Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Your Royal Highness, thank you very much for your help. I hope William will be happy because he broke the world record." Ronald had secretly asked Princess Diana to contact the publisher of Guinness World Records, the Guinness Company. It just so happened that Guinness wanted to strengthen the relationship with the royal family, and things went smoothly.

In addition to the world record that Ronald asked them to update, they also gave Diana's eldest son William a record - "the most popular royal baby in the world."

"Ha, William is very happy. When I went to Wetherby to see him, he felt very proud. Besides, you can just call me Diana, or Dai. It really feels strange to be called His Royal Highness by friends."

Diana was very happy. Every time she went to see her sons at Wetherby School, she always had to compete with their father for the children's love. Prince Charles would take his sons to ride horses, while Diana had to use other methods. Stay close to your son.

There is nothing that her husband cannot give her. She can only do things for her children that normal parents would do to win their love. For example, she was the first princess to participate in the parents' sports meeting of her son's school. Last year she won first place in a mother's race, and this year she won second place. The children are all proud of having such a mother.

But there were too few such things, so Ronald contacted Guinness World Records and gave his eldest son a world record exclusive to him, which helped her win a high score in the war. It's just that the younger son Harry has to feel jealous again...I'll find a way to make it up to him next year.

"Okay, I'll ask you to wear it..."

Princess Diana was very happy chatting on the phone. She liked to communicate with these successful people who worked hard on their own, and didn't like those who only relied on their ancestors... She also asked Ronald about the release time of Ronald's new movie, what new works he has, etc.

Ronald put down the phone after promising that both "Steel Magnolias" and "When Harry Met Sally" would go to London premieres and invite the princess's family to attend.

"It's done, let them send the materials to Fleet Street in London." Ronald signaled the media consultant to launch an attack on Ovitz.

Soon, many serious newspapers in London, as well as more gossip tabloids, obtained news materials about Michael Ovitz, the founder of a Hollywood agency called CAA.

The reason why it was transferred through London was that Ovitz's power in the American entertainment and media circles was too great for such a report to be issued.

CAA's revenue last year exceeded 60 million. With several blockbuster movies this year, it will be even more. In addition, plus the high consulting fees that Sony must pay to him, Ovitz's wealth is expected to grow by more than 1 100 million.

Ordinarily, this amount of money is not top-notch compared to the rich in Hollywood, but CAA can also control the marketing budgets of various film and television dramas and related companies that place advertisements in the media. The influence on the media is considerable.

This makes the tabloids in America think about whether they can still receive advertisements if they want to write some gossip about Ovitz and make it sensational.

Serious major newspapers, on the other hand, are subject to the principle of fact. Before publishing such a report about someone who has great influence in the media, they must verify the facts with him or other insiders, which is almost impossible to do.

When Ronald's materials were anonymously released to the domestic media, no one they contacted was willing to be interviewed.

After a round of testing, Ronald was surprised to find that none of the media in America had published any exclusive interviews or in-depth reports about him.

Executives at major studios declined to comment. And those independent producers, such as Ray Stark, Ronald's collaborator in "Steel Magnolias", bluntly told the New York media who wanted to interview him that they had to get approval from CAA before they could work on the film. Ovitz was interviewed about the matter.

I don’t know if it’s because Ovitz himself is good at using negative news about celebrities to blackmail them to achieve his own goals, so he himself controls the publication of gossip about himself in the newspapers very strictly.

However, just like the so-called "power" obtained by using the power to blackmail customers or bullying the top executives of major studios with large investment projects, Ovitz's control of the news media is to a large extent. Borrowing other people's money and power.

There is not only one place in the world where there is freedom of the press.

…

"There is some news that interests you in London today, Mr. Rupert." In the office of Rupert, the big boss of Twentieth Century Fox, his secretary held up two copies of London controlled by his News Corporation. The newspaper's special report was delivered to him.

One is from The Times, and the relevant feature is "The most powerful people in Hollywood..." The report used a question and answer to challenge the audience, asking them to guess who is the most feared person in Hollywood on the other side of the ocean.

After denying the answers of producers, studios, directors, stars, etc., they gave their own answer, which was Michael Ovitz, the boss of CAA Agency.

"Ovitz's power is realized through his control of Hollywood's scarcest resource: stars. He exploits studios through packaging fees and obtaining high salaries for his stars.

Late last year, his company dominated the Oscars, with Rain Man beating out most of the competition to bring glory to CAA's clients. "

"Ahem, that's a bit exaggerated..." Rupert cleared his throat, a little unhappy. This report has put the boss of an agency company in a high position that he should not have.

"The four CAA packaged films released before the end of last year, "Rain Man", "Twins", "Crazy Rhapsody" and "Mississippi Burning", have made a total of nearly 380 million US dollars at the box office, and because of Ovitz's special contracts with these studios, they took most of the profits.

The package contract allows them to take 5% of the total pre-tax revenue of the studio's box office, videotapes, and TV broadcasts. This is like a tax paid to CAA. No matter how your costs change, CAA takes 5% before everyone else."

"Ahem...Pah..." Rupert spat, and he immediately called his secretary to call the group's CFO to confirm that Ovitz's arrogant share terms were true. Many times, 20th Century Fox needed CAA's help and could only pay these fees.

As for the films made with other independent producers, such as Ronald, Spielberg, Joel Silver, etc., Fox will enjoy much better conditions and fairer distribution ratios and orders.

Distributors have high risks, so they should also enjoy better conditions. Instead of cutting off the 5% risk-free piece of the most essential cheese like Ovitz.

"Huh..." Rupert muttered unsatisfiedly. This report must be published by the Times. He picked up another copy of the Sun. Under the three pages of the girl, a huge headline just held the girl's majestic photo.

"New Guinness World Record, the person with the most copyrights to his own photos in the world..."

"Hey, interesting." Rupert coughed twice again, and he guessed the idea of ​​the person who provided the news material, "Interesting young man".

...

Ronald was in the apartment, waiting for the news from London to be published. He had said his big words, but Ovitz was not someone he could easily control, otherwise he would not be who he is now.

Jewish friends called him again. Ovitz changed his tone and said that he used a large number of non-Jewish actors in the movie "Dirty Dancing" which reflects the important life of Jews, which is a blasphemy against Jewish traditions.

Moreover, the heroine Baby fell in love with an Irish low-class dancer. This kind of man-woman match made young people cheer, but made the elderly dissatisfied.

Gradually, the malicious intent against Ronald began to increase, including some actors who were not selected by him, who began to participate in the team of spreading rumors.

The most enthusiastic one among them was Sarah Jessica Parker, who lost to Jennifer Grey and did not win the role of Baby. She said that her failure was because her nose was too "Jewish" and she lost to Grey, whose Jewish nose was not so obvious.

This sounded much more credible than Ronald's anti-Semitism. Gradually, some partners of some projects in the circle also hinted that they would suspend cooperation with Ronald.

Although it was not obvious anti-Semitism, such discrimination against the typical appearance of Jews made the Jews in the circle feel worse. Everyone wanted to get a better role.

Many Jewish actors deny it, but they know that their ethnic appearance is not good-looking. If a director like Ronald comes to power, the chances will be drastically reduced. It is better for Jews like Ovitz to be in power, who will always take better care of Jews.

"Ward, I am making a commercial film, not a documentary about Jews. I want handsome men and beautiful women. Do you understand handsome men and beautiful women? They don't want to use Jewish beauties like Claudia Wells."

Ronald was furious when listening to Richard's report. He made a movie for money and awards, not to please Jews. A woman with an ugly face like Sarah Jessica Parker, if she was not an orthodox Jew, would not even be able to get a crowd actor.

I don't know who came up with this trick, but such a half-true and half-false rumor is much more effective than a sensational rumor.

No one believes that Ronald is anti-Semitic. But it is not wrong to say that Ronald does not like to use Jewish actors. Compared with the film projects packaged by CAA, the proportion of Jewish actors in his movies is much lower.

But that ratio should be the ratio that the entertainment industry should have! Compared with the proportion of Jews in the total population of America, there are too many Jews in the entertainment industry. Even if you add the racial talents of Jews, it is impossible.

But the Jews don’t think so. They only see that their opportunities have been greatly reduced under Ronald’s rule.

“If you were more beautiful, it wouldn’t be like this…” To put it bluntly, movies are also a kind of commodity. What’s the big difference between them and chewing gum and Coca-Cola? Ronald felt that he was really wronged. The audience loves to see beautiful women, but your ethnic group doesn’t have them.

For so many years, the most beautiful and most accepted female star by the audience is Barbara Streisand… and Claudia Wells, who looks the most suitable for the big screen in Back to the Future, has been deprived of her Jewish identity by you… and has fallen to be a distribution manager here.

“Hello…” Richard answered the call and turned to Ronald seriously after listening to two sentences, “It’s Rupert from Fox and News Corporation…”

"Hello, Mr. Rupert, this is Ronald." Ronald motioned for everyone to be quiet, took a deep breath, and picked up the phone.

"Ronald, did you do this?" Rupert got straight to the point on the other end of the phone.

"What are you talking about?"

"Hey, it's you, the materials you prepared are very good. I just found out that he has eaten up too much profit from the film and television departments in the past two years. I will support your strategy, you can do it with confidence.

When you publish Ovitz's Guinness World Record, the serious media in New York will also be interested..." Rupert smiled and gave Ronald a reassurance, asking him to help him expose Ovitz, the biggest black hand in Hollywood.

"Can you ensure that the serious media will follow up on the report?" Ronald was overjoyed. With Rupert's help, it was an extra layer of insurance.

"You have my promise, kid." Rupert said, and hung up the phone.

"He promised to help, you keep an eye on James Wells of the Daily News, I don't care what the reason is, they must reprint it as soon as possible... and then add the materials we added."

Ronald instructed media consultant Michael Gray to urge the Daily News to work. With the reports from The Times and The Sun, Ronald was still worried that the American media would be coerced by Ovitz not to reprint the article, or that they could not find a suitable interviewee to verify the facts.

So, he discussed the order of operation with Michael Gray and Richard. At the beginning, he could not immediately expose Ovitz, who used his power to suppress others in Hollywood, but had to start with a seemingly harmless gossip.

Next, he waited for the three most influential East Coast serious media, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, to take the opportunity to attack.

To be foolproof, he would then call Ned Tanen of Paramount, Leonard Goldberg of Fox, and Frank Price of Columbia, three former presidents of the seven major studios with whom he had a pleasant cooperation, and asked them to prepare for interviews with the largest serious media in America.

"Hello? Ned?" Ronald first called Ned Tanen, who helped him set up the project "Top Gun".

"Accept an interview? How could you think I would challenge Ovitz who is now in the limelight? I am not the president of Universal and Paramount now. My production company also needs their approval to borrow big stars. Sorry, Ronald." Ned Tanan was unwilling to help. He was also Jewish.

"What if you hope to become the president of the Seven again?"

"Wait a minute, you are talking about..."

Sure enough, the biggest characteristic of Jews is their unity in words. As long as there is a price that can make them excited, a bag of money with thirty silver coins can make them do anything.

Among the three old friends who have worked together, only Frank Price, who is also white, is more righteous. He bought Ronald's first script at a high price that year, which was half-coerced by Ovitz. In addition, he had broken up with the Jews in the industry and punched Sid Sheinberg. He was most enthusiastic about revenge against Ovitz and helping Ronald.

Just when everything was ready and waiting to be launched, Ovitz sent Ron Meyer, who was also one of the founders of CAA, to persuade Ronald to reconcile.

"Ronald, I'm here to pass on a message to Michael, and also for you." Mayer dressed like a middle-class man, not as domineering as Ovitz, which made his words more convincing.

"This is the current situation of Jews in this industry. I won't lie to you against my will and say that you won't face any serious consequences. Although you are not labeled as an anti-Semite in the industry, it is inevitable that many Jews have doubts about you.

And you Richard, I know what you are thinking with Niceta and Wagner. Ronald and Cruise will always be your clients, and no one can take them away from you. But have you decided to leave CAA? William Morris and ICM don't have the comprehensive advantages that we have now. There are some things that you don't feel when you are in it, but if you jump out of this environment, you will understand why CAA is the most powerful in Hollywood. Great agency company."

"I say, Mr. Mayer. You are right. Some things do not seem unfair when you are deep inside, but once you jump out, you will know who has been exploiting you for a long time." Ronald saw that Mayer was indeed here to negotiate, so he smiled and said to him:

"Let me give you an example. You and three other agents left William Morris with Ovitz and founded CAA, but you had five people with equal shares. Why is Ovitz now in absolute control, while you still keep the original share without much growth?"

"Huh?" Ron Mayer did not expect Ronald to turn around and hint that he was the one who was exploited the most by Ovitz. He hinted that he should turn against him at the critical moment and get rid of Ovitz together."

But as the old saying goes, you can't plan a rebellion in advance. Ron Mayer adjusted his glasses, "I think my purpose of coming here has failed, but I see your sincerity. Maybe we can reach an agreement next time. Next, you should be prepared to face Ovitz's anger."

"He should also be prepared to face our anger. "Ronald sent Mayer away and turned to his agent Richard who was looking at him.

"Michael Ovitz, the person who owns the most copyrights of his own photos in the world, what makes him care so much about not publishing his photos in the media?"

The next morning, the New York Daily News reprinted the Sun's news on the main page, telling about several new world records set by Guinness. In addition to the one about Prince William, the audience was most interested in the boss of Hollywood CAA, Ovitz.

Why would a person want to prohibit the news media from publishing his own photos, and even buy the copyright of any photo taken by any photographer? Unless, he wants to hide something from the public, right?

Most viewers will think of this reflexively when they see this news.

The last American celebrity who did this was Michael Milken, who became a billionaire by issuing junk bonds and is now being prosecuted and tried by New York prosecutor Rudy.

"When Ovitz was young, he attended Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley and served as the student union president. One of his classmates is Michael Milken, the junk bond king who is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for tax evasion, insider trading, stock price manipulation and other crimes."

"Good fellow, no wonder they are so sneaky, they all graduated from the same high school... This middle school is a place where real demons gather, and their principal must have deviated from the Lord's teachings." An old lady who bought the Daily News quickly drew a cross on her chest to ward off evil spirits.