Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald found that he spent more and more time at home dealing with official business, and many business partners and daydreaming colleagues were accustomed to coming to his home to discuss business matters with him.

It wasn't until Diane said something vaguely that it was inconvenient for her to accompany little Roger that she woke up Ronald. He immediately rented an office upstairs in the boutique shopping street outside Beverly Park as his office space during this period.

It is very close to the residences of many celebrities. It is not far from the offices of CAA, William Morris and other agencies. It is also nearby Universal Pictures and Paramount. It is very convenient for offices in the film and television industry. of. The executives at Daydream liked it very much, so they found a time to move here.

On the first day when the office was officially opened, Ronald’s old friend Steve Bannon also made a special trip to visit.

"It's a great place, Ronald. If you come to work here, your employees are very energetic."

"Huh? Why?" Ronald was not sure whether Bannon was complimenting him or telling the truth.

"You don't understand the mentality of these people, Lollard. They work in a film and television company, and a large part of their work involves dealing with stars. If their office is in a very remote place, it is not possible for them. A sense of accomplishment.

Look here, not far from the intersection, is the mansion of a big Hollywood star. Look at the male employees here. They are all very energetic. Whenever you work here, hot girls will come over to chat with you when you go out..."

"Ha, so that's it..." Ronald nodded. Bannon's reminder made sense. It seemed that he would also expand the scope of rentals and relocate employees from the video tapes, film distribution and other departments... Don't be afraid to spend a small amount of money.

"Are you here today to inspect your project?" Ronald looked back and remembered Bannon's visit. He was sure it was not just to celebrate the opening of his new office. He took out the release plans for Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs and threw them to Bannon.

Both movies, Ronald, have introduced a lot of outside investment, and some Wall Street funds represented by Bannon also accounted for a small part of it.

"I haven't seen the film yet. How about it? Do you hope to get nominated for a few Oscars?" Bannon looked through the release plan and couldn't find any problems. Then he asked Ronald to comment on the prospects for awards.

When financing film and television projects on Wall Street, in addition to box office revenue, awards and reviews are also important. Because many of the investors in those funds are extremely wealthy, for them, these small investments do not bring them much investment income.

But if they can invest in an Oscar-winning movie, for them, it is a very face-saving thing in the social circle.

"You are overthinking, but the box office prospects are not bad in my opinion. The wild scenes of the western wilderness in Dances with Wolves have not been shown on the big screen for many years. And in The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan ·Demi may have really met a good actor this time..."

Ronald, who knows his own affairs and has some issues with Jewish people, is inherently immune to the support of the most powerful Jewish people in Hollywood. There are no very important Jewish people in the creative team of these two movies.

The photography of Dances with Wolves is really stunning, so there is still hope for an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. As for acting awards, Westerns have historically been unfavored. Not to mention awards like Best Director and Best Picture. I couldn’t win it myself. How could Costner, an amateur who was a first-time director, win it? The Oscar is too easy to win.

On the other hand, Silence of the Lambs is of very good quality and may be nominated for several major awards. I am determined to work more closely with Orion on this movie and release it during the awards season at the end of the year. I can still do it by cooperating with public relations to impress the judges. Arrived.

This kind of psychological thriller has always been the domain of great directors. To scare the audience psychologically, rather than relying on action and horror scenes, requires a great director who has a considerable level of overall control over film directors.

Ronald had it in his mind to hype up Jonathan Demme, comparing him to Hitchcock and his most famous Hollywood imitator, Brian De Palma.

"Okay, I can wait a little longer. What do you think of the box office prospects? The financing of my next fund will all depend on the performance of these two movies..." Bannon settled for the next best thing and started to care about the box office. .

"Haha, have I ever made a mistake in judging the box office?" Ronald laughed and revealed this paragraph. Speaking of which, I really don’t have much confidence in Dances with Wolves. In addition to the lack of smoothness of the plot, one-third of the dialogue is in Dakota language with English subtitles. This is very difficult for current American audiences. It is also a major test.

Only those shots of buffalo running wildly in the desolate wilderness, captured under the setting sun, with magical light, being hunted by naked Indian warriors with oil paint on their faces and long hair on horseback, made him feel... Confidence will give the audience an excitement they haven’t seen in a long time.

"Okay, uh, there's one more thing..." Bannon began to hesitate again. He wanted to ask Ronald to mediate and get a contract for the second season of Seinfeld.

After the release of five episodes of the first season, the ratings were not low enough to be cut in half, but they were not high enough to warrant renewal. As one of the investors, Bannon wanted to ask Ronald to help him say a few words.

"Don't be ridiculous, I haven't signed a contract for my own TV series yet. I don't understand the ideas of those TV station buyers..."

Bannon was also speechless. Neither of them had found the secret to how to play this TV series. Two people who were successful in their film investment careers got together and complained that TV series were really difficult to film.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The phone rang at this time, and Ronald picked up the receiver, "I'm Ronald..."

"Ronald, we succeeded, Warner Bros. made an offer..."

At this time, Minahan Golan called Ronald and told him the good news as soon as he opened his mouth. He spoke so loudly that Bannon nearby heard him.

"Great, how much do they pay?"

Warner Bros., after seeing Minahan's actions at the premiere, believed that this unconventional Israeli really wanted to release such a bad movie.

They didn't want to ruin Marvel's movie reputation, so they proposed an interview with Minahan and then put forward their asking price.

In their first offer, they were very conservative and were only willing to give 2 million US dollars, which was slightly more than the cost of filming and subsequent publicity, leaving Minahan in a state of uncertainty.

However, this price just suited Minahan and Ronald's plans, so they started negotiations with Warner Brothers.

"Okay, just follow our plan. It's best to let them propose it themselves. They are very cunning. If we propose to change the script, they will definitely be confused..."

Ronald finished talking to Minahan on the other side of the room, hung up the phone, and then came over to say hello to Bannon.

"You seem to be doing something interesting?" Bannon heard a few words. As a Wall Street veteran, he had long heard that Ronald seemed to be doing something that Wall Street bankers often did, and said to him with a smile.

"I want something from them, but I need to offer to sell it. Otherwise, I will pay a high price for doing business with the Jews." Ronald made a rough analogy.

"Would you like me to help you throw a curve ball?" Bannon offered to help and said a baseball term.

"Huh?" Ronald glanced at Bannon. If a third party came forward, it seemed...

"Tell me what you want...I'll see how I can help you..." Bannon smiled, stood up and searched, took out an opened bottle of whiskey from Ronald's wine cabinet, and poured it for himself One cup.

"Actually, I want one of their scripts." Ronald briefly explained what he wanted to Bannon.

"This deal is well designed, but whether they will agree to it is still a matter of debate. Maybe you need an outsider to be a competitor..." Bannon smiled and provided his opinion. On Wall Street, this kind of There are many more intrigues and intrigues than in Hollywood.

"Very good, what do you need in return?" Ronald calculated. It might be crucial for a person with Bannon's background to be a bidder at a critical moment.

"I don't want anything in return, but I also want to participate in the script you like so much..." Bannon certainly did not miss this opportunity, "Also, when you have spare time, can you help me with Seinfeld's work?" Can you tell me something good? Of course, when you have spare time, I know you also have TV series to appear on..."

"Deal..." Ronald was not dissatisfied with this condition.

…

"Your bid is too low. If my movie is released, I will definitely earn more than this amount." Minahan is negotiating with Warner Bros. to buy out the price of the Fantastic Four copies.

"I don't understand why you are dissatisfied. This price is enough for you to recover your investment and make a lot of profit. If it is released, we will have several movies to be released during the Independence Day period, and your box office will be very good. It’s hard to say…”

The people at Warner Bros. had a rather arrogant attitude and were unwilling to raise prices, and even vaguely threatened to steal the theaters where Fantastic Four was released.

"Besides, it's hard to say whether this movie will survive its opening weekend..." Someone from Warner made another disparaging comment about the Fantastic Four.

"Okay, let's release it then. I'll go to the San Diego Comic Con for an advance screening to see what the fans' response is..."

Minahan Golan has Ronald to back him up, so he is not afraid of the talks falling apart. He insists that he wants to make money by releasing movies, "Besides, even if the movie is not released enough in America, I still have theaters in Europe..."

The negotiations were a bit difficult, and the most painful thing was Stan Lee. He was afraid that the negotiation would break down and the movie would be released, so he quickly asked both parties to separate and think about it calmly.

Warner Bros. is actually not afraid to pay for the movie, but they want complete filming rights, instead of having to shoot the Fantastic Four under the leadership of Minahan and being a distributor and second investor.

Therefore, they are not willing to consider Minahan's offer. Fortunately, Marvel's Avi Arad is also an Israeli, and it can be said that he understands Minahan's psychology very well. He proposed a plan to let Minahan select several scripts from Warner Bros.'s script library to fill the price difference between the two parties.

"Is that so? It's a good idea, but I want a good script, one that can win an Oscar."

Minahan was overjoyed when he heard the other party's new conditions, but he still pretended to be uninterested.

"I want this one, this one, this one, and this one..." Minahan went to Warner's script library and pretended to look through it for a long time. Then he mixed the two scripts that Ronald specifically asked for with several other scripts and proposed them.

"It's impossible to have so many, Minahan." Avi Arad saw him getting outrageous and stopped him.

"Then..." Minahan glanced at Forrest Gump and the money of others, and was seen by the sharp-eyed executives of Warner Bros.

"Well, how about you choose two for me? You know my wish is to make an Oscar-winning film." Minahan said to Avi Arad for fear of being exposed.

However, his eyes still made Warner suspicious, and he reported the list proposed by Minahan to President Terry Temer.

"Why do I feel that these scripts are familiar? Has anyone purchased them before?"

Terry Temer was also a little confused when he heard the report from his subordinates. He checked the records and found that someone wanted to shoot several movies. In addition to the money Ronald was looking for from Forrest Gump and others, there was also the Hollywood tycoon Howard Hughes' biopic that Oliver Stone wanted to make, and a movie adapted from a 1960s TV series, "The Fugitive".

"Does this guy really dream of winning an Oscar?" Terry Temer was also confused. This guy made movies that aimed at reviews and awards. Hasn't Minahan lost enough money?

"Could it be that he is just someone's agent and wants to buy from us and use him as a transit broker?" Terry Temer's subordinates guessed that it was very close to the truth.

"That's also possible. Howard Hughes' film adaptation rights cannot be obtained without Warren Beatty. This guy took the opportunity to hoard a lot of adaptation copyrights when he made a lot of money in the past few years.

And this "The Fugitive", a hit TV series on ABC in the 1960s, was filmed for a total of four seasons. There is also a small production company that wants to buy it..."

Just when Terry Temer couldn't make up his mind, a subordinate hurried over and told him a piece of news.

"Puchi..." Terry Temel couldn't help laughing, "Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter. There are no producers in Hollywood who are always lucky, let alone a director like Ronald Lee who changed his career. The previous Dirty Dancing was just his good luck...

"You just throw out the two scripts he wants and let Minahan choose. I want to see if he works for Ronald..."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, the later subordinate shrugged, "The richest man, Mr. John Kluge, wants to sell Orion to Marvin Davis, the former owner of 20th Century Fox. John Kluge is unwilling to pay, and now all Orion's film projects are suspended..."

Oh, everyone reacted. Ronald has cooperated with Orion on two films, both of which are large-scale productions. Now the distribution department is quitting, and he is in trouble now.

"The two films invested by Ronald don't have the distribution capabilities of Orion. Well... Puchi... It seems that they can only be sold to the Big Seven at a low price..." Terry Temel laughed very happily.

...

"How can it be done? So many movies, just stop? "Ronald also knew the news and was calling Mike McDavoy, the new vice president of TriStar Pictures, who was originally in charge of the two projects at Orion.

"There is no way. Mr. Kluge has been ridiculed by his old friends this year. He can't bear the reputation of the richest man's failed investment, so he wants to sell it to Marvin Davis and withdraw from Hollywood."

"What can we do now?" Ronald was also angry. I don't think he can be the richest man for long.

"The ideal situation now is to either talk to Mr. Marvin Davis of Fox and let him take over and keep the distribution of the two projects, or find another Big Seven studio to take over the distribution, such as..."

Mike McDavoy hinted clearly that Columbia had to take over this matter. TriStar Pictures had limited capabilities and could not take over the distribution of the two films.

"I will call Mr. Oga..." Ronald put down the phone and hammered the table twice in anger.

"Ah..." The fine hardwood Chinese furniture made his hands hurt.

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