Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Sorry, my main job now is to spend time with my wife and children...have I kept you waiting for a long time?"

Ronald apologized and walked down the stairs. Although he did not need to take care of the child personally, he still learned to change little Roger's diaper once, and he was so happy that he forgot that Nicolas Cage was already waiting for him downstairs.

"Is having a child really so happy?" Cage looked a little worried.

"What's wrong?" Ronald saw something was wrong, so he pulled him to the study room next to him, took a bottle of Coca-Cola from the refrigerator, and threw it to him across the room.

"Kristina is pregnant..." Cage's hair was a little messy. I don't know if he was annoyed and didn't notice it, or he scratched it.

Christina Fulton is Nicolas Cage's girlfriend and recently informed him that she is pregnant. But Cage has no idea of ​​getting married and is in distress...

"Ha, this is a good thing, Nick. No matter whether you and Chris are suitable for living together, having a child is a fulfilling thing. Let me tell you, I regret not having a child earlier..." Ronald also took a bottle of Coke and drank it. It is quite tiring to take care of children. Changing a diaper by yourself consumes a lot of energy before doing it carelessly.

"Yeah? You said I also want a child..." Cage stopped frowning and began to smile.

"That's right, kids are so fun..." Ronald giggled for a while, and then started talking about business.

"We have communicated well with the Army and the DEA. The authorities will provide real shots of Apache helicopters and let us use helicopter simulators. It is very interesting..."

What Ronald was talking about was the gunship version of the "Top Gun" film he collaborated with Disney on.

Disney handles domestic distribution and Daydream handles production. The Army is responsible for providing the most advanced big toys that big boys like to play with, while the DEA, which also wants to make a name for itself, is responsible for their overseas filming in Central America.

Emile Adolino, the most capable director under Ronald, is the most suitable person to shoot this film that does not require high special effects but requires some sensational content.

"But who is the heroine?" Nicolas Cage asked.

"It depends on Emil Adolino's choice..." Ronald kept his mouth shut. After all, theoretically, the director is the final person responsible for casting, and the producer can only make some suggestions...

"Hey, have you already recommended someone? Don't tell me it's Sean Young. Then I won't do it. I'll be bored to death if I work with her..."

Cage had auditioned with Sean Young before, and that woman simply went too far and had to retake it at every turn. Even for a simple audition, she had to replace the casting director and shout "stop" a dozen times.

"No, I can guarantee that, no one can stand her..." Ronald laughed. Speaking of which, Sean Young is the most jealous female star in Hollywood right now.

The ground-breaking "Batman," a hit that everyone was jealous of, and Jack Nicholson's magic deal that gave him a share of the box office. Sean Young, who was originally cast as the female lead, inexplicably fell off his horse on the Pinewood set in London and was injured. As a result, Kim Basinger ended up taking the lead.

The better Batman's box office performance is, and the stardom of the protagonists is rising, the more Sean Young's heart is swallowed up by jealousy. Now basically no one in Hollywood is willing to invite her to parties. As long as she chats with her for ten seconds, she will definitely say, "I really regret that I shouldn't have gone horseback riding when I was tired..."

"Who is that? You must have recommended someone, right? It's not Sean Young..." Nicolas Cage detected Ronald's tone and immediately asked to reveal it.

"The final decision rests with the director. We found a few well-known actresses, such as Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. In short, this movie is about giving you a male character. The heroine the audience is jealous of.”

"Uh-huh..." Cage rolled his eyes. These people were also very famous five years ago, but they are famous more because of their impressive roles, not to mention that their appearance is better than their contemporaries. The female star is one inch taller...

Cage looked at Ronald with a "Why don't you tell me everything" look... half-smiling.

"Hahaha, okay, let me tell you, Brooke Shields was also invited." Ronald couldn't stand this friend's expression, "But you don't want to spread the word, especially..."

"Don't say it in front of Diane, right?" Cage gave him a look that I understood.

"What a mess, I asked you not to spread the word before the audition, otherwise I might get a fine from the Screen Actors Guild..."

Recently, the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild jointly issued a special newsletter to all members of the Directors Guild and the Producers Guild, focusing on stopping sexual harassment during auditions.

This is actually a real situation in Hollywood. The exploitation of actresses by directors and producers during casting is a common situation in the industry. Some people don't do this during auditions, but there are a lot of people who do it.

On average, an actress will audition for several movies every year. Therefore, on average, actresses will always encounter directors or producers with bad morals. In the eyes of people who don't understand, Hollywood has become a filth and everyone is a gangster.

However, this kind of thing is common among people in the industry, and what is condemned is just the kind of short-sellers who take the benefits and do nothing.

The reason why the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild want to launch a special communication to remind and warn is that recently director and producer Victor Salva was sentenced to prison for violating the law and officially went to prison to serve his sentence. .

This director has always been an avid movie fan and later wrote many horror movie scripts. In 1987, his script "House of Clowns" was appreciated by Coppola, who attracted investment and wanted to try his luck on him with a small risk.

Victor Salva, as the director, filmed the film "Clown House", but during the audition, he attacked an underage boy. After that, the boy's parents called the police and later searched his house. album that violates the law.

This scum was sentenced to three years in prison by the local court, and he was imprisoned just at the beginning of the year. Hollywood is very sensitive to this kind of thing, and everyone in the industry treats it as invisible, but to attack minors and then plead guilty in court and go to jail is definitely a loss to the image of Hollywood practitioners.

At this moment, Ronald didn't want to cause trouble, so he tried his best to follow the union's regulations.

"Emil, are you here?" Ronald changed the topic when he saw the mustachioed director Emile Adolino walking in.

"Then I'll leave first. I can't have a private meeting with the director before the audition..." Cage blinked, greeted director Emil, and left.

"Did you tell him?" Emile Adolino asked Ronald with a smile.

"He is very smart, and he guessed that Brooke Shields was our first choice. Cage is very close to the character. It depends on whether Brooke can break away from the girlish acting method. In fact, her image is very suitable for a professional woman and the status of an officer. It also matches her figure..."

Of course, Ronald's heart was for Brooke Shields, who had changed her agent. Her biggest problem is that she clearly had potential, but it was completely destroyed by her ignorant mother. If I could transition to playing adult women earlier, I wouldn't be so embarrassed now...

"How is the cooperation from the Army?" Emil Adolino stopped expressing his opinions on the casting. The two actresses from the Boy Gang also have a similar problem, that is, they can't get rid of the acting of teenage girls. They are already in their twenties and still act like high school students who are ignorant of the world and full of dreams, which is embarrassing.

Perhaps the best female star that "Firebird" could find with a modest production budget of $20 million was Brooke Shields. There are definitely many of her fans who were willing to buy tickets for her. Coupled with her cooperation with Nicolas Cage, maybe Brooke, who is brave and handsome in military uniform, can return to being a Hollywood star?

Anyway, this kind of movie does not require much acting skills. Being beautiful and handsome, coupled with the modern weapons of the US military, and beating up the bad guys are the biggest attractions for the target audience.

“The Army coordinated the direct involvement of more than 100 personnel, including technical advisors on helicopter operations and pilots of various types of armed helicopters.

They agreed to allow us to use the AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-1 Cobra, as well as McDonnell Douglas MD 500 helicopters, and OH-58 Kiowa rotorcraft during the filming.

McDonnell Douglas and Bell will send technical personnel to the crew permanently, and the conditions are the same as when they were filming Top Gun."

As Ronald said, he took out one after another models of armed helicopters equipped by the US military from the cabinet next to him and placed them on the table.

"Ah, these are all movie-standard models..." Emil Adolino was very happy and carefully studied the details of the model aircraft.

"I asked the modelers from Cameron Special Effects Company to make it. Each model has several models. This one can take close-ups, this one can take long shots, and this one can use Industrial Light and Magic's tracking camera to shoot action scenes. The rotors are electric. The motor..."

Ronald introduced the use of various models to Emile Adolino one by one, "Richard Stevens, the special effects artist at Industrial Light and Magic when I was filming Top Gun, would come to the set. As the coordinator of special effects shooting, if you have any special effects shooting requirements, you can tell him. If he can't solve it, you can come to me..."

"Okay, okay..." Emile Adolino doesn't want to always follow the stars and make romantic comedies without a say. He also wants to completely control the shooting of a movie. This opportunity is very good...

Emil Adolino happily left with a lot of resources. In Hollywood, the best producers are often directors, because they understand what resources directors need. The worst producers are often directors. They always know the director too well but interfere too much, and end up having many conflicts with the director.

Ronald is willing to let go, gives the director precious trust, and understands what the director needs. At the most appropriate time, he appears like an angel with the resources the director needs most.

It's really a great experience to work for such a producer. Especially the movie "Kevin's Gate", with a new director like Kevin Costner, if it hadn't been for Ronald, it would have turned into a tragedy halfway through filming.

There is no precedent for this in Hollywood. Because the budget is overrun, the shooting is overdue, and then the director is changed (in name, or in reality, an on-site producer is replaced to direct), and the remaining movies are shot in a hurry, causing the quality to collapse. There are more and more examples in recent years.

On the one hand, the cost of filming is rising rapidly, and commercial productions exceeding 50 million are not uncommon. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult for directors to enter the industry, resulting in the trust in new directors falling to what may be the lowest point in Hollywood history.

Only experienced people like Ronald know how to support new directors. No wonder there are rumors in the circle of young directors in Hollywood that Ronald may become a new powerful person who can direct and produce after Lucas and Spielberg.

…

After arranging the filming of the movie, Ronald set off for the Columbia Plaza Building on Sunset Boulevard.

This used to be the recording studio of Columbia Records, and now it is the home of KNX Radio (AM 1070).

In order to thank Ronald for his repeated help in Sony's acquisition of Columbia, Sony, which needed to sell Columbia's radio and television stations due to the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, did a favor and transferred several radio stations and local small television stations to Ronald at a friendly price.

In New York and San Francisco, Ronald's New York Daily News Radio gained several brother radio stations. Among them, in Los Angeles is the long-standing AM and FM radio station KNX.

This radio station once had a glorious history. It was the first radio station to broadcast the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy during the election of the president.

They later became the first all-news radio station in Los Angeles and even in Southern California. However, in the past decade, under the impact of television and competing radio stations, many well-known hosts have been lost, and revenue and listening rates have declined year by year.

After Ronald let Ed Bastien take over the radio station, he copied the New York style to this radio station. The all-news program was cancelled and replaced with 10 minutes after every hour and 5 minutes after every half hour to broadcast the indoor traffic conditions in Los Angeles.

He also hired a field team, a host, a driver, and a technician to patrol the streets. At half past the hour, they got off the car to interview some passers-by and drivers and talk about traffic conditions.

Soon, this novel format won the love of the audience, and advertising began to increase again. Ronald also brought some New York programs to Los Angeles for recording and broadcasting, and vice versa, he also tried to introduce some Los Angeles West Coast radio programs to New York and Miami.

Although there are only a few small radio stations, they are all confined to big cities. But Ronald is also following the practices of big players and trying to share resources as much as possible. If you can't be a big syndicate, you can also be a small syndicate...

In addition, Ronald also sought the radio broadcasting rights of some overseas programs acquired by PBS from Helen's father.

For example, the historical documentary of China that Helen just finished shooting will also be broadcast on this radio station after it is broadcast on PBS.

"Mr. Li..." The people of the radio station came out to welcome the new boss.

"Hello, I brought pizza takeout, ice cream, and Coke..." Ronald used some small favors to buy the hearts of the employees.