Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Okay, I understand, thank you for your hard work."

Ronald hung up the phone to Rachel Talalay, the female producer who had replaced Polly Platt and went to oversee the scene. Rachel Talalay has strong control skills and arranged everything for the crew in an orderly manner in the uninhabited area of ​​the South Dakota Reservation.

According to her, Orion's money is basically credited to the crew's account on schedule, with only occasional delays of a few days. And these people really respect artists very much, as the legend says, and are somewhat responsive to Kevin Costner's requests.

Some scenes even seemed OK to Rachel Talalay, but at Costner's request, they were reshot over and over again to meet his requirements. The producers assigned by Orion never hesitated. As long as they could apply in writing and give appropriate reasons, Orion would let him shoot.

According to the producer, who has followed Orion's vice president Mike Medavoy since the United Artists era, Orion's current boss John Klug is a media and communications tycoon who is fighting for Orion with Redstone. , has been increasing its holdings, and finally increased its holdings to 69%, becoming the largest shareholder.

Orion started with Oliver Stone's "Platoon", and all successful projects were only possible with the help of this rich man's pocketbook.

"If things were good in the past two years, we wouldn't even have to apply, just say it verbally, and we would spend money without batting an eyelid. As long as we could convince Mike Medavoy, we would have super creative freedom."

The producer's original words were also full of dissatisfaction with the new small company like Daydream, which was so timid that Rachel Talalay had to arrange even the number of people eating at lunch. People are counted, and those who eat for free have to pay for themselves.

Ordinarily, Ronald should feel relieved that there is no financial problem. But after he hung up the phone, he still felt unsure...

These artists, and middle managers, do not understand the psychology of the rich. Ronald had some friends with Warren Buffy, a regular on the Forbes list, and knew that these wealthy people spent their money more wisely than the average person.

They can be ordinary people and spend money for their own preferences. They can spend several years of ordinary people's income. But whether something is valuable or not, and what price you should pay to buy it so that you don’t suffer a loss, you are much more sensitive than ordinary people.

Ronald didn't believe that there were such people who spent a lot of money on art and funded directors to shoot the movies they had in mind simply for their own preferences.

In addition, the shooting budget process became increasingly strict and the occasional payment delay made Ronald's doubts grow. This might be the first yellow leaf falling in autumn...

In order to alleviate his doubts, Ronald asked Richard for help and collected all the film records shot by Orion in the past five years. He also asked accountant Ed Bastian to help research Orion's financial situation.

Ronald spent two nights and finally roughly sorted out Orion's filming situation and financial situation. The situation was not optimistic.

Before John Kluge took over, Orion was a typical medium-sized company, producing 6-8 movies a year and releasing some movies from other small studios. It didn't make a lot of money, but it was very good in awards and film reviews. There are gains. Financial status is healthy.

But as John Kluge increased his holdings year by year, production of Orion rose to 10 films a year, and soon to 15 films a year. The budget of each movie has also increased from an average of about 5 million to 15 million.

Fortunately, Mike Medavoy, a group of producers who came out of United Artists Pictures back then, also has a very good vision. They can guarantee that there will be 1-2 box office hits (more than 50 million) every year. , and several more can be nominated for major Oscar awards. Orion has not been reduced to a cannon...

"But their symptoms are the same as cannons..." said Ed Bastian, who is helping Ronald handle media acquisitions in New York. "In a time of low interest rates, a lot of borrowing, and then a lot of Making big-budget movies in the hope of repaying them through box-office success.

I'm not saying this strategy can't be successful. In fact, in recent years. The cost of filming Hollywood movies is also rising rapidly.

However, other major studios can save huge publicity costs by relying on big stars, while Orion mostly shoots works by auteur directors, which rely not on stars but on the success of the plot.

In addition, they do not have the convenience of linking TV and movies and rely on stars to push audiences to watch movies and TV series, so Orion is not successful at the box office. "

"So we can only film one film at a time?" Ronald almost came to his senses.

"Yes, they can only continue to shoot, make more movies than last year, and make movies with higher production costs, hoping to turn around. But the interest rates in the past two years are not the same as they were 86 years ago. If they continue to make movies like this ..." Ed Bastian hinted.

"The more you shoot, the more you lose. The more you lose, the more you have to shoot..." Ronald said that he understood that the symptoms of Orion and Cannon were different, but the root cause was the same. It was all caused by the introduction of fools' money in the era of low interest rates and massive and inappropriate expansion.

Cannon took over Wall Street's junk bonds, Orion relied on Kluge's constant investment, and the result of Cannon may be violent death, while Orion slowly starved to death.

This company is like a giant suffering from bulimia. Every time it expects the next movie to bring super high box office to relieve hunger, but every time it eats too much, making it even hungrier. They have been tied to the wheel of making big productions and cannot stop.

"Take my call from Mike Medavoy..." Ronald felt he had to intervene. Dances with Wolves still had two months to shoot in South Dakota, and The Silence of the Lambs was about to start filming. It is necessary to ensure that these two films, which are invested by oneself, are isolated from Orion Production Company's own risks.

…

Ronald borrowed a Cantonese chef from Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles, and cooked a table of authentic Chinese food for Mike Medavoy, a Jew who grew up in Hongkou. Recently, many chefs from Hong Kong have immigrated to America, and the standard of Cantonese cuisine has skyrocketed.

"Come on, use more. These shrimp dumplings use seafood from the Pacific, and this rice rolls are all made by master chefs in Fengcheng..." Ronald and Mike Medavoy could still say a few words together. Huyu poured him a cup of authentic Lapsang Souchong black tea and advised him to eat more Chinese food made with old techniques.

"Hmm, I ate it several times when I was a kid, and every time it was as happy as a holiday..." Mike Medavoy ate a mouthful of food, took a sip of the black tea that Ronald poured, and found some memories from his childhood. Comfortable.

The two foreigners followed the Chinese habit of talking about important things at the dinner table.

"You also know why I invited you, right?" Ronald also poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip slowly.

“Yes, the head of production on Orion called me and said you were concerned about the filming of Dances with Wolves.

In fact, there is no need for you to worry, Ronald. Orion inherits the tradition of United Artists started by Chaplin. We are the studio that respects directors and creators the most in Hollywood. In this era, good artists are respected. , we are very confident that the two films we collaborate with you will achieve success at the box office and critical awards..." Mike McDavoy wiped his mouth and gave Ronald reassurance.

"I'm not too worried about Costner and my senior brother Jonathan Demme..." Ronald took out a spreadsheet made with Microsoft Excel software, which his assistant Lake helped organize.

"Actually, in the past three years, Orion, the movies starring or directed by the two of them are among the few of yours that have been able to sell well..."

Ronald pointed to the movie title he had drawn out with a red pencil. "Married to the Gang" directed by Jonathan Demme, used Michelle Pfeiffer. Her charm and Demme's overall control, no The high-profile award winnings also earned more than 20 million at the box office. It can be regarded as a small production that makes money quietly.

Costner's previous baseball movie "Millions of Dollars" is the only three box office hit in the past three years, along with RoboCop and the Billy Crystal-starring comedy "Mommy." Over 50 million Orion movies.

"Then what are you worried about?" Mike Medavoy spread his hands and made a funny expression.

"Look at the rest of them..." Ronald pointed to the remaining movies in the table. Apart from the works of the two people Ronald invested in, there was only one comedy called The Adventures of Bill and Ted that was successful at the box office. , this is an alternative comedy about two handsome guys from the future who take a time machine back to meet historical figures to complete their homework. More than 70% of the remaining movies did not even make money on the production cost.

"What's the problem with this? You are the boss of Daydream, not the president of Orion. Orion's management should worry about whether you make money or not." Mike Medavoy was noncommittal.

Ronald was keenly aware that Mike Medavoy was talking about Orion's management, not me to worry about. Things might be pretty much what he guessed.

"I don't have to worry about these two movies, but everyone can see the current financial situation of Orion. What if you...the two movies I invested in?" What Ronald actually wanted to say was that Orion was originally As the distributor of these two films, if the company fails, you, Mike Medavoy, will personally ensure that they receive theatrical distribution.

These two movies are not the kind of small 5 million productions that Ronald's own daydreams make. If there is a problem with the domestic distribution in America, it will not be a joke.

Ronald must at least ensure that if something happens to Orion, he will get the complete property rights of the film and then use resources to find another distribution channel.

"Ha, you are...what the Chinese said back then, people from a country called Qi, worried about the sky falling all day long..." Mike McDavoy was very imposing, "You forgot our Orion boss. , it’s John Kluge.”

John Kluge is the boss of Metropolitan Media who acquired Orion and a successful representative of German immigrants.

He has long occupied an important position on the Forbes list with a fortune close to $1 billion.

In 1986, he made a big deal and sold all of his television networks to Rupert, the Australian owner of Twentieth Century Fox. It earned him a total of four billion dollars.

This wealth figure soon allowed Klug to surpass the wealth of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Supermarket, and ranked first on the Forbes rich list in 1987, becoming the richest person in America.

The reason why he invested in Orion is also very interesting. At first, he got 6% of the shares of Orion Pictures because of a merger case involving the cinema chain under Metropolitan Media.

Later, another rich man who competed with him for the cinema chain, Redstone, also took a fancy to his company and thought that the medium-sized producer that often appeared at the Oscars ceremony was worth investing in. So he also bought a considerable share.

The two of them were like children, fighting to buy shares of Orion everywhere. In the end, it was Klug's wealth that forced Redstone to give up the deal.

"Mr. Klug can make back the losses of these movies you mentioned in one afternoon... You don't know his character yet. For what he likes, he will pay no price." Mike McDavoy said something with a smile, which represents Klug's style.

Back then, there was a comedian named Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist, and a voice actor (who once voiced the Smurfs). He once hosted a children's program "Winchell-Mahoney Time" on Metropolitan Media's TV network.

But Klug didn't like his hosting style, so he failed to change. Winchell proposed to buy back 305 episodes of historical drama for $100,000 and run it himself. As a result, Kluge was very dissatisfied and ordered all the master tapes to be destroyed.

This matter caused a big fuss. In the end, Paul Winchell won the lawsuit against Kluge in court. Kluge's Metropolitan Media had to pay Winchell $3.8 million as compensation for the damage of the master tapes, plus $14 million in punitive damages.

"This is the style of the super-rich. For the sake of their own momentary pleasure, they would rather pay $18 million than give up the opportunity to make $100,000. Don't worry, Kluge is still very interested in movies. People of their generation grew up watching movies and have a movie dream in their hearts..."

"Don't talk nonsense. Haven't I seen anyone on the Forbes rich list?" Ronald and Buffy, who ranked second, were chatting and laughing. They made decisions very rationally. I'm afraid that many of Kluge's actions were deliberately done for the sake of running the media well.

Besides, the minimum qualification for Forbes' American Rich List last year was 275 million. In fact, if Ronald himself counts his securities investment and some potential movie income, he is not far from this minimum standard.

However, Forbes generally only counts the pay of directors and stars, and the income of producers, and Ronald's real and profitable work is only Dirty Dancing. For the time being, they have not put him on the same level as Spielberg and Lucas.

"What do you want to say?" Mike McDavoy saw that Ronald was knowledgeable, so he stopped trying to mislead him.

"I have to guarantee that if there is a problem with Orion, our two movies must have complete property rights. The bottom line is that we will do the PR for distribution and awards ourselves..."

"I heard that you have some connections in Columbia?"

"They will listen to me on some things..."

The two people's voices became lower and lower, and Mike McDavoy also wanted to buy himself an unemployment insurance, in case of any discord, there is still a place to go.