Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After Nicholson indicated to the studio that he was interested in "Batman" again, Warner Bros. was overjoyed and asked Nicholson what conditions he needed.

He obtained two important pieces of information from his conversation with Ronald, that video tapes are very profitable and Sean Young is a crazy bitch, so he made two conditions:

1. It is okay to use box office share instead of paying remuneration, but the sales part of the video tape must be added.

2Replaced Sean Young, who plays the heroine Vicki Vale.

After Warner held an internal meeting to calculate the pros and cons, he agreed to the first condition, but was embarrassed by the second condition. Because after Sean Young heard about the change of roles, he single-handedly broke into Warner's office and threatened that if she was not allowed to play the leading role, he would make public all the men she had slept with in order to get the role.

The most troubled of these people is independent producer Jon Peters. This is the person who gave Sean Young the promise. Exposing this relationship will have a great impact on his "reputation". He worked his way up by working as a hairstylist for Barbra Streisand, and his specialty was dealing with actresses.

At Peters's insistence, the role was not changed in the end. After Ronald learned the news, he had to put it aside temporarily and wait for the opportunity to compensate Basinger for the protagonist of a similar-scale production in the future.

But Kim Basinger is not depressed by this matter. She is investing in the ranch with the dividends earned from "9 and a Half Weeks to Love You." The tape sales of this pornographic film are second only to "Dirty Dancing". Basinger also received dividends and recently made the most money in his life.

However, compared with winners in life like Ronald and Basinger, most people in Hollywood still have a hard time. The sequelae of the writers' strike for more than half a year appear to be more serious than Ronald and most Hollywood practitioners expected.

This can be seen from the number of script submissions and co-production invitations that Daydream has received recently. Many people in Hollywood now know that Ronald's daydream is super cash-rich, and they all want to try their luck.

"Why do you want me to invest in Minahan's movie? I saw the introduction to this project, and all of them are actors I've never heard of. He doesn't even have this little money?"

Ronald saw that among the many scripts, there was actually a project from Minahan Gran's new company, 21st Century Pictures. He took a look at it out of curiosity. It turned out to be a musical, obviously imitating "break dancing". ”, and “Dirty Dancing.”

After Minahan was kicked out of the Cannon by his cousin Yoram, it seemed that he still wanted to repeat the old path that Ronald had helped him achieve his initial success, rely on musicals to achieve another box office miracle, and also wanted to make a comeback in Hollywood.

"Should I ask him to come and talk?" asked David Simkins, who was responsible for selecting the scripts.

"Do you like this script?" Ronald asked for professional judgment first, not wanting his relationship with Minahan to affect his subordinates. You cannot judge the prospects of all movies by yourself. If your subordinates always look at their own direction, they will be punished by the market soon.

"Tsk, actually I'm not too optimistic about it. The script lacks romance, and the songs chosen are also in strange taste. Middle Eastern-style music is not popular in America."

"Hahaha, you will be like this from now on. Just say what you have to say. I'll call Minahan." Ronald picked up the phone and said, "Minahan, what is that thing you sent..."

"Quack, I really caught your attention." Minahan Grant's real purpose was not to really ask Ronald to co-invest in such a low-cost movie, but to have a chat with Ronald. He has to stay at the Cannon for the time specified in the contract before he will officially leave. Now he wants to talk to Ronald about future cooperation.

"Why, Richard didn't transfer your call to me?" Ronald frowned in Cannon's big office. As a producer and director, what he hates most is when agents take matters into their own hands and promote projects for clients based on their own ideas. Many stars in Hollywood have lost many opportunities because of this.

"No, according to what he conveyed to you, you will definitely not come over to talk about the project with me. Only a completely unreasonable movie script can get you to come over, Gaga... This is the Arak I brought from Israel.

"Well, it tastes good." Ronald tasted it. This is a fragrant distilled liquor that is very comfortable to drink when mixed with water and ice.

"What I really wanted to do was the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man...the projects I brought out of Cannon...I particularly liked the fire and lightning special effects in Lucas's new movie, and we happened to be shooting the Fantastic Four..." Minahan looked at Ronald. Only if a movie with such a large investment could find someone like Ronald to endorse it would it have a chance to attract investment and stars.

"Hey, let me tell you, the computing power of current computer CPUs is not enough to produce good special effects. Unless... you can get the time of the engineering team of Industrial Light and Magic." Ronald felt that it was not possible as soon as he heard this , the only company in Hollywood that can produce this kind of special effects is Industrial Light and Magic. Until now, the most capable computer graphics engineers have only worked on Lucas's own and Spielberg's projects.

"Isn't there anyone else who can do it?" Minahan knew less about computer special effects than Ronald. He asked several start-ups, and some people swore that they could do it.

"Believe me, have you ever heard of Moore's Law for CPUs?" When Ronald heard this, he knew there was a problem. "I'm afraid we have to wait two to three years before we get feasible results."

"If the technology is feasible, are you interested in filming Fantastic Four with me? This story is really good..."

"We can pay attention to it..." Ronald thought of Cameron's team. He is a director who can make breakthroughs. If "The Abyss" really allows him to break through the technical limitations and make something good, it is not impossible to try.

"Ha ha ha, then it's settled. I'll remind you..." Minahan is not in a hurry anyway. He can only make movies legitimately after he officially leaves Cannon. "In fact, my musical script is not useless..." He thought of the success that breakdancing brought him.

"To be honest, you have to find a better screenwriter and a popular song... Bang..." Ronald was chatting when suddenly there were several loud noises outside the door, which sounded like wood being split by someone.

"Yoram, you bunch of liars... Where is Minahan? Let Minahan come out. What did he promise us at that time?"

Ronald felt that the two voices outside were very familiar and was about to go and see. Minahan reacted faster than him, jumping up, not showing any sign of being fat, quickly opened the office door, and stuck his head out, "Jean-Claude, Dolph, I'm here."

The two action stars who had been Ronald's bodyguards, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, came. Both wore simple and neat clothes, loose pants, and very hard boots. There were a few broken pieces of wood and several broken chair legs on the ground.

Yoram and his secretary next to him were so scared that they couldn't speak. It seemed that Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren had demonstrated to them what a karate black belt was. One used his legs and the other used his fists to actually break a few wooden chairs made of plywood.

"Ah, Ronald... you're here too, great, you can give us some advice." The two action stars saw Ronald was there, and immediately seemed to have a savior, and there was no one in the cannon who could do anything.

"Come in, what's going on..." Ronald glanced at Yoram, who was silent beside him, and thought that the on-site demolition was quite intimidating, otherwise this gold medal salesman would not be speechless.

"Minahan, you promised us that you would make Cyb into a special effects blockbuster like Superman and He-Man, the Unicron. How come you don't even have money for special effects?"

"Haha, you know, I'm no longer the chairman of Cannon. Cannon is now controlled by Yoram," Minahan said this name, turned around and spit on the ground, "Heh... Pah..."

"But you promised us, what's going on now? We all believed Cannon's instigation, and we didn't even have the right to collect the film remuneration. It said that it would invest in special effects and distribute dividends after the movie was released..." Lundgren was the most straightforward and punched the table.

"Stop hitting me. This is the original wooden table in the chairman's office. I moved it here specially. You can't break it." Minahan put his hands behind his head. "I've said it before, Yoram is unreliable. He even deceived me, his cousin who brought him into the industry. I don't need to mention how many lies he told you."

"What should we do? It was you who promised us that we could become first-line action stars with this..." Jean-Claude Van Damme was more rational. He stopped Lundgren who was about to get angry. Isn't Ronald still here? If he says something... So you can't act too stupid.

Ronald was laughing beside him. This movie claimed to have invested more than 20 million in filming funds, but now there is no budget for special effects. It's not that they don't do it well because of lack of money, but that they have nothing, not a penny left.

The filming of the whole movie has been completed, but there is no money for post-production special effects. Who of you has the ability to edit it and release it? Of course, the production rights still belong to Cannon, and they have to share the money after it is released.

Of course, he will not take over such a movie. But seeing the two action actors being played around, not getting paid and spending several months of filming time, they even had to go to the door to bring a wooden board to ask for their wages. After all, they had been bodyguards for a few weeks, so this was too pitiful.

"If there is a sample, take a look first." Ronald asked them to take a copy to see.

"I'll ask the screening room to prepare it." Minahan was very interested in things that could make Yoram embarrassed, and using the screening room was probably his last authority in Cannon.

"Tsk, I'm afraid no one can edit a special effects movie with this, even Walter Murch can't edit a complete movie." Ronald only watched it for more than ten minutes and knew that the movie was over.

In all the action scenes, special effects interfaces were reserved, waiting to add some special effects worth two dollars and thirty-eight dollars in the later stage. But Cannon, which couldn't even get this little money, had already given up. It was impossible for the audience to watch Jean-Claude Van Damme slash with a knife, Lundgren screamed and fell to the ground in the distance, and then imagine that the laser emitted from the knife chopped the other party down in their minds.

"Is there nothing we can do about it?" When Lundgren heard what Ronald said, his dream was completely shattered. He sighed and sat on the chair without saying anything. Action movies have been declining in Hollywood, and now there are no special effects action movies.

"You mean, we can't make a special effects movie?" Jean-Claude Van Damme listened more carefully. He heard the hidden meaning of Ronald. If a special effects movie can't be made, what if the script is changed and it is made into an ordinary action movie?

But the background is still set in the future apocalypse. If you remove the special effects shots that are worth two dollars and thirty-eight cents, it will become... just like the setting of the "Mad Max" series of movies in Australia?

If Superman He-Man plus action doesn't work, then Mad Max plus martial arts?

"Hmm?" The three of them looked at Ronald. Is that what he meant?

"I won't do this. You can find someone to edit it yourself. If you need an editing machine, I can lend it to you." Ronald knew that the property rights of this movie were very controversial. Is Cannon still a producer if he does this? I'm afraid it will take a series of court trials to determine the answer. I won't be stupid enough to get involved.

However, it doesn't matter if Lachamp and Lundgren are in the same group. Anyway, Jean-Claude Van Damme received basic editing training from Murch, and he has been with Corey Yeun and Tsui Hark in Hong Kong for so long, so he has learned some editing techniques for action movies.

"I understand, thank you, Ronald." Jean-Claude Van Damme understood immediately, and pulled Lundgren to make trouble with Yoram again.

"What? What do you understand?" Lundgren wanted to be a star, and didn't quite understand what editing was, but he knew that two strong men would have more deterrence than one strong man, so he went out to support the scene.

"Ronald, do you want to invest? We at Cannon have always cooperated well with him. He can inject capital and then take 30% of the shares..." Yoram revealed the true nature of a Jewish profiteer. When he heard the news that Jean-Claude Van Damme wanted to re-edit, he quickly pressed the calculator.

Quote a high price first, and talk slowly. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry. In the end, he will take 50%, which is not impossible to negotiate.

"Don't dream, you Cannon has breached the contract, and you should transfer the film copies and production rights to me and Dolph for free..." Jean-Claude Van Damme made Yoram give up the idea.

"That's right, hehehe..." Lundgren clenched his fists beside him.

"He agreed... to transfer the ownership of the entire film to me and Duf, and if it is released, they can get 30% of the dividends."

Jean-Claude Van Damme quickly negotiated. Without Ronald's acquisition, this movie would be worthless. In the future, Jean-Claude Van Damme will be able to attract investment to make up for the special effects. This is his ability.

"Is it about the editing machine?" Jean-Claude Van Damme has no money to rent an editing room.

"Go talk to the people at Daydream, I will ask them to give you one, and you can pay after the release. It's just an old-fashioned editing machine, you have to get used to it."

"It doesn't matter, I used the old-fashioned one with Corey Yeun and Tsui Hark in Hong Kong..."