Exploiting Hollywood 1980

In early March, the Directors Guild of America Awards were presented at the Hollywood Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, the venue of the Golden Globe Awards.

This year, the awards ceremony was held at a more upscale venue and there was also a formal awards dinner. This is the result of the Directors Guild's improved financial situation under the newly signed labor agreement. Unlike the Writers Guild, the negotiations between the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild were very smooth, and the Directors Guild, which had fewer members to share the money, could also get more operating expenses.

Especially top members like Ronald, who pay a lot of commissions, and those directors who have just entered the industry for commercials, documentaries, or TV series can also have some welfare training courses and opportunities created by the Directors Guild to give them a try.

In short, the Directors Guild is the most united and well-treated among the several unions composed of creators.

Everyone attended this awards ceremony in their best clothes, but there was no TV broadcast. Everyone regarded him as an affirmation of their peers and an annual gathering of directors. Director is a rare type of job in a film crew with only one person, and they don't have many opportunities to communicate with each other.

Ronald, wearing a tuxedo and a bow tie, also sat in the audience and drank champagne. Arthur Miller, the new president of the Directors Guild, deliberately made the Directors Guild Awards closer to the style of the Golden Globe Awards in the past when there was no TV broadcast.

Everyone, regardless of distance or closeness, gathered around the round table, drinking champagne, eating delicious food, chatting with each other and making new friends.

Before there was no TV broadcast to destroy the atmosphere on the scene, the Golden Globe Awards used to be a carnival for practitioners themselves. The winners were given sincere blessings, and in private occasions, the acceptance speeches were also full of informal humor.

Joan Crawford, the richest female star in Hollywood, once complained that the Golden Globe trophy was too small after winning the Best Actress Award. It was not as heavy as her Oscar, and she also told a vulgar joke: "Let me show you my pair of Golden Globe..."

Ronald liked this kind of award ceremony that returned to tradition very much. He also wanted to learn from other well-known directors. It's just that he didn't have the opportunity to do so. He found an opportunity to change a few tables and chat with many famous old directors about past techniques and anecdotes. At the same time, many new directors came to make friends with him.

"I propose that we pray for our former union president, Mr. Franklin Schaffner, and hope that he will recover soon."

The awards ceremony began with a prayer for the old president who presided over the labor-management negotiations. This president, who has done a lot of practical work for the Directors Guild, was unfortunately diagnosed with a serious lung disease at the beginning of the year and is now terminally ill.

After the prayer, a number of awards were presented to directors of commercials, TV series, and TV movies.

Ronald watched the awards ceremony with ease. The two most important awards of the Directors Guild are the best director of the previous year's film and TV series (drama category). Those who win this award have a high probability of winning the Oscar for Best Director and the Emmy Award for Best Director, and have always been considered by people in the industry as an Oscar weathervane.

"The winner of the Best TV Director is: Marshall Herskovits, Thirtysothg." "

Everyone in the audience applauded and congratulated. This ABC series deserves the award. It tells the story of a group of American baby boomers, young people in their thirties living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. How do they deal with the changes in lifestyle that dominated American culture in the 1980s.

In the early 1970s, this group of people participated in the anti-war activities of the counterculture as young people. In the 1980s, their progressive worldview close to the Donkey Party was greatly challenged.

NBC's evergreen drama "Family Ties" became popular because of a character's unexpected worldview close to the Elephant Party. Alex, played by Michael J. Fox, became The idol of young people.

ABC, which is controlled by the Donkey Party, has launched two TV series to fight against this trend. "Growing Pains" relies on the new Donkey Party's enlightened parents to deal with the influence of "family ties" on young people. The other is "Thirty So Thirty", which seeks a self-consistent worldview for hippies who have become middle-aged.

The series was so successful that a fixed usage of "thirtysomething" was added to the English language. It was extended to the forties and fifties.

"I want to thank my colleagues at ABC and Edward Zwick, the producer who came up with this idea with me. ”

Marshall Herskovits was giving his acceptance speech on the stage. He was not very relaxed and was still using a more formal way of thanking.

The person who presented him the award was the new chairman, breaking the principle that the previous winner presents the award to the next winner. Because Marshall Herskovits was also the winner of the Best TV Director last year.

“The Best Film Director Award is presented to…” After a few more small awards, this time it was Oliver Stone who came on stage to present the award. Last year’s Directors Guild Best Film Director Award was presented to Italian director Bertolucci, who could not come to present the award. Therefore, the union found Oliver Stone, who won the award for “Platoon” the year before, to announce the winner.

“Oh, his youth makes me jealous… The winner is Ronald Lee, Working Girl…”

Ronald, who had been thirsty in the audience for a long time, rushed to the stage in two steps and took the award certificate from Oliver Stone. Then he posed for the photographer to take a picture.

"In 1986, Tom Cruise chose me for Top Gun, and another candidate for the starring role, I won't say his name, chose Oliver's Platoon." Ronald felt happy. , making a joke about Oliver Stone.

"That actor got an Oscar nomination and Tom Cruise got mobbed by fans..."

"Hahaha..." The directors present all understood what Ronald meant. If you make his movie, you may not win an award, but you will definitely have more fans and your salary will increase.

"Last year, Michael (Douglas) also decided not to make my movie and play the role of the greedy banker Gekko in 'Wall Street'. Everyone knows that Oliver made him the best actor..."

Ronald pulled Oliver Stone and gave a speech on the stage. This kind of praise for Stone and self-deprecating words can be said on such an occasion where there is no television broadcast to make everyone happy.

"So, this year, Tom and I both learned our lesson. Tom played the lead role in Oliver, and I also directed a movie about a Wall Street banker..."

Directors have never won Oscars. I hope you will have good luck learning the methods of Oliver Stone this time.

In short, Ronald's acceptance speech is in line with the old-school style of Hollywood. There was no television broadcast, so everyone came to hear some sincere, outrageous and humorous speeches.

Several old directors made a special trip to thank Ronald for allowing them to relive the way Hollywood awards shows should have been in the past.

Ronald also thanked them for their affirmation and politely canvassed for votes. These people are all voting members of the Academy.

Marshall Herskovitz also found Ronald, and the two went to the photo area together and took several photos for use in news reports.

"What is it like to make a TV series? Do you think I can direct a TV series?"

Ronald remembered someone telling him that he hoped he could adapt "Working Girl" into a TV series. It’s a good time to learn from the two-time Directors Guild Award winner for Best Director in a Drama Series.

"TV dramas are actually easier to film. Let me tell you, sometimes, if you can't think of a plot, you just need to change a character and continue with him as the main perspective. When you can't continue with any of them, just jump back. ”

Marshall Herskovitz liked Ronald very much, and he didn't have the condescending and domineering attitude usually associated with movie directors.

"Do you think I can direct a movie?" He happened to ask Ronald. Although he is one of the producers of "Thirty and Standing", he can enjoy financial success, but after a person achieves success, it is inevitable to want to challenge the movie.

"Actually, I think film directing is not difficult. We can shoot a scene many times. As long as you are not satisfied, you can keep shooting. You can shoot twenty or thirty takes, unlike TV dramas that require one shot."

"Hmm...that's interesting..."

After the two chatted and walked back, Ronald happened to see Barry Levinson, the director of "Rain Man".

"Congratulations, Ronald..."

"Barry..." Ronald stepped forward to hug him and say hello. Although the two were competitors, they had a good relationship. When Dustin Hoffman was playing big, it was Ronald who came up with the idea to get him.

"It seems like you have great hopes for this Oscar... you've been nominated twice..." Barry Levinson was also quite convinced of Ronald. Generally speaking, the winner of the Directors Guild Award has more than 80% chance of winning the Oscar for Best Director.

The last time the director won the Directors Guild Award and ultimately lost the Oscar was Spielberg for "The Color Purple."

Because he publicly stated that he did not want his children to grow up in a Jewish environment, he was embarrassed by Jewish conservative forces and was not even nominated for best director. If he can be nominated, there is a high probability that the Oscar will also be his.

The last time he won the Directors Guild Award but not the Oscar for Best Director was in 1973. Francis Coppola won the Directors Guild Award that year, but the Oscar went to Bob Fosse, the director of the musical film "Capote."

This is also the reason why the Oscars do not approve of Coppola's new gangster movie style, and also because they have to take care of the declining musicals. Bob Fosse should have won the award earlier.

But it was hard for Coppola to convince the public if he didn't win the Oscar for Best Director, so the Godfather sequel two years later also won Coppola a statuette.

"Who can say it accurately about the Oscar? Let's wish each other good luck." Ronald couldn't show his determination to win in front of his competitors. The two happily wished each other the award, looking very gentlemanly. look like.

…

"This time, am I more likely to win the award?" Ronald came back from the awards night and met Richard who came to report. He spoke more directly.

"According to probability, in a decade, the indicator light of the Directors Guild will fail once or twice, so yes, you have a high probability of winning..." Richard got it from him and Niceta, through private relationship, and obtained voting propensity assessment reports.

"The largest voting group is actors. The private voting tendency assessment we obtained shows that you have a lot of praise among actresses. They will lean towards you.

However, we cannot find out the attitudes of many Jewish broker clients... Our ethnic group has the virtue of keeping secrets when ordered by the boss. "

Richard meant that many Jews obeyed Ovitz's orders and kept their mouths shut on the voting issue. CAA only reported to him the possible voting situation of their clients.

And Richard knew very well that his boss was Ronald. Several of his clients were brought to him by Ronald when he was a director. So the object of his conservative virtue had nothing to do with Ovitz.

Ronald understood what he meant. This kind of advance information gathering can be said to have a high accuracy rate. Some actors do not tell their real voting preferences to their agents.

Anyway, he won the Directors Guild Award, which means that the director group is already his biggest supporter.

"Are our other awards possible?" Ronald asked. He wanted to know what the prospects of winning the Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress were?

"There are advantages and disadvantages," Richard said, taking out another document.

"This movie is considered by many to be a romantic comedy, not a workplace drama. And comedy is not very popular with the Oscars..."

Ronald nodded to show his understanding. The group of actors with the most voting rights are actually not very smart and have a deep understanding of acting.

They use more of an intuitive approach to play games, which is why Lee Strasberg, who is so corrupt that he embezzled Monroe's inheritance, can be called an acting mentor - because many actors really don't know how to act.

Like many ordinary audiences, they also think that Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man is the protagonist with better acting skills.

In this way, Glenn Gross, who played the bad woman in "Dangerous Liaisons" and was nominated for the best actress, Meryl Streep, who played a woman suspected of killing her own daughter, and even Sigourney Weaver, who went to Africa to study gorillas, all seem to have good acting skills.

"What about the advantages?" Ronald remembered that the other party said there were advantages.

"I found that many actors seem to have not seen Working Girl..." Richard replied.

Why is this an advantage? Because many people who have the right to vote have not seen the movie, and they vote more based on public opinion. Anyway, I haven't seen any of them, so I'll just listen to what others say about which one is better...

This is the common mentality of many actors.

So, although the genre film is not pleasing, the real people of secretaries from all over the world who transformed into strong women stood up for "Working Girl", which was a big enough momentum. If the two nominees for supporting actress have little chance, Melanie Griffith still has hope because of her likable role.