Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Chapter 1278 The successor controversy of the talk show

Doris Day is the only star who is still alive among the four main actors. She has achieved enviable results in the record and film industries, but her husband, Martin Melcher, is just a man who relies on Doris's talents to become a producer and record company owner.

After Martin Melcher's sudden death, Doris Day found out that her tens of millions of dollars of property had been squandered by her husband and his lawyer Rosenthal, and she still owed a huge debt.

Later, her lawsuit with the lawyer went to the Supreme Court, including the Las Vegas hotel and Ohio oil wells that she invested in. In the end, she only got back a drop in the bucket through out-of-court settlement.

Ronald approached her to discuss copyright issues, and Doris Day was very happy that she could still meet with audience friends several years after retirement.

When she knew that Ronald wanted to use her image in "Pipa Yuan" instead of the current image of a middle-aged woman, she was even happier.

"Oh, honey, you are just like the legend in the circle, especially considerate of female stars..." Doris Day didn't want the audience to see her old appearance now, and hoped that her young and beautiful image would remain in the audience's memory forever.

"Is it settled then? I'll ask the lawyer to sign some authorization documents with you..."

"Honey, I heard that you donated a lot of money to Taylor's foundation. I also have a foundation for... here. Do you want to participate in a charity auction?" Doris Day is also the first host on TV to hug the... patient, star Rock Hudson. She is now mainly keeping herself busy with these charities.

"Okay, I'll come with a check. I'm your fan..."

After the copyright of the old star was settled, this new advertisement was also being produced quickly. Elton John flew from London and performed a song live in a studio in Los Angeles...

"I'll just have a burger..." Ronald lay down on the sofa and picked up the remote control to switch to the NBC channel.

"That's good. My plane is about to arrive. Anyway, the latest model of Gulfstream can fly across the Atlantic. I'm going to fly to Madison Street in New York for this advertisement."

"Are these people all stand-ins?"

"Oh, God. Will we not need stars to perform in the future? Just find some people to replace them? Fortunately, I am a singer, and the computer can't sing for me...right?"

...

"Director Jonathan Demme will bring the main creators there. He is the biggest contributor to the movie."

"Yes, you come and see this..." Ronald pulled him to see the finished clip.

Ronald heard Elton John talk about some of the princess's situation. He and Diana were "best friends". Now the media in London are speculating about some of the prince and his wife's situations, including the transfer of their interests, and their seemingly close relationship in various public activities...There are also reports that the prince's lover makes the princess very dissatisfied...

Seeing such a person, you would not think that he is in a profession related to speaking.

"Who is this man with a big chin?" Ronald discovered that the Tonight Show today was not hosted by Johnny Carson, but by a host who looked very much like the protagonist in "Rain Man" with a short philtrum and a long chin.

Just like a typical American man, he went home to coax his children to sleep, and his greatest pleasure was not in the bedroom, but watching Johnny Carson tell jokes in front of the TV.

Elton John looked at these people, and their figures were very similar, but their faces were not at all similar.

"You haven't eaten yet?" Diane had just finished yoga and hurriedly asked Wang's mother to prepare dinner for Ronald.

"Then you have to come too. Princess Diana also told me that you invited her to attend the royal premiere. She is not in a very good mood now..."

"Don't you know Jay Leno? He has been on the show several times this year, replacing Carson. Sometimes Carson's show will also let him come up to co-host." Diane came over and drank a sip of Coke.

After entertaining Elton John and letting him perform the commercial happily, Ronald went home very late that day.

"But many inspirations cannot come out without a partner to discuss. Let's not talk about these. When will you go to London to premiere The Silence of the Lambs? Artists there are going crazy for Dances with Wolves, and you have made another thriller..."

"Hey, not bad, your toy is good, I want one too..." Elton John's records are selling well now...

"It's not that strong. Look at this short commercial. It's all exposed." Ronald pointed to the sudden shaking on the screen. As long as a big movement is made, the part of the head change will have flaws..."

"It should be good?" Ronald was not sure, "At least the production cost is cheaper."

"Computers have really changed our professional ability. In the past, when I wanted to arrange music, I always had to find musicians to discuss with everyone on the spot, and slowly a good arrangement would emerge. But now, as long as you use MIDI in the computer, you can call up the entire band by yourself, and you can finish the work by yourself. I don't know if it's good or bad..."

"You have been on duty several times? "Ronald felt something was wrong, so he called Richard and asked him to contact David Letterman.

"Ronald, what's wrong? Do you want to talk to me about something?"

By midnight, Letterman finished his Late Show and called Ronald back.

"There's no problem with you taking over Carson's job, right?"

"What's the problem? Who else can take over besides me?" David Letterman said with a smile on the other end of the phone. "NBC just needs a suitable time to announce..."

"However, I saw today that a host with an enlarged chin was filling in for Carson. Is there really no problem?"

"Hahaha, what's wrong with you? You are the second person to call me today and tell me about this. I told you, there is no problem. They are already planning a program and let me be a guest on the Tonight Show. It is very possible that I will take this opportunity to inform the audience about the shift handover during the live broadcast..."

"Someone else called you, who was it?"

"It's Ovitz from CAA. He also said that Jay Leno, the guy you said has a fat chin, his agent is in public relations. But I think this is all a talking technique for him to sign me. …”

"Okay, you can figure it out yourself. I'm going to New York soon, and I'll find you then..."

…

"I think Letterman may have been careless." On his way to board the just-delivered Gulfstream jet for its maiden voyage. Ronald and Richard were communicating about this matter.

"There are rumors in agent circles that Jay Leno's agent is helping him go crazy with public relations. There are many rumors spread, to the effect that Letterman's hosting style is only suitable for the adult humor of late-night shows and is not suitable for the family fun of the Tonight Show time period. audience.”

Richard also learned about some situations through some connections in the industry.

"Does Letterman still have a chance?"

"It's hard to say. Ovitz is working hard on public relations to win him over. But David Letterman is very stubborn. He just wants to spend his weekends with his family, and no one in the industry can find him.

In addition, he now thinks that he is the only natural candidate, so it is difficult for Ovitz to persuade him to change his agent, and he has also started a public relations offensive..."

"Hi Bozo..."

Ronald arrived in front of Gulfstream's new aircraft. He had already recruited Bozo, the naval aerobatic pilot from Top Gun, to be his special plane pilot.

"Ronald...I thought it would take you a while before you came to me..."

"The Gulfstream is definitely much more comfortable to fly than a cargo plane. This time we are going to New York, and next time we will go across the ocean to London to test the performance of the new aircraft."

"Roger..." Bozo saluted gracefully. His children were going to college. The salary of a business jet pilot was higher than that of a cargo jet pilot, and the business was easier. He was very grateful.

"Daydream One requests runway..."

…

The Gulfstream stopped at the New Jersey airport very briskly, and Bozo's landing was very smooth. It didn't look like the excitement of flying the F-14A past the tower and landing on the aircraft carrier.

Ronald stretched himself. Bozo's driving skills were indeed very good, and he slept soundly all the way.

"Ed, did you hear about Johnny Carson?"

Ronald said to Ed Bastian, the general manager of his television and media company, who came to pick him up.

"Let me guess, his retirement has been announced a long time ago. Now you ask, is there something wrong with David Letterman's succession plan?"

"Ha, you are really powerful. There is indeed something wrong." Ronald asked Richard to tell him the information he had found out.

"Do you think David Letterman has a chance to fight back?" Of course Ronald wanted Letterman to take over. In this TV show with the largest audience in the United States, the host is his old friend, which makes many things much more convenient.

"There must be some, but his problem is not mainly about business capabilities, but about human relations."

"Huh?" Richard also pricked up his ears. This general manager was in charge of several TV stations, radio stations and newspaper distribution in Ronald's hands, just like a Wall Street banker playing a children's game of chess, taking care of it casually. Well done.

And because it is located in New York, it has a good relationship with major television networks such as NBC, CBS, and ABC, which are headquartered here. Not only is it well-informed, there are also many cooperation projects. Among them, ABC and CBS are interested in adding another TV station to join in New York.

"It was probably last year, and David Letterman's show has always been famous for his outspoken speech. He pointed at the ceiling and called the new president of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, an asshole.

If it were an ordinary person, they would just laugh it off. But Brandon Tartikoff's pride made it difficult for him to accept such ridicule, so the two formed a feud. "

"Brandon Tartikoff, I'm familiar with him. Do you want to hook them up and let them chat in person?" Ronald thought of this executive who took over his "Working Girl" TV series. , has now been promoted due to the increase in ratings of the new TV series.

"If you can, then it will be a good offense and defense to prevent Ovitz from taking down David Letterman." Richard also became interested. He was not only thinking about Ronald...if Letterman could Solve this matter, and he will be Letterman's new agent of course.

"Actually, I am familiar with Brandon Tartikoff and David Letterman. They are not very bad people. It's just that one is a successful host and the other is a newly promoted president. They are both very successful men. …

As long as someone can sit them down and work things out, Johnny Carson will still be his successor. It's a pity that I don't have the ability to make them sit down and chat. Only someone with your industry status can..."

Ed Bastian is also very interested in this, which is a good thing for his TV station to get more say in New York.

With tens of millions of viewers and the highest-rated program in the United States, if it can handle this, it can even make a name for itself in the television industry.

Both of them were very interested and quickly discussed how to handle this matter.

"The problem now is that David Letterman doesn't quite believe that he will be replaced by Jay Leno's PR offensive. What we have to do is to give him some reasons to doubt and then believe that this is a huge crisis.”

"This can be done. Our CAA has a lot of records of Jay Leno's public relations activities this time. I believe that as long as he can see these, he will understand the urgency of the matter. It makes him believe that after the crisis , how to get him to apologize to Brandon Tartikoff will be a problem..."

"This is actually easy to solve. What our agents are best at is making the client understand that doing so is good for his career. Being a night talk show host is his favorite career, and he will definitely give up some irrelevant things for this purpose. Dignified.”

The two of them got more and more excited as they talked, and they also felt a sense of sympathy for each other. Speaking of Ovitz's approach of starting with movies and packaging stars and selling them to studios, in fact, this approach is most suitable for the television industry...

"So we asked Ronald to give him a call and arrange a meeting where we were confident we could convince him."

Ed Bastian and Richard looked at Ronald, now they only owed him face.

"Just give him a fight, that's it for me..." Ronald vaguely felt that this matter was not that simple, but the enthusiasm of his subordinates must also be taken into account.

Richard picked up the phone and dialed his secretary's phone number, where he had many resources he had accumulated in the industry. Not to mention hosts like Letterman, he can also find a way to contact the bosses behind the three major wireless TV stations.

"Hey, please get me David Letterman from the Late Show, please..."

"Pa..." Ronald stood up suddenly and pressed Richard's phone.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this?" Richard and Bastian both looked at Ronald.

Ronald's face was full of solemnity, "Ovitz must have thought of what you said, right?"