Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Mr. Ovitz, what do you think of Working Girl's prospects at the Oscars?"

Ronald and two agents, plus Tom Cruise represented by Niceta's wife Paula Wagner, formally met with Michael Ovitz.

"Ronald, we have known each other for a long time. The Oscars are not an award that can be manipulated by an agency. What I can do is to do my best for CAA's clients. I can't say that I treat all clients equally, because resources are limited and we must first ensure our core clients.

For example, you and Tom are our most important client assets. I am also shocked by the problems with this nomination. I have asked all agents to do a private investigation. It can be said that this is not a normal election."

Ovitz has experienced enough of clients coming to settle accounts after the Oscar nominations every year. So, he has been prepared. First, he and Ronald's team explained the reasons for the unfavorable nominations.

"Unfortunately, during the filming of your Working Girl and the preparation of the new film afterwards, there were few film projects that were able to operate normally during the Writers Guild strike. Although the final outcome of the strike had nothing to do with you, the people of the Writers Guild were angry at the screenwriters who were still paid during the strike, so many films shot last year received a lot of unfair treatment."

"Ah..." Ronald looked at the secret investigation summary that Ovitz showed him. The impact of this strike was far-reaching, and the aftermath also affected the nominations for Best Original Screenplay.

Not only "Working Girl", but also "The Last Temptation of Christ" and other big productions did not receive the screenwriter nominations they deserved.

"Big and Small", "A Fish Called Wanda", and "Unlimited Pursuit" starring River Phoenix, which were filmed earlier and avoided the screenwriter strike, unexpectedly received nominations, although they were not traditionally the type of movies favored by the best screenwriter.

Originally, Working Girls and Feminist-centered movies such as "The Last Temptation of Christ" have always been the favorites of the Writers Guild with a higher proportion of women. And children's movies such as "Big and Small" are generally difficult to win the Best Screenwriter Award.

"It seems to make sense?" Ronald felt that Ovitz was so sincere, and it didn't seem like he did it on purpose...right?

Afterwards, Ovitz also told Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise about the reason why he didn't win the Best Supporting Actor Award.

Tom actually knew he made the wrong choice when he was filming "Rain Man", so he corrected his mistake and took on Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July". Because of the busy filming, he missed the most important public relations period.

In short, Ovitz was quite humble. After explaining the problem, he also promised to improve and fight for more for them at the Oscars next year.

In order to film "Born on the Fourth of July", Tom Cruise cut off his flowing long hair and became a handsome guy with a buzz cut. The training of the Marine Corps is indeed much more cruel than that of the Navy. His hair is now much shorter than in "Top Gun", and you can almost see his scalp.

However, a buzz cut is indeed the gold standard for testing the quality of a handsome guy. Even with such a soldier's head, Cruise is still very handsome. After the talk, he asked the agents to go back first, and he took Ronald to a private restaurant. He wanted to ask Ronald something:

"Do you think what Ovitz said is true?"

"Half true, half false. I feel that what he said is true, but only part of the truth." Ronald knew that Ovitz was nicknamed a tyrant within CAA, and he was not sincere and honest when dealing with clients.

"What do you mean?" Tom Cruise wanted to make a breakthrough in acting since he entered Hollywood, and wanted to win an Oscar for Best Actor.

Ronald was not as uncomfortable to speak in front of his younger brother as before. He took out the list of nominees for this year's Oscar for Best Screenplay and showed it to Tom Cruise.

"Rain Man" - Ronald Bass

"Grown Up" - Ann Spielberg

"Unlimited" - Naomi Foner

"Million Dollar Arm" - Ron Shelton

"What do they have in common?" Ronald pointed to the list and asked Cruise, "Why aren't their movies affected by the nomination vote of the Writers Guild members?"

"Huh? Are they all new screenwriters?" Tom Cruise didn't understand what Ronald wanted to ask. These screenwriters had just entered the industry not long ago. Ron Shelton, who wrote "Million Dollar Arm", had just switched from a minor league baseball player.

"Stupid, look at their last names..." Ronald smiled and patted Cruise on the shoulder, revealing the answer, "They are all Jewish."

Tom Cruise was not familiar with screenwriters, and after being reminded by Ronald, he really discovered the mysteries that Ovitz didn't say.

Just like in "Rain Man" in which he himself participated, Dustin Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and the Oscar Award for Best Actor. In the same movie, the acting performance of the two brothers was not much different.

Dustin Hoffman's autistic role may be considered good by actors who don't know how to act, but in the eyes of actors who know how to act, directors, screenwriters, etc., Tom Cruise's performance is more difficult.

And those who beat Tom Cruise to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor include Kevin Kline in "A Fish Called Wanda" and Martin Landau in "Tucker: The Man and the Dream", both of whom are Jewish.

Ronald discovered actress Phoebe Cates' boyfriend, Kevin Klein's acting nomination is normal. "A Fish Called Wanda" did receive a lot of praise.

That Coppola-directed biopic of inventor Preston Tucker was very strange. The box office of this movie was very bad, and even the cost of shooting was not recovered. And throughout the movie, director Coppola, the leading actor Jeff Bridges, and the more outstanding supporting actors Joan Allen and Christian Slater did not get an Oscar nomination in the arts category.

Only Martin Landau, a perennial supporting actor and acting coach, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

"Fuxk", bang!

Tom Cruise slammed his fist on the table. Every time he played the leading role, he gave face to CAA and stuffed a lot of CAA-signed actors into it. He also took the initiative to help CAA try to sign directors like Martin Scorsese.

But he seemed to be an asset, and Ovitz always earned profits from it without maintenance and upgrades.

"How can I get an Oscar nomination? I feel like I've done a lot, but I get very little recognition." At this moment, Tom Cruise seemed to have become the little actor who had no money to fix his teeth, but was diligently waiting at the door of the audition room to be recognized.

"Well, if you ask me, you'd better be a star, and you'll make a greater contribution to Hollywood. Maybe one day, they will realize that the industrial foundation of Hollywood is built by stars like you who attract audiences to the cinema. It's not built by those "acting schools" who don't make much money and complain that the audience can't understand their movies."

"I just feel that I've spent a lot of time and energy on acting, but I always can't get their recognition..." Cruise rarely showed his true feelings in front of Ronald. In his bones, he is still the poor kid who works hard to get high scores in everything he does.

Ronald, who understands what Cruise said, includes producers, film critics, and bigwigs of brokerage companies like Ovitz. These people are the industry leaders, but to put it bluntly, they are parasitic species that rely on the market created by these star actors they look down upon.

Who is the cornerstone of Hollywood? Time will tell.

"Don't be like this. I saw Oliver's new film and you have a good chance. But nomination is proof of strength, and winning depends on luck. If it doesn't work once, you can only try again..."

"I will mobilize my friends to vote for your best director," Tom Cruise regained his confidence. Ronald, the noble man of the year, said something that convinced him, and a hint made him see the profound content that he had not seen before.

"Is this the second time you have been nominated in a row? Will you win?" Tom Cruise sincerely hopes that Ronald will win.

"Ah..."

Ronald just persuaded Cruise in a very organized way. Now that it was his turn, he still couldn't let go of his obsession with winning the award.

After the Golden Globe Awards and before the Oscars, it is the annual awards season. Various awards are intensively awarded during this period.

Ronald was no exception and went to various places to attend award ceremonies and do public relations for the film.

The first award was the National Society of Film Critics Award. This award is voted by film critics across the country. Many members are university professors.

As you can imagine, this award prefers films with "profound meanings". The best film was awarded to "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". The best director was also awarded to director Philip Kaufman.

Ronald was only nominated for the best director, and the other nomination was for the best actress to Melanie Griffith.

The next award was the New York Film Critics Association Award.

This is Ronald's home court. The reporters on the film review pages of major New York media are very protective of Ronald, a local. In particular, many social activities organized by Ronald for New York film critics, as long as you have the film critic's certificate, you can pay a very low fee and enjoy various discount coupons for five-star hotels.

This gave these journalists who wrote the "film review section" in New York, a city with a high cost of living, many opportunities to show the benefits of being a film critic in their circle of friends.

Although they are not as respected as social commentators, nor do they have as many extra incomes as financial reporters, they have the opportunity to get close to various star actors and can take their friends to watch such premieres for free. In addition to the various film review activities sponsored by Ronald, these people's good impression of Ronald and Daydreams made them change their preferences for films that reflect the test of human nature.

The Best Director Award was given to Ronald. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and the Australian film "The Cry of the Dark" starring Mel Streep did not win Ronald's "Working Girls".

Faced with the doubts of some people in the circle, they were also very confident: "Working Girls is a movie that reflects the life of Wall Street in Manhattan. Didn't you Jews have fun when you watched it?"

However, Melanie Griffith missed the Best Actress award again, and the Best Actress award was given to Meryl Streep.

Going north, the third film critic award was the Boston Film Critics Award.

The city has a long sports tradition. The Boston Celtics and the Boston Red Sox are both traditional powerhouses in their respective professional leagues.

The Boston Red Sox, in particular, sold Babe Ruth, the greatest hitter in MLB, to the New York Yankees in order to support the theater industry. So they were cursed and have never won a championship since 1920.

Therefore, the film critics here also love the baseball movie "Million Dollar Arm". They hope to give this movie a biased award in the film awards in exchange for the removal of the Red Sox curse.

The best film and best screenplay were awarded to "Million Dollar Arm", but the best actress was awarded to Melanie Griffith, who was pregnant and still came to public relations very happy. After winning the award, she spoke for three minutes on the stage.

In addition to these traditional awards, there is a new film critic award this year, which is awarded for the first time in the most famous city for film critics. This is the Chicago Film Critics Award.

This award has nothing to do with the two most famous film critics, Roger Ebert and Gene Sisco. Their influence is nationwide with the blessing of PBS's film review program.

Apart from the two of them, film critics from other media in Chicago don't have a good life. Every time a new movie comes to Chicago for promotion, their treatment is a level lower than their counterparts in New York and Los Angeles.

Film promoters are generally satisfied with serving Albert and Sisko well. Because of this, few movies come to Chicago for premieres.

After years of preparation, it was finally sponsored by two female reporters who wrote TV reviews and attracted sponsorship from the TV station. The third largest city in the United States finally had a film critic award commensurate with its status.

The first award ceremony had limited funds and there was not even an award ceremony. They just published an announcement in the newspaper and announced the winners.

Best Actor, Jeremy Irons. Best Actress, Barbara Hershey. Best Director, Robert Zemeckis of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

Best Picture, "Mississippi Burning" directed by Alan Parker. Their awards perfectly avoided all the Oscar favorites, as if to express protest.

Ronald also felt that it was a misstep after reading the newspaper. This was the first time the award was given, and it was given in the big city of Chicago. If there was some public relations, the return on investment would be very high. Next year, this would become a battlefield where everyone would invest real money.

Awards were announced one after another, and soon, it was the turn of the most important Oscar Precursor Award.