Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Julia Roberts knows how to use her charm. She is lobbying director Garry Marshall to change the script to a better ending, so that the male lead Lewis will not go bankrupt, so that Vivian can live happily with the prince forever like a princess in a fairy tale.

In order to achieve their goal, Julia Roberts and his agent attacked from two directions. On the one hand, she accompanied director Garry Marshall every day to talk about her views on the role and the script. On the other hand, her agent began to invite Hollywood male stars, but the effect was not particularly good.

This made Diane very angry, because it was Julia Roberts who she found to replace her as the heroine. If the script was changed to this, she would also like to play it. Such an ending and role will not affect her image at all, nor will it embarrass her future children to watch the movies played by their mother.

Even if she is pregnant now and cannot act for the time being, she can still act after recovering for a period of time after giving birth.

"Hmm... Hmm... If I had known I could do this..."

Diane felt a little regretful and kept knocking her head. She was not used to the role of a Hollywood star director's wife.

"If you really like this role, I can arrange it for you..." Ronald couldn't bear to see Diane in a bad mood, so he tried to cheer her up.

"Hey, is this really okay? But if you have to wait for me, does the crew have to stop? What about the investment from Disney?" When Dane heard what Ronald said, the grievance and depression in her heart suddenly came out. She started to think about Ronald instead...

"The loss won't be more than 10 million. It's not that I can't afford it now...but for this movie, it must have a good box office so that I can explain it to Mr. Katzenberg and Mr. Eisner of Disney..."

"Well, forget it, this movie is just a low-cost romantic love movie..." Diane immediately shook her head and refused to do it when she heard that her husband would lose so much and take a big risk if she was asked to do it...In fact, what made her most unhappy was that Julia Roberts was smarter than her and knew how to use her influence to achieve her desired goals.

"Don't worry, I will go to Disney, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox now to take out all the stock scripts in their warehouses. If you like any of them, we will prepare them and wait for you..." Ronald touched Diane's belly, which was still relatively flat. When she gave birth to their child next spring, she would be able to make movies again after a period of recovery...

"Really? Ronnie, I'm so happy..." Diane is actually a relatively pure actor. She is not the best at these intrigues in Hollywood. This is also one of the reasons why Ronald likes Diane.

If an actress really wants to stand out, she still has to use all possible means to get what she wants, just like Julia Roberts. But now with Ronald's help, Diane doesn't have to practice those tricks anymore.

"I started to dream about the scene of husband and wife working together, how happy it would be for the husband and wife to sing and follow each other.

"That won't work, Diane, if you are the lead actor, I don't want to be the director..." Ronald was so scared when he heard this that he quickly refused.

"Why? Aren't there many directors and actors who are husband and wife in Hollywood?" Diane asked in confusion.

"I don't want to get angry at you on the set, dear. "Ronald told Diane his thoughts.

After seeing and hearing a lot in this industry, he had a big psychological barrier to directing a movie with his girlfriend or wife as the heroine.

The relationship between director and actor is naturally conflicting, and it is inevitable that there will be various different opinions on the performance effect. If it is his wife, it will interfere with this relationship. Many director-actor couples break up because of a movie.

In the end, both the director-actor or husband-wife relationship are often damaged.

And with Diane's beauty and age, her movies will always have some romantic love scenes. If he had to direct Diane on the set and kiss another male actor, or look at each other affectionately, Ronald felt uncomfortable all over when he thought about this kind of thing. He was not as generous as Bogdanovich, who could tolerate Sybil Shepherd being intimate with the male lead on the set...

"You really can Love, Ronnie... um..." Dai Ran felt regretful on the one hand, but on the other hand, he felt that Ronald cherished their relationship very much, so he was still very happy in his heart.

...

After comforting Dai An, Ronald called Michelle Cannold, who was daydreaming, and told him about the progress of "The Seinfeld Chronicles" and the preparation of the TV version of "Working Girls" for a meeting with all executives tomorrow morning.

"That's really very good news. We should also have our own TV production department..." Michelle Cannold laughed the happiest. A few years ago, he was a manager who was almost fired by a small production company that produced videotapes. Now he has become an executive of a production company that can produce three medium-sized productions at the same time, and can now open a new TV production line.

"That's really very, very good news..." Bannon, who was at the meeting, also smiled. The dozen or so Wall Street investors were about to begin to question his vision and ability in Hollywood.

As soon as Ronald came out, not only would the old show have a chance to be piloted again, but there would also be a new show that could fool those investors into investing a large sum of money again.

"What do you say about financing?" Ronald looked at Bannon. He didn't want to pay for the TV series production himself, as Wall Street had a lot of money with nowhere to go.

"As long as you and Working Girl are known, those people will just come and get it," Bannon said with a smile. One million is not a lot of money for those investors, but if a dozen people get together, it will be enough for the filming of this series.

"We'll talk about this separately later..." Ronald nodded. He also wanted to talk to Bannon about getting Douglas Jr. to join the group. The first TV series production could not be completely controlled by Bannon to control the investment structure.

"What do you say about the script?" Ronald looked at David Simkins, the director in charge of the script. The first attempt of "Dances with Wolves" to cultivate him as a film producer failed, but Simkins was still very capable in selecting and producing scripts in his old profession.

"I plan to find a team of three to five experienced TV writers as the core, and then hire a group of full-time writers who specialize in writing the main plot, dialogue, atmosphere rendering, and industry details to form a writing room..."

TV writing and film writing are two completely different professions. Generally speaking, a film writer can work alone. Or the producer comes up with the idea of ​​the story, and then finds a screenwriter to write the script, no more than 3 people.

But TV writing requires a team of screenwriters in an office to work simultaneously. In the public television market in America, TV series are filmed and broadcast at the same time.

And after the broadcast, the subsequent plots must be adjusted according to the audience's feedback. Which characters are more popular with the audience, the actors should be given more roles. Which characters are hated by the audience, they should be written to death.

In this case, the key plots are done, and the others fill them with flesh and blood.

"Do you have the right person?" Ronald planned to find one to three screenwriters to write the pilot episode at the beginning, and then find actors to play. If he can sign a broadcast contract with NBC in the future, he will use these people as the backbone to form the entire writing room.

"Lawrence Connor," Simkins threw out a resume. This was a high-quality screenwriter that he had tried to attract to Daydream several times. However, since Daydream did not have a TV series business, this screenwriter was reluctant to join Daydream and become a long-term employee.

"Ha..." Ronald saw a long list of familiar names on Lawrence Connor's resume.

Not only did he work with others and write a screenwriter for Helen Slater's theater movie, "The Legend of Billy King," he also wrote scripts for a lot of bad movie sequels, such as "Superman IV," "The Jewel of the Nile," the sequel to Michael Douglas's hit adventure movie, and "Star Trek V," which recently failed at the box office.

In the field of TV series, he also wrote a TV series called "The Legend of Remington Steele," which was the famous work of Pierce Brosnan, the leading actor in the Coke commercial directed by Ronald.

"Is he willing to come to Daydream?"

"He was always suppressed by his partner before, and he also wants to lead a team and make a series that is completely under his name."

"That's great, of course we can give him this opportunity..." Ronald knew the ambition of Lawrence Connor, and he must want to be a TV producer in the future. Anyway, Daydream also needs such talents to take charge of the production of its first TV series. This is definitely a win-win situation.

After everyone discussed the production of the TV series "Working Girl", the senior executives of Daydream said goodbye and left tacitly. Bannon was left in Ronald's office, knowing that the two of them still had some private matters about investment to discuss.

"NBC has a lot of complaints about Seinfeld Chronicles, mainly because the audience they found for the pilot had a low rating. I've read the original questionnaire, and most of the people who responded thought the heroine's personality was unpleasant..." Ronald started with Seinfeld's matter...

"I can replace it. Do you have any suitable candidates?" Bannon reluctantly fired the heroine who had a close relationship with him. He knew that in order to get Ronald's help, this was the price he had to pay.

"No, you misunderstood. I don't have any heroines to recommend. I'm just telling you a way to change NBC's view of your series... We can produce another pilot episode as soon as possible, and then go to NBC and other TV stations to promote it..."

"I think it's best to start with other TV stations this time. There are some senior executives in NBC who don't like me..." Bannon finally said the crux of the problem. He angered an executive of NBC's TV series purchasing department because of some of his words defending Seinfeld at the purchasing meeting.

"We can try it at 20th Century Fox first. Barry Diller and I are very familiar with each other. He has talked to me several times. If there is a new project, we should review it with him first."

"Ronald, what can I say? You are my angel!" Bannon stood up and hugged Ronald hard.

"I'll leave you here alone, and I want to discuss the financing structure of the TV series Working Girls..."

"Do you want to invest yourself? If you do, this is great news for Wall Street. They have always admired producers who dare to invest in their own film and television projects..." Bannon was very happy, good things came one after another.

"No, Daydream will make some investments, and I will not invest personally. But I have a good friend, you have met, Douglas Hansen Jr. He needs to occupy more than 15% of the investment share in this series, and 7% of it must have the highest priority dividend rights..."

"I remember when I was in New York last time, he seemed..." Bannon knew that such conditions were a bit harsh for him as a broker, and he was a little confused...

"Yes, he is dating my sister..."

"That's a family member? There is no problem, we all have to take care of the family first... But to be honest, the share and priority you want seem to be too favorable for a relative... They may not appreciate your kindness..." Bannon hinted that if Douglas Jr. got such favorable conditions, it would increase the difficulty of his financing on Wall Street.

"I didn't make it clear. Douglas Jr.'s money is not entirely his own. There are other people behind him..."

"Is it the first family? I asked you last time. Many people on Wall Street are saying that you have a good relationship with the first family..." Bannon's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's not the case, but this investor does have a good relationship with the first family... He is someone who can enter and leave the White House freely without notification..."

"Who is it?" Bannon's interest remains unabated. For a broker, knowing these powerful people can greatly expand their business scope.

"It's Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia... The current Saudi ambassador to the United States..."

"Daxn, I have no problem giving this preferential condition. I only have one request, Ronald, you have to introduce him to me..." Bannon was overjoyed. The pockets of Saudi oil tycoons are very deep. If he can get in touch with them, the consulting fees from their investment in Wall Street alone will be enough to feed himself.

"Okay, Douglas will arrange it in New York, but his investment is made after several funds cross-hold shares... so there will be no trace of him or Saudi Arabia in the documents."

"I understand, I understand, these people's identities are sensitive... In fact, some of my clients are like this..."

Bannon understands the caution of these people, and left with a slightly harsh investment agreement with great satisfaction.

Ronald called Douglas and explained the details of the matter.

"I will do a good job on George's side, and I will give Bannon a little sweetness at that time, let him meet Prince Bandar and eat camel meat together..."

Of course, Ronald did not fully explain to Bannon. In this 15%, he also left a share with the highest priority dividend rights for George.

In order to raise a sum of money, George took a ride when the billionaire acquired the Texas Rangers. He almost sold his failed investment in the oil company in his early years.

He turned to use the dividends from the movie box office that Ronald's daydream paid him to buy shares in the Rangers baseball team.

This year, his investment in the oil company continued to shrink, and he also sold his shares at a loss. Although there was a loss of about 100,000 US dollars, it also saved him from the SEC's investigation. The Donald Party always keeps a close eye on the politicians of the Democratic Party. A Texas politician who sold shares in the same oil company has now been reported to the SEC and investigated.

If it weren't for Ronald's help, it would be George Jr. and his mother Barbara's headache now.

Similarly, in order to prevent his investment in the TV series from being exposed by many good-hearted Donald Party news media, Douglas Jr. hired a professional team and made multiple layers of cover.

On the surface, George Jr. only bought an investment from a private equity fund on Wall Street. But this private equity fund also bought an anonymous negative score from a limited liability company registered in Delaware, and this company bought shares of other film and television funds on Wall Street, through several transfers and isolation. In fact, the money was invested in Ronald's daydream TV series production.

If the powerful departments hadn't intervened, it would be impossible for ordinary people to penetrate these layers of equity structure to find George Jr.'s investment route. Even if they found it, it would be difficult for them to connect the two things.