Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The success of "Ghost" also brought a series of chain reactions. The most obvious one is that the pay of several leading actors has increased significantly.

Before "Ghost" was released, Demi Moore took on a movie called "One Thought". In order to play the leading role, she also brought in her husband Bruce Willis to make a cameo appearance. Demi's pay for this movie is the market price of a second-tier female star, not more than 300,000 US dollars. Because the budget of the whole movie is only about 7 million.

But after the release of "Ghost", her film market immediately changed. Paramount also found a movie about psychics, "The Butcher's Psychic Wife".

Originally, the heroine of this movie was Meg Ryan, who shined last year. But after "When Harry Met Sally", "The Man Who Jumped the Volcano", starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and directed by John Padraic Shanley (the screenwriter of Moonlight), suffered a box office failure.

On the one hand, Paramount decisively gave up the fight for Meg Ryan and let her star in Oliver Stone's biopic of "The Doors". Instead, they found Demi Moore.

Romantic comedy, medium plot, audience love, Demi Moore meets many sub-items in the formula of box office success, so her agent asked for a high price that female stars rarely get, $3 million.

Isn't it said that Hollywood is a place that believes in the Gospel of Matthew? With the box office speed of "Ghost" exceeding 100 million in six weeks, if Demi Moore's price is low, Paramount will still doubt whether her contribution to the box office of this movie is not high?

They agreed to the price at once, and provided a lot of crew treatment that only first-line male stars could get, such as a high-quality and spacious trailer, a first-class ticket to Los Angeles to see her daughter every two weeks, and a beautician and masseur who are resident in the crew and paid by the crew, etc.

This made Demi Moore's confidence soar, and she showed her female power in front of her husband Bruce Willis again, and made him change his diapers several times.

The same is true for the supporting actress Whoopi Goldberg, who has an extraordinary talent for comedy. She is very suitable for playing some supporting roles in comedy, but because of her poor appearance, she cannot play heavyweight roles. The roles she plays are not very important, and she has no chance to appear in big productions.

Before "Ghost", she had to act in three or four movies every year, and then be a TV host, and then participate in some stage plays. Although it was much better than the days when she slept on her friend's sofa when she first entered the industry, she still had to work constantly to maintain a certain standard of living.

As soon as "Ghost" was released, her acting skills were immediately recognized by Hollywood. The results of the audience interviews showed that she was in the top three roles that impressed them after watching the movie. Many viewers said that the reason for recommending it to their friends was also Whoopi's hilarious effect.

Good days came to this black actress all of a sudden. She immediately received a role in the comedy movie "Soap Platter" starring many stars. Her co-stars included two-time Oscar winner Sally Field, the promising young female star Elizabeth Shue, and the Jewish future star Robert Downey Jr.

The salary offered was also much higher than the traditional Hollywood supporting actress level, so Whoopi Goldberg couldn't stop smiling when she called Ronald to express her gratitude.

As for the male lead Patrick Schwitters, his situation is different. This actor who finally climbed to the A-level star line is actually a very ambitious person. He has never chosen movies according to the career path planned by his agent, but according to his own preferences. If he thinks the script is good and interesting, he will participate in it, regardless of the salary.

However, he can be so willful and chaotic, thanks to Ronald's "Dirty Dancing" and the expensive dividends he gives him every year. In addition to acting, Schwitters can also afford his two expensive hobbies: running a family ranch and raising racehorses to participate in competitions.

This time he has set his sights on a medium-sized production, "Point Break". This is a script that was almost filmed in 1986. Later, because the director Ridley Scott withdrew, the script fell into the hands of Kathryn Bigelow.

She had just finished filming "Blue Steel" and liked the script very much. She asked Cameron to revise it together and finally got the position of director.

Because they were all friends of Ronald, the meeting after confirming the leading role was held at Ronald's home.

"When will your new film start production?" Cameron asked Ronald about the business when he saw Ronald. Both of them were crazy people who were very focused when talking about their careers.

"Next month I will go to New York to scout locations and cable factories. I have found several real cable factories to visit. Don't tell me, it's not easy to find manufacturing industries on the east coast of America now..." Ronald talked about his own arrangements, and then asked Cameron, "What about your Terminator sequel? I thought you had already started filming."

"It's also next month. I've been helping Catherine revise her script during this time..." Cameron smiled and loved his new wife very much.

Ronald glanced at Cameron and saw Kathryn Bigelow talking to Patrick Schweitzer and another handsome actor next to him.

Cameron was not like this before. In order to make a movie, how could he and

put aside their own projects and help Bigelow with the script?

"Point Break" is a police film. In order to catch several criminals wearing masks of the former president and robbing banks, an FBI agent went undercover with a group of surfers and fought wits and courage with the robber leader. In the process, the two of them also admired each other...

This kind of movie is full of identity conflicts. They are both friends and enemies, which requires a lot of skills in character creation. The idea of ​​wearing the president's mask was thought up by Cameron. It is interesting and can be edited into a trailer to attract attention.

"Your special effects team is just right for me to use... There are a lot of shots that need to be matted in Terminator 2. Catherine Kidd in your team is the best in Hollywood..." Cameron asked for people.

"Okay, I'll ask her to transfer some better engineers over. The helicopter air battle over the Firebird is actually not a heavy task for image correction..."

Ronald nodded in agreement. The air battle shots are very short and fragmented. A large number of short shots are edited together. Under the fast switching shots, some problems are actually not visible to the audience. They only notice the impactful shots.

But shots like those in Terminator 2 require very careful processing. Deformed in prison, frozen into pieces by liquid nitrogen on the ground and then restored, if there is a slight flaw in this slow-motion shot, it will give the audience the impression that it is fake.

Besides, Carloco is rich and powerful, and it paid nearly 20 million to get the copyright before filming began. Ronald's special effects team must also like this profitable business.

"Very good..." Cameron is ready for the sprint of "Terminator 2". He is ready to do a big job. Carloco gave him almost unlimited filming funds, and he only had to consider the effect. He would never have the situation of wanting to shoot better but having no money like "The Abyss".

After talking about the application prospects of computers in special effects, Ronald got up to help Diane, who had been peeking at the door several times.

Unlike Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, who always quarreled, Ronald and Diane were more modest. If Diane saw that Ronald was busy, she would not come to disturb him. But today, I just happened to take little Roger to the hospital for vaccination. The weather was good, so Diane wanted to enjoy the fun of a family outing with Ronald.

"Ronald..." Patrick Schwitz greeted Ronald. He played the robber in the movie, and introduced the handsome guy who played the FBI agent, "This is Keanu, Keanu Reeves..."

"Director Li..." The handsome guy looked a little stupid, but his face was really photogenic.

"You can call me Ronald..." Ronald nodded to them, walked through the porch, and saw Diane, who had already put on sunglasses. He took little Roger and let him sit in a strap and hung it on himself. Little Roger laughed so comfortably that he had a big snot bubble.

When Ronald and Diane came back from playing outside, it was already evening. Cameron had left, leaving Kathryn Bigelow still talking about the play with the two handsome guys.

Ronald smiled. Bigelow was a little afraid that she couldn't direct Patrick Schwitz, so she used Ronald's name to pressure him. Now it seems to be working well. Schweitzer and the handsome guy named Keanu both seemed very obedient to the female director Bigelow.

"Ronald, you have some guests who have been waiting for you for a long time." Richard popped up from the side. These guests needed him to talk to Ronald, so they had been waiting here for a long time.

"Ah, hello, let's go to the conference room next door to talk..." Ronald took seven or eight guests to another room. The servant brought coffee and fruit and closed the door.

"Is it about the Fantastic Four?"

Ronald invited them to sit down. These people were the main creators of the "Fantastic Four" that Minahan Golan sold to Warner Bros., and the fat Minahan was also sitting next to him. It seemed that it was about this movie.

"It's like this, Ronald, they..." Minahan Golan laughed a few times first, then spoke.

"Please let us talk ourselves, okay, Mr. Li?" The actor who played the noodle man Reed ignored Minahan and spoke directly to Ronald.

"Please..." Ronald gestured, "Please speak faster, if possible..." His time is very precious.

"We were deceived by Mr. Menahan Golan, and we want a better result."

It turned out that in order to play a psychological game with Warner Bros., Ronald and Menahan had asked these leading actors to go to the San Diego Comic-Con to interact with fans.

These leading actors were very happy, thinking that they would soon become the leading actors of the next "Batman", and fame and salary increase were just around the corner. So they worked very hard, wearing various costumes and putting on makeup on the spot to dress up as the characters in the movie.

On the spot, Menahan also did a live screening, and comic fans were invited to watch the screening.

Those who came to the comic exhibition were all hardcore comic fans, and they were extremely satisfied with the leading actors and the highly restored appearances in the comics. The life stories of these leading actors

Afterwards, several leading actors felt that their future was bright, and they even paid for some props and life-size exhibition boards for the roadshow out of their own pockets. The cost of this movie was not high, but the fans were so enthusiastic that they could not let them down.

In the end, it was these leading actors who were disappointed. The film copies were bought back by Warner Bros. and Marvel, and there was no chance of screening them. The things they bought, like the dream of becoming a star, were all put into the warehouse, and then lay there without anyone paying attention to them...

The few people who were so angry went to Minahan's company every day to cause trouble. Minahan, who was unbearably annoyed, did not dare to let them come to Ronald's place. It was not until the leading actors threatened to expose their behavior to the media that they had no choice but to bring him. Come with them.

"So what do you expect?" Ronald was a little amused. He understood the disappointment of these people, but he also took the matter of becoming famous too simply. How could such a B-level movie, which cost only one million to produce, make them as famous as the leading actors in "Batman"?

He also gave them some compensation and let them audition for some roles in Daydream or the new film shot by Minahan's lawsuit. Unfortunately, these people regard the popularity they received at the Comic Exhibition as the star status they will surely gain after the movie is released.

This is obviously an expected problem.

"We want to get this movie re-released, and we've put a lot of effort into it..." The actor who played Noodle Man Reed began to speak on behalf of everyone again.

"This is impossible. The success of a movie is luck. How can you expect a small production with a million dollars to become a giant movie like Batman? Even Superman ten years ago cost tens of thousands to produce. Times more than you.

You probably don’t know how much investment is required to distribute a movie, right? "

Ronald patiently explained to them that even if it was released, it would probably only be in theaters for a few weeks, and then quickly enter the video distribution. At most, they would occasionally be recognized by customers when they went to Blockbuster to pick up the video...

Everyone was convinced by Ronald. Similarly, what Minahan said was hard to believe, but once Ronald said it, they were quite convinced. Coupled with the priority auditions promised by Ronald, these actors who want to break into Hollywood still have something to gain.

Ronald shook hands with the actors one by one and sent them out. It's not easy to offend these little people. Otherwise, if you really go for an interview, even if you can suppress it, it will always be a storm. Ronald behaved reasonably politely.

"What do you do?" The last person to shake hands was a fat guy with an unshaven beard. He looked young, but he was already bald on the top of his head.

"I'm not an actor, I'm the unsigned screenwriter of this movie..." Fatty was at a loss, not knowing what to say, and his face turned red all of a sudden.

"Ah, what do you want?" Ronald thought to himself, if you were nodding your head at what I said just now, I would have thought you were playing a supporting role.

"I admire you, Ronald. I've watched your movies many times. I'm here to..." Fatty excitedly held Ronald's hand and wouldn't let go.

"Do you want an autograph? Or a photo?" Ronald was happy. Although he was more successful than Diane in the film career, when we went out together, Diane would always be recognized and asked for an autograph, but there was no one for him. reason.

"Ah, no... no, I mean I want an autograph and a photo... Ah, no, I mean, I came here to ask you to read my script. It would be best if I could take a photo with you."

"Oh?" Ronald thought, yes, he is a screenwriter, so this is right. I am a director, how can I have so many fans?

Ronald took over the script, which was bound with copper nails and in standard script format. A standard ninety-page, ninety-minute movie script.

After opening it and flipping through it, Ronald suddenly frowned.

"Buffy recognized the person in front of her as the fang in her mouth. She pushed the sharp stake forward and pierced the vampire's chest..."

Isn't this name and plot the same TV series I dreamed about before?

Could it be...?

"Is this a movie script or a TV series..." Ronald closed the script, and sure enough, the name "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was written on the cover.

"Please call me Joss...this is a movie script...it's me

"Interesting, do you want to direct it yourself?" Ronald thought to himself, you brought this to your door...