Exploiting Hollywood 1980

In the next few days, Ronald relied on constant arrangement and combination to basically determine the role of the most important heroine Stacey, cutting off many of her minor plots and leaving only the key parts of interaction with other characters.

Stacey is Brad's sister, 15 years old, a tenth-grade student at Richmond High School. When the story begins, she is still an innocent girl.

Stacey works at Perry's Pizza fast food restaurant in Richmond Shopping Center, serving New York-style pizza with chicken wings. The clerks all wear red and white arrow-patterned dresses with white aprons, and must wear red hairpins in their hair, as if they have changed the black of church clothes to red and wear them as uniforms.

Stacey's good friend, Linda Barrett, who works with her, is an outgoing and beautiful girl. She has an older boyfriend from another city, so she knows a lot more about things between men and women and the secrets of dating than Stacey.

One day, Linda instigated Stacey to ask a handsome guest for his phone number. The handsome guy was a 26-year-old audio salesman, and he took the initiative to ask Stacey out. Stacey lied that she was 19 years old, and the two had sex on a bench in the baseball field.

The next day, Stacey told Linda that she just felt uncomfortable, and it was painful for the first time in such a place. Linda comforted her that she would feel better and better in the future.

The handsome guy stopped dating Stacey, and Linda comforted him that the handsome guy was just a salesman and she was not going to marry him.

Stacey mistakenly thought that she was not attractive enough, unlike those cheerleaders who would play tricks. Linda used a carrot to teach on the spot in the cafeteria, and attracted whistles from the male players of the opposite football team.

Stacey dated Mark Ratner, a classmate who worked as a ticket inspector at the Richmond Mall Cinema. Mark was a shy boy who secretly liked Stacey. Mark went to Stacey's house for a date. After kissing Stacey, he was very nervous and anxious and left Stacey's house.

Stacey told Mark's friend, Mike Damon, a boy from a poor family, about her feelings for Mark. Mike Damon made a living by reselling concert tickets and being a scalper. He was very good at talking. Stacey mistakenly thought that Mike Damon liked her, and invited him to her home.

The two had sex, but it turned out that Mike was just bragging, and he ended it quickly.

Who knew that a month later, Stacey found out that she was pregnant, and forced Mike Damon to pay half of the money for the operation...

Ronald wrote the plot of Stacey and faxed it to Cameron Crowe.

New York was already very cold in late November. The lowest temperature reached 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4-5 degrees Celsius), coupled with drizzle and strong wind. Ronald wrapped his clothes tightly, jumped out of the car and jumped onto the steps of the apartment in two steps.

The janitor's daughter was only 15 years old, the same age as the scriptwriter Stacey. The janitor introduced Ronald to his daughter. Knowing that Ronald was a movie screenwriter, the little girl smiled and asked him when she could see his movie released.

"The movie "Famous" written by me has been released for a long time. Haven't you seen it?"

Ronald greeted the little girl with a smile.

"It was rated R, my dad didn't have time to take me to see it, and then it was taken off the screen." The little girl still felt a little regretful.

"Well, you can go to Staten Island to see it in the future, they always show old movies there."

Ronald climbed up the stairs and suddenly stopped, he felt like he had forgotten something important.

Unable to remember what he had forgotten for a while, Ronald continued to work on the script. The plot cards filled the first row from left to right, and then the second row from right to left. All the plots were like a long snake, winding and swinging, and finally exceeded the red line drawn by Ronald by more than 20 cards.

It was still too long, Ronald started the game of permutations and combinations again, taking away a few cards to see the overall effect, then taking away a few more cards, and then putting the original ones back, and kept experimenting.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The phone rang, it was cousin Donna calling.

"Ronnie, guess what happened?"

"What?"

"The fat director you hate, his new movie was released two days ago."

"Ah? Heaven's Gate is finally released?"

Ronald felt a little nauseous. He hadn't heard from Michael Cimino for a long time. The Heaven's Gate movie was finally edited.

"Don't you want to go see it?" Donna said on the phone.

"Kathryn Bigelow's friends who participated in the movie said that the story of the movie is very boring. Why don't you go see it yourself?"

"It's R-rated, I can't watch it by myself. I'd better go to my mom." Donna hung up the phone.

R-rated? This movie can still be rated R, I'm afraid there will be even fewer viewers. Ronald gloated.

"Wait, R-rated?"

Ronald reacted, this is the important thing that he couldn't remember just now.

"Fast-paced Richmond High School", there are a few nude scenes, love scenes, and some foul language, which are all R-rated factors.

But Stacey is only 15 years old in the film. Many white girls in America mature early, and the physical appearance of a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old is very different.

If an adult actor over 18 is chosen to play Stacey, the audience will not feel that she is not similar in appearance. If an underage actor around 15 is chosen to play the role, there will be legal provisions to protect minors.

Now that I think about it, the choice of actor for Stacey is actually a very important issue. How do underage actors deal with nudity in R-rated films?

What are the specific union regulations? Ronald himself is not a member of the Actors Guild, so he has no manual to refer to. And the crew's handling of the shooting scene may not be completely in accordance with the manual regulations.

Originally, these shooting matters have nothing to do with the screenwriter. But Ronald decided to demand himself as a director. If he were a director, how would he solve this kind of casting problem?

Ronald called his advertising agent Eddie. Some time ago, Ronald took time to shoot a plastic wrap advertisement. Eddie continued to contact him for some daily necessities advertising shoots, which did not require any brainpower and could make some money.

"In the advertising industry, there are indeed time regulations. Children of different ages have limited working hours every day. Especially in places like New York and Los Angeles where the unions are strong, there will be staff to supervise.

I'm not very clear about the film industry, but I think it should be similar. Why don't you ask the little girl actor who lives in your house?"

"Diane? She's still filming in Canada and can't be contacted."

"That's right. Now many crews go to Canada to shoot, especially youth films, which can bypass the ubiquitous union supervision."

After hanging up the phone, Ronald felt that he still needed to ask someone who knew the industry.

Why not ask Brooke Shields' mother Terry about the shooting regulations? She is also 15 years old and has filmed two movies with partial nudity, "The Blue Lagoon" and the current "Endless Love".

After hanging up the phone, I went to Brooke Shields' home and Terry answered the phone.

"Oh, Ronald. Do you want to know the filming regulations for actors under the age of 16? In fact, there is a daily shooting time limit, which cannot be earlier than 7 am and cannot be later than 9:30 pm. There is a limit on the total shooting time every day, which varies according to age, and there must be tutoring courses."

"What if it is not filmed in America? Will the regulations be relaxed?"

"In theory, you need to abide by the regulations wherever you go to film, Ronald." Terry answered in an official tone. In fact, he had already told Ronald to go abroad for filming, and as long as the child's parents agree, he can be more flexible.

"Mom, which Ronald? Is he the director of the CK commercial? Why not ask him to go to the skating rink together." Brooke Shields heard Terry's call and asked.

Terry held the microphone with one hand and said to her daughter, "Brookie, your date today is Leif Garrett."

Leif Garrett was a child star and teenage singer who was once very popular. He and Brooke Shields appeared on the headlines of entertainment news at the same time in 1978.

Now Leif Garrett has returned after recuperation, and he has a great momentum for a while. Terry has the idea of ​​letting Brooke appear with him again.

"Okay, I know." Brooke waved her hand.

Terry picked up the phone again, "Ronald, do you have any other questions?"

"I want to know what the Screen Actors Guild stipulates about nude scenes of underage actors." Ronald asked.

Of course, regulations are regulations, and Ronald wants to know more about how the crew operates under normal circumstances. Is there a way to bypass the regulations?

"Why do you want to know this?"

"I am adapting a youth drama into a script. There is a character who is 15 years old. There are some frontal nudity scenes, so I want to ask someone with actual shooting experience." Ronald explained.

"Full frontal nudity is prohibited for minors under the age of 16. Adults who do this level of nudity will also be rated X.

The upper body exposure is relatively wide, but for Brooke's image, I always ask for a stand-in. After all, our America is not the kind of art film in Europe..."

After thanking Terry, Ronald hung up the phone.

After thinking for a while, he called his guide Roger Corman again.

It happened that Corman was in the company and answered his call.

"Mr. Corman, I found a problem when I was writing the script..."

Roger Corman told him that the usual practice in Hollywood is to find an older actor to play a minor under the age of 15.

"For example, in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz", the protagonist Dorothy is a 13-year-old girl, and the lead actress Judy Garland was 17 years old when filming, and her body after development is obvious.

This is not only due to the restrictions of laws and regulations, but also because young actors are very difficult to train. Child star talents like Shirley Temple are rare. Most actors aged 14 or 15 will suddenly fall into emotions during filming and cannot film. For cost reasons, Hollywood still adopts the method of using older actors to play younger ones on a large scale."

"Thank you, Mr. Corman." Ronald understood the age of the actors.

It seems that he has to find an actress who looks younger to play Stacy. Ronald wrote it down in his notebook.