Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Jackie inspected the production and distribution system in Hollywood, but he had not yet made up his mind to leave Golden Harvest, where he was arranged to take care of everything, and come to Hollywood to make a name for himself.

However, his wife Jiao Jie was attracted by Los Angeles, where the climate was pleasant and there were many Chinese people. Most importantly, she remembered that her son had been naughty since he was a child, and he was just at the age of going to elementary school, so she wanted to transfer to Los Angeles to let foreign teachers take good care of him.

Ronald asked Nicita and Richard to meet Jiao Jie and Jackie, and recommended several public and private famous schools for them. Finally, they chose John Thomas Day Elementary School. It is a private elementary school located near Beverly Hills that focuses on privacy and comprehensive development (that is, not just grades).

Diane also persuaded Jiao Jie to buy a house near Beverly Park so that she could watch the children nearby. Jiao Jie was very moved, and finally decided to buy an apartment and become neighbors with Ronald.

Jackie inspected Hollywood for a few weeks, and his biggest concern was the language barrier. He had doubts about whether his humorous action movie would sell well here.

Ronald tried his best to persuade him to come to Hollywood to make a film. There is also a fairly broad Chinese audience base here, and there are many blacks and Latinos who also like his videotapes. Anyway, many Latinos don't understand English, and blacks don't like actors and plots dominated by whites. Jackie's humorous fighting style can transcend language.

Jackie is about to return to Hong Kong to prepare a new movie, and he also needs to have a good chat with his old boss Golden Harvest. After so many years of overseas distribution and videotapes, he hasn't seen any return money. This matter can't just be forgotten.

Because the Hollywood Actors Guild can guarantee the benefits of its members, Ronald introduced Jackie to apply, but he only played a supporting role many years ago, and the length of time was not enough to qualify. Ronald had to let him join the Stuntman Guild first and enjoy the mandatory union protection in America.

Sister Jiao didn't go back with him. She bought a house and settled down here, brought her son over to handle the transfer procedures, etc., and was very busy.

Ronald also returned to the normal work rhythm.

The script of "Other People's Money" became more and more interesting as it was revised. The plot of this movie is actually the structure of a suspense drama. At the beginning, Wall Street banker Garfinkel wanted to acquire the New England Cable Factory.

In the end, the shareholders' meeting had to be held to convince the shareholders to agree to the merger plan. Factory owner Jorgensen mobilized employees and shareholders to resist, and finally they all decided the winner at the shareholders' meeting at the end.

There are also episodes in which Jorgensen had to ask his illegitimate daughter Kate for help as a legal consultant, and Garfinkel fell in love with Kate at first sight and began to pursue her.

In short, it is a very classic Hollywood suspense structure. Ronald became more and more excited as he changed it, especially the speech scene of the two people at the last shareholders' meeting. At the beginning, Jorgensen was about to arouse the emotions of employees and shareholders and win by tragedy. Garfinkel unexpectedly appealed to money and convinced the shareholders with the reason that making money and enterprises should make profits for shareholders.

I dreamed of incomplete fragments of this dialogue, and now I can complete it easily.

After writing the first draft of the script, Ronald sent the outline and the manuscript of the climax of the last two speeches to all his friends who are entrepreneurs and company executives, asking them for their opinions.

Soon, he received very good feedback. Ed Bastien, president of the New York Daily News, called Ronald and excitedly told him that these were the two most profound and essential passages describing the true meaning of business in all the movies and TV series he had ever seen.

Ronald's personal lawyer Lindsay Doll praised the female lawyer character Kate Sullivan, saying that she was the embodiment of female lawyers in New York. She looked forward to seeing this character on the screen soon, and hinted that Ronald should consider paying her copyright fees. (Because she felt that many of Kate's plots were rewritten based on her prototype)

If Ronald still felt that these people's feedback was because they were serving him, so they were inevitably flattering, another person's call made him feel that he seemed to have really written something remarkable.

That was Warren Buffett, an investor who became famous after investing in Coca-Cola. The first thing he said when Ronald picked up the phone was:

"Ronald, you made me miss an hour of reading corporate financial statements today. The speeches at the end of this script are just too good..."

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you to like my script so much. This affirmation makes me more confident."

"You know? You reminded me of the past when I first bought Berkshire Hathaway."

Buffy rarely talked about his past with Ronald. When he closed his investment fund and turned to a limited company as an investment vehicle, he acquired a company that was mainly engaged in the production of shirts at the time, which was Berkshire Hathaway.

The shirts of this company were once the best brand in the American market and were deeply loved by senior white-collar workers in the company. It can be said that it still maintained considerable competitiveness when textiles invaded Hong Kong.

But the state government was very unfriendly to this company. Not only did the union often make trouble and demanded a salary increase, but because it was a textile company, it also paid a considerable amount of sewage fees for environmental protection in order to continue operating.

When the quality of textiles in Hong Kong increased rapidly, the unions and local governments that had charged them high fees at the beginning were unwilling to reduce costs to help them tide over the difficulties.

In the end, the investment god Buffett invested in the textile business of this company year after year, and finally got the worst return on investment. It became one of his worst investments.

Later, Buffett still reluctantly closed the textile business of this company and devoted himself to transforming Berkshire Hathaway into an investment company. This is the beginning of his investment journey with a return on investment that is much higher than the market average.

"I am not complaining about a specific ethnic group, but the trend of you Hollywood artists (Buffett means Jews) who keep blackening entrepreneurs is very bad. This country is actually created by entrepreneurs and lawyers.

If America loses this social atmosphere of respecting entrepreneurial heroes, then the final result will only be that no one will make money."

Buffett also hinted at the special left-wing style of the Jews. In their writings, entrepreneurs and bankers are all bad guys, villains, and people who are to be defeated.

That's why he liked the scene at the last shareholder meeting so much. He violated the convention and read the script instead of the financial statements during working hours.

And he was very satisfied with the plot in the end where Garfinkel convinced the shareholders' meeting and the board of directors through rigorous financial analysis.

"The costs within the financial statements should be considered, and the costs outside the financial statements should also be considered. I was deceived by those hidden costs and kept the shirt business for more than ten years. If I had closed it earlier, my wealth would have grown faster."

Berkshire Hathaway's shirt business was made passive by those unions, environmental groups, and local governments who used lofty reasons to divide the spoils. When the world is good, the increased costs are uncomfortable but you can still survive.

But when the world is bad, the sewage fees collected by the government, the fees collected by environmental organizations, and the wage increases required by the unions are impossible to reduce. It is always easier to increase these costs than to reduce them when overcoming difficulties with enterprises.

"But the shirts you originally produced are still of very good quality. Is it not okay to target the high-end market?" Ronald still doesn't know much about business, so he had to ask Buffy. Shirts are different from cables in the script. They are consumer products. In fact, they can survive by occupying the high-end market through brand and quality.

"Hey, Ronald, you still don't know enough about enterprises. You need to read more financial statements." Buffy didn't treat Ronald as a movie director, but as a potential investor.

He instilled in Ronald that if the return on investment of a business is worse than your average return on investment, then even if you can still make money, you will lose money.

"And I tell you, the decline of an industry is easy to be ignored. In the era when horse-drawn carriages were replaced by cars, the last whip factory that closed down must have made the best whips, with good quality, low cost, and sufficient profits. Maybe it could even acquire the second and third whip factories in the industry.

But when the industry as a whole is eliminated, it will be a matter of one night."

"Ah, that's a good point. Do you mind if I put your words in the last speech of Garfinkel?" Ronald felt that what Buffy said was similar to the one in his dream, but the metaphor was used better, so he quickly asked for permission to use it in the movie. This is the business philosophy of America's No. 1 investor... It greatly enhances the authenticity of the movie.

"Hey, I don't mind, but no one can know that I said it."

"No problem." Ronald agreed with a smile.

After getting Buffy's approval, Ronald revised the script again and gave it to several famous Jewish actors in the industry.

The leader was Michael Douglas. Ronald pretended to invite him to play the role of Coles, the general manager of the New England Cable Factory. He is not only the narrator of the story, but also a very important role in the struggle for shareholder votes.

Coles wanted to be the general manager and take over the factory after Jorgensen retired. But Jorgensen always said that he would hand it over to him when he was ready. In this uncertain future, Garfinkel offered a price higher than the market valuation to acquire his shares and won over the management team at once.

"Listen, Ronald, I like to work with you once, but why don't you ask me to play the role of Garfinkel, the Jewish banker?" Michael Douglas asked him.

"I thought of letting you play this role, but you've already played the classic Jewish banker Gekko in Wall Street. Don't you want a more dimensional business war role?

Besides, Garfunkel likes to eat donuts and drink Coke, and he looks ordinary. You're too handsome to be suitable for this role."

"Ahahaha..." Michael Douglas laughed wildly. Could it be that Ronald didn't want his wife Diane to play a couple with him? "I'll think about it... Ronald."

"Okay, I'll wait for your decision. If you pass, I'll find someone else..." Ronald indicated that he was his first choice. "Also, if there is a chance, can you send the script to your father for review? I want to know what he thinks of the role."

Kirk Douglas is also the representative of the old Jews in Hollywood. Ronald approached Michael Douglas to use this first Jewish actor family to suppress possible opposition from Jewish forces to the ugly behavior of the Jewish banker Garfinkel in the script.

"No problem, I'll send it to you personally. I think he will like this script." Michael Douglas knew Ronald's thoughts very well. However, since the other party respected his family so much, he felt very comfortable and agreed to help.

Kirk Douglas did not have any opinions on the script as Ronald worried. On the contrary, he liked the script very much.

"It's well written. Although this role was not likable at the beginning, he finally got together with the heroine and won the debate in the board of directors. If I hadn't retired, I would have wanted to play the role of Jorgensen..."

"Ha, Ronald will be happy to hear this. I thought you would oppose this script." Michael Douglas was also a little surprised.

"You don't understand, we Jews rely on being cautious..." Kirk Douglas already knew that it was impossible to stop Ronald's rise. Ovitz had been incompetent before, and he couldn't introduce Ronald to a Jewish girl to marry and use for himself.

But if he couldn't be one of us, there was no need to make him an enemy, and Ronald respected him very much, which made the old man very happy.

"Michael, let me tell you, we Jews used to have more gang forces in Hollywood than Italians, but is there a movie about Jewish gangs now?

In literary works, what matters is subtle influence. Jews are not only greedy, but they are also very business-savvy and can get the favor of the most beautiful girls. This is the belief that this script wants to convey.

Ronald, this young man, has a good grasp of all kinds of people in Hollywood and the psychology of the people. You will be right to cooperate with him more in the future."

As he said, Kirk Douglas pulled the blanket on his body. It has been a long time since he met such a young man who has insight into the world.

"My father likes it too. He said that if he hadn't retired, he would have wanted to audition for Jorgensen." Michael Douglas called Ronald back to report the situation.

"Hahaha, then I'm relieved about the quality of the script." Ronald replied with a smile. It seems that the Jews have approved the script.

"He still wants to remind you a little bit." Michael Douglas said immediately.

"The name Garfinkel is too Jewish. Can you change it? In fact, it always has a bit of a stereotype to tie the black-hearted banker of Wall Street to the Jews."

"Ha, it's my negligence. Change it, change it. How about calling it Garfield?"

Ronald changed to a common surname used by British and Germans. After discussing with Michael Douglas, he changed Garfinkel to Garfield on the computer.

"Will this change prevent the audience from thinking he is Jewish?" David Simkins next to him asked Ronald.

"No, but this is approved by the Douglas family. Who can say anything?" Ronald smiled. In the first half of the 20th century, the discrimination against Jews in America was no less than that of Europeans.

At that time, many Jews changed their surnames to English and German forms. There were many cases of Garfunkel changing to Garfield.

So much so that when a person heard the name Garfield, the first thing that came to mind might be Jewish.

Ronald did not really want to vindicate the Jews, but the script described the typical shortcomings of Jews in the public impression (not handsome, clever, greedy), so he had to find a shield.