Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Burt, this is Ronald. I was at Jane Fonda's house in Los Angeles, and I met Diane." Ronald dialed Burt's phone, "She is with me now, don't worry... Well, but Diane said that she has declared her independence in the newspaper and does not want you to arrange her acting life in the future. "

Bert breathed a long sigh of relief on the phone. He saw the letter left by his daughter and knew that she went to Los Angeles with Atkins, a bad boy, and was very worried.

While relieved, Bert felt very sad. He always treats Diane like a friend, and discusses everything with his daughter. In addition to a few principles, Diane also has a lot of decision-making power.

However, her daughter's acting career encountered a slight setback. She was provoked by a bad boy and ran away from home.

"She left me a letter, saying that she was going to Hollywood to start her own business. She also said that my principles for selecting films were outdated and that I had to decide my own future... Didn't I ask for her opinion every time I accepted a film? Or did I? Did I force her on how to interpret the character?”

Ronald wanted to laugh a little when he heard his old father Bert's complaints. The way father and daughter get along is very funny. He turns on the speakerphone and lets Diane listen to Bert's thoughts.

Jane Fonda, who brought Ronald and Diane in to make a phone call, also heard what Bert said and couldn't help but sigh secretly. Like the father and daughter, his relationship with his father, Henry Fonda, has always oscillated between love and hate.

Henry Fonda taught Jane since she was a child that in order to be liked by men, she must be a perfect girl. When Jane was still very young, her mother became insane and committed suicide because her father Henry divorced her and married another woman. Brother Peter Fonda also picked up a pistol to take revenge, but it went off and injured his thigh.

This intensified Jane Fonda's obsession. She believes that a woman must please a man and become the perfect woman in his eyes in order to keep her marriage. For her first husband Roger Vadim, Jane Fonda did not hesitate to dye her hair blonde and strive to be a sexy woman. She also starred in the erotic exploitation film "Barbara" directed by Vadim. piece.

But this did not tie up her husband's heart. Her ex-husband Vadim still frequently cheated on her. After divorcing her, Jane Fonda met her current husband Tom Hayden again. In order to please her husband, a left-wing activist, she traveled to Vietnam, took photos with North Vietnamese soldiers, and called for peace.

The photos were sent back to China, which almost ruined her acting career, and she was targeted by some politicians who wanted to drive her out of the entertainment industry. Fortunately, public opinion changed, and everyone's calls for peace towards Jane Fonda were only mixed.

But because of this turmoil, her father Henry Fonda was very sad about Jane's unpatriotic behavior and refused to associate with her for several years.

Thinking of this, Jane Fonda picked up the receiver and took the initiative to talk to Bert.

"Hi, Bert. I'm Jane Fonda. We've never met, but I've heard a lot about you from your partner, John Cassavetes... Diane is safe in Los Angeles, Ron. Nader takes good care of her, and she can stay at my house temporarily in Los Angeles..."

At this time, Michael Ovitz came here after hearing the news and found it.

Ronald went out of the room with him, found a deserted corner, and told Ovitz the whole story. He told Ovitz that the producer Zinnemann wanted to sign Diane Lane and he stopped him. of the process.

"I'm afraid we have to adjust the time and sequence. I will contact Disney first tomorrow morning. Otherwise, given Zinnemann's relationship with Disney President Ron Miller, it would be bad if he meets Ron Miller first."

"So exaggerated? I just stopped him from signing Diane without an agent present."

"You don't understand, this is the power structure of Hollywood." Ovitz didn't want to say more. He just asked Ronald to prepare and start an intensive attack with him tomorrow to meet with the top executives of major studios.

"Diane, if you want, you can stay here with me first, see more things in the entertainment industry, and then decide how your acting career should go." After Jane Fonda and Bert talked on the phone, she said to Diane Lane En said.

"Thank you, Jane. I have money and can stay in a hotel. I will stay in Hollywood for a week and then return to New York." Diane declined Jane Fonda's kindness, but her idea of ​​​​going to Hollywood alone was extinguished after this time. Atkins is not a reliable person, and Hollywood has many traps. She planned to play in Los Angeles for a while and then return to New York.

But after returning to New York, Diane Lane didn't want to live with her father anymore. Anyway, she has a lot of savings because she made two movies. Her savings are all in her own account, so she can move out and pay the rent by herself.

Jane Fonda liked Diane's independent personality very much. She remembered that she and her father Henry Fonda had not spoken to each other for many years, and now she had to buy a script to invite the old man to make a movie in order to reconcile with her father.

"That's fine. I'll be going to the set on Golden Pond soon to resume filming. You can make your own arrangements. But you must let Bert know your whereabouts. Girls should be independent, but don't fail to communicate with their parents. No matter what, they They all love you, and you love them too.”

Diane nodded, still having a question in his mind, "I have another question. Mr. Tim Zinnemann wanted to sign a contract with her just now, but Ronald stopped him and said he would wait for my agent to arrive. This is Good thing or bad thing?"

Jane Fonda didn't want to ruin other people's affairs, so she thought about it and answered from a different angle, "To sign a contract with Zinnemann, you need a good agent and a good lawyer."

"Thank you, Jane. I'll go find Ronald."

"We'll go find Disney tomorrow, then Orion, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Columbia, and Universal. Roughly in this order. First find the small studios, then the medium-sized studios, and finally the largest."

Michael Ovitz and Ronald were leaning on a small table in the corridor outside to discuss the order of going to the studio to promote the package contract for "My Brother's Keeper".

Ronald nodded. During the first negotiation, the screenwriter must be present. Ovitz's strategy is to sell the script first, then throw out the news that Jane Fonda is willing to participate, and finally introduce interested directors. For the rest of the positions, one CAA client can be stuffed in.

"The smallest package is the screenwriter + starring + director trio. We will not consider those below this bottom line." Ovitz whispered to Ronald to explain his ideas, hoping that he would act according to his eyes at that time.

"Why exclude United Artists and MGM?" Ronald took out the small notebook he carried with him and wrote down the names of the seven studios they were going to promote in shorthand. He found that two major studios were missing and one more studio was Orion.

"MGM is going through turmoil. Since Kirk Kerkorian acquired MGM, it has actually turned it from the largest studio in Hollywood into a company mainly engaged in casino business and entertainment industry. Did you know? They even sold Dorothy's ruby ​​slippers in "The Wizard of Oz"."

Ovitz was also a movie fan before he joined the entertainment industry. He was still very sad about the decline of MGM.

"Famous World, which you wrote as a screenwriter, may become the last theater movie produced by this former boss."

"What? MGM is going to go bankrupt?" Ronald thought to himself. No wonder MGM didn't even lock the theater schedule in advance when it was produced, and the scale of the release was also very small. If it hadn't achieved good results in the small-scale release in New York and Los Angeles, it might have been directly withdrawn from the theater.

"Kerkorian will divest MGM's production business and sell it. The MGM brand will remain forever on the roof of his MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas."

"It's a good decision in business, but MGM will..."

"Then there's United Artists. They were screwed by Michael Cimino of 'Heaven's Gate.'"

"Really? What happened?" Ronald loved to hear this gossip.

"Last month they did an internal screening. I heard that the whole film was more than five hours long. The new executives who replaced the two fired executives went crazy. They forced Cimino to cut the whole film to less than three hours and set it for release in November."

"So they don't have money to invest in new projects now. All executives are waiting for the last gamble to see if there will be a miracle like 'Apocalypse Now' or a farce like 'Cleopatra'."

Ronald understood Ovitz's metaphor. Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" was also filmed for a long time and ended up overspending three times the budget. But the quality of the film was very good. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes after its release, and the box office in North America was also very good, which helped Coppola recover from the brink of bankruptcy and become the top director in Hollywood again.

"Cleopatra" spent all the last coin of Fox that year, and the entire studio stopped paying employees for four months. If it weren't for the scandals of the two main actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor outside the screen, which made the audience curious and bought tickets to watch the movie in which the two fell in love, Fox would have declared bankruptcy because of this movie.

"Of course the worst is the tragedy of "Queen Kelly." Ovitz thought Ronald didn't know this old story from 1932, and explained: "This epic directed by director Eric von Stroheim is 9 hours long, and was finally shelved by the production company and not released. The queen of silent films, starring Gloria Swanson, fell silent until Billy Wilder asked her to star in the talkie "Sunset Boulevard" and then she was known by the audience again." "Eric von Stroheim, is he the butler in Sunset Boulevard? I've seen it. I didn't expect he was also a director." Ronald nodded, thinking that it would be best for United Artists to let Fatty go this way. Cimino's movies seem dull, but if you ask him to cut a part to shorten the length, he really can't do it. Cutting any part will make the plot incomplete. "Then why do we want to meet Orion, what about this company?" Ronald counted and found that in addition to the eight major studios, Ovitz also mentioned the name of Orion. "In fact, Orion Pictures was founded by executives who were fired from United Artists in 1977. They are also a company that respects artists very much and basically do not interfere with the creation of directors and actors. They only check the final film."

"I know Orion. The movie I shot, Sunset Bridge, is the first movie of Orion." Diane Lane just jumped out of the room and saw Ovitz and Ronald talking about the name of the company he knew, so she interrupted.

"Diane, have you finished talking to Jane? Are you staying at her place? Have you told Bert?" Ronald asked several questions in a row.

Diane Lane suddenly became very obedient, "I will find a hotel to stay in by myself. After playing in Los Angeles for a week, I will return to New York to prepare for the equivalent examination and go to high school next year."

"That's good."

"I heard you say you are going to meet the studio. Ronald, do you have a new script to discuss cooperation?"

Ronald stood up and introduced Ovitz and Diane Lane, "This is Mr. Ovitz, he is the president of CAA, the most capable agency in Hollywood. This is Diane..."

"Of course I know Miss Diane Lane." Ovitz stood up happily and hugged Diane. "Ms. Lane, do you have an agent now?"