Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"That's all?" asked the FedEx courier in purple overalls.

"That's all." This is the script that Ronald had punched in the photocopies at the copy shop and bound with two 1.25-inch No. 5 copper nails. 96 pages plus the front and back covers, the copper nails are still longer than the photocopies.

Ronald used two washers to increase the thickness, and then hammered the heads of the copper nails flat so that the readers would not cut their hands.

Three copies were sent to CAA headquarters, which was more expensive than long-distance fax, but the advantage was that the text was clear, and it would not be unclear like faxes where some parts were not transmitted well.

Then Ronald sent Michelle Pfeiffer to the fitness center for exercise. Since she resumed a balanced diet, Pfeiffer attaches great importance to maintaining her body. She went to the gym for aerobic training the next day and did yoga at home.

Today Ronald did not practice in the fitness center, but was invited by director Zeffirelli to his office to discuss preparations before filming. The Italian began to get into the shooting state and stayed in the office on Saturday to prepare.

PolyGram allocated part of the New York record company's office for the film department, and Zeffirelli worked in this building on Eighth Street.

When Ronald entered the door, he saw a poster of the band's signing last month. On the poster, four band members each held up a mask to cover their faces. This is the Kiss band newly discovered by PolyGram. The members have always appeared in heavy makeup like cats, and fans don't know what they look like.

After finding Zeffirelli's office, Ronald knocked on the door and entered.

"Ha, Ronald, I'm glad you can come." Zeffirelli kissed him on the cheek.

"I've seen the storyboards you drew for the plot related to Miss Pfeiffer. How about it? Do you want to be my first assistant director?"

"This?"

Ronald was a little surprised. The first assistant director is the director's right-hand man. It is a key position that is selected by the director and the producer cannot interfere.

Before the filming starts, he is like the director's secretary, doing a lot of preparation work. After the filming starts, he is like the director's arm, executing the director's will in the crew and managing dozens or hundreds of people in a large crew in an orderly manner.

Ronald is so young, it is not suitable to be the first assistant director. Generally, he has to start as the assistant of the second assistant director, then the second assistant director, and then he is qualified to be promoted to the first assistant director.

"Of course, you are only responsible for the plot breakdown before the filming starts. My assistant director Robert Girolami cannot come temporarily because of the delay in the filming of Stallone's "Nighthawks". Please help me with the work of dividing the script scenes in the early stage."

This is the first important job of the first assistant director in the crew, which usually starts in the fourth week before the filming of the movie. The so-called plot breakdown is to divide each scene in the script and put the scenes in the same scene in one group to facilitate the shooting plan.

For example, "Endless Love" has many scenes in the heroine Jade's house. In the script, there are many scenes from the beginning to the moment when the hero David set fire to the house.

These scenes will be shot in one time period to facilitate the crew's woodworking decoration, props arrangement, and lighting, which can greatly reduce the cost of shooting.

Only a few wealthy crews will shoot each scene in the order of the script to make the actors' performance more accurate. The shooting budget of "Endless Love" is 8 million US dollars, which is only a medium-sized production in Hollywood. It is shot according to the principle of concentrated scene shooting.

"You not only have to divide the script according to the markings on the script, sometimes the screenwriter's writing may not be accurate, such as here." After director Zeffirelli and Pfeiffer shared an agent, their attitude towards Ronald became much friendlier, and he was considered half of his own.

"For example, in this scene, Jed walks down the stairs and sees her lover sleeping in front of the fireplace in the living room. If you use a camera to capture it, what would you do?"

"I would put a fixed camera position of Jed walking down the stairs and follow Jed down the stairs. Then cut to the reaction shot of the male protagonist David."

"Very good, but there is a problem here. The screenwriter only marked the interior, night scene, and night. And the two shots you just mentioned must be lit twice, and Jed also has to walk down from the top of the stairs. Here we can actually divide it into two scenes, the wooden stairs, and the living room fireplace."

Zeffirelli began to teach Ronald some techniques for dividing scenes.

"Then in the decomposed scenes, put all the scenes in the same scene together, and you will get a shooting schedule."

Ronald nodded and began to look at the markings of each scene in the script, highlighting them with a highlighter.

"In the shooting schedule, you should also mark which scenes require different makeup, props, vehicles, or special shooting methods."

"For example, the shot of setting fire to Jed's house?"

"Yes, you are very smart. This kind of shot needs to be replanned. We only have one chance to shoot, and safety is also very important. Here is a scene division table of the script of Romeo and Juliet that I shot in my early years. You can use it as a reference and show it to me when you are done."

"You can do these later. Now chat with me. Can you drink espresso?" Zeffirelli saw Ronald nod, got up and pressed the button in front of the coffee machine. The 190-degree Fahrenheit high-pressure hot water rushed through the coffee powder and instantly extracted two cups of espresso.

Ronald thanked him and took the small cup and drank it in one gulp. The refreshing effect of a small cup of espresso, a type of concentrated coffee, can be worth a large cup of terrible American coffee.

"Is the heroine Brooke Shields or Meg Ryan? Mr. Zeffirelli?" Ronald asked.

"Meg Ryan has been confirmed and is waiting to be signed." Zeffirelli also drank his share of coffee. This is the standard Italian way of drinking. "Don't mention work during the break."

"Mr. Zeffirelli, how do you speak English without an accent? Most Italians in New York always speak English with some Italian accent." Ronald asked a flattering question.

"Call me Franco." Zeffirelli was still savoring the taste of espresso. "This is actually quite legendary. You won't believe me if I tell you."

Ronald looked like he was listening.

"This started when I was a child. My father and mother were not a couple. My father Cosi, may they rest in peace in heaven, was a Florentine silk merchant, my mother was a housewife, and I was an illegitimate child. ”

Zeffirelli began to reminisce about the past, and now he can tell his childhood experiences more calmly.

"In Italy, illegitimate children cannot take their father's surname, so my mother came up with Zeffiretti, which means "little sea breeze" in Mozart's opera, but the employee in charge of registration spelled it wrong. Zeffirelli.”

"My mother died when I was six years old. My father hired a British tutor for me. I grew up in an expatriate community in the UK. They were a group of old British women who were leftover from the First World War. The old maids and widows lived in Italy, and the Florentines called them the Scorpions.”

"During World War II, they even visited Mussolini and had afternoon tea with him, which kept the British expatriate community from being destroyed. After the Allied invasion, I also used the English I learned from them to contribute to the British community. and the U.S. Army as translators and guides.”

…

After listening to director Zeffirelli's teenage experience with great interest, Ronald took his leave with the script and went home to break it down.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

"Ronnie, there's a girl named Helen here looking for you." Donna called from the dance supply store.

"Helen?"

"Is it you, Ronald? I'm here to buy my leg warmers. After your movie was released, the students in the acting college went crazy to buy your leg warmers."

It turned out to be Helen Slater, the daughter of PBS Vice President Gerald.

"Of course, you can pick whatever you want. Two items are free, and the rest will be 40% off." Ronald said on the phone.

"Aren't you coming? My mother saw the commercial you shot for me with a version of the Carpenters song and brought you a thank you gift."

"Ah, thank you. Okay, I'll be there right away, soon." Ronald walked to the rtkd dance supplies store.

"What is this?" Ronald took a large package from Helen Slater.

"Open it and take a look." Helen looked a little bit embarrassed.

"Okay", Ronald opened the package with force, and inside it turned out to be a big placard that read "Eliminate all human nuclear weapons."

"My mother is an anti-nuclear public interest human rights lawyer." Helen chuckled.

"This gift is quite unique." Ronald placed the placard in the store and looked at his watch. "I'll invite you to have dinner with Donna, Helen."

"Why don't you invite us to watch a movie? I haven't seen Fame yet."

"Well, please give me a break. I can't bear to see my image on the screen so many times. I always feel it's artificial." Ronald felt that Gerald didn't want his daughter to see all the negative things in the acting academy. , maybe using the R rating as an excuse to prohibit my daughter from going.

"Okay," said Helen Slater, a little sullenly.

"Why don't we watch Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back? Have you seen it?" Ronald suggested.

"Okay, I haven't seen it yet." Helen became happy again. Young people's mood always improves easily.

A large pack of leg warmers was given to Helen for free, and other items were treated at a 60% discount. Ronald took Helen and Donna to the cinema not far away.

"The Empire Strikes Back", which was released not long ago, is still very popular. Even though it was a morning show, it was still quite full.

"The Empire Strikes Back" had a much bigger budget than the fourth installment, "A New Hope," and the special effects were more stunning. Ronald watched with great enthusiasm. Some of the scenes felt a little familiar. Maybe he had seen them in his previous life.

Helen and Donna couldn't take their eyes off the space chase between the X-Fighter and the TIE Fighter, Master Yoda's funny inverted sentences, and the space monster that almost swallowed the Millennium Falcon. The audience gasped in surprise.

The plot came to a scene where Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader were dueling with lightsabers in a spaceship. Luke was forced to stand at the end of the spaceship, and one of his hands was cut off by Darth Vader with a lightsaber. Break. Luke angrily yells "You killed my dad."

Darth Vader stepped forward, and Ronald somehow managed to say the line in advance, "No, I'm your daddy!"

"I'm your father!" Blackadder on the screen also said the same line. While Luke yelled "No...", he fell down and was caught by the Millennium Falcon.

Helen and Donna both looked at Ronald:

"How did you know?"

"So how did you know?" When the three of them were having lunch, Helen asked Ronald again why he could call out the reversal line in advance.

"At this point in the plot, according to the usual development route, it has already entered a dead end. Only an unexpected reversal can make this scene the climax of the movie.

I was thinking about what I could do as a screenwriter. There is only this one way. Vader is Luke's father Anakin, so he couldn't help but shout it out." Ronald explained to the two.

Donna looked unconvinced, "Did you secretly go to see it first?"

"No, I saw that he was also surprised when he saw Han Solo being carbonized." Helen said.

"Is your father busy recently?" Ronald himself didn't know how he blurted it out and changed the subject.

"Yes, he is very busy recently. I can't make an appointment even if I call his secretary." Helen replied.

"Really? What is it?" Ronald asked.

"I don't know, my father didn't mention it."

After sending Helen and Donna back to the store, Ronald walked back home alone and continued to analyze the script.