Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Protest, protest..." Tyson's manager, Don King, began to pull the referee away from declaring Douglas the winner. And immediately lodged a complaint with the event organizers and referees at the scene, as well as officials from the three major boxing councils.

But Douglas didn't care about this. He had already put on a white towel, yelled at the host, and made some postures, asking him to quickly announce that he had won.

The scene was so chaotic that Ronald couldn't do anything to bet on his victory. He put the betting slip in his pocket, bypassed Bobby Brown with Spike Lee, found the assistant assigned to him by Sony, and the three of them went to Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo to eat sushi together.

"Please..." Several pieces of sushi were placed in front of the dining table.

This sushi restaurant was arranged by Sony. It's very interesting. There is no menu here. The owner Jiro Ono decides what sushi to make based on what's fresh in the fish market today. Spike Lee grabbed it and put it in his mouth, "It's pretty fucking good."

Ronald and he chatted while eating. It had been a long time since they had met and chatted. "What movies have you made recently?"

After all, they were interns at New York University to shoot commercials together. There was no mincing words, and they asked about each other's film careers directly as they did back then.

"I just completed a movie about jazz, which tells the life story of two trumpeters during the heyday of jazz. Let me tell you, I completed a very powerful shot, indoor 360-degree tracking, without stopping. A scene of him composing improvisationally around the leading actor, Denzel Washington..."

Ronald was in high spirits. It was rare for him to have an old friend discuss pure film technology with him like before. The more they chatted, the happier they became. "This is really amazing. When you get back, you can make a copy and show it to me..."

"Bro, there's no problem at all. Let me show you my level...hahaha"

"Are you going to shoot songs and dances or black people next?" Ronald ate another piece of sushi. The owner made it really delicious. The ingredients were well matched and very layered.

"A black theme, I plan to shoot a love theme between a black man and a white woman..." Spike Lee started talking happily.

"Oh, the new Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Ronald knew that Spike liked to make black stories. The Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a movie that caused a great social sensation, was about black men. A white girl falls in love, and the hero goes to meet his parents-in-law when the girl's parents don't know that he is black.

"No, no, no, it's a completely subversive story. The two are colleagues and superiors, and each has a partner. It's a double forbidden love between the office and race."

Ronald smiled and shook his head. He knew that this old acquaintance liked to film controversial racial topics. Spike Lee liked Ronald's "Working Girl" photo and asked him about the costume, props and makeup. Ronald promised to introduce his current team to him.

While they were chatting happily, the owner and chef Ono Jiro came over, bowed to them, and spoke a bunch of Japanese. The assistant translator who was eating next to me said that the thirty-minute dinner was over.

"Hey, please give us some more. We still have something to talk about." Ronald was unhappy. Is there anyone else who could drive people away?

Ono Jiro was resolute, saying that it was impossible for them to add food. The sushi was best eaten at this point, and he would not be able to taste and appreciate the deliciousness of the sushi any further.

"You have a fucking problem here..." Spike Lee pointed to his head and began a series of greetings to the shop owner.

"Forget it, is there any other place? Let's continue a little more..." Ronald stopped Spike.

"Let's go to Shanju Restaurant, which specializes in tempura..." The assistant didn't expect that Ronald wasn't full yet, so he tapped his head and borrowed the phone here to reserve a seat.

…

After eating some Tokyo-style food, Ronald still didn't cash in his bet order the next day. Yesterday, Don King's fuss had some effect. Among the three major boxing organizations, only the IBF admitted that Douglas had won the game. The WBA and WBC both said that they needed to carefully investigate the video to see if Tyson knocked down Douglas in the eighth round. The referee committed a violation.

With the uncashed bet slip, Ronald took a special plane back to Los Angeles, and by the way, he hooked up with Spike Lee and let him show his face properly in front of Bobby Brown, who was frustrated.

Just after getting jet-lagged, Ed Bastian came over to see Ronald. He first brought a low-price sale agreement for ABC's "Growing Pains" across the Pacific and asked Ronald to sign it.

"ABC is very satisfied with being able to enter the local channel market there, and asked you if you can continue to supply. Their TV series with high ratings can be sold to us at the lowest price for our cooperation with Channel 20."

Ed Bastian brought the idea from ABC. It seems that Ronald is not the only smart person who knows how to cultivate the brand without making money first, and then wait for the income of the people there to increase.

Ronald flipped through the list of TV series provided by the other party. ABC is very generous, using all popular dramas that were first aired around 1985, and are only aired a few seasons later than the current American audience.

If the cooperation is really successful, then Americans who go there for tourism or business will be surprised to see that both Chinese and American TV stations are broadcasting the same TV series. This is not to mention China, even capitalist countries such as Japan, Britain, and Europe will have protective measures, which is a rare sight.

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"I'm afraid it won't work," Ronald pointed to a TV series "Battle Dragon" above and said, "In fact, this TV series has been introduced in Hong Kong. Some TV stations there have pirated it, but it was quickly stopped. It's not because it was found to have violated the copyright, but because some people think that this will teach children bad things."

Just a few years ago, an old TV series "Garrison's Gorillas" from decades ago was broadcast halfway through.

There is also "Blue Moonlight Detective Agency", many of the plots are too absurd. Some emotional entanglements in "Thirty Years Old" are beyond the atmosphere that can be tolerated there.

"Several TV stations and radio stations under Columbia Pictures are also going to be transferred to ABC. We have the priority to choose. Which ones do you like?" Ed Bastian put away the list of TV series and handed another list to Ronald.

Sony acquired Columbia Pictures, but could only keep the film-related parts. The local wireless TV stations and radio stations originally owned by Columbia must be divested according to the law. Ronald has the priority to choose a few.

Ronald took a look and found that there were radio stations and TV stations in metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles, as well as those in small places such as Ohio and Connecticut. He didn't understand these, but knew that Bastian must have been prepared, so he asked, "What do you think?"

"I think WABC-AM in New York, KNX-FM in Los Angeles, and KRON-FM in San Francisco... and WCIX-TV in Miami can be considered." Ed circled several items for sale in the list.

"Why?" Ronald noticed that he didn't choose any in the Midwest such as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, etc.

"According to the latest population survey, the population of the east and west coasts is growing, while the Great Lakes region is declining, especially the proportion of young people in the total population..." Bastian said the reason why he was optimistic. Radio and wireless TV stations must rely on advertising to maintain their business.

The Midwest used to be the manufacturing center of America, but now it is increasingly depressed by Japanese companies and there is no hope of recovery...

"Also, these radio stations are mainly news-based, so they can be used to broadcast the talk show of your former assistant Miss Lake..."

"Oh, she's doing a good job?" Ronald didn't expect to hear the fat girl's name.

"Not bad, quite good. She is the youngest talk show host in the United States, only 22 years old. The show is mainly about young people's topics, such as how to fall in love, how to put on makeup, how to find a job, etc. It is gentler than ordinary talk shows and less explicit than evening talk shows, and is very popular among teenagers.

Although traditional advertisers do not spend much, some advertisements for products targeting young people sell very well. Someone told me that the Lake Show may become the media advertising platform with the best reach for teenagers in the United States after the MTV channel..."

"I really didn't expect this..." Ronald raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that Richie Lake, who had been his assistant for several years, was actually a talk show genius.

"She is very friendly and a little fat. She is not aggressive as a host. Many of the guests who come to the talk show are ordinary people. Compared with a female star with a good figure and good looks, Lake can make them relax a lot and say a lot of things that other programs can't say..."

"How long is her contract with us? What conditions should be given to keep her?" Ronald keenly realized that Ed Bastian was going to talk about this sudden talent.

"I started with a salary of $5,000, and then it increased to $20,000. I plan to tie her down with a long-term contract..."

Ronald nodded. The host is the soul of a talk show. He looked at the annual salary figure, then wrote a plus sign next to it, and a bonus based on the ratings.

"We will buy all the radio and TV stations you mentioned, just to expand Lake's national popularity. After that, we will contact several major TV networks to see if her program can be syndicated and broadcast nationwide. Of course, she must agree to sign a long-term contract with us..."

"Ronald, you are such a good boss, and it is very pleasant to work with you." Ed Bastian felt that Ronald and he had a good understanding. He originally wanted to make Lake's program a well-known brand of a TV station, as an umbrella product for the entire media group.

TV stations need such a well-known program to protect other programs. There are so many TV stations in New York. If you say that our TV station is to produce and broadcast the Richie Lake Show, it will be easy for advertisers to pay.

Ronald signed his name on all the documents and allocated a large sum of money to Ed Basti to complete the acquisition of radio and television stations with Sony. Ronald resumed his normal working hours.

That day, he found Jim Cameron again.

"This is the synopsis I wrote..." Ronald finally recalled the plot of the Terminator sequel that he had dreamed of that year, and then wrote it into a synopsis script. The most exciting part is the airport battle scene between the T-1000 liquid metal robot and the T-800 robot starring Schwarzenegger.

In addition to the liquid metal robot that Cameron wanted to shoot in the first episode, which can transform into anyone, there are also two robots chasing motorcycles on the road, fighting in the corridor, car chases and shootings, T-1000 being frozen into pieces by liquid nitrogen, and the scene of falling into the steelmaking furnace and melting in the final battle at the steel plant.

"Oh, this makes my blood boil..." Cameron was beaming with joy. I didn't expect Ronald to understand me so well. The audience watched the sequel to see more exciting scenes than the first episode.

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The first episode, such as fighting and shooting, will be more intensive. The first episode was forced by budget and technical conditions to shoot the big truck chase, so it will be a completely upgraded version.

These scenes are meant to gradually escalate, leading the audience's hormones to explode, and finally reverse in the third act, so that their emotions are stimulated by the tense plot to a climax...

Cameron quickly drew some of the scenes written by Ronald on his notebook and sketched out storyboards for several shots. Ronald knew that his old friend had inspiration, and he made him a cup of black tea...

After drawing two pictures, Cameron was still not satisfied, and when he wanted to continue, he suddenly frowned and said to Ronald, "But..."

"But what?"

"The scenes in your script are very exciting, but the cost of shooting may be unprecedentedly high..." Cameron pointed out several scenes, such as the scene where the T-1000 changes into other people and then faces those people. For example, after the T-1000 is frozen to pieces, it gradually thaws under the heat source of the explosion, and then the mercury-like liquid metal is combined together and becomes a robot again.

"If all of them are made, I'm afraid it will cost more than 80 million US dollars..." Cameron sighed. Now no one in Hollywood is willing to invest the money of two "Batman" movies to make a movie.

"Then cut some of them?" Ronald tried.

"Cut them?" Cameron touched this page and that page, and he was reluctant to give up any of them!

But keeping them all? Cameron knew it was unrealistic. Caroco Pictures is a medium-sized production company. It is already very remarkable to be able to invest in a movie with a budget of 40 million. Now it has doubled directly. Even if Ronald's agreed Samsung Pictures adds more, or even Ronald himself adds more, it will not be enough.

In addition, for a movie with a production budget of 80 million US dollars, those investors from Wall Street dare not invest in such an extraordinary work.

Ronald shook his head. He knew that Cameron had not been very strict on the budget since cooperating with 20th Century Fox. I'm afraid that this movie will cost more than 80 million. He dare not invest all the money himself. No one's money comes from the wind, right?

"Let's wait and see. I heard a piece of news when I went to Japan this time. There might be Japanese capital interested in Carloco. Maybe they can raise the money you want..." Ronald told Cameron the news that Pioneer Electronics was going to invest in Carloco, and asked him to go back to perfect the script and budget with mixed feelings.

Ronald had something else to do, so he had to accompany Diane.

...

"I'm so nervous..." Diane finished lunch and stared at the TV on the sofa. At noon today, the Academy of Motion Picture Technology and Arts will announce this year's Oscar nominations. Ronald applied for the Best Supporting Actress project for Diane in "Steel Magnolias", just like Julia Roberts.

He wanted to repeat the grand occasion when Sigourney Weaver and Joan Cusack were nominated for Best Supporting Actress in "Working Girls".