Exploiting Hollywood 1980

An important reason for Julia Roberts's hysterical attacks is that she has no relatives in Hollywood.

Just like Marilyn Monroe back then, Jane Russell, who worked with her, said it. During the filming of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", Jane Russell could go home every day to relieve her depression on the set with her relatives, while Monroe could only accumulate all kinds of discomfort every day, and only one person could bear it.

After playing a few rounds of mahjong at Ronald's house, Julia Roberts has regained some feelings about ordinary people's lives, and her mood has improved greatly.

"Oh, when we were filming Steel Mulan, it would be great if there was mahjong..." Diane and Roberts used to have a good relationship. After playing eight rounds, they stopped to have a rest and eat.

"I really like this kind of game. I find order out of disorder. I want to play more in the future..." Julia Roberts was still holding a card table and looking at it. This kind of game can really relieve some stress. trouble.

"How is your new film? Is Spielberg strict? I also want to see your praise. How do you feel about it?"

Diane asks Julia Roberts what "Captain Hook" is about. This movie is a collection of big stars, and Julia Roberts got the role because of "Pretty Woman".

"I don't know. I haven't watched the daily dailies. I guess... I guess it's okay." Julia Roberts glanced at Ronald. The conflicts on the set should stay on the set.

"How about your new movie? I haven't had time to go to the cinema to watch it yet..." Julia Roberts is also interested in Diane's new movie. There is actually a strong sense of competition among female celebrities...

"Ha, do you want to watch it? Ronald just got two video tapes. You can watch them at home." Diane took out the video tapes that Ronald prepared for Princess Diana and inserted one into the video recorder.

"Oh, you look so sexy..." Julia Roberts saw the scene where Kate, played by Diane, appeared in the office of Garfield, played by Tom Hanks, and photographed a professional woman from behind.

She has blond hair, a hot figure, a very thin waist, and a protruding butt. Roberts couldn't help but sigh that it's really great to have a director husband. How many people would be fascinated by filming a female star like this?

"Haha, the photography director Ronald hired is good at shooting, right?" Diane's vanity was greatly satisfied. Ronnie is very good at making women in ordinary scenes look professional and sexy. This photography team fulfilled his request very well...

"Why are you watching this?" Ronald passed by by chance and felt strange when he saw "Other People's Money" on the TV.

"Julia wants to see..." Diane answered first.

"Why don't you go to the screening room and watch it? If you want to see it, I can transfer a copy." Ronald thought that it would be a waste of money to watch his work on the TV.

So much time was spent, so much lighting was done, and so many rounds of shots were taken, all to show that magical, star’s face on the screen. Although I now use Sony’s largest model of Trinitron TV at home, it is still a blur compared to the large close-up of several meters high on the screen.

Ronald didn't like it a little, because the shots of his works were all carefully designed. Careful adjustments were also made in the editing room. Some of the shots and edits can only be seen on the big screen with the director's unique ingenuity. When shown on TV, a lot of the feeling of the work is completely eliminated, making it seem like a work of art. The quality has dropped several notches.

"No, no, I'll just watch the video tape. We rarely have the opportunity to go to the cinema to watch movies. Especially our own works. By the time the movie is released, we have actually made one or two more movies. The plot at that time To be honest, I had forgotten all about the scene and scene, so I had to pretend to be funny during the interview..."

Julia Roberts is talking about the current situation of Hollywood's biggest stars. Young actors definitely don't have this kind of worry. After making a movie, they have no other job. They have to worry about whether the movie will make them famous.

But it's very wrong to get a big star movie appointment. Every time you act, you can't watch your own performance right away. The stars themselves don’t know exactly what the finished film will look like.

Chu. After finishing a cast, I immediately forget about the character and the plot, and then devote myself to character creation for the next movie.

Moreover, celebrities often attend movie promotion interviews. Every time they are interviewed, the reporter asks about their roles in the previous three movies. Sometimes the celebrities give some superficial remarks and do not involve details, and sometimes they are really It's because I forgot.

"What did you say?" Ronald frowned. Julia Roberts' words seemed to have touched something. He had that feeling of inspiration coming to him again, but he couldn't grasp it.

"What did I say? I actually want to watch Diane's performance, but isn't it a bit troublesome..." Julia Roberts thought Ronald was being disrespectful to her and didn't go to his private screening room to watch Mistress's movie. , any dissatisfaction, the feeling of being despised is back.

"No, I have forgotten what you just said..." Ronald frowned even more tightly.

"Oh, I said I rarely have the opportunity to watch my own movies. I don't really like watching my own movies, it makes me nervous..."

"That's it..." Ronald suddenly had an idea. He understood.

The Oscars are essentially decided by the group of actors who make up the largest proportion of the jury. Many of them have not actually watched the nominated movies. That’s why as the end of the nomination period approaches, there are so many films that want to compete for awards and squeeze into that time slot.

But Julia Roberts' words reminded him that watching movies on the big screen is actually just an obsession of directors like them, right?

Most of the audience, including the actors, watch this kind of drama. In fact, how much difference can it make if they watch the video on TV?

Anyway, they don’t understand what real acting is. Acting convincingly, acting with tears, and acting with passion are what they call good acting.

"I have something to take care of, you can do it yourself..." As soon as Ronald figured it out, he knew that this was a very genius idea. He was going to call the daydreamers to discuss the issue. Before leaving, he also said to the two female stars, "I suggest you go to the screening room to see the copy. I spent a lot of energy in the editing room to ensure that Diane's shots were flawless..."

"Ah, hahahaha..." The two women burst out laughing. Diane came over and kissed him as a compliment.

…

"That's just the idea. Do you have any opinions? Agree or oppose it?"

Ronald went to the study and called a meeting. After expressing their thoughts, everyone looked at each other in shock. This tactic was simply unheard of.

"But 'Other People's Money' is still showing, and 'The Silence of the Lambs' also has some long-term runs. Will releasing the video now affect the box office?"

Michelle Cannold mastered the distribution process. Nowadays, Hollywood usually releases video tapes about six months after a movie is released. Because as soon as the video tape comes out, it is inevitable that someone will use professional equipment to pirate it. By then, everyone will have given up this part of the revenue.

"That's not a problem. You guys entered the industry too late. In fact, I was involved in Paramount

Ronald's words were a bit unreasonable. Flashdance That’s because the main selling point of the movie is the sexy dance. After everyone saw the exciting chair dance, they all wanted to watch it again on the big screen.

This kind of drama film, I want to watch the close-ups and the various unspoken emotions conveyed by the subtle expressions of the actors. This kind of viewing habit places too high demands on the audience, and most people only watch one plot.

But Michelle Cannold did not continue to object. He knew in his heart that Ronald wanted to win the award.

If this method can work, then Daydream will have a secret weapon in his hand, which will have a special advantage when judging awards.

Besides, if it gets multiple Oscar nominations or even wins, it will definitely boost the movie’s video sales. This has been proven many times in the past by award-winning films.

"Does this need to be approved by the director?" David Simkins also asked

Asked a question.

"Now we are only discussing whether it can be done theoretically. I will discuss the specific matters with Jonathan..."

"Theoretically it can be successful. This is a clever trick. People in the past did not think of this due to blind spots in their thinking. However, there are still some technical problems."

Public relations consultant Michael Gray first confirmed that Ronald's idea was genius, and then he raised a technical question.

In theory, the Oscar organizing committee prohibits such direct public relations to the judges. Therefore, public relations companies can only use roundabout methods, hold various parties, invite judges to participate, and use this method to canvass votes.

Sending a videotape to the judges would violate the fair competition rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organizer of the Oscars.

Ronald nodded. This is a "technical detail" worth noting, but my idea is still very good. Lawyers will give appropriate solutions to these technical problems.

After discussing with his Daydream colleagues the strategy for winning this Oscar, Ronald was relieved. He went to take a shower and then called Richard and Niceta.

To do this, there was a more important "technical detail". It was inconvenient for him to talk directly to temporary agent Kevin Huwen, so he could only ask Richard.

Richard had just finished his work with David Letterman, and he was making preliminary contacts with people from several television stations on behalf of Letterman. After receiving a call from Ronald, he immediately rushed to Ronald's home with Niceta regardless of fatigue.

"This is a wonderful idea...but after using it once, there is no suddenness..."

After listening to Ronald's idea, the two agents admired him, but Niceta still thought of an important question.

This method of sending videotapes to deepen the judges' memories is useless after one use. As long as it is effective after using it once, then

This time, his "other people's money" has no chance of nomination. If it is used this year, it will be equivalent to exposing this secret weapon in advance.

"I've thought about it, but it's not that hard to think of sending people tapes. Sooner or later, someone will figure it out. I was good this year, how can you stop people from other studios from doing it next year?"

"Why……"

Everyone sighed. This is also a matter of course. Videocassettes were not an important monetization point for movies just a few years ago. But in the past few years, the number of video recorders has been growing rapidly, and video tapes have accounted for an increasing proportion of movie profits.

When Ronald was nominated for Best Director a few years ago, even if videotapes were sent, many of the judges did not have video recorders at home.

"So, the question now is how to get the home addresses and contact information of these judges..."

Another reason, no one from other studios has done PR before, may be this.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organizer of the Oscars, does not publish the list of judges in order to prevent anyone from sending expensive gifts for public relations purposes.

This rule was also implemented in the early days of the awards. After the studio discovered that winning the statuette had a strong effect on increasing the audience's love for its stars, it went out of its way to do various public relations and patch it up.

At that time, the Oscars were mainly monopolized by the eight major studios. The awards also have a lot of internal administrative instructions on who to vote for the actors under them.

But even so, send someone a small chocolate or flowers, and then write on the attached card, "On behalf of xx Movies, I wish you a Merry Christmas", and then stuff some luxury coupons into the card, or Clip a check more directly...all are very useful tricks.

In subsequent reforms, this rule was changed. The list of judges is no longer publicly announced and is only kept in the academy for easy mailing of ballots.

Abuse of private public relations is also prohibited. For nominated films, if they want to be publicized by the judges, they must go through activities publicly organized by the academy and do so openly. Private public relations are limited to parties,

Private banquets, trade union activities, etc. are included in a few items.

Therefore, if you want to achieve Ronald's new public relations idea, you must find someone who knows who the Oscar judges are to assist...

Of course, the one who understands the most is their agent. Each judge who is eligible to vote will have their agent make some public relations arrangements before the awards season. For example, you can pool your votes to exchange for some resources in the industry, etc.

Whoever has the votes, and the votes in their hands have not yet been decided for whom to vote for, can be used for public relations exchanges. No one understands this better than the agents of CAA.

Niceta and Richard also felt that the matter was important and immediately discussed a rough plan. First, talk about this matter privately with the young agents who are on your side, such as Kevin Huwen.

Instead of telling them what they wanted to do, they only suggested holding a public relations party, and then privately asked them for their home address at the party... In this way, even if someone found out, it would be too late to copy Ronald's approach.

After the discussion was settled, Ronald looked at his watch and chose to call Jonathan Demi, a New Yorker who was already late at night.

"Jonathan, I'm Ronald. Yes, it's urgent. You have a lot of signatures to sign..."