Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"I was voted the worst actress, which pissed me off." Brooke Shields complained to Ronald on the phone.

A few days had passed since the award night, and Ronald returned to his home in New York.

Life was back to normal. He went to school during the week, had dinner at his aunt's house on weekends, watched movies at the pirated club in his spare time, and waited for Universal's decision on the director.

But some things seemed to be irreversible. For example, people in the entertainment industry, whether they knew or didn't know, familiar or unfamiliar, would call to "say hello" intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, Brooke now called to chat with him. Maybe her mother Terry had put him on her daughter's "allowed calls" list? But Ronald was not sure which list of Terry's he was on, the "just friends" list or the "potential boyfriend" list.

Diane was more free and easy. After moving back to her own home, she contacted Donna more often and didn't call him for no reason.

"Wait, what is the worst actress? There is no such award at the Oscars, right?" Ronald answered while putting on a suit and holding the receiver around his neck.

"There was a man named John Wilson who presented it in his living room. Now the media is hyping it up, and I don't know why."

"Never mind that. Who cares who has the worst movie or the worst director? I have to go out. I'm hanging up first."

Brooke said on the phone, "The hairdresser is about to do my hair. I'm hanging up too. You can read the newspaper yourself. They are so mean. They rated Laurence Olivier as the worst supporting actor and said that his acting skills are declining rapidly."

Ronald put on his suit and set off with Donna and Aunt Karen to Staten Island to see the operation of the leg warmer factory. Today is Ronald's first time.

"Ronnie, I think your ego has become much bigger after you won the Oscar." Cousin Donna looked at Ronald and said, "You wouldn't hang up on Brooke Shields before."

"What is ego? Is it good or bad for me to grow bigger?"

"It's the id in Freud's psychology theory. A bigger ego means more confidence and success. But too big is not good either." Donna explained.

"She came to me to tell me all these gossips, and I was busy with something. It has nothing to do with ego." Ronald replied.

Ronald certainly became more confident. The biggest benefit that the Oscar brought him was not the award-winning original song lyricist, because he asked his agent to turn down all the invitations to write lyrics, but the nomination for best screenwriter.

Many people began to believe that the $350,000 price of his script was not a fluke.

Of course, Ronald really had something to do this time. After getting the order from Jane Fonda, he discussed with his high school friend Douglas Hansen Jr. for a long time and decided to rent an old factory building of Douglas's family to open a small factory.

The scale of the factory is not large, employing about ten workers. Aunt Karen personally selected the Japanese Brother brand sweater knitting machine instead of the better quality Swiss brand. Although the Brother brand is not as functional as the Swiss one, it is much more cost-effective and the price of maintenance parts is also cheaper.

Ronald invested more money to buy machinery and equipment and rented the old factory building of Douglas's family. Theresa Kate and her husband David did not have that much money to invest in proportion, so their shares dropped to 20%, and Aunt Karen and his comrade's widows also dropped accordingly.

Ronald tried to get Douglas Jr. to invest, but he refused. This small business was meaningless to him, but he used his influence to give the leg warmers factory a slightly favorable rent price. Because Douglas's granddaughter was learning ballet and liked leg warmers very much.

"Hi, Ronnie. Thank you for everything you have done for us. Little Bud sent me a letter in Hawaii." Little Bud's mother, Mrs. Davis, also moved to the black area in the north of Staten Island with several black military widows who worked hard and seriously, and came to the factory to work every day.

Among the military widows who used to do piecework settlement at RTKD, some were not so serious, and none of them were hired this time. Those who are willing to come to the factory will be given a little resettlement allowance, just as an opportunity for the family of my uncle's comrade.

The factory is running well, and the efficiency is more than 10 times higher than the original manual production. What is even more satisfying is that the quality is more stable now, unlike the original quality fluctuations of different people, which required Aunt Karen to select each piece.

"Jane Fonda's order is very large, so we are working hard now to meet the needs there first, and put the excess in the warehouse. Distributors in cities outside Los Angeles and San Francisco on the West Coast are gradually calling to place orders..."

Teresa Kate, the partner whom he met by chance on the ferry, is now full of energy and looks completely different from the miserable look he saw her in at that time. Teresa is pregnant, and her husband David is now mainly focusing on the production of the factory, persuading her to go back and rest.

Of course, Ronald came to the factory for the first time today, and Teresa still insisted on coming.

"Thank you, Theresa, David, you are doing a great business."

"This is also our common business, Ronald." Theresa talked to Ronald in the office, "The order volume on the East Coast has also increased. In short, with the factory, we can not only guarantee the shipment volume, but also the stability of quality."

"It's just that there are a lot of counterfeits now. Can we talk to Mr. Da Silva and negotiate the right to use the FA brand?" Her husband David usually doesn't talk much, but when he does, he speaks with substance.

"I was careless, and lawyer Ms. Lindsay Dole did not remind me. Now that fa's songs have become hot singles on the charts, Mr. da Silva is not willing to license them cheaply. Of course, we may not have paid at that time. Affordable licensing fees.”

After all, Ronald is not a businessman. It would be nice to have someone to help manage and share these things.

"Beep...beep..." the pager rang.

Ronald called and asked the paging desk. It was Paula Wagner from CAA who was looking for him.

"Hi, Paula. Long time no see. Do you have a question for me?" Ronald dialed from the office phone.

"It's Tom Cruise who's looking for you. He has something to tell you."

"Hi, Ronald. I'm Tom. I auditioned for a supporting role in a movie starring Timothy Hutton. I just heard from Paula about your conflict and I asked her not to sign. You gave me Only when I have the opportunity can I enter the industry.”

"Ronald, this is a great opportunity for Tom. Hutton is just acting with him, and the project is being hosted by Shirley Lansing at 20th Century Fox. She's only 35 and she's on Fox The production president of the factory, his background is self-evident," Paula interjected.

"Don't worry, Paula. Tom is a good friend of mine and I don't mind him being in 'Lights Out,' but you're my agent too, remember?" Ronald didn't have any beef with Tom Cruise, but Paula Wagner always puts Cruise's interests first, which makes him a little uncomfortable.

"I..." Paula was also a little unaccustomed to the tough Ronald.

"Tom, don't worry. Hutton's acting skills are nothing special. You take every role so seriously and act well, stealing his scene." Ronald didn't care much about these, and it was not a project invested by Hutton. .

"No problem, Ronald."

"List of the First Golden Raspberry Awards." Ronald put down the phone and saw a newspaper in the office, which published the so-called list of the worst acting awards. I couldn't help but pick up the newspaper and read it.

"Worst heroine, Brooke Shields. The Blue Lagoon." This is far from the worst performance, right? Ronald was puzzled. Maybe he deliberately chose a well-known person for the sake of sensational effect?

Looking down, it is indeed so.

"The worst supporting actor is Laurence Olivier, the worst director is Olivia Newton-John's 'Cinderella', and the worst actor nominees are Kirk Douglas and Richard De Dreyfus, these are all Oscar-winning actors.

The most outrageous thing is that among the nominees for Worst Actor is former decathlon Olympic champion Bruce Jenner. Anyway, whoever is more famous will be nominated.

"Beep...beep..." The pager rang again. This time it's Matt Dillon.

Matt Dillon specially came to inform that he has officially signed with Disney to star in the movie "DZ Man" adapted from SE Hinton's novel. Disney spent a lot of money to finally defeat Warner Bros. and buy the rights to adapt Hinton's novel.

"The heroine is Meg Tilly."

From his side of the receiver, Ronald could picture Dillon's evil smile.

"Axxhole" laughed and cursed, then hung up the phone.

Meg Tilly finally got her wish and became the heroine of the movie. The great director's son Zinnemann also spared no effort to praise her.

However, after experiencing so many things since joining the industry, Ronald can deal with this kind of thing calmly. It's not easy for an actress to get to the top. It's her own choice to exchange for an opportunity.

After visiting the factory, Ronald returned to his apartment and started practicing every day again. Today CBS is showing the classic romance film "The Golden Marriage". A classic romance film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

"A famous playboy met a beautiful woman on an oil tanker. Both of them had an engagement and were about to get married when they got off the ship. But love happened on the oil tanker..."

Ronald began to write a story outline. This is a very effective training. Being able to write an attractive outline may also be helpful when looking for investment for his own script.

At the same time, it is a good way to sort out my own understanding of the original screenwriter's ideas. The screenwriters of classic and old films are all very good, and it’s good to learn from them.

"Before they separated, the two people agreed that if both parties could successfully end their engagements and start a new career, they would reunite on the top floor of the Empire State Building in New York in six months.

But when that day came, I spent my salary and went to the top floor of the Empire State Building to wait for a day, but the beauty did not appear..."

"Ring ring ring ring..."

"Hey, who is it?" Ronald was still watching an old movie and didn't want to be disturbed, so he spoke a little more fiercely.

"It's me, Poji...oooooooooo..."

"Poor Ji, what's wrong?" Ronald was still looking at the TV and said perfunctorily. Is this some high school girls' gossip again?

"Ronald, this is Terry." Brooke's mother took the receiver. "Boogie is in big trouble this time. She is being investigated by Congress. You must help her."

"Oh, Congressional investigation... that's great." Ronald's attention was still on the TV.

"Wait, what? Congressional investigation? Why?"