Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"No, I'm not interested in being involved in such a complicated business operation. I'm just a director. Just reply like this." Ronald said to Niceta who came specially at the studio.

Ovitz gave in and asked Ronald for help to get Coca-Cola, one of the largest advertising clients in America. Ronald refused without any hesitation.

"This year, his clients' income is not good, and he originally wanted to expand his income range with this business." Niceta replied with a chuckle.

Since the movie "Rain Man" won many awards under Ovitz's public relations, the stars in the industry obviously have two opposite attitudes towards him, love and hate.

Those stars who want to switch to CAA or are "pursued" by him think that he is very capable and can help the stars' career development to a higher level. However, those who have signed with CAA but are not on his own direct client list, or those who have no intention of switching to other brokerage companies, all think that this person is very domineering. For the sake of performance and reputation, he even ignores the clients of non-direct agents of his own company and arbitrarily oppresses them.

Of course, there may be some reasonableness in these two attitudes. Oscars are a very scarce resource, and it is understandable that Ovitz fights for his clients. It's just that CAA's agents sometimes like to imitate Ovitz's "aggressive" attitude, and sometimes they talk too much and give clients unrealistic fantasies.

It can be imagined that because of the scarcity of the award, there are far more people who hate him than those who love him. In this way, when CAA cooperates with large studios, there are many obstacles that did not exist before. Ovitz could not come up with a package business like "Ghostbusters" and "Rain Man" that made a lot of money for a while.

He wanted to change the track and open up a new path for himself. However, Panasonic was intercepted, and Ovitz did not have the opportunity to serve as the CEO of Universal after the merger. And the advertising business that has been planned for a long time has now come to nothing.

Historically, large fast-moving consumer goods companies are the largest advertising clients. They usually let several well-known advertising companies compete for creativity and production. Then the winning advertising company will get more than 10% of the advertising budget.

Then, for production, they will look for famous Hollywood directors to shoot cinematic ads. The previous Coca-Cola and Pepsi ads that Ronald shot were orders from advertising companies.

But perhaps it is because Coca-Cola does not need too many fresh ideas, but needs good execution. Management feels that this is too expensive. They want to deal more directly with the Hollywood production team.

So Coca-Cola has recently been looking for channels to communicate directly with the production team. This includes Darcy Maguire, a creative director of a large advertising company and Ronald's previous big client for ads.

She has always had a good cooperation with Ronald, and this time she first thought of looking for Ronald. The reason why Coca-Cola hesitated about cooperating with Ovitz this time was also largely because she and Coca-Cola's new vice president and chief marketing officer Sergio Ziman often mentioned Ronald's contribution to Coca-Cola advertising.

Sergio Ziman was a newcomer in the company who was promoted after Don Keogh took the position of chairman. The other faction that traditionally controls the company's brand marketing is having a great time fighting.

He immediately arranged for someone to do a brand awareness survey. In general, the survey results show that people are impressed by Pepsi's ads. About 24% of the respondents said that their favorite ads in the past month were Pepsi's ads, while only 8% chose Coca-Cola.

Michael Jackson and other idols that young people like have always been the spokespersons for Pepsi. The celebrity endorser of Coca-Cola, Paula Abdul, is much less well-known, not to mention that she was a dancer for Jackson's sister Janet...

Among all the ads in the past ten years, only the few Coca-Cola ads shot by Ronald have caught up with Pepsi's ads in terms of popularity and recognition among teenagers because they invited Demi Moore, Elizabeth Shue and other movie heroines who are very well-known among teenagers, and the plots of the shots are very interesting.

This is probably the most cost-effective of all the ads that Coca-Cola invited those star directors and star actors to shoot.

In this way, Ronald registered with Sergio Ziman, who had the power to decide on this matter at Coca-Cola. Darcy Maguire immediately found Ronald and sought cooperation with him. Otherwise, once the deal was concluded, McCann Advertising, where she worked, would definitely fire her as a scapegoat.

Ronald couldn't eat alone in this matter. Coca-Cola was looking at the advertising endorsement stars and the effects brought by impressive advertisements. They had just lost their best sports spokesperson, Michael Jordan, the basketball star of the Chicago Bulls. Jordan had just switched to Gatorade for health and price reasons.

Now, this huge cake might be spit out from the traditional Madison Street advertising companies, and it depends on who can catch it.

After receiving the news from Ronald, Rick Nicita, Paula Wagner, Richard and others immediately began to secretly and intensively prepare to compete with Ovitz.

In addition to stars like Tom Cruise and Diane Lane, they also have three famous directors, Ronald Lee, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Coppola.

It just so happens that these two have a close relationship with Ronald. After initial probing, they are also interested in making some commercials to make quick money.

Nicita and Paula began to contact a large number of newly emerging agents within CAA. These agents have learned a lot from Ovitz and are aggressive in business. They are nicknamed "Young Turks" in the industry.

They also have young stars, but the road to becoming partners has basically been blocked by Ovitz... Who let him own all the shares except Ron Meyer?

Several non-direct agents soon expressed that Nicita was actually setting up a small team within CAA independent of Ovitz. It is natural that for many years

"Then I will let Coppola and Scorsese meet with Sergio Ziman of Coca-Cola. He is a fan of movies." Nicita smiled and arranged the rebellion with Ronald. Anyway, the business of the agency is relatively independent. Even if they fall out with Ovitz, the worst that can happen is to set up a new agency.

The reason why CAA has been invincible in the past few years is that it relies on the excess profits brought by low-key and packaged business. Anyway, Ronald doesn't like packaged business. Several agents in his department who have big clients will have no impact on the business in the short term.

It's just that more agents will form a group, which is good for business promotion. Nicita is also trying to unite more agents. Sometimes, in a big company, it is better to make profits for a small group than to work alone.

This strategy, those Jews don't have much talent, and Italians like Nicita have the gene of using public power for personal gain in their culture, so they are very good at it.

...

Ronald's movie will be shot until the Christmas holiday. So Niceta arranged the interview with Sergio Ziman to the end, which was more in line with Ronald's current status.

"Ah!"

Ronald continued his daily filming.

"Get him out!"

Gregory Peck put on a light-colored coat, which was wrinkled and often worn by the character Jorgensen when he went to the workshop. Kate Sullivan came to Rhode Island to tell him that Garfield had made a proposal.

Garfield would use the purchased stocks to exchange for the cable factory in Jorgensen's listed company. The cable factory was losing money because of the pressure from environmental protection and labor unions and the decline of the cable business. Garfield just wanted to buy this undervalued factory and then split it up and sell it to different buyers while it was still valuable. For example, there are many countries on the other side of the Pacific Ocean that like this set of equipment.

Jorgensen still has control of the listed company, and the stock price will rise. What he lost is the factory that his father relied on to make a fortune.

"Tell him to go to hell!"

Gregory Peck turned around, and the camera gave him a close-up of his strong chin from the side.

"Hoohoo..."

The steelmaking furnace is in the background. The props team used a special device to make it spray two beams of fire. With the sound of the pneumatic hammer in the background, Gregory Peck's back was illuminated by the fire and he looked like a resolute ancient Greek marble statue standing in front of the furnace.

"Cut!"

The camera was quickly moved down the platform next to the furnace and then reinstalled on the rail below.

After everything was ready, Gregory Peck, who had received a massage, went to the furnace again with great energy and made an OK gesture to Ronald.

"A!"

The camera was aimed at him and filmed Jorgensen going down the stairs. It was like a god walking in front of a furnace with flames, and his face was reflected in the color of red copper. Peck seemed to have become a hero in ancient Greek mythology, and was about to take over the sword and shield from Hephaestus, the god of forging, and kill Garfield, the evil demon from Wall Street with one sword.

"He spent 13 million to buy our stock, and now he's divesting the factory, and he can make 35 million if the stock price goes up. My people are out of work, and he's made 22 million! How can I survive under these circumstances?"

The camera keeps retreating, covering the close-up of Gregory Peck. His clothes are deliberately chosen to be one size larger, making Jorgensen look thinner as he ages. Like a hero who is too old, can he still draw his sword like he did when he was young?

"We are getting rid of a money-losing black hole, and other branches no longer have to use their profits to fill this hole." General Manager Bill began to explain anxiously. This proposal is actually a win-win situation. Garfield cuts off the garbage to split and sell it, the company gets good news and the stock price rises, and Jorgensen still retains the controlling stake. Only these union workers who make trouble all day long for a pay raise and the local government that increases the sewage fee every year suffer losses, but isn't it good to let them often reap what they sow?

"I can't do this!" Gregory Peck still had a righteous heroic expression on his face. His steps were a little staggering, but his righteousness was no less than when he was young in "To Kill a Mockingbird".

"You still own your listed company!" Kate Sullivan couldn't stand this stubborn old man.

"Why don't you understand? I can't kill the workers in this factory, I can't kill this town! I can't let one person do these things and get rich!"

"He will lose the entire company!" Seeing how stubborn Jorgensen was, Kate Sullivan had no choice but to stop in front of the iron stairs and said to General Manager Bill.

Ronald was very satisfied with this shot. Diane's helpless look after being ignored by Jorgensen because of her professional opinions was very accurate.

The scene is not just about attorney Kate Sullivan's frustration with Jorgensen's failure to win over her reasonable opinions, but also the years spent trying to do well, get into college, pass the bar exam, and work on Wall Street in New York. Practicing in the most competitive law firm, none of this could impress his father Jorgensen or allow him to officially recognize his status.

Years of being ignored and rejected were all reflected in this setback. Just like he doesn't let Kate play with his legitimate children every Christmas.

The difference is that this time the result is not Jorgensen's final say. This time Garfield is on the side of the market. If Jorgensen refuses to let go and must stand firm, he may lose miserably and lose control of the listed company.

"Cut!" Ronald confirmed and announced the adoption of this article.

"Dear." Diane came over and watched her performance on the monitor for a while. The black and white video tape was interlaced, so it was basically unclear whether the performance was good or bad, but Diane still asked Ronald happily, "I performed well. ?"

"Very good, you are much more like a lawyer than I thought." Ronald responded with a smile. Compared with the actress in his dream, the lawyer played by Diane was much calmer, and the Wall Street lawyer was not The kind of small lawyer who files speeding lawsuits must make people feel that you are professional in order to gain the trust of your clients.

The actress in the dream was sexy, but Diane, besides being sexy, also had a good grasp of women's professional characteristics. In a way, she's even better than Melanie Griffiths in "Working Girl."

The heroine in that movie had a lot of inner and outer transformations, which required better acting skills. But in this movie, Kate Sullivan's image has not changed much. The love scenes are similar to those that Diane has performed before, and they are actually much less difficult. Of course, in the eyes of outsiders, as long as the acting is good, it means that Diane is good, and it is possible that Diane will receive praise from some film critics.

Next up is another scene opposite Gregory Peck and Dean Jones, who plays the general manager. Bill, the general manager, was afraid that the cable factory would go bankrupt after continuing to lose money, or that its stock price would fall sharply. He wanted to persuade Jorgensen to accept the conditions.

But Jorgensen stubbornly refused to allow surrender.

Karl couldn't bear it anymore and burst out. He worked in the company for fifteen years before climbing to his current position of deputy general manager. Jorgensen's plan to retire and pass the job to him in two years now seems to be under great threat, because his and the management's options may be worthless after two years.

Jorgensen blindly believed in the values ​​of his father's entrepreneurial generation, hiring workers, working hard, and giving back to the community. As for how to make money and reverse losses? Don’t worry, as long as you have the right values, you can make money, that’s what the great entrepreneurs before me did…

"Good night, Mr. Jorgensen."

"Good night, Gus."

As Jorgensen walked out of the factory, Gus, a worker on the night shift, greeted him. Like those great entrepreneurs, Jorgensen knew his factory workers so well that he knew their wives by name.

"Sir, are everything okay with us? I mean, is everything okay?" Gus asked with some fear in his voice.

"It's all good, Gus, we've got years of cable to build together!"

"Okay, good night, sir." Gus's voice immediately became cheerful. Jorgensen was like their backbone. With him around, everything would be fine...

"cut!"

Ronald gave a very nice nod to Gregory Peck and then clapped.

"Ah, I miss plots like this very much. In the past, Hollywood movies would have such inspiring lines." Gregory Parker expressed his fond memories.

Ronald also smiled from the bottom of his heart. This time he hired Gregory Peck, but he made a huge profit. When I was casting, I didn't have such a deep feeling.

Jorgensen in this movie actually borrows the general impression that American audiences have of all the righteous and awe-inspiring characters that Gregory Peck has filmed in the past. As long as he is still standing here, the audience will believe that he can lead America's declining manufacturing industry out of trouble! They will side with Jorgensen and make Tom Hanks, who is tall and popular with the audience, look like a "bad guy"...

It's just that today, when Japan's manufacturing industry dominates supermarkets, the audience may have already expected that Jorgensen, played by Parker, who is very similar to his previous role, may become a tragic character.

Can New England Cable Works survive? This question will continue to torment the audience and pin their attention firmly to the screen.

These are all the benefits brought about by Gregory Peck's previous screen image. Ronald feels that in all these years as a director, hiring Gregory Peck this time is probably the most worthwhile time for him to hire a star. .