you 600 million. Because I plan to put small and medium-cost live-action movies under this brand, so that there will be no doubts on the board of directors. There will be too many constraints."

As he spoke, Eisner pushed a document over.

Ronald picked it up and took a look. On it was a feasibility report for shooting comedies, action movies, and romantic youth films that teenage audiences would like, and the words "TouchStone" were written underneath.

"Hmm... sneaking into Chen Cang?" A Chinese sentence popped up in Ronald's mind.It turned out that in order to alleviate the resistance of promoting live-action film shooting in the board of directors, Eisner put some small and medium-sized films on the signboard of "Touchstone Films", which has nothing to do with Disney.

"This is a company founded by Ron Miller, which is specially used to shoot small and medium-sized youth productions. However, his vision is very bad. The only film he has made since its establishment is Walter Murch's 'Return to the Country of Oz' recently. ’, there is hope to make a profit, and the other six productions all lose money.”

Eisner took a sip of his wine and continued to introduce, "I made a compromise. From now on, there will no longer be any Disney-related logos on Touchstone's opening credits, so that the audience will not know that he is a company controlled by Disney. Touchstone will be issued independently. The channel will also allow larger-scale R-rated movies, and the newly approved PG-13-rated movies. As long as you want to grasp the profit, whether it is a script in our film library, or you write it yourself, or buy it if you like it Send them all you want. Katzenberg will approve them himself.”

This means that Ronald has a secret project approval and distribution channel, and he can cast all his favorite exploitation films.Not only can I be a director, but I can also support my friends.

The next day, Ronald went to the CAA office excitedly.Richard was carrying boxes of scripts into his office.

After renewing his contract with Ronald for three years, Richard also has his own independent office. He also specially arranged a desk for Ronald. The refrigerator is full of snacks that Ronald likes to eat. Red wine from the winery.

"So many? Has Disney moved all their film libraries here?" Ronald felt a burst of joy when he saw such a big battle.After struggling for several years, it finally reached the point where the producer asked him to direct.

Although it is only because of the special relationship between Eisner and the Screen Fund, although it only has the right to decide the production with a budget of less than 600 million.

"Do you need an assistant to condense all these movies into a few hundred words for you to read?"

Ronald thought for a while and rejected the other party's suggestion.It is not easy to find a professional assistant who is willing to work hard.Maybe I let go of a good script.

"Let me see for myself."

Lying on a comfortable bed at home, Ronald picked up a script and read the first three pages to see if it aroused his interest. If he was interested, he would read it backwards, and if the story behind also made him want to read it , put it aside, and wait for time to take a closer look.

While flipping and reading like this, I didn't accumulate a few interesting scripts.

Ronald picked up another script, "Ruthless People," written by an unknown man named Dale Launer who hadn't written any screenplays yet.

"So it's a comedy?" Ronald thought the beginning was interesting. Two stupid thieves kidnapped the billionaire heiress, a fat and vicious woman.And her husband, who is planning to kidnap the kidnappers, can take over the inheritance all by himself, and live together with his lover. "

"It's worth taking a closer look at it yourself." Ronald felt that the plot at the beginning of me was very catchy, and put it in a pile of scripts that he focused on by his bed.

A drowsiness set in, Ronald yawned and fell asleep.

A screen appeared in the dream.A drumbeat came, and a wide blue ribbon passed through the bottom of the screen, and condensed into a small ball on the left, and the ribbon became the subtitle of Touchstone Films.

Then there was another drumbeat, and the subtitle on the second page read "Screen Fund Phase II assisted in the filming".

"What a coincidence? What I dreamed about was the work of Screen Fund's investment in Touchstone." Ronald moved his mouth and smiled, as if he had found a suitable script and could deal with Barbara and Eisner.

"At the beginning of the film, a short, bald, shrinking actor is holding the hand of a mistress, repeating to her the imaginary that he has said countless times, that he will kill the evil wife and rob her of her inheritance. "

"This person is really suitable for acting in comedies, and he can enjoy Coke watching it." Ronald commented.

The man returned home and found that his wife was not there. He received a blackmail call saying that his wife was in their hands and asked him to prepare $50 in cash as a ransom, and if he called the police, he would kill his wife.

The actor's facial expression ranged from impatient to unbelievable, and finally he laughed when he heard that the kidnapper called the police and killed his wife. Isn't this what he has wanted for a long time?

"This acting is really good. The close-up shots can show such rich layers."

Ronald wanted to comment on the actor's acting skills.

Two kidnappers, wearing duck masks of the two nephews and nieces of the Disney animated figure Donald Duck, let go of the cloth bag covering the kidnapped wife's head.

A fat and ugly actress, pouting her fat lips, started to squirt, and she was going to put her kidnappers in jail and tortured to death.

"If my wife looks like this and has a bad temper, I'd like to kill her." Ronald saw the two kidnappers next to him, a man and a woman, but they were shivering at the hostages, and couldn't help but sympathize with her husband.

The two kidnappers locked the hostages in the basement, and they turned on the TV to see if there was any news about the kidnapping.

Who knew that all the channels were talking about the latest news of Mrs. Stone's kidnapping, and even the news that the kidnapper extorted 50 yuan by phone was exposed on TV.

The camera turned to the kidnappers. The two of them, a man and a woman, looked like husband and wife. They didn't look like villains who could do kidnapping.

"Isn't this an old acquaintance, Judge Reinhold?" Ronald saw the close-up of the male kidnapper's face. It was the one who played the heroine's eldest brother Brad and had a crush on Phoebe Cates in "Fast Pace". The actor of the role.

"Can you believe it? All the TV stations are talking about this news."

"Do you feel as guilty as I do?" The female kidnapper's voice was terrified, and her upper body shrank. It seemed that she was not a professional kidnapper.

"This performance is not very good, it's a bit too much. Maybe dramas and musicals need such exaggerated physical movements to attract the audience's attention. But some movies have close-ups and close-ups, and they only need realistic and normal performances."

Ronald commented on the heroine's acting skills. Even if it's a comedy, it's better to act according to the real drama. The funny thing about this script is not the lines, but the absurdity of the plot itself.

"Guilty? We've said it many times. They stole your idea and used it to make millions of dollars. We only need 50, which is fair."

The lens zoomed in, and the blurry face of the female kidnapper behind became clear.

"Isn't this Helen Slater? No wonder the acting is so bad."

"Oh, no, you can't say that. It won't be good if she or his father Gerald hears it."

"Why, do you dislike my acting skills so much?" Helen suddenly stopped acting, and asked Ronald with wide eyes. Her short hair has not recovered from 'Billy King Legend' and just reached her shoulders, "Where did I act? No, that's what I learned from Stella Adler's acting class."

"Ah, no, I meant that your acting skills are not suitable for acting in movies." Ronald was a little scared when he saw Helen on the screen suddenly turn to him and question him.

"Really? Are you saying that my daughter's acting skills are poor? You are the film director, why don't you direct her? How did I entrust my daughter to you? You have to be responsible for training her acting skills."

Gerrard also appeared on the screen. He held a wine glass and said sternly to Ronald.

"Ah, don't. I don't know how to direct acting skills!"

Ronald rolled out of bed in fright.

(End of this chapter)