Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 761 Minahan Golan May Be Demented

Spielberg had very high expectations for Empire of the Sun.This place has just opened the door to filmmakers from all over the world. He and Bertolucci were the first two western directors to come in to shoot on-site.

Hollywood sometimes pays attention to fashion. In the past two years, everyone has vaguely felt that movies with the scenery here as the background will be the next hot spot.

Not only the American people line up to travel and enjoy the scenery of the ancient country, but also the Oscar judges want to come here to make movies. Those who try it first are most likely to become the favorites for various Oscar awards.

"Empire of the Sun" and "The Last Emperor" are both epic films. From a single character, we can see the transformation of the great era.

The Oscars are based on a voting system, and now Hollywood is pursuing foreign styles. The best-selling of "Crocodile Dundee" has also deepened this love for foreign styles.This year, two films were filmed in the ancient East, which also fit the enthusiasm of American audiences for a glimpse of the scenery.

Spielberg, who has always been good at catching popular trends, really wanted to win the best director statuette he had dreamed of for a long time with this movie.Last time "Purple", the Oscar judges deliberately did not nominate him for the director award, which made Spielberg criticize him in an interview on TV.Now everyone feels a little guilty about him, maybe his dream will come true.

Spielberg also told Ronald that this is the first time he has filmed a story of a child leaving innocence and growing into an adult.He abandoned what he used to be best at, the method of photographing the innocent feelings of children, just wanting to break the routine and seek a breakthrough for himself.

Seeing that Spielberg put so much effort into the film, Ronald bid farewell to the crew and stopped disturbing.

After the class visit, Ronald invited his partner Lao Yan to dinner again. He has been researching some new inventions recently, but there is no result.His son Xiaoyan has accumulated some qualifications after accompanying Spielberg this time, and he will be able to start his study abroad career in America next year.

"I'll leave my son to you, Xiao Luo. Son, when you get there, you have to listen to your Brother Luo. Do you know that he can fight on my behalf?" After drinking some rice wine, Lao Yan officially entrusted his son to the Ronald.

"I've been like this for the rest of my life. You have to fight hard, and you have to work hard when you go there." Lao Yan poured a glass of wine for his son and had a drink with him.

"I think you, Old Yan, have a chance to go to America. Now that you are working, I can invite you to visit there. When you retire, you can also go there for tourism or settle down." Ronald Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit sad, he persuaded Lao Yan again.

"That's right, Director Luo is there to take care of you, and Xiao Yan is also working hard. Old Yan, you will enjoy yourself in the future." Director Huang was also invited to dinner by Ronald.The few of them are Ronald's hardcore friends here.

"Your movie 'Human Ghost Love' is a specially made videotape. I will take it to Hollywood to see if anyone is willing to introduce it. After all, this is a Chinese movie, and it is about operas that are very unfamiliar to American audiences. Maybe The best result is that it will be screened on a small scale in some theaters in Chinatown."

"I get it, and I'm glad I got the chance."

Ronald talked with Director Huang about her going to Hollywood for further study.Now when they go abroad, they still need to send an invitation letter from the foreign party, and then the leader approves it.

Ronald is going to send the videotape of this film to Gail to see if their Hollywood Women Practitioners Club is interested in sending out an invitation to ask the female director who made this excellent female film to communicate in the past.

In the end, Ronald went to Minhang's lightning lamp factory to have a look. The quality and stability of the long-arc halogen lamps exported were not bad.In addition, the city government attaches great importance to it, and it is close to the countryside. Various supporting non-staple foods and light industrial products are sufficient, and the enthusiasm of the workers is very good.

In the end, Ronald took the workshop director and other cadres together to take a group photo under the award certificate of "Export Model Unit" on the wall in the factory manager's office.

……

"Hello, Mr. Li, the plane is about to land." The middle-aged flight attendant in the business class woke up Ronald.It was another long flight, and he returned to Los Angeles with the high-quality goji berries and tea that Director Xu helped to buy.

Bud Jr. drove to the airport to borrow him, and along the way, Richard, the agent, seized the time to report on the time of departure.

"The news from Paramount, Top Gun's box office can continue, and the company decided to speed up the release of the video tape.

Pepsi thinks you did a really good ad for their Diet Pepsi and was wondering if you could remake the Top Gun ad yourself and put it on video.They are willing to pay big bucks. "

"I'm out of time, and I'm about to enter the production of 'Moonlight'. Besides, are they not satisfied with the advertisement shot by Catherine Bigelow?" Ronald asked.

"No, they're pretty happy with it. It's just that Michael J. Fox is in the commercial, and they thought about getting Tom Cruise to do one too."

"Have you spoken to Paula?"

"She is not very willing. Tom Cruise is trying to find a director and an excellent script when he is picking a show. He doesn't want to be stereotyped in a role like a fighter pilot."

"Then pass," Ronald replied.

"At MGM, Mr. Weintraub did not return my calls. There are some rumors in the industry that he has some conflicts with his boss Kerkorian. It seems that Kerkorian did not honor the stock options he promised."

"Huh? It won't affect the preparation of my movie, will it?"

"No, I have contacted Mr. Kerkorian's secretary. She said that Mr. Kerkorian also attaches great importance to the first film that MGM resumed production, and would like to see you."

"There's no rush, you find Weintraub first, and I'll talk to him first."

After dealing with the accumulated matters, Ronald remembered the matter of breakdancing again, and said to Richard, "You help me contact Minahan of Cannon, I have something to discuss with him."

……

Minahan Golan's body was fatter again, and his belly protruded a lot more than the last time I saw him.

"Ronald, quack quack. You're here just in time. I'm going to the theater to see copies of two movies. Come along and we'll talk while watching."

"Of course, I'm here to talk to you about break dancing." Ronald knew that Minahan was now the president of a large company, and his work was not as busy as before.

"Break dancing? Why, are you willing to make a third film? I'm investing!"

Minahan jumped up more than a foot, and happily patted Ronald on the back, "As long as we cooperate, we will be able to make a big-selling movie."

"No, I went to the other side of the Pacific Ocean. They decided to introduce 'break dancing', so I came to you. Can you give them a low price then?"

"No problem, the movie has basically been sold all over the world. It is a good thing that we can break into emerging markets that are difficult for Hollywood to set foot in a few years later."

Minahan's intuition for the international market is still very good, and his films always do well at the box office in Britain, where there is also a fan club with cannonballs.All the new movies that cannon cannon, you have to watch it.

"Here's the new movie we've got with Stallone, Yoram, Yoram, here comes Ronald. Let's watch, projectionist, projectionist."

Minahan's voice was still loud, and he turned his head quickly from side to side, greeting everyone present loudly.

There is also a person from the production team, who probably sent the edited copy to the court today, stood up respectfully and said hello to him.

"Sit down, sit down, let's watch Sylvester Stallone's new movie 'Over the Top' first, and then I'll watch yours."

The cannon logo flashed across the screen, and the subtitles of "Over the Top" began to appear.

The film was directed by Minahan Golan, written by Stallone himself, and starred in it.The main story is about a divorced truck driver father, Lincoln. After his ex-wife fell ill and was hospitalized, he took his son to drive the truck all the way to bars all over the world to participate in arm wrestling competitions. He finally won the national arm wrestling competition and improved his relationship with his son. .

As soon as Ronald saw the names of the title director and screenwriter, he felt a sense of disaster.

Sure enough, the movie parodied the storyline of "Rocky" and changed the boxing match into a weird arm wrestling match.Changed the emotional process of the girlfriend to improve the relationship with the estranged son.

Different storylines, but applying the same structure, the filming has a very comic feel.

Ronald had a hard time refraining from laughing at arm wrestling in all sorts of weird bars.

In the end, Stallone wrestled with a big guy who was two heads taller than him. When he was about to lose, he turned his defeat into victory by making eye contact with his son. He laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, isn't this ending very good? I specially invited the Italian-born Giorgio Moroder to compose the music. After he made the soundtrack for your 'Top Gun', the price has more than tripled."

"Haha... yes, this soundtrack is really good. If I close my eyes and imagine the battle on the screen, I will feel my blood boil." Ronald really had nothing to praise, so he had to stare at the soundtrack and praise stand up.

He didn't say that if he opened his eyes, he would definitely laugh again.

Minahan Golan continued to praise himself, and his cousin Yoram pointed to his watch to remind him that time was tight.

Minahan waved his hand to the back with a lot of enthusiasm, signaling to start putting down one.

"Who is that, don't you have a document for me to sign? Hurry up and bring it." Minahan called the waiting assistant to come up, took the document, and began to sign.

The name that appeared on the screen was "Alan Quaterman and the Lost City of Gold," and Ronald recognized the actor as Richard Chamberlain, the copycat version of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" starring Sharon Stone. The sequel to "King Solomon's Treasure".

"This imitation is very uncreative, and even the naming rules are imitated." Ronald touched his chin and thought, this Minahan is really thorough.

From the second part of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones played by Harrison Ford was put into the title, forming the method of protagonist + adventure treasure.Minahan, this is plagiarism across the board.

As soon as the movie opened, Ronald couldn't sit still, and the sequel was shot so that his eyes almost closed in embarrassment.

There are no special effects in all the scenes, just to make up for it.Let the protagonist Richard Chamberlain play casually, he can fight dozens of enemies with machine guns with a revolver, that is, the enemies can only win if they are stupid.

I don't know how much Minahan invested in this movie, and how much money was embezzled.

Is Minahan filming too many films now, and he can't handle it?If he watched the crew by himself during the breakdancing period with him, it would be absolutely impossible to make it look like this.

The performance of the heroine Sharon Stone is also extremely exaggerated. Ronald felt that even Helen Slater, whose acting skills were ten times worse, could not play the story of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus in the elementary school drama festival. so.

"Hey... bah..."

Ronald heard in the corner that an actress, like himself, hated the heroine's acting skills very much.

Feeling the same, Ronald and she looked at each other and smiled.

After finally enduring more than an hour of bad movie, Ronald stood up and wanted to go first.Watching another movie like this would give me a stomach ache.

Minahan stood up and called the director, "What are you filming? Didn't I say, these queens are ugly, ugly, why do you make them so beautiful, they are all beauties."

The director was tongue-tied, not knowing what Minahan was talking about.

"The movie I made is called 'Invaders of Mars', which is a queen of a group of Zerg, not 'Invaders of the Playboy Villa'. Why is the villain number one so beautiful? What did you film?"

……

"Director Ronald, hello, I am the film's number one female villain, Cassandra Peterson"

Ronald was wondering why Minahan called this movie "Invaders of Mars". The actress who disliked the heroine's acting skills just like himself jumped up from the seat and blocked Ronald's way. To have a chat with him.

"Hello, it's really you. Your makeup in the movie and the stunts performed by those doubles are very beautiful." Ronald perfunctory, and was about to leave.

"I was born as a dancer. The final special effects of this movie only cost two yuan and thirty-five cents. I only had myself as a stuntman. I jumped into that green lake by myself."

Cassandra Peterson was not willing to miss the opportunity, and like a machine gun, she explained why her performance was good and bad.

It turns out that apart from the crew's money not knowing where it went, and Cassandra having to shoot a lot of dangerous shots by herself, the heroine Sharon Stone is also a nuisance.In the scene where the cannibals caught them and cooked them in a cauldron, the blonde also pissed in the prop cauldron.

When he came out, he proudly announced to everyone that in the end, no one wanted to rearrange the angry and disgusting black pot. The last edited shot was the only one, and the whole performance was extremely bad.

"I thought she was a smart actress, how could this be?" Ronald couldn't help wondering if the heroine was out of her mind and a deep well of ice.

"Her IQ is actually not low, she is a smart person, but she tells everyone that she is smart every day in the crew."

Ronald felt that it was not easy for this actress. Facing such a heroine in the movie, the opposite scene was qualified, and it was also considered desperate to shoot dangerous stunts by himself.

He took out a business card with just his office phone number and handed it to her. "Is that Cassandra Peterson? You call this number and tell them that I gave you my business card. If there is a suitable role in the future, I will notify you to audition."

"Oh, thank you...thank you..."

Cassandra Peterson has big breasts and fair skin, but in fact she looks sweet without heavy makeup, not the coquettish villain in the movie. She was very happy when she got her business card and kept saying hello to Luo Nader thanks.

"Ronald, don't you want to watch the next one with me? It's a story about American ninjas." Minahan came over to persuade him to stay.

"I really have to go," Ronald quickly shied away.

"Okay, I know you're busy, and I'll arrange the breakdance. Also, call me when you have time, and we can talk about cooperation, OK?"

Minahan was so busy that someone came to ask him to sign again.The next member of the crew, led by the director, also approached a row, sat down with him and waited to watch the sample.

Minahan was still scolding the unlucky director, "How many times have I said that queens and maids should be ugly."

"Minahan probably got the name of our movie wrong. He thought he was watching Invaders of Mars instead of The Lost City of Gold."

Cassandra Peterson whispered in Ronald's ear.

Ronald glanced at her in surprise, "How many movies have you Cannon made this year?"

"I don't know, thirty? Thirty-five?"

Ronald looked at Minahan, who even got the name of the movie wrong, feeling a little bad.Is it really so difficult to manage a film studio?This strong Israeli man was tortured to the point of dementia.

……

The next day, when Ronald returned to the office, he heard the good news.

My own "Dirty Dancing" was submitted for review for the second time. After deleting ten seconds of nude scenes, the MPAA politely re-rated it as PG-13.

Publishing business manager Michel Cannold, besides being ecstatic, had a deeper understanding of Ronald's unfathomable connections.

"We plan to promote it state by state. Since we missed the theater to find our Las Vegas film fair, then we will take the initiative to go there and sell to the movie theaters in every state and every town.

The quality of Dirty Dancing is very good, I believe those theater managers will be overwhelmed by the wonderful plot and provocative dance, and what we got is PG-13.”

Michelle Cannold is full of drive.

"Then it's hard work for you. When I'm not around, you can find Eddie if you have anything to do. We can discuss any difficulties. After all, this is the first leading movie of Daydream."

After all, the publishing business is an unfamiliar field, and the two leading managers don't have much experience, so everything has to be explored.Ronald is still very satisfied with starting the distribution work at the end of the year. Before Christmas, he may be able to scan several states in the Deep South to see the situation and make adjustments.

Another day later, Ronald adjusted the jet lag, and Weintraub, who had been missing for a long time, took the initiative to call and asked Ronald to go home to talk in detail.

"Ronald, come on, long time no see. How is your business in Xujiahui? How is Spielberg's new film going?"

Weintraub was still sitting on his long leather sofa, greeting Ronald with a big smile.

A beautiful woman in a bikini walked by the door.

Ronald raised his eyebrows, looked at the beauty, and asked Weintraub with his eyes.

"My wife Jane went to Washington, D.C., and Barbara, the deputy commander's wife, wanted her to go to the meeting. I happened to stay in Los Angeles because of business."

Ronald thought it was no wonder that Weintraub was not afraid of a fine of 100 million. It turned out that his wife was on a business trip.

"The situation over there is good. I couldn't contact you a few days ago."

"Hey... I went to Las Vegas."

Weintraub sighed, took out a bottle of brandy, poured it for Ronald and himself.

"Old bastard Kerkorian..."

It turned out that Weintraub was picked up by Kerkorian, the real owner of MGM, the big owner of the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, and an expert who borrowed chickens to lay eggs.He didn't get the real CEO position, and Kerkorian appointed another person as co-CEO, under the pretense of ensuring that the businesses of MGM and United Artists can be carried out normally.

Moreover, it turned out that Kerkorian agreed to Weintraub's stock options and promised him to be the second shareholder and the plan of the small boss. Because of the new tax law, some legal "technical problems" occurred, and it was about to fail.

Weintraub rectified the top management of MGM for Kerkorian and integrated the teams of the original two companies. After basically finishing the dirty work, he was kicked away by Kerkorian.Now it is tantamount to getting only a shell-like CEO position of United Artists.

"So you just swallowed this breath?" Ronald asked.

"So what to do? All his operations are technically legal. I also underestimated the difficulty of his operation in Las Vegas. This is not an easy person to deal with.

Fortunately, we Jews have a bit of tradition and don’t get entangled in past grievances. If we suffer a loss, we should write down this lesson and start over. "

Weintraub was born as a singer's manager, so he still has a lot of fears about casino tycoons like Kerkorian.

He didn't get the power he wanted, so he had to take a large salary and bonus, resigned angrily, and started a small company "Weintraub Productions" by himself.

Fortunately, he was not idle when he was at MGM. Relying on the platform of MGM, he connected with Canada's largest United Cinemas, Shinneblack Cinemas.

Weintraub teamed up with them, found old partner Columbia Pictures, and signed them a 20-year distribution contract.

All works produced by "Weintraub Productions" are distributed by Columbia.

Ronald was a little worried about his new film after hearing the news.With Weintraub gone, will there be any problems with MGM's cooperation?

As if seeing Ronald's worry, Weintraub said to him, "Don't worry about your new film 'Moonlight', not to mention that I will be there until the end of February next year...

I also agreed with Kerkorian that he will devote resources to the release of your new film.You're one of the most lucrative directors in Hollywood, and this is MGM's first movie since it got back into production, and he knows what's going on. "

"Honey", the bikini beauty was outside the door, waving at Weintraub, but her eyes kept sizing up Ronald, and she even took the time to throw a wink.

"It's a midseam model from the new Playboy issue, recommended by Hugh Hefner. Would you like to try it?" Weintraub poked the accused.

Ronald waved his hand, expressing his disinterest.

"Haha, you don't have to worry about these things. I invited you here today because I want to continue to cooperate with you. When I arrive at my own production company, I will take the overall helm, and Susan will help me take care of the daily work. How about we cooperate again? ?”

"Let's talk about it after I finish filming the movie in hand." Ronald shied away.

"I know that you also have a small production company yourself. What's the point of playing those small productions? This time, I got real big investment from Shinneblack Cinemas and Columbia. What kind of movie do you want to make, and who do you want to make? can satisfy you.

how about it?think about it? "

"Oh? You got a big investment?" Ronald felt that this sentence was very familiar, and someone had said it before.

"I'm just telling you one person, don't spread the word before February next year. It's still a confidentiality stage, and it's a big investment that will shock Hollywood." Weintraub lowered his voice and lowered his head slightly, as if to avoid being heard by the bikini beauty .

"How much?" Ronald couldn't help bowing his head forward, and the two heads were almost stuck together.

"5000 million."

……

"5000 million..." Ronald half-lyed on the back seat of Little Bard's car, still not recovering from it.

Why don't these Wall Street people seem to regard money as money?

Disney's Eisner got 5000 million, Cannon got [-] million, and now Weintraub got another [-] million.I'm making a small production by myself, and I'm still worried that I won't be able to get money. Where are these people better than me?Why does it seem like hundreds of millions of dollars are taken casually.

It's not easy to talk to others about it, so Ronald made a special trip to New York and met Douglas Hansen Jr.

The two were overwhelmed by the big money on Wall Street, and chatted for a long time in the mansion of Douglas Jr.

"I've carefully read the information disclosed by these two businesses, and it's clear that Wall Street has no idea what kind of movies make money.

But now that money is loose, the Federal Reserve has maintained low interest rates for several years. It raised interest rates slightly last year, and the economic response is also very stable.It is the golden age with very good liquidity.

That's why they can easily raise 20 to [-] million yuan, whether it's from the junk bond market for Cannon, or private equity funds raised from rich people for Disney's Eisner, including this time Weintraub held the [-]-year Long-term issuance contract, mortgage plus investment from private investors.

The only thing they are better than Daydream Pictures is that they have their own distribution channels.

Those fools on Wall Street, they only use formulas to explain the reasons for profits.Because their movies are selling well, they have a unique vision and strong distribution channels.Why do their movies sell well?It is precisely because of the unique vision and strong distribution channels.

I have read the analysis reports of many researchers, and they are all rubbish of these circular arguments.

As long as our Dirty Dancing is successful, I think the money from Wall Street will definitely come to us. "

"Yes, you still have to have distribution channels to be valued by others." Ronald also felt that it made sense.Doing business is not about making movies. The production, purchase, distribution, marketing and other links of movies cannot have special short versions, so that capital will favor them.

After confirming the direction of the company, Douglas Jr. entertained Ronald with a steak. The chef in his family was Italian, but the steak he cooked today was Irish. It was very tender and juicy, and Ronald was very happy to eat it.

"How long are you going to stay here this time? Are you going back to Los Angeles right away? Is the preparation for a new movie about to start?" Little Douglas also ate very fast. Both of them had practiced wrestling and were carnivores.

"I'm going to stay here for a while. The new film needs good casting. They are all Italians in Brooklyn, New York. I plan to go to the casting studio where I worked and ask them to help with casting.

This movie is very dependent on acting skills and the fit of characters and actors, Hollywood casting directors are not very suitable.I need to match in personality more than in appearance, and I also need to audition as a group to determine the chemical reaction.These are the strengths of casting studios.

In fact, it is best to choose Julia Taylor, the boss of the casting studio. She has a sharp eye and is dedicated to casting director Woody Allen.Too bad she only worked with Woody Allen, so I had to ask her subordinates for help. "

"By the way, have you ever been a photographer for them, taking audition photos?" Little Douglas recalled the past.

"That's right, now I'm working with them in a different capacity. The female generals who cast these roles are really quite good at picking actors."

(End of this chapter)