Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Pulling into a McDonald's drive-through, Ronnie opened the storage box, took out a stack of coupons, picked out a Big Mac meal, and attached a dollar bill, two 25-dollar bills. cents, a 10-cent coin, passed into the cashier window.

The value-for-money Big Mac set, originally priced at $2.59, is only $1.6 with a coupon.

Taking the meal package wrapped in a paper bag, Ronald drove all the way back to the apartment.

People who live in Venice Beach are not wealthy, and most of the residents are middle- and lower-income residents. Mainly white people, so the security is pretty good.

Ronald was a little hungry, so he ate a Big Mac and drank Coke when he got home.

This apartment has one bedroom and one living room. Venice is relatively remote and the rent is not high, less than US$200 a month.

Apart from being far away from the city, there are no disadvantages. Ronald has a car and commutes to and from get off work every day, which takes more than half an hour each way. There is nothing he is dissatisfied about.

After throwing the finished garbage into the trash can, Ronald took a change of clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

I remembered that I had to get up early tomorrow, wash up after taking a shower, and go to bed early. Ronald wiped the fog on the mirror a few times with his hand, and wiped out a handsome face. His sunken eye sockets, tall nose, and well-proportioned body are the result of years of physical exercise. No matter from which angle you look at him, he is a handsome guy.

After the movie "Superman" adapted from the comic book was released last year, everyone said that he looked like Christopher Reeve who played Superman.

It's a bit like that, Ronald is also tall, 6 feet 2 (1.88 meters). However, Superman has black hair, and his own hair is considered dirty blond, with the roots almost black and the tips blond. The eyes are amber, with the inner ring near the pupil being dark brown and the outer ring being golden.

Her hair and eyes are not a solid color. She is a very typical American. I don’t know how many countries my ancestors have ancestry. However, Ronald did not have the strong body odor common among white people, just like the Chinese in his previous life. This made him happy that he didn't have to spray deodorant on his armpits every day like his buddies on the high school wrestling team.

Ronald changed his clothes and lay on the bed, thinking a little about his Aunt Karen in New York.

After traveling through time, Ronald tragically discovered that he had no memory of his previous life and only retained some skills. Such as driving, drawing comic books, and Chinese wrestling. There is also the mute English who can only write but cannot speak. At first, he could only pretend that he could not speak.

Aunt Karen was worried and took him to the doctor. After some examination, the doctor believed that the brain was hit, resulting in rare aphasia, and he had to learn to speak again like a child.

Ronald found the Chinese secret book "New Concept English" for learning English. After studying hard for half a year along with the recording, and in an all-English environment, he finally learned to speak again.

Later, he joined the high school wrestling team. Unfortunately, he couldn't change the old Chinese wrestling habit of grabbing people's clothes, and he couldn't adapt to the freestyle wrestling of grabbing people's necks. He failed in the inter-school competition and did not receive a sports scholarship from the university.

It wasn't until one day when he accidentally picked up a camera owned by a classmate on the wrestling team that he discovered his most useful skill in his previous life - taking pictures.

Using bare hands to measure the exposure, turn on the lights, and guide the poses, it seems like you can take a good portrait without having to think about it. Was he a photographer in his previous life? This skill can make money right now.

Aunt Karen saved $200 and wanted to buy him a used car. This is a tradition among middle-class families in America. When a child gets a driver's license as an adult, the father buys a second-hand car for the child.

Ronald didn't ask for a car, so he used the money to buy a second-hand Nikon F2 SLR camera and several rolls of film. From then on, he became a photographer, taking various portraits to make money.

After graduating from high school, Ronald didn't have enough money to go to college, so he took a year off and worked part-time to earn tuition. With a "huge sum" of more than $500, he said goodbye to Aunt Karen and Cousin Donna. It took 12 days to drive along Interstate 40 from New York to Los Angeles.

Taking a year off is completely unaffordable. He looks like an 18-year-old boy, and his clients don't believe in his photography abilities. He doesn't make enough money as a portrait photographer. In rural Staten Island, there are not many fast food restaurants recruiting young people to work.

Soon Ronald discovered that the easiest way to make money in portrait photography was to take audition photos for actors. It was easy and profitable. Two A4-sized headshots could cost more than $100. Not many people were making movies in New York, so Ronald came to Hollywood to look for opportunities.

When he came to Hollywood, he took some portrait photos one after another, and his reputation could attract clients. However, when people saw his young age, they were unwilling to believe in his ability, so they could only charge 30-50 US dollars for a set. Filmed by an accomplished novice actor.

Ronald wants to be on a movie crew and have his name in the credits so that his clients will believe he is an "insider." Charge more money and save enough for tuition, books, accommodation, etc. as soon as possible.

Later, I applied for a screenwriting job at New World Production Company. After I was selected, I didn't write a page of the script, but worked as a script reader for several months. Two weeks ago, my boss hired me as an assistant on the set of "Rock of Ages". My main job was to make coffee...

Feeling a little sleepy, Ronald set the alarm clock for 04:30 tomorrow morning and turned over to sleep.

…

After sleeping in the darkness for an unknown amount of time, Ronald heard someone talking outside. He opened the door and walked outside. In the open space in the middle of the apartment, there was a white screen, as if someone was showing a movie?

With the faint light, Ronald discovered that there were many people sitting in rows in front of the screen. Is this a party?

"Sit down!" someone yelled at him.

Ronald sat in the aisle seat in the middle of the last row, next to the projector.

Something seems wrong. The person just spoke seemed to be in Chinese. Ronald wants to find the person who spoke out. There are not many Chinese people in Los Angeles who speak Mandarin. He can at least ask about the situation in China.

Suddenly the screen lit up. Ronald was startled. A bunch of English popped up on it, and the title was in red capital letters:

"FBI WARNING".

Below is a line of small print:

"Under federal law, any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or public display of a copyrighted motion picture work may result in severe civil or criminal penalties (Title 17, United States Code, Section 501 and 508). The FBI investigates complaints of copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. 506).”

This is a copyright warning.

"Why haven't you started yet? What movie will be shown today?" The man was speaking Chinese again.

After more than ten seconds, a picture popped up on the screen and everyone fell silent.

A three-story white building jumps into the picture, and the sun shines gently on the upper floor. There was no one, only a few crickets chirping, chirping, reflecting the tranquility of the environment.

A few seconds later, a line of red characters jumped up at the bottom of the screen, "A film produced by New World Production, Copyright @1979, New World Production Company."

Huh?

It was actually a movie produced by Shinsekai, where I worked. But why copyright next year?

The camera panned to a large sign with Vince Lombardi High School written in green letters on a yellow background. There is another sentence below: "Winning is not the most important thing, it is the only thing."

Isn't Vince Lombard High School, the eldest son of Ronald's mouth, the fictional name of the school in the script? Isn't this movie "Rock of Ages" being filmed today?

At the end of the picture, a student appeared on the screen. He looked at the map on the wall. There was a red cross on it, and under the red cross it was written: "You are here."

"Where am I?" the student said to himself.

A group of players wearing rugby uniforms came over, grabbed the student, carried him and left the scene. A female student wearing large black-rimmed glasses appeared on the camera, standing next to the stage welcoming new students.

There are various chemical experiment vessels on the table, containing liquids of various colors, red, green and blue. Next to it is a signboard that reads "Kate Lambeau, Science Club, Chemical Reaction Demonstration".

The scene cuts to another handsome boy, others call him Tom. Tom walked out of the teaching building and sat at the table to eat. Kate Lambeau approached her to strike up a conversation, but Tom, who did not understand the charm, rejected her and began to read a book.

The picture turned around, and another beauty in red put on the record of the Ramones and began to play this kind of rock music with a strong rhythm. Students begin dancing on the playground, and the red title "Rock 'n' Roll High" appears.

It is indeed "Rock and Roll High School"!

Ronald thought.

"Boss, change to a better-looking one." Someone shouted.

"That's right, for those who fight."

"For the martial arts ones, the martial arts ones look good."

"Is there any director Wang, in exchange for that gold..."

Suddenly someone stood up, walked to the machine next to Ronald, pressed a button, and the screen turned into white light again.

The machine spit out a black box. On the white label attached above, four Chinese characters were written in a red pen -

"Rock and Roll High School."

"Boss, change the film!"

The man waved the black box - the video yelled.

"Ah!" Ronald yelled and rolled off the bed.