Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 984
"Helen, can you share with us how you got into Hollywood? We occasionally get invited to audition, but every time it doesn't work out, so I would like to know about this experience."

At the event site of "The Naked Angel", an actor theater company co-operated by Helen Slater and her best friend Helen Hunt, a red-haired girl raised her hand to ask Helen who shared her acting experience today.

Helen Slater's performance in "Sticky Fingers" made her understand the shallowness of her acting skills, and she gradually gave up the mentality of being anxious to show her acting skills, and began to act in some off-Broadway theater companies in New York , and then volunteered to share with those young people who are interested in Hollywood film and television creation.

"I just thought that I could make some TV series. When I got experience, I might be able to show my face in some medium-sized Hollywood productions. I never thought that I could get the role of Superwoman." Helen wore a clean T-shirt, Wearing glasses, it is very eye-catching, and he answered the other party's questions unhurriedly.

"Well, you want to know how I won the audition? A friend of mine accompanied me to the audition and he had this crazy idea of ​​putting on a Supergirl bodysuit and entering the audition as the manga .

He had a relative who sewed, and I was the first one on the audition scene, which is usually the round with the least chance of getting the part, but apparently my surprise attack impressed the casting director, and he was in a later audition. , neither can rule out the image of me wearing a Supergirl uniform.

So, have confidence in yourself, think of a way, and then do it, maybe your luck will come. "

"Hmm..." From a corner of the scene, a tall handsome guy walked in, wearing aviator sunglasses like those in Top Gun and a New York Yankees baseball cap, and issued a reminder.

"Okay, let's stop here today, and we'll continue next Tuesday." Helen hurriedly ended the sharing of the naked angel, took the hand of the handsome guy, and walked out of the rehearsal hall.

"Who is that?" Several members began to gossip.

"Who else, Ronald Lee. You don't think Helen got so many roles by luck, do you? Do you think the director appreciates her because of her outstanding acting skills?"

"You can't say that. I watched her recent film Sticky Fingers, and her acting skills are quite good."

"That was recently. Go and watch the 'Billy King Legend' back then. Ugh... What we really need to learn is not her acting skills."

……

"This is a small gift for you," Ronald said to Helen Slater, pointing to the Yamaha piano in the corner of the rented apartment.

Helen is an independent person, unwilling to take expensive gifts from Ronald, and also unwilling to accept real estate such as apartments. She herself does not have high material requirements, and she can often go to the premiere wearing only homely clothes.

So Ronald gave her some gifts that he liked in his heart, such as this piano made in Japan, which occupies a small area and is of good quality. It happened that Helen received jazz training since she was a child, and now she can resume her old career.

"Oh, thank you." Helen was overjoyed. Ronald could still remember his hobbies in high school. With a heart full of sweetness, she sat in front of the piano, opened the lid, played a jazz melody, and then sang.

"It's raining in the park, buy coffee for two, and Yankees game tickets at noon, this is New York in June..."

"Hmm... very good. Is this a song you wrote yourself? What's its name?" Ronald listened to one beside him. The melody and improvisation were complete. With his little knowledge of music, it seemed to be jazz impromptu singing common in

"Hahaha, I sang it impromptu, um, what is it called, or New York in June."

"It's really good. Have you thought about releasing a record?"

"No, but it's a good idea, do you really think I can release an album at my level?"

"Why not try it? I can ask for you."

"Honey, that's very kind of you. But now I'm going to concentrate on preparing for the performance of 'Into the Deep'."

Helen talked about her preparations for the new movie in the past month, and also took notes. Next to the TV in the apartment, there are a bunch of videotapes of youth romantic dramas.

Ronald smiled and nodded. In fact, this movie does not require much acting skills. The appearance and temperament of Helen are very suitable, and the acting skills are enough.However, it is also a good thing to be able to concentrate on learning and thinking about acting skills, so as not to rely on method-style empathy to perform and create true feelings.

"Hmm... Ronald..." Helen raised her head, hugged Ronald who was supporting her shoulders, and kissed him.Ronald is a child from a poor family. He doesn't know how to play an instrument like the piano, which requires investment. He can't play four-hands with himself, so he has to take the initiative.After not seeing each other for many days, Helen only felt that her lower abdomen was warmed up by the masculinity on Ronald's body.

With a "squeak", Helen was picked up by Ronald, leaning her body on the piano, and released a series of weird melodies without chords, and then there was a clang and a loud noise.

"Oh, lighten up, I'm going to find someone to tune it."

"It's okay." Ronald simply hugged Helen, and only touched some black keys. Accompanied by the chord combination of the black keys, Helen also improvised a piece of jazz again.

Helen had already gone to Los Angeles to join the preparation and rehearsal of the crew.Just when she had agreed on a time with Cameron Crowe, the screenwriters union and the producer union broke down again.The strike continued, but Daydream's application for a strike exemption was not approved, and the crew was suspended.

The two had to stay in New York, and Ronald was also looking for relationships, trying to start work earlier.

After taking a shower, Helen put on a very plain dress and no makeup, and took Ronald to dinner at her father Gerald's big house on the Upper East Side of Central Park.

Gerald's current wife and children respected Helen more and more, treating her as a real movie star at the dinner table.

"I'll make coffee for you." Helen's stepmother pulled her, and the two went to the kitchen to have a private conversation.Helen, who had been very well-behaved in both families, got along well with her father's new wife now.

"Drink something good, my friend brought it from Bordeaux." Gerald and Ronald also went to the study, and took out an unlabeled glass bottle, which contained the brandy brewed by the owner of the Bordeaux winery himself. A gift I received when I went to France to purchase TV dramas.

"Why didn't it pass this time? When I held a meeting at the Producers Union in Los Angeles, basically all the producers agreed to the conditions proposed by the new mediator. The Screenwriters Union has not started work for almost three months. Don't they have enough to eat?"

Ronald took a sip of the brandy.The strike talks failed again, to the surprise of him and others in Hollywood.However, the writers union voted to reject the new agreement, mainly the Eastern Writers Union. He also wanted to pay a special visit to Gerald Slater this time, and ask this veteran TV expert, what is the problem?

This time, the Producers Union came up with the "final (this time real) solution to the strike" in early June. It can be said that on the basis of the last time, it has made some nominal concessions to the screenwriter's requirements.

Including the extension of the contract period, adjusted from three years to four years, so that the screenwriters have better protection, and the management also reduces the frequency of negotiations.It also includes the expansion of creative rights, giving screenwriters some power to participate in the preparatory stage.

Originally, everyone was very optimistic that the negotiation would lead to a result, at least one exemption for most new Hollywood films could be obtained.Who knew that in the voting last weekend, the final number of votes was still two to one.

A majority of writers in the Western Writers Guild have agreed to end the strike and pass a new collective bargaining agreement.However, the number of trade unions in the east is much larger than that in the west, and the voting results there are still overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the strike.

The producers are kind of losing out, wondering if someone was playing tricks on the Writers Guild East vote.Ronald couldn't figure it out either, so he sincerely asked for advice.

"Have you looked at the voting ratios of the two unions?" Seeing Ronald nodding, Gerald took out a copy of the new agreement and handed it to Ronald.On the second page of the summary, he heavily underlined a paragraph with his pen.

"The remaining dividends for movies and TV shows are still based on the [-] sharing ratio. Movies and TV shows that are more than one hour old can get the dividends of the national TV network and foreign TV stations."

"I still don't understand, most movies are more than 10 minutes long, why is this one so important?" Ronald saw under the words "more than one hour", and Gerald also put an asterisk.

"You don't watch much TV, do you?" Gerald laughed.

"I don't really watch it." Ronald admitted that he watched the videotapes of classic movies when he was free, and went to ponder the techniques.

"Most talk shows, soap operas, TV series, and talk shows, are stuck under an hour, don't you think?"

"Huh?" Ronald suddenly realized that it really was.The reason why the number of screenwriters unions in the east is much larger than those in the west is that they mainly serve television stations and radio stations.

Not for Broadway, as Ronald thought.

This clause is the key point of negotiation for several major public TV stations, and it is the most critical clause for them in the new labor agreement.

If it is kept, the dividends that the screenwriter can get will be much less.

Imagine, for example, a black hostess Oprah Winfrey who came out of a local TV station in Chicago. Since [-], the "Oprah Winfrey Talk Show" has been syndicated across the country. TV network broadcast.Compared with her original income from the local TV station, her personal income has increased by forty times.

But this money belongs to the producer of the show, that is, Oprah Winfrey, a fat woman who likes to be sensational on TV.The screenwriting team under her can't get a penny of dividends, and the salary increase depends on the boss's face.

This is the power of this clause, the talk show, minus the commercial time, the actual program length is less than one hour.

Therefore, it is requested to modify this clause. As long as a program less than one hour is broadcast live nationwide, the screenwriter can also get a dividend. Received the three major wireless TV networks, and Fox and Paramount, which have their own TV business The studio objected.

"It's dog-eat-dog time now, Ronald. We're all standing on the river bank, watching two packs of vicious dogs biting each other by the river, and the loser is either eaten by his own kind or driven into the river." , disappear in this line."

"But dog bites are not good for the long-term development of the entire industry." Ronald shook his head, he didn't like this kind of thing.

Gerald was talking about the vicious dogs that were about to fall into the river. They were a group of independent producers in Hollywood. They were all dragged down by the strike and had high financial costs.

And the vicious dogs who eat each other are the backbone screenwriters who are struggling to survive.The strike has been going on for three months, and they haven’t brought home a penny of wages. The low-level novices have already run away. These hardcore workers feel that there is still hope of resuming work, so they are still struggling.

With the savings of an ordinary American family and the meager income from the screenwriting job, Ronald felt that they would soon be unable to get out the valuables they took to the pawn shop, and maybe in a few weeks, they would have to mortgage the house.This kind of thing is a great harm to the entire talent cultivation. If these people leave this industry sadly, they will never come back.

"So, you TV drama industry, are you so sure? It must be the screenwriters union that collapsed first?" Ronald didn't know what the top management of the TV station thought.They haven't filmed an episode of a new TV series for three months. Could it be that the new TV series season is coming soon, and they still use reruns to fool them?

"Of course not. Many medium-sized local TV stations and medium-sized TV drama projects are now on the verge of collapse, but... Midtown New York, from Fifth Avenue to No. 11 Avenue, the people there are the same as the downtown area of ​​Wall Street. Those who like crisis more than fear it.”

"Well, this is an opportunity to annex those small and medium-sized TV stations and production companies?" Ronald was called by Gerrard, and he understood.The current Producers Union has split as well as the Screenwriters Guild.

The film industry, which has a numerical advantage in the Producers Union, wants to end the strike as soon as possible, while the large TV networks, which have few votes, want to wait.

Therefore, these giant TV networks, in order to continue the strike, instead secretly supported the Eastern Screenwriters Union-most of the screenwriters who wrote scripts for the TV station strongly opposed themselves.

"Damn capitalist." Ronald cursed.

"Huh?" Gerald was taken aback.

"I'm talking about those Wall Street capitalists who urged the TV station to artificially prolong the crisis." Ronald realized that the scolding was easy to cause misunderstanding, so he immediately explained a few words.

"Do you have spare production capacity here, or a production company that isn't overseen by the Writers Guild of America?"

"Huh? Of course I have, what do you need?" Ronald wondered if Gerald had any production work to subcontract to himself?

"There are also differences among the three major TV networks, and NBC is the strongest. ABC and Paramount don't have the kind of talk shows to fill their time slots. This kind of TV station, which uses TV dramas as its main weapon to attract viewers, actually wants the strike to end as soon as possible. It's just that they are inconvenient due to some rules of TV station operation.

The general manager of ABC found me. The old TV series they bought from CBS some time ago had a good ratings, so they came up with the idea of ​​making a new version.Find me here, want to use the relationship I formed with the BBC's procurement of TV series, and cooperate with British TV production companies to shoot.

But now that the BBC and ITV are sitting on the ground and raising prices, do you have any other places here that have English production capabilities? "Gerald took a sip of wine. If Ronald can discover a more affordable production capability that is not under the jurisdiction of the Screenwriters Guild, it will be very profitable."

"Don't tell me, I really do." Ronald thought of Mr. Crocodile Dundee, Paul Hogan patted his chest to ensure that he would pass, and if he wanted to go to Australia for filming, he would find him to take care of everything.

(End of this chapter)