Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Didi..." Ronald's pager rang.

Although he and Michelle Pfeiffer had broken up, Ronald still felt the need for a communication device that could not delay the news from his agent and many friends.

After comparing AT\u0026T's $1,000 answering machine, which could only store 10 messages, and Motorola's $400 pager, which had signals all over New York, Ronald decisively bought a Motorola "Pageboyii" type pager.

The long pager has a clip that can be clipped to your belt. After Ronald held it for two days, he felt it was inconvenient, so he took it off and threw it in the briefcase he carried with him.

Diane Lane, who was staying at Aunt Karen's house, was lying on the sofa reading a novel. She glanced at this and said, "You deserve this. I thought you were a resident doctor?"

Indeed, in New York, many young doctors have such a thing, which is convenient for the hospital to call when there are emergency patients.

Ronald ignored the rebellious girl and called the service center. "My pager number is... and there is a message for me... Is it Lawrence Wang? Okay, thank you."

It turned out to be his accountant Lawrence, and Ronald made a call.

Lawrence said on the phone that he already had a plan for the tax treatment of US$350,000 and that he would make an appointment with him for a door-to-door interview. Ronald informed his aunt's home address and asked him to come over and talk.

Today, Donna had something to do with her, so Ronald came to Aunt Karen's house. Donna was very happy after getting the Walkman she gave her. There were many geniuses among her classmates who were proficient in electronic equipment and taught her some transcription skills. This time they said they had gifts to give back to Ronald.

"Ronnie", Donna took out a small box wrapped in gift paper from the room and handed it to him.

Ronald opened it in front of him and found a tape inside. There was a line written in pencil on the tape box: "Donna's Choice—Good Music Collection Vol. 1"

Turning over the back of the box, I also carefully recorded the playlist I selected. They were all popular music that Ronald liked more, including r, beegees, airsupply, etc.

Ronald was very happy, "Thank you, Donna, so I can listen to the songs I like directly without having to change records all the time."

"You are piracy, Donna." Diane Lane changed her position on the sofa and lay down.

"No, I checked the relevant laws in the library. As long as it is a record or tape that I have purchased, transcribing a single does not violate intellectual property laws. This is different from Bud transcribing an entire album and then selling it."

"Forehead……"

Ronald also laughed when he saw that Diane was suffering from top student Donna.

Put the tape into the big tape recorder and press the play button. What came out was a beeegees-style song, and a singer with a slightly younger voice, but who clearly belonged to the beeegees family, flowed in the living room.

Ronald turned over the box and saw that it was sung by a singer named Andy Gibbs. Judging from his surname, he should be the younger brother of the three brothers of the band Beegees.

so long

It's been so long since you and I found each other

I feel so strongly for you girl

When Ronald saw the title of the song, it was "I just want to be your everything (ijtwanttobeyoureverythg)"

"Uh...old-fashioned." Diane Lane was quite critical of her taste in music. She also went into the room and took out a gift and threw it to Ronald, "This is my gift."

Ronald took it and opened it and saw that it was a set of novels - the waistband said "S.E. Hinton Youth Novel Series"

There are four novels in it: "The Outsiders", "That Was Then... This is Now", "Rublefish" and "Tex".

"You can read this popular novel about young people in a small town in Oklahoma to improve your taste," said Diane Lane.

Ronald opened it and flipped through it. They were all about teenagers, drinking, picking up girls, fighting, riding horses, gang fights and the like.

"The author is very powerful. The characters in the four novels are all connected together. The protagonist in this one is a supporting character in the second one."

"Really?" Ronald felt that the story was rather contrived, and the characters were all aggressive teenagers. Although it is written in the 1950s and 1960s, social security has been bad in recent years and schools have been invaded. It seems that this kind of story has a market among teenagers.

"Of course, it's the most popular youth novel now, staygold." Diane said a line from "The Naughty Boy".

Ronald didn't understand and looked at Donna.

"It means to maintain the mood of a teenager." Donna knew that Ronald had not read the novel and did not know what this sentence meant. "Her books are indeed quite popular, and all my classmates are reading them."

"She? Is she a female author?" Ronald flipped through the back cover, and it turned out to be a fat female author. Se. Hinton's pen name does not indicate male or female.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

It was accountant Lawrence Wang knocking on the door.

Ronald welcomed him in, and the two chatted softly at the small table in the corner of the living room.

"The T\u0026T announced a tax cut last year. Individuals with annual income of more than $220,000 only need to pay 50% of the federal personal income tax."

"50%? As long as?" Ronald's voice suddenly rose, attracting the attention of the two girls.

"Sorry, let's talk somewhere else."

"No, Diane, let's go to the room to talk." Donna pulled Diane closer to the bedroom.

"This is already the figure after the tax cut bill. The previous highest tax rate was 70%."

"Then the script I worked so hard to write was reshaped after being sold to Colombia, and most of it will be handed over to the federal government?" Ronald was angry.

"That's not the case. Your annual personal income above $220,000 is subject to a 50% tax rate. For the following portion, the applicable tax rate is 38.5%, and then it decreases step by step. No tax is payable on the portion below $3,400."

"That's a lot." Ronald was very angry. The result of his own struggle was working for the Federation?

"So that's my first suggestion to you, set up a company just to house the writers' income," Lawrence said.

"Corporate income tax also adopts a progressive tax rate. Your business model is very simple and there is not much accounting space, so it is better to separate different businesses so that you can enjoy a more favorable tax rate."

"Okay, let's register another company."

"In addition, I suggest you use your income to buy stocks. As long as you hold them for more than one year, the investment income will not be subject to personal income tax, but capital gains tax, which is much lower. After the tax cut last year, the tax rate was only 33.8% "

"Can't I buy a house?" Ronald didn't understand stocks, but he heard that they rose and fell sharply. At least the house wouldn't suddenly evaporate 90% of the wealth.

"A house needs to pay property taxes, and property taxes in New York State are very high, and you need to pay them every year. If you buy in Los Angeles, it is also one of the states with the highest property taxes in the country. And property taxes are state taxes, and you don't live there. If you do, you won’t be able to enjoy many of the services brought by taxes.

For example, the simplest tuition exemption for public education. If you have not yet started a family and have children, you cannot enjoy this part of the subsidy. It’s not too late to buy real estate until you have children. "

"Okay, then help me open a stock account. What stocks should I buy?"

"If your purpose is to avoid taxes, then don't buy stocks that expect prices to rise. My suggestion is to buy some blue-chip stocks. The stock prices are stable for a long time. You can hold them for a long time without selling them, so you don't have to pay capital gains tax. There are also quarterly Dividends should be used as living expenses.”

“What are blue chip stocks?”

"They are those companies that are doing well, have a long history, and have stable profits." Lawrence said in a language that Ronald could understand, "such as Coca-Cola, Kodak, ib, etc."

"Okay, then you can design it for me. After setting aside taxes, use all your spare money to buy these three stocks."

"You make decisions quickly, Ronald, don't you have to think about it?"

"I don't have so much time to learn about investing. What you said is clear and makes sense. Big companies won't collapse so quickly, as long as it's safe."

"Didi..." The pager rang again. Lawrence saw this and left.

This time it's Spike Lee.

"I heard that Bigelow received an investment of US$750,000 and started filming her first feature film?"

"Yes, Douglas Jr. helped her find a private investor in Georgia and invested $750,000 for the production. Catherine has already contacted her and roped in some artists from the Museum of Modern Art to do free labor. She Ready for a big fight."

"She's so lucky." Spike was very envious.

"It's hard to say. You've also read her script. US$750,000 is only enough for shooting. She asked me to divide the scenes and calculated that it must be completed within 20 days, otherwise it will be over budget. This shooting speed can keep up with Roger Coe Man."

"Then who did her publisher find?"

"No distributor is willing to release her film. I suggested that she choose to send it to a foreign film festival. There are many buyers at the film festival, and she may be able to find a company willing to buy it."

"No matter what, she is lucky. I have no investors willing to invest in my movie. I can only get a little money and shoot a little." Spike Lee hung up the phone with envy.

"Didi..." the pager reminded again.

Ronald called the service center.

"I have a message from you. Please call Niceta at CAA. We have screenwriting business."

Ronald's heart skipped a beat. Is there business coming to his door?

"Hello, Mr. Niceta, I'm Ronald."

"Hi, Ronald. What do you know about Broadway musicals?"

"Musicals? I've only seen a few, and I don't know much about the writing and production."

"It doesn't matter, just watch it. I'm not asking you to write the script of a musical. Your reputation has the characteristics of a musical. Universal is looking for a screenwriter who understands teenagers, musicals, and musicals. Are you willing? Will you earn $100,000 after working hard for two months?”