Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After the two project companies established by Daydream completed the transfer of ownership of "Dances with Wolves" and "Silence of the Lambs", Daydream, in accordance with the regulations of the MPAA, issued two low-key statements on the business page of the Hollywood Reporter and completed the re-registration of the film producer.

Then they began to form a team, starting from New York and New Jersey, and slowly met with cinema practitioners from all over the country, trying to sign separate distribution contracts with them.

Although Ronald was very low-key, this abnormal behavior still spread in the Hollywood circle.

"Have you heard? Ronald spent more than 10 million to shoot a western, hahahaha, a western, did this guy edit old films at the Oscars and fall in love with John Ford (a famous western director)?" An actor spread Ronald's gossip at the party.

"Why did I hear it was 19 million?" Another actor pretended to be low-key, but in fact he wanted others to hear them talking about the famous Hollywood director's mistakes and falls, which brought the kind of illusory pleasure of "I am much smarter than him".

"What 19 million? That's all for publicity. I heard it's more than 25 million. Ronald invested twice more! Think about it, a western film directed by an actor..." The first actor sold gossip mysteriously.

"Don't spread these rumors here..."

The person who stopped these nonsense was muscular and had a crooked mouth, as if he looked down on them gossiping about a successful person behind his back.

The people who had gathered here suddenly became quiet. After all, the visitor was a Hollywood action star, Sylvester Stallone, who had two hit series, First Blood and Rocky.

"We were just joking, Sylvester..." The actor who was spreading gossip couldn't lower his voice and spoke timidly according to Stallone's meaning. Wasn't it said that he and Ronald were not on good terms? Why was he helping Ronald speak?

"You have to be accurate in what you say, otherwise you will be sued." The words coming out of Stallone's mouth sounded a bit authoritative. Jack Nicholson sued Warner Bros. because he thought the box office share figures were not accurate enough.

Warner Bros. must have falsely reported overseas box office results. Nicholson was well prepared. Mickey Kanter and other luxury lawyers have collected evidence. If they do not make up the share they deserve, they will disclose all the box office data in court.

This is definitely unacceptable to Warner Bros., because in order to make the account loss so as to avoid the dividends paid to marginal investors, they have brought the creative accounting art of Hollywood style to the extreme.

Many income items use the method of setting up affiliated companies to reduce the income of Warner Pictures to a ridiculously low level. For example, the income of Batman's peripheral products, such as T-shirts, toys, posters, etc., only recorded 2.9 million US dollars (in fact, the cost of authorizing a co-branded credit card is as high as 500,000).

For example, the interlude of the movie, "Bat Dance" sung by the famous black singer Price, rushed to the first place in the list, but the income recorded by Warner Bros. for this item was only 380,000 US dollars.

Therefore, when Jack Nicholson sued for falsely reporting box office revenue, Warner Bros. had no choice but to reach an out-of-court settlement with him and obediently paid the relevant dividends.

This matter was widely spread in Hollywood. When the actors heard that Stallone was talking about this "crime", they were all silent.

"What's more than 25 million? It's actually 22.8 million... Hahaha..." Stallone thought he had told a very funny joke, and he laughed first.

"Hahaha..." These ordinary actors had to laugh along.

After the box office failure of "Over the Top", a movie about truck drivers arm wrestling shot by Menahan Golan, Stallone has been in a slump. But last year, his new film, "The Raging Tiger" co-produced with Kurt Russell, earned 54 million in the domestic box office, and the total overseas box office is expected to exceed 100 million.

Now Stallone feels that he has returned to the level of an action superstar, and his speech has returned to the feeling of being superior to the crowd. When talking to his agent and director, he has become the big mouth who can talk nonsense and be regarded as the truth.

However, these actors really have no way to deal with Stallone. If they can be favored by Stallone and promoted to play a supporting role in a movie, it is considered a leap forward in their personal career.

"Hahahaha, a western movie with a budget of more than 20 million, I am laughing so hard that tears are coming out..." Stallone began to wipe his eyes with his hands.

...

"He really wants to distribute it himself? Tsk..."

Terry Tramer of Warner Bros., a senior executive who is very protective of the interests of the Jewish ethnic group, also found Ronald's actions very funny.

As early as the invention of sound films in the first half of this century, Hollywood had no space for the release of large-scale commercial films alone. Unless you are a small production like "Crazy God" and "Dirty Dancing", the cinema is willing to buy it to fill the gap in the schedule.

The public publicity production cost of this film is 19 million, and the registered production cost is 23 million. In fact, industry insiders estimate that Dances with Wolves, which costs more than 30 million, is impossible to get more than 2,000 theaters to open with such piecemeal efforts.

Hundreds of theaters were released, which might have had some vitality ten years ago. Now, in an era where the release period is generally shortened to three months to six months, it is impossible to secure more than 1,500 first-weekend theaters. Basically, it doesn’t even make it into the box office rankings.

"What script did Minahan choose?" Robert Daley, the boss of the company, although he never talks about his ethnicity in public, is also a Jew who actively pursues ethnic interests.

He is also a major funder and promoter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Although this alliance has a grand and universal name, it is actually an organization run by Jews. It mainly opposes anti-Semitic trends in society and basically does not care about the discrimination and slander of other ethnic groups.

"Forrest Gump, The Fugitive, and other people's money." Temel reported to his boss with a smile.

"Ronald is the puller of his puppet?" Dailey was very sensitive and suddenly thought of whether Ronald was a backdoor.

"Who knows? Anyway, we have lowered our expectations for these two movies now. If Ronald takes a fancy to it, then it will be more cost-effective to change to Fantastic Four..."

Terry Temel said with a smile.

Ronald's series of actions have almost become a joke in Hollywood. Everyone said that this young man had been dazzled by success.

In recent years, independent distribution is not impossible, but the ones that are successful are small productions. There must be something wrong with your brain if you want to recoup this 30 million-plus large-scale production through independent distribution.

Hollywood is a place that tends to produce dreamers whose brains are dazzled by success. After a person succeeds several times in a row due to luck, it is easy for him to have several bad luck in succession. Even Spielberg and George Lucas are no exception.

Now it seems that Ronald Lee's days of being favored by God are over.

"Forrest Gump" might have been the Division I program with the greatest potential two years ago. But now "Rain Man" has run out of scenes with its mentally retarded protagonist. The good days of best-selling adaptations are also gone.

Milos Forman, a double Oscar-winning director, also fell into the double trap of repeating themes and adapting classics. "Valmont" cost him so much that no one asked him to film.

"Of course, if he wants it, then give it to him. It won't be a loss if he switches to the Fantastic Four..." Temel laughed twice. Warner has a new weight in the selection of future themes. The scripts of these two movies, Then leave it to Ronald.

"You can't give him an advantage," the Jew said with a sly smile that he only knew. Warner's internal disapproval of these two scripts did not mean that Ronald's valuation of this was low. The Jewish business philosophy is that if you are willing to pay one hundred dollars, if I sell it for ninety-nine dollars, it will be a failure.

…

"How much? Three million US dollars? The copyright fee they paid to the author Winston Groom was only US$350,000!"

Ronald got the message from Minahan. Warner Bros. offered "other people's money" for the script transfer, offering $200,000, plus a price tag for the swap of the "Fantastic Four" movie co-production rights.

This price is quite sincere, after all, 'other people's money' belongs entirely to Minahan. But "Forrest Gump" offered two million, which was simply too expensive.

Obviously, the other party already vaguely knew that Ronald was behind Minahan, so this offer was a stone-throwing decision.

"They are willing to counteroffer to 3.5 million to buy my Fantastic Four. It's hard for me to refuse this offer..." Minahan hesitated on the phone. He obviously wanted to agree to the price.

The movie was not released, but sold for 3.5 million. After excluding the filming fees and profits for Roger Corman, he could still earn over 1 million. For his empty shell of 21st Century Pictures, it was considered a success. A sum of money comes in handy.

"Ha, I asked why they just multiplied the copyright fee ten times. It turns out they are waiting for me here..."

Ronald understood, Warner Bros.'s Temel, that the price was provocative. You used Roger Corman to produce "Fantastic Four" in three weeks, and you had to get 3.5 million from Warner Bros. Sorry, we know you are interested in Forrest Gump, so just give it back the original price.

"You can promise them, but I still have to think about whether to buy Forrest Gump. I will pay for it with other people's money."

Ronald hung up the phone and fell into deep thought.

It's not like I can't afford 3.5 million. If you can buy this movie quickly and quickly, it's not unacceptable.

Although the price is expensive, the fragments in his dream are very shocking, and it is in line with his creative interests, and coincides with the content of his debut script. Now Ronald has enough wealth to do whatever he wants once or twice.

Moreover, this record-breaking price, in turn, is not a good subject for speculation? Record-setting Hollywood changes in copyright fees for comedy satires can attract the attention of the audience before filming. You can also use this as an advantage to persuade other investors and stars to join, and you may not necessarily lose a lot.

However, the two Jewish executives at Warner Bros., who are either overt or covert, their price may not be the final price. Ronald has had many dealings with Jews and can still figure out a thing or two about their business experience.

Your unreasonable agreement to this outrageous condition is equivalent to giving them a signal. You have discovered Ronald's weakness, and you can also increase the price!

At that time, it is foreseeable to increase the transfer fee, ask Minahan to add more chips, or change the situation to a co-production, and all kinds of increases.

More importantly, Ronald was found out from secretly manipulating Minahan. When the time comes, he will face Warner Bros. directly. They will say, "I won't do business with you." If Ronald wants to get the script, he will have to increase his offer.

…

"Dear, what are you worried about?" Diane saw Ronald frowning, so she came over and put her arms around his shoulders and asked. She had just finished yoga. She was working very hard to get back in shape after giving birth. Not only do medical experts formulate recipes, but yoga instructors also come to provide guidance. Even Demi Moore often comes over to do her postpartum recovery yoga routine.

"Huh? It's nothing..." Ronald raised his head and kissed Diane. Today she was wearing something like Jane Fonda's aerobics video. The high-slit bodybuilding pants made her breasts wet, and there was a faint smell.

"Is the investment in Dances with Wolves too big? Do you want me... It just so happens that the profits from my game have arrived..." Diane leaned against Ronald gently.

"Hahaha, I'm not that big..." Ronald laughed.

"Demi has told me. It is said that your production cost was close to 30 million...Does the distribution also cost some money?"

"How can there be so many?" Ronald explained to Diane with a smile. The production cost of 23 million (recorded figure) was actually 9 million pre-sold through the distributor in Europe. In addition, Wall Street Bannon and Douglas Jr. led some people to invest some.

Adding up this money, plus Kevin Costner giving up his salary in favor of dividends, and the bridge loan from Crédit Lyonnais, Ronald’s own money to escape is less than 700 Ten thousand.

Coupled with the costs of distribution, public relations and next year's Oscar budget, the impact of "Dances with Wolves" on his cash is not very important. He can easily rely on the video sales of Dirty Dancing for a quarter, or Coca-Cola , and Microsoft's stock rose easily.

But since Diane wanted to solve his own problems so much, Ronald also wanted to repay his wife.

"Minahan got a script from Warner Bros. called Other People's Money. I'm going to buy it. Are you willing to be the heroine?"

"Huh?" Diane's eyes lit up. Her husband gave her a script and praised her as the heroine. Isn't this a scene that she often dreamed of before?

"Who is the leading actor? Tom Cruise or Michael Keaton?" Diane reported the names of several popular male stars in succession.

"Hey, this is a comedy. The male protagonist is a man who is ugly and even ugly, but he is very good at business..."

"Hmph!" Diane frowned more and more as she listened. Ronald was too petty. Was he jealous because he was working with a handsome guy? "

"This is the effect of the script. It does not prevent the heroine from excelling in her roles. You will understand when you read the script." Ronald replied with a smile.

"Hmph, how about Tom Hanks? Let me work with him again..."