Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"The presidential election has begun, and the debates in the Elephant Party primary election have escalated - the former California governor showed his cowboy nature. In the local debate three days before the New Hampshire primary election, the governor refuted the host with masculine charm, which caused the audience to cheer endlessly."

Ronald was listening to the CBS program while opening the mail. This part was for the audition of the heroine of "Endless Love". He was busy looking at the audition photos sent by the agent every day, and only went home to sort out the mail and bills at night.

Peter Gubel gave an order to find several candidates in March, and he and the director jointly decided on the candidates. As the first big production of PolyGram Pictures, he could not afford to make mistakes as the CEO.

Gubel still remembered Ronald, who specially assigned him to participate in the audition work on the phone. The boss gave the order and did not give any subsidies, so Ronald worked for nothing. In order to make a name for himself in front of the boss, he had to work hard.

CBS was broadcasting the debate scene of the Elephant Party primary election. There was a lot of noise and the picture quality was not very good. It was the work of a typical local TV station photographer. The screen was not focused on the governor, and it was always shaking.

"This debate will be conducted by Mr. Ronald, who is leading in the polls, and Mr. George. The other four candidates will wait on the sidelines, and they will have the opportunity to come up and make closing statements at the end." The debate host, Green, is the editor-in-chief of the Nashua Telegraph.

"That's not right. The premise of my participation in this debate... is that all six candidates participating in the Elephant Party primary must come on stage to participate in the debate, not just me and George one-on-one..."

"Sound engineer, is the sound engineer here? Please cut off the governor's microphone." The host shouted.

The audience booed. Everyone knew that George was the so-called Elephant Party establishment's candidate. They wanted to see something new, not the same old stuff.

If there were multiple candidates debating together, there might be topics that could be freely discussed. If it was one-on-one, and the host was biased, then the debate would be limited to certain pre-designed scopes.

Old Ronald on TV was very angry, but the good manners he developed as an actor prevented him from getting angry on the spot and scolding the host.

Old Ronald picked up the microphone, "Hey, hello... Can the sound engineer give me the sound? Very good. I think the meaning of the debate is to listen to different opinions, and these candidates..."

"Please stop, Mr. Governor, I have to interrupt you. If you don't follow the rules, we have to cut off your microphone..."

"I am the one who paid for this microphone!" Old Ronald was furious and said a golden sentence.

"Okay, well said..."

Ronald looked at the TV screen and liked the former governor of California. He was afraid of comparison in everything. President Jimmy was cautious in doing things. He didn't have the mentality of a superpower leader at all. People felt that he was very afraid of offending other countries.

It's okay for the Suvil Alliance, even Persia is also afraid. He wants to support America's face, but he is afraid that the Persian Ayatollah will be unhappy. The result of being in two ends is that he has no face and no substance.

Mr. Governor is very stylish. Although he is 69 years old, he still looks like a hero in Hollywood movies. This sentence just now is very popular with the American people. The people obey the simple truth that whoever pays the money should be obeyed.

America gave Persia its planes, tanks, and advanced weapons for its armed forces, and sold most of its oil to America. But it still didn't obey. The people were actually resentful. Wouldn't it be better to use so much aid and cheap weapons for domestic livelihood? Many Vietnam War veterans were unemployed, and President Jimmy didn't care about them.

Ronald shook his head. Even if so many people cheered, the governor was 69 years old after all. There was no precedent for him to be the president at such an old age. It was not certain whether he could win the primary election.

He opened the letters one by one, putting the advertisements on one side and the bills on the other. America's mail-order business was booming. If he didn't open his mailbox for a few days, he would find a pile of mail-order advertisements, each of which was a thick stack of promotional materials in a large envelope.

Ronald opened a letter signed by the Directors Guild, which also contained a thick stack of papers. It turned out that the list of director Ronald's advertising production had been sent to the Directors Guild. After the evaluation, the Directors Guild raised Ronald's union level by one level.

From assistant/second group director/field director to advertising/short film director.

The union will provide some advertising-related job opportunities and senior director experience sharing sessions. More resources will be opened to Ronald.

Of course, the more important thing is to let Ronald make up the dues. In addition to paying dues at the standard of advertising directors in the future, he must also make up the difference in dues for the two levels of directors during his time as a second group director.

In order to prevent dear members from going bankrupt, the Directors Guild thoughtfully put the payment period within 12 months, and it can also be paid in installments, which really takes members into consideration.

Ronald's savings have been reduced by a large amount after buying a house, but fortunately he has a long-term income as a photographer. According to the number in the promotion notice, he wrote a check and sent it to the Directors Guild to pay the dues. The money in the checking account has decreased a lot, and he has to find a way to make money.

"CBS Evening News is broadcast here. Today is the 87th day that our hostages are trapped in the Persian Embassy." Since last Christmas, the CBS news program host will broadcast the time of the hostages' entrapment every day when saying goodbye, and the patriotic enthusiasm in America is high.

During Christmas and New Year, the Stars and Stripes are the best-selling items, and every household buys them and sticks them on their windows to support the hostages. Donna's school also organized them to send greeting cards and write blessings to the hostages. They don't know where these greeting cards ended up. Anyway, they couldn't be sent to the American Embassy in Persia.

After processing the letters, Ronald began a new round of mailing script synopses, sending one copy to every screenwriter's agent with an office address in Los Angeles. The last time he saw the coexistence of various races at the junction of the Italian Quarter and Chinatown, Ronald had some ideas for writing and wanted to write a script about multi-racial integration.

However, after consulting Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow, Ronald changed his mind. Instead of starting to write, he first wrote a hook and sent it to agents to ask for their opinions on this subject. interest.

"Dear Mr. Niceta,

I just finished polishing the script for 'Intersection', a romantic comedy about an Italian-American assistant district attorney who falls in love with a Chinese-American man in Chinatown, who turns out to be the scion of a Chinatown gang. s story.

I'd like you to tell me if you'd like to read this script and be my screenwriter's agent. I also worked as a signed screenwriter for MGM's new film "Famous" and was praised by Mr. Woody Allen.

Thanks.

Yours faithfully,

Ronald Lee. "

Ronald himself has also worked as a script reviewer and knows that in Hollywood, before a script can be read by a producer, it must go through several stages. First, the agent must be interested in your script, and then he will sign you. , and then pitch it to major studios.

Then came layers of bureaucracy. First, Ronald worked as a script reviewer. He graduated from high school or college, read a script, wrote a five-page report, and earned $10. The scripts selected by them are then sent to the script editor.

Script editors are just poor screenwriters. They will find faults in your writing instead of picking out the merits of the script. Only if they are satisfied after reading it can the script pass their level and be handed over to the development director.

Development executives are often women who have worked in production companies for many years. They have children and husbands to take care of, and they often don’t have time to read your script until they go to bed in the middle of the night. If you fall asleep while reading it, your script will be killed.

After passing these stages, the script will finally reach the producer, but there are already as many scripts as a mountain piled on the producer's desk. Often those scripts are endorsed by famous directors, star actors, or company executives, and are placed directly on the producer's desk, skipping the first few steps.

Your script has to compete with their scripts that have already attracted the attention of stars and directors and are very likely to receive investment. Even five years is a short period of time.

Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow have both suffered this kind of loss, and they strongly urged Ronald to seek investment first, make a student film of less than one hour, and build his own reputation as a director. Later, there will be Studios value their directorial abilities.

However, Ronald felt that their idea was not very reliable. Hollywood is very keen on famous directors. If you have made a blockbuster movie, there will be several scripts for you to choose from for your next one.

But this kind of student film only has to win awards. Are any studios really willing to try their luck?

I still start from the perspective of screenwriting. Anyway, with Roger Corman's relationship, if the script is OK, it won't be a problem to make a low-cost movie. Before that, let’s cast a wide net with major screenwriting agencies.

Ronald had a story in mind, but it wasn't written yet. First send the hook of the script to your agent. If someone is interested, write it out. If not, try another idea.

Both Spike and Catherine have told the story of Stallone. His "Rocky" was sent to eight major production companies and countless independent producers, and they were tested one by one. After three rounds of trials, the film was finally shot. After success, he won multiple Oscars in one fell swoop and is now a popular action star.

Back when Rocky wasn't being made, who could have predicted that a third-rate actor in a Roger Corman exploitation film would become an A-list star who wrote and starred in it? In Hollywood, anything is possible.

In the film industry, I have already climbed several levels. As long as I keep going firmly, I will definitely succeed. Ronald sealed several envelopes and prepared to deliver them again.

"It will definitely succeed." Ronald encouraged himself.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The ringing of the phone interrupted Ronald's daydreaming. When he picked up the phone, it was Julia from the casting studio calling again.

"The auditions are scheduled for Friday, and Guber will be here, this round auditioning Jennifer Jason Leigh, Melanie Griffiths, Bo Derek, and Kelly Preston."

The casting of the heroine of "Endless Love" has also been upgraded, and the cast members are all well-connected people in the industry.