Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The movie "Fast and Furious Richmond High" has been officially launched. Universal Pictures has scheduled this youth film to be released next year, that is, after the summer season of 1982, around late July.

There is no exact release date, because the schedule of small productions depends on the situation of large productions.

For large productions with big stars, the schedule for next year will be set at the film trade fair held in Las Vegas in April every year. Buyers from major producers and theaters will find a suitable arrangement there so that the big productions of major studios will not collide in time.

Small productions like "Fast and Furious Richmond High" will find gaps between the gaps of big productions and flexibly adjust the schedule according to their box office situation.

Because the schedule is not very certain, the studio will leave enough time margin for production work.

Going back 3 months, that is, in early April next year, the studio will hope to complete the final editing and small-scale preview of the whole film at this time node, and make some final fine-tuning based on the results of the preview, and then make a feature copy to rent to the theater.

On this basis, we can push forward another three months, that is, before the Christmas holiday in 1981. The film must be packed and shut down at this time.

Three months are left to complete the initial and fine editing of the film, waiting for the film studio executives to find audiences for internal previews, and then decide whether the film needs to be modified. This is the so-called final editing right.

Two months before that, it is the shooting and production time.

In 1980, the average production cost of the eight major film companies was 8 million US dollars. A small production of 3 million US dollars is a very shabby configuration. Every day during the shooting period is burning money, and it is impossible to drag the shooting cycle for a long time and let you take your time.

However, the 90-minute length of the film determines that even if Roger Corman's shooting method is used, it is impossible to save a lot of time. Therefore, the "fast-paced" shooting time is set at 8 weeks.

Excluding the Christmas and New Year holidays, it means that the crew will start shooting at the latest in mid-October this year.

And in September before that, all actors and technical teams must be in place. Including but not limited to the camera team, recording team, lighting team, makeup, costumes, and hairstyles. The crew officially entered the operation stage.

A few months before that, Ronald, as the director, had to work with the producer to determine the candidates for key positions. The director of photography and the art director. These two key people had to work with the director to determine the image tone and set style of the entire film.

After determining the key candidates, the director also had to scout the film with them to find the locations needed in the plot. Determine the shooting location and cost. If the budget is not enough, the script related scenes must be modified.

During this period, another major task of the director was to audition the main actors with the producer. There were a lot of main actors in this film.

In short, Universal also gave a lot of margin during this period, allowing the "fast-paced" production office to be established a little earlier.

All in all, a "small production" takes almost a year to prepare from the release date. This does not include the previous script creation and repeated revisions, waiting for the studio executives to agree to give the project the green light.

Of course, these are just paper schedules. In actual operation, many things can be accommodated, and problems need to be handled flexibly. Small productions are not paid much attention by the studio executives, and the director still has a lot of decision-making power.

Before Ronald started working, Universal would set up a production office in a row of bungalows next to Universal Studios. There were more than a dozen empty offices here, waiting for new crews to move in and seeing off old crews.

Ronald went to see it, and he was assigned to the innermost office, next to the bathroom. There were two desks in the big room, facing each other, belonging to Ronald and the executive producer. On the other side was the accountant's desk.

During the preparation stage, there were only these three people in the office of the "Fast Pace" crew. There was no secretary, and you had to drink tea and coffee yourself.

The executive producer in charge of daily affairs had not yet arrived, and the accountant had not come. After Ronald familiarized himself with the environment in advance, he flew back to New York, because there was an important thing waiting for him to deal with there, that is, to drop out of school.

Aunt Karen was not very happy. Ronald was the first generation of college students in the family, and her sister and brother-in-law expected Ronald to have a promising future. Now he dropped out of school in the second grade to shoot a movie.

There is no guarantee for the future. Regardless of whether the movie is successful or not, Ronald may not be able to get a bachelor's degree.

She talked to Ronald seriously, "Ronnie, it is your parents' wish to send you to college..."

"I know, so I just applied for a leave of absence. I can come back and continue when I am free in the future."

"Have you thought about your future? If your directing career is not going well, you want to come back and find a decent job, and a college degree is indispensable."

"I have the ability to find an editing job in the film industry, you don't have to worry. If it doesn't work out, there are leg warmers factory to make money. As for the academic qualifications, Donna can definitely get into the Ivy League."

"But you are a man, running a women's dance supplies business, it's always a bit weird."

"Don't worry, my movie will definitely be a hit."

After persuading his aunt, Ronald drove to New York University and went to the office building to apply for a leave of absence.

Then he turned the car and went to the home of his teacher Scorsese, who had made an appointment in advance.

Isabella prepared black tea for him. Scorsese was half lying on the sofa with a blanket covering his legs.

Although he did not win the Oscar for Best Director, the good reviews of "Raging Bull" in the film critics made him gain the trust of the studio again, and a new film is being prepared.

"Ronald, you are very good. Among the students I have taught, you may be the first to independently direct a film. Youth film, huh? Very good. It is best if the first film has some overlap with your own life."

"Thank you." Ronald drank black tea and saw Isabella go to the kitchen to serve meatballs to them.

"Marty, what is the theme of your new film this time?"

"Ahem, I hope to make a movie about Jesus Christ and let Robert De Niro play Christ himself." Scorsese coughed twice and replied, "I haven't been in good health recently, and De Niro is not interested in playing him. We may turn to comedy."

"It has always been Marty's wish to make a movie about Jesus Christ in his last moments." Isabella simply heated up the meatballs in the kitchen and brought them out to Ronald and Marty.

"Thank you, Isabella." Scorsese's wife actually has a good image and is suitable for filming movies or commercials, but she has always only played the role of a housewife and occasionally appeared on TV.

"How is your mother, Ms. Bergman?" Ronald asked.

"She is recuperating in London. She has not been in good health since the operation."

After eating the meatballs, Ronald stood up to say goodbye. Scorsese stopped him, "Ahem, I have another gift for you, Isabella, pass me the box."

"What is this?" Ronald was curious.

"Open it and take a look."

Ronald opened it and saw that it turned out to be a small director's viewfinder.

"This is what I used when I was filming Once Upon a Time, I'm giving it to you. It can help you see the range of the viewfinder of different focal length movie lenses when scouting locations. It has no depth of field but is light enough and suitable for running around."

"Thank you, Marty." Ronald hung the viewfinder around his neck and said goodbye to go home.

Donna at home had returned from school. When they met, she asked Ronald, "Why don't you use the Commodore computer that Diane and I gave you? My aunt and I saw it when we went to your apartment to clean the room two days ago."

"It's not that I don't use it, but the tape drive takes a long time to start and save every time, and it's not convenient for me to take it to the print shop, so I took the typewriter with me last time I went to Los Angeles."

"I knew it, here you go." Donna took out another box, "It's convenient to use this."

Ronald took a look and found that it was a machine bigger than a Walkman, with a long gap on it. He didn't know what it was used for.

"This is called a floppy drive, and this is a floppy disk. It's very convenient to use this to start the typing software Wordstar." Donna handed him a few more floppy disks.

As the name suggests, the 5-inch floppy disk is indeed soft. Ronald took it and inserted it into the floppy drive, and it fit perfectly.

"Okay, that's much more convenient. I'll bring it this time."

"Diane and I bought it for you this time."

"Oh, thank her for me." Ronald put away the floppy drive. "Where is she now? I haven't seen her come home since the Oscars."

"She's in a new crew again. This time it seems to be a racing movie, starring with singer Kenny Rogers."

Ronald nodded. For actors, the time to participate in a movie is very short. They don't have to participate in the early preparations and the later editing. The rehearsal and shooting time usually add up to 2-3 months, so they can participate in many more movies every year than directors.

If they can get enough film contracts.

"Has her last movie about punk girls been edited? When will it be released?" Ronald asked.

"I heard that there was a problem with the editing and the director couldn't cut a complete 90-minute video. Diane called several times and each time she said it was almost done."

"Oh, that's really unfortunate." Ronald knew this kind of thing. Inexperienced novice directors sometimes didn't shoot movies according to editing considerations, but just followed their own interests. They would shoot more of the scenes they liked and only shoot one of the scenes they were not interested in. Sometimes there was not enough material during editing, and it would often get stuck like this.

Either reshoot or revise the script and cut the existing materials into a 90-minute film. "

Although I have the skills of editing and have a few scenes I dreamed of as reference, I still can't be careless and take every day's shooting seriously.

If I accidentally make such a low-level mistake, it would be really funny. Losing the trust of the studio will make it difficult to go on the road of directing.