Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Do you remember the movie Grease released in 1978?" asked Nicita.

"Of course, it was based on a Broadway musical starring Travolta and Olivia Newton-John."

"They are going to make a sequel, tentatively named 'Sons of Grease', and producer Robert Stigwood needs a screenwriter who understands both teenagers and musicals."

"But Rick, this movie is a huge box office winner, how did the sequel come to me?" Ronald was a little unconvinced.

"Yeah, a movie with a box office of 130 million US dollars in North America, it shouldn't be your turn to write the sequel." Rick Nicita changed the receiver to another ear, "but an unfortunate incident happened, but it's lucky for you."

It turned out that the screenwriter of the original "Grease", Bronte Woodard, who adapted the classic Broadway musical into a movie, died suddenly in a Los Angeles hospital due to acute renal failure two days ago.

Producer Robert Stigwood was very anxious. The movie scheduled to be filmed in the second half of the year and released next year suddenly had no screenwriter. So he flew from his hometown of London to Los Angeles, looking for agents all over the world, looking for a screenwriter with experience in youth and musicals to continue writing.

Ronald, who had a "famous" screenwriter experience, was highly recommended by Ovitz. Robert Sternwood was quite satisfied with Ronald's resume, and was a little confused about his age. But after knowing that he was the screenwriter of Jane Fonda's new film, he immediately decided to invite him to Hollywood for discussion.

"This time, Mr. Sternwood will pay for all travel and accommodation expenses, business class round-trip, staying at the Marriott Hotel. If you are interested, I will ask my secretary to book a ticket for you."

"Of course, I am definitely interested." Ronald was overjoyed, he was really very lucky. Should I go to the church to fulfill my vow another day? No, this seems to be the custom of Chinese people. No matter what, Taoist temples, Buddhist temples, churches, go to worship.

"Well, my secretary will tell you the address of the travel agency to pick up the tickets."

"Yeah!" Ronald shouted.

Donna and Diane heard him shouting and came out to see what was going on.

Ronald said the content of the call, "When Aunt Karen comes back, I'll tell her that I'm flying to Los Angeles tomorrow."

"Uh, musical movies, too old-fashioned." Diane Lane stuck out her tongue, indicating that it was not her cup of tea.

"Is it very old-fashioned?" Ronald asked curiously, "Two years ago, Grease was the first or second in the box office? It was about the same as Superman. And the soundtrack sold very well, and the Bee Gees were very popular."

"You already have a generation gap with us." Diane drew her hand in front of her body, indicating that she couldn't get along with him.

Ronald looked at Donna, the aesthetics of rebellious girls may not be accurate.

Unexpectedly, Donna also nodded, "It's indeed old-fashioned. My classmates don't like to watch movies adapted from musicals. It feels normal to watch musicals on Broadway, but it looks very old-fashioned on the screen. The characters often jump up in daily situations, which is a bit awkward."

"We actually prefer the "Famous" that you wrote. The songs and dances in it are very beautiful, but the songs and dances are all reasonable in the plot, and the rest of the time is mainly talking." Donna said.

"But that movie didn't do well at the box office..."

"You're an artist, Ronald, don't start talking about the box office." Diane started complaining again.

"You're right," Ronald surrendered to the rebellious girl.

"Ronnie, let's talk." Aunt Karen, who had returned home, heard about Ronald's new job opportunity and called him aside to chat.

"I'm happy for you, Ronnie, you've achieved so much at such a young age," said Aunt Karen, "but don't forget what I told you, your parents want you to graduate from college, they have high expectations for you."

"I understand, Aunt Karen. This is a screenwriting assignment, I'll go to Los Angeles for a few days, and then come back to New York to write the script. There are some college electives in the new semester starting next month, and I can choose some of the less difficult ones."

Ronald's dream of deeply participating in the production process of my brother..., which should now be called "Her Brother's Keeper", was shattered. He no longer wanted to drop out of school in his sophomore year, so he watched more classic movies to learn and get some credits.

In addition to Scorsese's film appreciation class, Ronald also participated in the pirated movie viewing circle organized by Spike.

In order to join this small circle, participants have to provide a pirated copy of the movie as a token of their loyalty. Ronald specifically asked Roger Corman for a letter of authorization, found the Soviet Embassy in the United States, and applied for a copy of "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" with English subtitles.

Ronald also learned how to play movies so that he could show them to everyone as soon as the copy arrived.

"Don't lower your standards, Ronnie." Aunt Karen was quite satisfied after hearing this.

...

The service level of business class is incomparable to that of economy class. Ronald drank red wine and ate steak, and felt the sincerity of producer Robert Stigwood.

When the main agent Richard picked him up at the Marriott Hotel, he was even more satisfied.

"Where are we going to meet Mr. Stigwood tomorrow?" Ronald hung his suit in the closet and asked Richard.

"Stigwood has a mansion in Hollywood, and he asked you to meet him alone tomorrow. We will go to CAA first. Mr. Ovitz wants to see you, and there are some important things about the meeting to tell you."

"Ah?...Okay." Ronald was a little confused. What was going on? He had to meet in person to explain.

"Some things must be discussed in person, Ronald." Ovitz was still surrounded by two secretaries, and his schedule seemed very tight.

"Robert Stewart, in addition to being the producer of Grease, is also the president of RSO Records. His company's Bee Gees band once had six songs that topped the charts in 1978. In 1979, Andy Gibb, the younger brother of the Bee Gees, continued to dominate the charts for 10 weeks."

"I know him, Mr. Ovitz. I wrote the lyrics for the two interludes of "Famous", and the soundtrack of "Famous" was released by Stewart's RSO Records."

"You can also write lyrics?" Ovitz was surprised, "Is your economic contract for lyrics also signed with CAA?"

"Actually, I was inspired by the composer Michael Gore. Lyrics are not my specialty."

"Okay, okay." Ovitz put away the idea of ​​signing all of Ronald's business.

"Since you know his name, it's easy for me to talk. I asked you to come this time mainly to tell you some taboos when meeting producers, and Stewart has many taboos in particular."

"Oh?" Ronald opened his ears.

"Stewart used John Travolta and Bee Gees' songs against all odds, so he got rich rewards. That means he has full say in this sequel.

And he is a gay. He has many semi-regular male companions who travel with him. So at any time, don't offend those male companions. Don't take the initiative to mention his orientation. This behavior was still a crime in Britain more than a decade ago."

Ronald nodded to show his understanding.

"In addition to male companions, he has many female companions, or his male companions' female companions. You should also not despise these people. Any disrespectful behavior towards them will make you lose this job."

"I've made a note of it."

"Also, don't mention any scenes or people you see in his mansion to a third person, understand?" Ovitz knocked on the table to emphasize.

"Is it so exaggerated?" Ronald came out of the office and asked his main agent Richard.

"In our industry, you can hear a lot of gossip. One of them is that John Avildsen, who won the Oscar for Best Director for the movie "Rocky", was originally the director of the movie "Saturday Night Fever" produced by Sternwood. But he tried to ask Sternwood's boyfriend's girlfriend out, and was fired two weeks before the start of filming."

Richard said, "I don't know whether this rumor is true or not, but it's better to be careful."

The next morning, Richard drove Ronald to Sternwood's mansion.

"Ronald, welcome, I've always wanted to meet you, and I admire your fame very much."

Sternwood was wearing pajamas and hugged Ronald warmly. He is a tall British man with a British nose, long hair with a middle part, and a handsome face. If you don't say it, he looks more like a rock star than a record company boss.

"Ah, I'm just one of the screenwriters. The original credit for this movie belongs to Mr. Christopher Gore."

"You're too modest. This is not a good quality in Hollywood." Sternwood led Ronald to sit on a lounge chair under two parasols next to a very large swimming pool, and took a puff of the cigar next to his seat.

"Christopher is one of us. He told me the whole story and the parts you modified. I always think that the rules of the Screenwriters Association are very unfair. Sometimes the importance of a page of the script exceeds the rest of the rest."

"Thank you, Mr. Sternwood. Why did you ask me to come?" Ronald ignored the men and women playing in the swimming pool next to him and listened to Sternwood attentively.

Sternwood was also quite satisfied with his self-control. "You have to help me Ronald. I'm in a dilemma."

The industry boss spoke more directly. It turned out that "Grease" was a collaboration with Paramount. Sternwood was responsible for production, and Alan Carr of Paramount was responsible for marketing and opening up film distribution channels.

After Grease was released and sold well, Paramount immediately signed a contract with Sternwood, agreeing that if there was a satisfactory script within three years, Paramount would be willing to invest $12 million to shoot a sequel, with the production cost twice that of the original film.

However, the original screenwriter Bronte Woodard has not submitted the final script. On the 2nd of this month, Bronte was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment by her family, and died in the hospital the next day due to acute renal failure. Sternwood sent someone to find the script, but found nothing except a pile of whiskey bottles.

Furious, Sternwood immediately consulted with Allen Carr. Paramount learned that there was no script and hoped to give up the contract and postpone the filming of this sequel.

Sternwood was unwilling to give up the opportunity to shake this cash cow, and promised to come up with a satisfactory script within two months and finish filming in the last two months of this year to catch up with next year's summer season.

"I plan to let Andy Gibb, the younger brother of the Bee Gees, play the leading role in the sequel "Sons of Grease", and make him the second John Travolta. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John also promised me that they would come back to guest star and tell a story about their children's youth 10 years after the original work."

The production cost was US$12 million, and there were two guest stars? Ronald feels that expectations for this sequel can be set a little higher.

"Did you know? When I went to Paramount to talk about finding a screenwriter to complete the script, their president of production, Mr. Katzenberg, was deeply impressed by you and recommended you to me. He told me that you were the one who gave me the script. Jane Fonda wrote the script that made the New York Times.

When we asked Ovitz later, he recommended you immediately. I believe you won't let me down, right? "

Sternwood, while drinking and smoking cigars, chatted with the men and women in the swimming pool from time to time.

"We have the leading role. May I ask Mr. Streetwood, did the previous screenwriter leave a plot summary?" Ronald was more cautious and wanted to know more about the situation.

"No, this unfortunate man left nothing behind. There is only a story I came up with. More than ten years after the story of Grease, their children reached the age of high school, which happened to be the moment when the hippies were flourishing, and the tough guy gang ( The children of T-Bird and Pink Lady sang rock and roll against the war.”

Ronald knew that Tough Guys and Pink Ladies were the names of the high school gangs where the heroes and heroines played by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John belonged.

"So has the director confirmed it?"

"Not yet. The director of the original film, Randall Kleiser, filmed The Blue Lagoon at a time when Hollywood was hot and has no intention of directing the sequel. We're still looking."

"If John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John can participate and maintain the style of the original film, I am willing to give it a try." Ronald thought about it again and again, and he was moved by the director's vacancy, so he asked the other party Expressed his willingness to take over the script.

"That's great. If you have any other requests, you can make them."

"I hope to talk to the creative staff of the original film, especially the choreographer. The shooting method of musicals is very different from other films, and my script needs to be specially adjusted for this."

"Very good." Sterwood stood up and hit back the water volleyball from the swimming pool. "You didn't disappoint me. I will arrange for you to talk to the choreographer. A Hollywood musical, half The success must be attributed to the choreographer.”

"Did you know? Olivia Newton-John's new film, 'Celestia,' starring her and veteran musical star Gene Kelly, did not do well at the box office. It's because Universal spent 20 million on investment, but used that Gene Kelly, that old fool who worked part-time as a choreographer, brought over boring choreography from the 1950s, and the box office was very unsatisfactory after it was released.”

"Then I'll wait and work with the choreographer..."

"Patribsp; Birch, I will arrange for her to meet you."

After talking about the business, Sterwood stood up from the sun lounger and asked, "Would you like to have some fun with us?"

"I'd better go to Mr. Ovitz of CAA to make preparations for Son of Grease." Ronald thought about Ovitz's advice and declined the invitation.

"Well, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." Sterwood took off his pajamas and wore only a pair of swimming shorts. He walked onto the springboard and jumped into the water. The men and women cheered.