Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Shirley, congratulations. Paramount's stock price has risen as soon as you took office. It really reflects your leadership. Yes, I have already found Weintraub to take over the copyright of Forrest Gump, so No one can say anything, okay, see you when I come back from New York..."

"A Few Good Men," which Ronald financed and co-produced, has been doing well at the box office since it opened. It was released in 1,900 theaters during its first weekend and grossed 15 million yuan at the box office.

In order to promote the movie, he also had to go to New York to attend another premiere. Because there are many celebrities in New York who may not be interested in showing up at the premiere if he is not present. Many people rewarded him just to have a few words with Ronald.

Of course, these are all excuses. Ronald's real purpose is to come and see the pregnant Helen. Before coming, Ronald also communicated with Jerry Weintraub and decided that he would be the first to take over the script of "Forrest Gump".

Weintraub was Jewish and would not arouse the suspicion of Warner Bros. and the original copyright owner. He himself had little ability to invest in such a large-scale production. It was safer for Ronald to use him as a transfer.

"You want to buy Paramount stock?" Ed Bastian, the executive of New York TV and newspapers, happened to be next to the phone. When he heard Ronald's words, he frowned and was about to admonish...

"Hell No, Shirley Lansing has gained twenty-five cents since she took office. It is simply a garbage stock among garbage. With this money, why don't I buy some other stocks?"

Ronald cursed, the work of these traditional seven major studios was getting worse and worse, and everyone relied on their bosses to fight for their own interests because they didn't understand the business. The entire industry is in a state of chaos.

Shirley Lansing can only rely on her female gimmick to get into the media, and the entire Wall Street is not optimistic about her at all.

Ed Bastian was really relieved. He came here to ask Ronald about business matters. Roger Ailes came up with a great idea for a cable television channel consisting entirely of talk shows.

Roger Ailes' concept is that the family-friendly model of traditional wireless stations has gone into decline. Now the audience is more stratified. The middle class prefers programs that can provide in-depth analysis of news events, while limited Television fees are a good criterion for distinguishing those target audiences whose time is precious and can pay, from those who can only watch wireless stations full of advertisements.

Ed Bastian likes this business idea very much. It doesn't matter what topic he talks about, what analysis he does, or which ideology he prefers. What matters is that now there is an opportunity to make cable TV viewers feel deeply. To realize that one's intelligence and vision are superior to those of the general public.

"Cable TV resources are still quite expensive now. Do you have any direction?" Ronald read the business plan and liked it very much, so he had the idea to promote this matter.

"It will be more expensive in the future. If most people understand this business model, and the resources of cable TV stations, like the spectrum of wireless TV, will be controlled by the FCC, any monopoly..." Ed Bastian On the contrary, I think it’s not expensive…

"Whenever there is a monopoly, there will be excess profits. Let me see what we can do. You make a more detailed business plan, including the selection of programs and hosts, and we will make this happen together..."

Ronald feels that this can be done, and there is hope of making a profit in the short term.

"Roger Ailes has great ideas about the program. I would recommend hiring him to be the director of this channel. As for the program, your former assistant Rich Lake is also a good choice..."

"It depends on whether she is willing to switch to cable TV...I don't care about that. You can make a comprehensive plan, ask for Rich Lake's opinion, and report it to me when the time comes..."

Ronald knew that "The Bodyguard" was doing well at the box office, and what was even better was the sales of the original soundtrack. The song, adapted from Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," also topped the charts. This is a level never reached by "Dirty Dancing" back then.

Anyway, it is a foregone conclusion that both the movie and the record will sell well. In the future, the sales of overseas releases and soundtrack records will bring a steady stream of cash flow to myself. It is very important to find a reliable place to spend the money.

Cable TV channels may be a product that will be in short supply in the future. As long as they can make a name for themselves, they will definitely maintain their value.

…

"That's great, your recording is really good..."

Ronald ran to Greta Garbo's original apartment. Helen had decorated the place very well and spent half of her time here to rest peacefully.

She lived in the home of the most famous star in Hollywood, and she was in a very happy state. She was able to eat when she was in a happy mood, and her condition, which had been bad due to morning sickness, improved a lot.

Now Ronald also took time to come over and accompany her. Helen was happy and took out the prenatal education story she had recorded for her children and played it to Ronald.

"This is really good. Whether it's Charlotte's Web or Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, I like them all. Does the baby also like to listen?" Ronald was not talking nonsense. Helen Slater's voice did belong to Jean. She has a very good female voice, and she has a strong love for her unborn child. During the recording, that kind of love was poured into her voice. Children will definitely like to listen to it.

"I also recorded some Greek and Roman myths, hehe... our children can listen to them until they are two years old..."

"This is really good, children like to listen to bedtime stories, yours is really good, I will take it to Columbia Records to release it as soon as possible..." Ronald liked it very much. If it can be put on the market as a record or tape, it may have some sales.

"Then I have to go to the recording studio. I am pregnant now. I heard that radiation is not good for children..."

"Ah?" Ronald choked, "It's okay, I will give them the tapes and ask them to do some technical processing. If it doesn't work, let them bring equipment to our house to record..."

"Is it really as good as you say?" Helen tilted her head. In fact, she has seen her talent over the years. It is not the kind that is very outstanding.

"I don't care. I think it's good. I may have made their best-selling album and best single this year. They must help with this. Having a child is very energy-consuming. If I'm not around, you can play the recordings for the child every night, so you don't have to tell stories yourself..."

"Oh, Ronnie, you're so good to me."

...

The next day, Ronald accompanied Helen to the screening room of New York University to watch the movie "Pushing Hands" in which she starred.

This was actually a thank-you screening. AngLee and James Shams of Good Machine Company had just finished filming their second movie "The Wedding Banquet" and had not started editing yet.

Ronald planned to let this new film participate in the Berlin Film Festival next year, and signed up for a series of European and Asian film festivals as a tour to sell copies.

It can be said that "Pushing Hands" had a good box office in the United States. Whether it was Asian audiences in Asian theaters or white audiences in art theaters, there were many people who came to watch it. The final box office exceeded three million. It was a small profit.

Such achievements have greatly encouraged all the theaters that pay attention to Chinese-language films, and they are looking forward to the release of several other Chinese-language films invested by Ronald.

However, Ronald is not in a hurry. If such niche films can be well received at European film festivals, they will sell for a better price in both the overseas and domestic markets.

However, after the new film "The Wedding Banquet" was filmed, director AngLee had psychological problems. He had symptoms of depression. I don't know if it was because the filming of the movie was too hard, or because he had a fear of film marketing because of the "tour" around the world last year to promote the film. After the filming of "The Wedding Banquet", he hid at home and didn't go out.

Ronald was very worried and asked a psychologist to come to AngLee for diagnosis. He found that he really had mild depression. Fortunately, it was not very serious and needed a vacation or some activities to cheer him up.

Ronald arranged a vacation in Hawaii and invited his family to relax for a week. He also specially arranged this thank-you screening and invited Chinese celebrities from New York and nearby areas, especially all Chinese professors from Ivy League universities, to watch the movie together.

"I'm afraid to watch this Pusher now, I feel that many parts are not handled well..." AngLee habitually made a depressed comment.

"My experience is that if I put it aside for a while and watch it again, I will fall in love with my old movies again, just like an old lover..." Ronald also knows that directors often regret a lot after shooting their first debut. Some directors want to shoot the second one as soon as possible to make corrections, while others will fall into regretful emotions. This is why he invited Chinese audiences to help AngLee get out of it.

"Really? I feel embarrassed when I think of watching this Pusher now..." Anglee's facial expression is just like constipation.

"Relax, you see they are all very devoted to watching it..."

Sure enough, most of the audience are Chinese intellectuals, and there are also many international students from the mainland. They all understand the cultures of the two countries. When they see the heart-warming parts, their smiles will last longer than those of ordinary audiences. After the end, they were also moved by the mutual understanding between father and son and the helplessness between the father and the blind date. It seemed that they remembered their parents, and they all looked like they hung their heads and held back tears.

"Is this the best promotional screening?" Ronald pulled AngLee and said to producer James Shams with a smile.

"Need I say that? Can the wedding banquet have a thank-you screening in advance? I found that these audiences are really the best Chinese salesmen of movies..."

"Of course..." Before Ronald could agree, AngLee shook his hand heavily, "I have never found that my movies have such power, thank you!"

"Director AngLee, I have never seen so many university professors praise my acting skills, I am so happy, my dad has always felt sorry that I didn't go to college, this time he will be so happy, hahahaha..."

As he was talking, Helen Slater came over to thank the director with a loud laugh, diluting the sad atmosphere.

"Hahaha..." The strong feeling that his movie was appreciated by others made Anglee feel much better. Ronald was relieved, probably just the kind of professional depression that professional directors often have.

"Hey, hey, Lee, and you, Lee, your movie, really... I was moved to tears..."

The one who came over noisily and loudly was Ronald and Ang Lee's college classmate Spike Lee. He praised AngLee's "push hand" again and again, saying that it was a very profound movie, with a profound interpretation of the Chinese ethnic minority group.

However, Spike Lee was quite dissatisfied with Ronald. His new film "Malcolm

This biopic, which reflects the life of Malcolm Movie mode.

"I have helped you a lot, but I have nothing to do with this matter. Who asked you to curse Jews in the movie..."

"Damn it, I'm not used to these people..." Spike Lee could only curse a few words. Originally, he was not qualified to be the director of this black biopic. He got the director's job only after scolding two non-black directors.

This guy knows how to incite public opinion. Not only did he use the protests of his base to get me the position of director, he also stipulated that only black reporters could interview him after the movie was released, and refused interviews from any non-black film critics and reporters. , the reason is that only black people can better understand the background of this movie and understand this movie.

This stoked a hornet's nest of Jews in the media industry, and some gave in and sent in black reporters, but major media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times boycotted the film's marketing campaign.

This put the distributor Warner Bros. in a difficult position. I wonder if Spike Lee learned Coppola's method and agreed first, and then went his own way and played the producer too hard during the filming process... This time the box office was not good. , I’m afraid it will be difficult for him to film any good scripts in the future.

Ronald ignored Spike Lee's complaints about being cheap and being nice, and just invited him and Ang Lee to reminisce about old times. The three of them brought their families over and had a feast in a restaurant in Chinatown. In the end, they were conquered by food. The black man Spike Lee finally calmed down his chattering mouth.

"This Christmas, if you don't have it, just go to Hawaii for a comfortable vacation. When you come back, you can start editing the 'Wedding Banquet', right?" Ronald was full of wine and food, and poured black tea for AngLee himself.

"Thank you, I will start editing when I come back. This time James Shams said that there is a new editing technology that can transfer film to tape and finally transfer it to disk. Editing on the computer can save time and is easy to use. ...I want to try..."

"Why, is there such a way? I don't even know. Are you willing to try it? Or you can use the old method this time. The new technology will actually have some inconveniences..." Ronald didn't really want to be the one. Experimental product.

"I heard that it is cheaper and can be edited faster than using a film editing machine. I want to finish it as soon as possible." AngLee still believes in traditional Chinese thinking, and a soldier will die for the sake of his confidant.

"Hahaha, don't worry, go on vacation. I'll make arrangements for you. I'll use an old-fashioned editing machine to edit. I'll also get a set of new technology first. I'll try it to see if it works. My film has a big budget, so they don't dare. Lied to me……"

Ronald actually has ideas for this new technology, but he is not afraid that the experiment will not work, and he can return to the old-fashioned editing method in a minute.

"What the hell is this crap... Let the manufacturers come and get out with their crap..."

After returning to Los Angeles, he tried to convert part of the film of "Sugar-coated Trap" to a computer for editing. The first time, Ronald was furious.

It is the largest twenty-one memory monitor in the industry. It is divided into four grids, and it is difficult to see clearly what is captured in each grid. Not to mention focus, expression, or any details.

Editing is fast, and it's really cheap. You don't need to make a working copy first, but it can't be used for editing movies. You can only cut out the live interviews on the TV station.