Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronnie, nice to meet you. Barbara went to Staten Island specially and came back to tell me that the meeting with voters was very inspiring. Your workers are all good Americans with the spirit of America. If there were more entrepreneurs like you, I wouldn't have to... Oh..."

Old George seemed to have temporarily eased from the disappointment of losing the election. Now he is much more efficient in handling government affairs than when he was busy with the election. But when it comes to failure, he still showed a very depressed state.

First Lady Barbara ran to Staten Island to see with her own eyes the kind of voters that her eldest son George said she should pay more attention to. But Barbara really doesn't like to be with those people at the bottom. She spends more time enjoying the flattery and hospitality of Douglas Jr. Although she stayed in Staten Island for 30 hours, she didn't see as many ordinary people as William did in 30 minutes.

Ronald couldn't say this to Old George, who was still the president, so he had to smile and agree.

"Okay, I'm free now, so I came here to talk to you alone for ten minutes. There will be important guests later, and they will attend the dinner with you. They are all old friends..." George seemed to be waiting for Ronald to speak first.

"Mr. President..." Ronald didn't know what to say, and stared at George for more than ten seconds.

"Oh, for God's sake, this is my private area. There is no recording, and no one will disturb us. You can ask for anything you want."

Just like the important guests who will come later, George used his power to bribe some important stakeholders before leaving. He made his intention clear, and Ronald could ask for anything he wanted.

"I don't have any requests, Mr. President. You know that I only have one elder relative, my aunt, who taught me to be a responsible American citizen. What I want to say is that you have fully repaid my support when you were in office, of course, except for raising taxes..." Ronald made a joke.

"Hahaha, you kid..." Old George's eyes showed a playful look. This guy is really good. He is very cautious in doing things. He will not worry about the young man's secret if he helps him...

"No, you kid are not serious, right?" Old George waited for another ten seconds. Ronald still did not ask for anything. His eyes were wet. I still have real supporters...

Since Ronald sincerely supports him, Old George put his arm around Ronald's shoulders and pressed hard, "You are still young and don't know the power of the president. Apart from anything else, I have the power to pardon anyone convicted by the judicial system. All previous presidents will pardon some before leaving office. You can tell me any request you have. The retired president is still the president..."

Old George's hint was very straightforward. He saw that Ronald did not understand the political and business exchanges here very well, but now that everyone is not asking for his help, there are still such loyal fans. It is inevitable that he is moved and personally instructs the young man.

"Mr. President, I have a question. Can the amnesty be paid in advance?" Ronald thought of the Jews everywhere in Hollywood, some sensitive materials, and past grievances. He couldn't help but want to ask for an option for amnesty, so that if there is any problem in the future, there will be a way out.

"Hahaha, you made me very happy today, little Ronnie. No, the amnesty must be a crime confirmed by the court... Wait, what's wrong, are you worried about?" Old George was very perceptive and saw that Ronald was worried.

"That's it, Mr. President." Ronald briefly talked about his grievances with some powerful Jews in Hollywood.

"Ha, Jews... This is really troublesome... How did you offend them?" Old George also had to scratch his head. Richard, the famous president of the Elephant Party, tried to please the Jewish media blindly and found Dr. Kissing, a Jewish, as his consultant. In the end, he was driven out of office by the Watergate incident exposed and denounced by the media.

All previous presidents love and fear these people. If they want to be elected, they must have the support of the media, but if they are not satisfied, many problems will arise during the election.

"The President may not know that I was wiretapped by them, but I have no evidence to file a lawsuit. I didn't do anything illegal, I just wanted to protect myself and my family from being framed by their various illegal tricks..."

"You are a very promising young man, Ronald. Although I am about to retire, there are still many people in the CIA and FBI who are willing to listen to me. I will ask them to pay attention to whether there are any conspiracies against you. If you find any problems, you can also find George. Although I am retired, I can still see the monthly domestic intelligence briefings... Don't worry, make more American movies. Although I am retired, I can still protect you..."

Old George said this very confidently. Most people would not reveal these secrets. The power of a retired president is also different. As the head of powerful departments such as the CIA and FBI for many years, George can see the same security briefings as the incumbent president. This is a treatment that retired presidents of the Donkey Party cannot enjoy... Some elephant parties cannot enjoy it either...

"Thank you for your care, Mr. President..." Ronald told the truth with half belief and half doubt. Can a retired president really still have such a great influence?

"Anything else?" Old George continued to pat Ronald on the shoulder and asked. He knew that his eldest son and Ronald had a good relationship.

"It's nothing. I have some investments in the Pacific Ocean to manufacture some movie lighting fixtures that we have no production capacity. I wonder if it is possible to enjoy some tax benefits? Just like the North American Free Trade Agreement that the Grand Commander just signed..."

"Well, you have to find a new commander and congressman..."

"Datong first, please tell me that it won't make you unhappy if I do this, right?"

"Yes, I wouldn't care if you did some lobbying work for your own affairs."

Next, George Sr. personally attended the dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Ronald. Although he was not sitting at the table of the general, all the important guests were introduced to Ronald one by one by Sr. George.

The most important guest was former Secretary of State Weinberg. Ronald didn't know the way around it at first, but George Jr. informed him promptly.

The former defense minister and secretary of state, who were brought to court because of the Persian-gate scandal, were recently given additional evidence to be re-indicted. But the commander-in-chief decided to pardon his crime. In addition, former national security adviser McFarland and former assistant secretary of state Abrams are already in jail for the same scandal. Three other senior CIA bureaucrats are also on the pardon list.

"Looking at it this way, he is someone who can really maintain the influence of a powerful department after retirement..." Ronald knew what he was doing, and his mood gradually became better during the dinner.

"Jerry, you are here too...Jane...good evening"

At the dinner, Ronald was surprised to find that Weintraub and his real wife Jane Morgan were also present. Many of the people who came this time were personal friends of the president and his wife, and they could help them solve their personal problems while still in office. A big gathering of questions.

"I'm sorry that our new Longwei Boy failed to continue the trend of box office sales..." Weintraub came over to apologize for the new Longwei Boy's box office performance. This is the one with the worst box office among the four Long Wei Boy series, which means it is a little popular but not popular.

"Nah, this series has been finished. No audience will like to watch it in the short term. Let's wait a little longer..." Ronald knew that Weintraub also wanted to make money by launching another "Dragon Boy", but It's probably not a good idea to make another movie that just did mediocre at the box office.

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Are you going back to Los Angeles? Let's talk on the plane..." Ronald interrupted his questioning and turned to chat with Jane Morgan with Diane.

"Any good ideas? Ronald"

After getting on Ronald's special plane and flying back, Weintraub began to want to cooperate with Ronald again.

"I don't have any good ideas, Jerry. No one knows whether a good idea is good before the shooting. There are only interesting ideas before the shooting... Do you have any interesting ideas?"

"Hey, I can't understand the audience's preferences now, but Christopher Kane, the director of New Longwei Boy, has a new script. I don't know if it's good or not. It's interesting..."

With that said, Weintraub seemed to be prepared and took out a script and handed it to Ronald.

"Uh..." Ronald was speechless when he saw it. The script was interesting, but did the director really understand the cost of this filming?

The script is called "The Adventures of Panda" and tells the story of a scientist engaged in animal protection who does international exchange work in a panda reserve, but a young giant panda in the reserve was stolen by poachers.

The scientist was injured trying to protect the panda. His son, who came from America for the summer vacation, and a local girl found the traces of the poachers, and after all their hard work, they rescued the panda in the bamboo basket.

"Don't you know? Nowadays, children can queue for more than an hour to see pandas. Do you know what this means to a child in America? What else can make them queue for such a long time? Besides Michael Jackson's concert……"

"Of course I know, and my son also wants to see it. Unfortunately, there is only a pair of giant pandas in the zoo in Washington, DC, in the United States. They are both adults. I think you should give up this idea..."

“We could use gnomes to dress up in fur and makeup, like those cute little aliens from Star Wars.”

"Don't even think about how the current audience could be fooled by this..." Ronald sneered. Weintraub's upper-class life was too comfortable and indeed too far away from the audience's taste.

Star Wars ten years ago used some dwarf actors to wear bear-like costumes and pretend to be aliens. But the panda is an animal that often appears on TV. It is made up by someone to act in it. It is estimated that only a B-movie lover like Minahan can make it.

Ronald also revealed some information to Weintraub about Spielberg's new film that he had seen. The combination of computer and model special effects can restore dinosaurs to the screen. Audiences will be able to watch it next year. It’s a level of visual spectacle. You can’t even sell a video tape with a fake panda.

"Then we can..." Weintraub listened to Ronald describe the situation of the dinosaur movie. Ronald raised him to the level of a breakthrough like Jaws, and he also became interested. Dinosaurs can be filmed. , can’t we take pictures of pandas? Spielberg can do it, and so can Ronald...

"Don't even think about it..." Ronald shook his head and refused. Do you know how many special effects people Spielberg used and how much budget he used to shoot this movie? This is because he is a good friend of Lucas. Industrial Light \u0026 Magic gave him a friendly price. If he went to shoot it himself, I'm afraid the fees would be more than doubled.

"Then can we go there to shoot? Like the last emperor back then?" Weintraub just didn't give up. He just barely maintained the company's situation with the new Karate Kid, and he especially wanted to rely on a movie to re-announce his return as a successful producer.

"Why are you so persistent? Isn't it better to play something safe now?" Ronald was also surprised. What happened to Weintraub?

"I don't want to leave my children and grandchildren with the impression that I am an outdated producer. I want them to know that I can still succeed. I want to be a role model for them..."

Weintraub said that he was so eager to make a successful movie in order to leave a positive example for his children.

Ronald was skeptical, but this guy and his partner Susan are still living in the small house he bought for her. His legal wife Jane Morgan spends Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, while Susan has to go to the big house and act nice.

Maybe this is one of his motivations?

"Well, let me ask for you..." Ronald had some thoughts after hearing what he said.

If co-productions can get support, the cost of filming will be very low. Many things that cost money in the capitalist society of America can be solved at a very low cost there.

Besides, he also needs some movies to repair the relationship with the other side. If he can introduce Hollywood's big productions to the other side, in addition to the income, he can also get the love of many studios. Ronald has seen the attraction of that market to Hollywood.

"Deputy Director Fei, this is Xiao Luo..."

Finding an old relationship, Ronald called Deputy Director Fei who is in charge of film affairs.

"Oh, Director Luo, you are a busy person, why do you have time to call me today?" Deputy Director Fei's tone was still very enthusiastic.

When Ronald mentioned the panda movie, the other party immediately said that he would report it. This matter will definitely be a good thing for the cooperation between the literary and artistic circles of the two countries.

"However, Director Luo, can you do me another favor?" Deputy Director Fei is actually no longer interested in the film industry. The last time he visited America, he established a relationship with George Jr., which made him very praised by the leaders, who praised him for accomplishing something that the departments in charge of trade and commerce could not do.

When Ronald heard the purpose of the visit, he immediately said that he was powerless and gave him a popular science about the American system. George Sr. will officially step down next year after losing the election. It is impossible to make any promotion work in such a short time.

After all, the North American Free Trade Agreement in America, after being signed by the President, must be approved by both houses of Congress. If it is not done well, it will be delayed for one or two years...

Deputy Director Fei asked if he could introduce him to a powerful person like George Jr. like last time. Ronald had to smile bitterly and explain that every time the White House changes people here, all the staff have to be replaced. George Jr. is not useful now.

"We are also studying the panda issue. After all, it is a cross-departmental coordination, which is not easy for us to do... unless the leader tells us to do so..."

"Damn it, the people are gone..." Ronald understood immediately that George Sr. failed to be re-elected, and his connections were not working well anywhere.