Exploiting Hollywood 1980

“One… two… three…”

Ronald took the script of “Grease” and marked some passages with lyrics in the blank space on the right side under the illumination of the bedside lamp.

“Grease” was adapted from a Broadway musical, and there are large sections of singing passages copied from the musical in the script. The lines in these parts are two lines per section, and then two lines of lyrics are added when a different character changes.

This is equivalent to artificially lengthening the length of the script, making the rule of thumb of about one minute per page of the finished script no longer accurate.

Then some dance passages have no description, only the word “dance (dang)” is written. The specific dance and how long to dance are roughly based on the original Broadway musical.

Such dance scenes contain a lot of missing information. The word “dance” can be a few seconds of dance or a few minutes of dance. This is equivalent to shortening the length of the script.

The two offset each other, and the final length of the finished film of the 121-page script is 110 minutes. That is to say, the percentage of singing passages in the entire script is very high. Ronald counted and found that singing can account for 40% of the lines in the whole film.

Well, except for a few changes in the lyrics due to the change of the heroine's nationality, and the addition of a few minor supporting roles that were not in the original musical, the original screenwriter Bronte Woodard actually only did some work to change the setting of the musical to a real movie scene. And the performance of the musical to an audio-visual language.

This conclusion was quite unexpected for Ronald.

"Sons of Grease" was equivalent to writing a musical script from scratch, and Ronald could not compose music or lyrics...

Well, Ronald copied the lyrics of two interludes from the movie in his dream. But in the 110 minutes of the musical, there were about 45 minutes of singing sessions. Without the inspiration in the dream, he had to work closely with the songwriter to write this script.

Ronald had no experience at all. Should he write the lyrics and music first, and then match the plot? Or should he write the plot first, leave some gaps, and let the songwriter fill in the blanks?

Ronald didn't sleep well after thinking all night, and when Richard came to pick him up the next day, he also found that Ronald was in low spirits.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you sleep well last night? Do you need to change rooms?"

"No, I read the Grease script you gave me in the middle of the night and found a big problem." Ronald told Richard about his discovery, "The original work is easy to adapt, but the sequel is definitely not something I can write alone. I regret agreeing to producer Sternwood."

Richard lowered his head and thought for a while, "Let's go to meet the original choreographer Ms. Patricia Birch as planned to understand the situation first. Then we will discuss it with Mr. Niceta. I think since Mr. Sternwood has successfully produced so many movies, he will definitely consider it."

"Sternwood won't consider so much. He just wants to make his contracted singer Andy Gibb popular and let his album sell well through the movie." Choreographer Patricia Birch said to Ronald who came to visit.

"The original movie was the same. I tell you, Grease was originally a Chicago story. In order to hype the heroine Olivia Newton-John, Sterling intervened in the script writing, and finally had to change the heroine's background to an exchange student from Britain."

Patricia Birch is a thin woman in her fifties. She is the choreographer of the original Broadway musical "Grease" and has deep feelings for the original version. The changes made for the film version are all heresy in her eyes.

Originally, she was not very friendly to Ronald, and felt that it was a completely irresponsible choice for a movie screenwriter to write "Son of Grease" from scratch. But after learning that Ronald was the lyricist of the two interludes of "Famous", her attitude obviously changed.

"I entered the industry in the late 1950s and learned some behind-the-scenes stories of classic musicals from my predecessors. Before the 1950s, Hollywood was a big studio system.

Whether it was screenwriters, choreographers, or lyricists and composers, they were all hired by big studios and received salaries and bonuses. In this way, everyone could work together every day to write the scripts of musicals.

Now in Hollywood, all kinds of jobs are freelancers. Everyone changes a group of professionals for each film and joins the crew at different times of filming.

Screenwriters and lyricists, choreographers and composers, have no tacit understanding of long-term cooperation, and it is impossible for them to work together for several months to complete the song and dance links of musicals.

So after the disintegration of the Hollywood big studio system, musicals, which require the highest degree of cooperation from behind-the-scenes creative staff, were one of the first types of films to die out."

After receiving the tea from Patricia Birch, Ronald thanked her and took a sip. "How did Grease become so perfect? ​​Ms. Birch, you won the Broadway Tony Award for Best Choreography."

"Because we are a stage play," Patricia Birch showed a nostalgic look, "You have not participated in the production of stage plays, Ronald?"

"No."

"Stage plays and movies are two completely different arts. Grease was not performed on Broadway at the beginning. We performed many shows in Chicago, and each show could adjust the inappropriate drama structure, imperfect lyrics, and other defects according to the audience's reaction."

"Then it was Off-Off-Broadway in New York, and continued to improve. Then it entered Off-Broadway, and finally the audience and critics followed, and boom! We entered Broadway."

"But the movie only has one chance. It cannot be adjusted based on the audience's feedback during filming. After editing and the test screening, if the audience's reaction is not good, there is no chance to make major changes. At most, we can only make some small reshoots and Modify." Ronald continued.

Patricia Burch glanced at Ronald with admiration, "Yes. That's why I prefer working on Broadway. It's an art form without immediate feedback. It's too difficult."

Ronald heard this and understood. The creation method of musicals is very different from other types of movies. Unless "Grease" can be made into a musical first and polished on Broadway for a year or two, otherwise, if you want to make a movie comparable to the original work, it will be difficult. Nearly impossible.

"When you were filming 'Grease,' did you just copy the Broadway song and dance sequences?" Ronald asked.

"It's basically a copy, with some subtle differences," Patricia Birch said.

"For example, in the selection of actors, John Travolta participated in the Broadway version of 'Grease', but he could only play a supporting role because his dancing was not good enough. The leading role in the Broadway version could not play the leading role in the movie version. Because he is not handsome enough. After all, the grammar of movie shots is different from that of stage plays.”

Ronald nodded, understanding the difference in casting priorities. On the Broadway stage, what the audience sees is the actor's body and dance. And movies can use close-ups to explain the appearance of actors.

"When we were filming the original movie, we were looking for dancing elites, and many of the supporting actors could dance better than the two protagonists. I still remember a girl from New York who lied about her age before participating in the group dance in the background.

I saw that she danced really well, so I persuaded the director to give her a lot of shots. But later she did not continue to work hard in Hollywood, but went back to continue her ballet studies. Otherwise, with her quality...hey, there won't be any more musicals in Hollywood for her to perform. "

Ronald's recording hand paused. He had heard this story once before.

"You mean Antonia Franceschi?"

"Yes, how do you know her? Is she okay now?"

"She later participated in the filming of 'Famous' and played one of the leading roles. However, she still did not enter Hollywood and now goes to the New York City Ballet."

"You?" Patricia Birch saw the tenderness in Ronald's eyes.

"Yes, once..."

"That's what ballet girls are like. If you want to start a family, you have to give up your career like me." Patricia Birch patted Ronald's hand to comfort him.

"Tell me, Ms. Birch. If I want to start writing a script from scratch, what aspects should I pay attention to? Should I write the plot first and leave a few holes for the singing and dancing sequences, or should I wait until you have mature singing and dancing sequences? , and then write the plot around these paragraphs?”

Ronald put the past back into the depths of his memory.

Although the "Sons of Grease" face unexpected difficulties, they still have to work hard to do what they have promised. Ronald asked Patricia Birch for advice on writing scripts for musicals.

"Mature musicals have their own rhythm and structure. Generally speaking, there is a song and dance at the beginning of the plot to set the tone of the film. Then when the plot enters the second act, the character development needs a song and dance to help him complete it. , and the reversal in the third act, the final climax..."

Patricia Birch was quite satisfied with Ronald's humility in asking for advice, and handed over several large fixed sections of the musical to Ronald, "These places need to be reserved in the script in advance, and other small sections of songs and dances, It’s mainly an emotional boost and can be added after the script is generally completed.”

Ronald was jotting down the choreographer's suggestions quickly, frowning every now and then. Starting from the creation of scripts, musicals are different from other film types and become a genre of their own.

No wonder that after the big studio system was disbanded, several successful musicals and movies, such as "West Side Story," "Grease," and "My Fair Lady," were all adapted from successful Broadway plays.

And those big-budget musicals that have hit the streets, such as Ronald Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York", are all original stories where the director admired the ancient musical form and went his own way.

This self-contained working method, which is slowly polished in advance through interaction with the audience, is very similar to comedy. Comedians and comedy directors need to prepare for several years to accumulate enough jokes that have been polished in live performances, and then they can film a successful film.

And unlike ordinary movies that can use classic scenes, comedy jokes and song and dance scenes in musicals are disposable. After using it this time, it cannot be repeated in the next movie.

No wonder producer Stan Wood wanted to find comedy director Jerry Zucker. It seems that the two do have similarities.

"It seems like I'm going to have to use my brain this time." Ronald couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Patricia Birch looked at Ronald who was a little troubled and couldn't help but ask, "Actually, there are tricks. As long as you can do either of these two things, maintaining a qualified sequel for 'Son of Grease' is not a big problem. If you can do both, it will definitely be popular.”