Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"At this time, increasing the intensity of the trailer for The Silence of the Lambs will cost a lot. Fortunately, it is a relatively unpopular time after the New Year holiday..."

In Daydream Pictures, several managers are planning to launch Ronald's temporary marketing plan.

"The movie theater's trailer is taking advantage of the time slot, but the TV station's advertising is now very expensive. The hottest news is still the coalition bombing Baghdad and Iraq's use of Scud missiles to attack Israel. Tell me, why did Iraq not dare to fight back when we attacked Iraq, but we attacked Israel instead?"

Several male managers began to discuss this topic. Patriot air defense missiles have been shipped to Saudi Arabia and Israel. Many Scuds were shot down in mid-air, and some fell into the desert due to their own accuracy problems. The actual loss of life and property was limited.

"Claudia, what do you think?" The two chatted for a long time without understanding what was going on. Seeing Claudia Wells coming over, they just asked her, a Jew, for advice.

"You still don't understand the mentality of the Middle Eastern people. Iraq is deliberately trying to get Israel to fight back, so that the Arab people will think that it is the Jews and America who are bullying the Arabs. At that time, Saudi Arabia may be caught in a dilemma and even withdraw from the coalition."

"Will that happen?" The managers were all interested.

"Dream on. The madman in Iraq has a bad reputation in Arab countries. Those people have made enough money from oil and don't want to fight Israel anymore. But don't say this in front of those real Jews..."

Claudia Wells was forced to turn to the backstage because she was not "real" enough Jewish. She herself did not have any good feelings for those so-called Jews who called themselves Jews to get benefits but did not dare to go back to Israel to join the army.

However, they still had to continue to contact the TV stations where Jews occupied high positions, and try to get more trailer time slots for "The Silence of the Lambs" during this period when advertising time slots are relatively expensive.

"Isn't this movie from Orion? Why did you, Daydream, buy time slots to promote it?"

The executives of those TV stations had a bit of a strange request for Daydream Pictures. Half of the executives of film studios and TV stations are Jewish, and they have heard of this movie. Generally speaking, it is the distributors who do the marketing.

"Hey, haven't you heard? Mike McDavoy of Orion has now gone to TriStar Pictures. TriStar Pictures took over the distribution of this movie. Our boss Ronald Lee also invested in this movie. He thinks the quality of the movie is beyond ordinary, so he paid for it out of his own pocket in order to let more people see it..."

"Your boss is really a rare artist..."

The TV station is just trying to make money. Since Daydream is willing to invest money, it is natural to insert trailers in some time slots.

For a time, the trailers of The Silence of the Lambs began to be played in the middle of the "TV Cinema" programs of TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, and other pre-movie advertisements.

…

“Why is The Silence of the Lambs not on your list of Orion Pictures?”

A fat man with a cigar in his mouth, sitting opposite Klug, the richest man ranked by Forbes, scratched his protruding belly, held the cigar between his fingers, and asked the question.

“I don’t remember. I don’t have time to take care of these things.” Klug was so angry that he scratched his head. Last year, all the movies of Orion lost money. Only Dances with Wolves made money, and it was sold to Ronald.

“Marvin, if you want to buy Orion, just give me an answer. I don’t have time to waste with you…” Klug put on the airs of the richest man.

“You have to let me know, right?” The name of this 300-pound fat man is Marvin Davis. He is a shrewd businessman. He is notorious for buying low and selling high when doing business.

He started out in oil and real estate. In the early 1980s, he briefly took over 20th Century Fox and fired seven Hollywood executives on the grounds that women were unreliable.

Although he looks vulgar, Marvin Davis is best at playing the pig and eating the tiger. After he ran 20th Century Fox for a few years, he sold it to Australian businessman Rupert at a high price.

In 1986, he bought the famous Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard for $135 million. In the bidding, he defeated the Sultan of Brunei. But soon after, he raised the price by $65 million and sold the hotel to the Sultan.

He is always able to shrewdly see the true value of an asset, and then buy it at a low price when others are not optimistic. After a while, he sells it at a high price to those who are eager to want it.

For example, last year he made a big deal, selling the most famous Pebble Beach Golf Course in California, which he had previously bought with 20th Century Fox, to Japanese businessman Minoru Kumatotani for $840 million.

You know, when he bought Fox, Fox had just bought Pebble Beach Golf Links and Aspen Ski Resort in Colorado for $70 million because of the profits from Star Wars.

Marvin Davis originally bought Fox for more than $700 million, and sold the film company shares to Rupert in two installments for $580 million. Pebble Beach Golf Links was sold for $840 million, doubling in ten years, and he still had a famous ski resort.

Japanese golf businessman Kumatori Tanimino, known as the Golf Sage, relied on the guarantee provided by Osaka real estate developer Itomitsu and borrowed money from Mitsubishi Bank to acquire Pebble Beach in an all-cash transaction.

Marvin Davis, who had a lot of cash in his hand, learned that the richest man John Klug was selling Orion Pictures. He couldn't help but think of the good old days of picking up bargains and wanted to repeat his successful experience.

"Hmm..." Marvin Davis swayed back and forth on his chair, which was tortured to the point of making all kinds of obscene noises. He actually looked at those documents very seriously.

"No, why doesn't this include The Silence of the Lambs? Many TV stations are showing the trailer now, and you sold it too?"

"fxck, are you fucking done yet? How can I remember the names of these movies? If you want to buy them, just give me a price..." John Kluge was hurt. At that time, he felt that his subordinates were fooling him and wasting his money. His money, in order to avoid being cheated, refused to invest more marketing funds to release these two movies.

Who would have known that after being bought by a young and outrageous director, he would be making a lot of money now. Poor Mr. Richest Man has bought Orion for so many years and has rarely seen a movie with such a profit.

"Uh-huh……"

Marvin Davis didn't know it yet, but he had pressed his opponent's most sensitive button. How many more clicks does this take?

The next offer he made was based on the pretense that the rights to the two films had already been sold, at a low price that infuriated Kluge.

"I would rather let him go bankrupt than sell him to that fat pig!" After sending away Marvin Davis, Kluge's roar resounded throughout his mansion, and all his subordinates fell silent. It was very bitter, because you had to sell it at that time. Who knew that these two movies had such high box office potential?

…

"Dances with Wolves won Best Film and Best Director at the Kansas Film Festival, and Kevin Costner was delighted to fly out to attend the closing ceremony."

At the same time, Ronald happened to discuss the two movies with Richard and others. The Oscar nominations will be held soon, and various trade union awards and Film Critics Association awards will be awarded intensively during this time.

Ronald's own film "The End of the World" also applied for all the major awards in one go. However, critics still dislike this kind of box office hit that combines a romance film with a science fiction film. Only Whoopi Goldberg was nominated for several Film Critics Circle Awards.

Ronald was only nominated for one Director's Guild Award for Best Director. This is the result of the old directors' special preference for him.

"Hey, debut novels are all like this. I was very excited when I found out that I had won a small award."

Ronald was also amused. Kevin Costner has won many awards as an actor, but as a director he still

Own

This year's Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture are difficult to compete with. After all, there is Coppola's godfather

Italian directors have always been thoughtful, artistic, and commercial. They have many fans among the Oscar judges. Many newcomers, to put it mildly, learned to make movies by watching their films.

However, Ronald still paid for the prize-winning PR. For people in the industry, this is not only the hope of winning awards, but also related to the treatment of a star. If Ronald doesn't follow the rules to prepare Kevin Costner's Oscar PR, then maybe the two of them will turn against each other.

After all, in addition to being a director, he is also an actor and is now a quasi-A-list male star. Ronald, who has always been kind to others, signed the plan. Anyway, the possibility of him and himself winning the prize is very small, it can be said to be almost non-existent.

"Ronald, Judy called."

"Oh, okay, I'll go..."

Jodie Foster looked anxious on the phone, "Ronald, are you coming to New York for the premiere?"

"What? Didn't I agree to participate in the Los Angeles stop? By the way, are you satisfied with my additional marketing investment?"

"Oh my God, Ronald, I don't know what to do, can you come and save me? I think the trailer makes me nervous, you should have shown me beforehand, what now?"

"What should I do? Is there anything wrong with this trailer?" Ronald was confused.

"Yes, I came to New York specially first and talked a lot with the director Jonathan (Demi). This trailer was not edited by him. I'm afraid there will be big problems. You know, I never ask for anything special. But this time, I especially want to see you and have an interview with you.”

"Can't we talk on the phone? Okay, okay, don't get excited. There's nothing we can't talk about. I'll fly to New York right now and attend the premiere."

Ronald put down the phone and looked back at Diane. Originally, the two made an appointment to go to Palm Springs to attend the film festival there and take a vacation.

"Go ahead, I'll prepare your luggage." Diane smiled. Ronald was very busy at work, so there was nothing he could do about it. She also specifically asked, "You have to be patient with Judy. We actresses will have this kind of particularly nervous moment before the movie is released. If you are kind to us at this time, we will remember it for a long time."

"Well...then can I be nice to you?" Ronald immediately hugged Diane into his arms, "The big bathtub in our house has a fountain function, which is actually similar to a hot spring."

"Ah, hahahaha..."

The two laughed together, hugged each other and kissed.

…

"Did you see that? Did you see that?"

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, New York, Jodie Foster looked excited, pointed at the trailer on the TV, and cried to Ronald. When it came to being emotional, she hugged Ronald and cried.

"What's wrong?" Ronald saw that there were his and Foster's agents, director Jonathan Demme and others nearby. What's going on?

"I'm a bit stupid. What's wrong with this trailer?"

"This trailer is all about Anthony Hopkins. I was bullied by him on the set. He made fun of the West Virginia accent I picked up, and he also threatened me on the set. I don't want this.

You see, my name is listed before his in the trailer. Why is my name not as important as his in the trailer? "

"this?"

Ronald was a little confused. He put Jodie Foster on the sofa, then rewound the video tape to the beginning, and checked the time with his watch.

"Judy, both your overall shot time and the length of your close-ups are longer than Anthony (Hopkins). Can you tell me what you really want?"

When filming the movie, Jodie Foster had a lot of dissatisfaction with Anthony Hopkins. Because she is an Oscar-winning actress, she should occupy the biggest star position. But Anthony Hopkins, with his British habit of relying on his acting skills, kept teasing Judy on the set. Later, he even won the support of the crew and regarded him as a

During the filming, Jonathan Demme also tried to persuade Jodie Foster by saying things that were beneficial to the filming. Now at the stage of roadshow for the release, Judy started to quarrel over the treatment again.

"I'm only telling you." Jodie Foster didn't want to reveal the truth in front of everyone.

"Okay, please give us some private space." Ronald gave Jonathan Demi a helpless look. The other party made a gesture to express understanding and went to wait outside first.

"Tell me..." Ronald asked, looking at Jodie Foster, who was alone on the sofa.

"The trailers are all centered on Anthony Hopkins. All the focus is on his shots, I am just a foil!" Jodie Foster puffed out her chest, and her petite body fought for treatment, But it's very aggressive.

"Hmm..." After hearing this, Ronald pressed the remote control again and played the trailer.

Not to mention, Jodie Foster is quite sensitive. I don’t know who made this trailer. Indeed, for more than a minute, every rhythmic accent falls on the charming tension of Hannibal played by Anthony Hopkins.

Anyway, as an ordinary viewer, after watching it, what you are thinking about must be to see this high-IQ perverted criminal, not the female FBI agent.

And Jodie Foster is an actress who particularly cares about fame and being the center of attention. She doesn't think her performance of FBI agent Clarice will be as good as Hopkins'.

Moreover, Ronald heard that she was still seeking to become a director herself, and it would be very detrimental to her career development if she was regarded as a minor star.

"I'll have someone edit it again and play it for the same length of time as this version. You can ask to check it."

Ronald agreed to the petite star's request. It's not that he sees her as pitiful, but Jodie Foster is a familiar face to the people of America, and her popularity is far greater than that of the British actor.

It would be a crime against one's money not to make full use of her charm to drive audiences to the cinema.

"No, I completely believe you. Ronald, you are the best man to me since I entered the industry." Jodie Foster hugged Ronald and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh, I forgot my lipstick." Judy immediately hurriedly wiped Ronald's face.

"You have to be careful about Judy, she is not easy to deal with." Jonathan Demi, who came in from behind, smiled and looked at the blush on Ronald's cheeks.

"Ha, it's not like you don't know that she likes women. We are friends." Ronald smiled and waved his hand.