Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald took a red-eye flight to Los Angeles. He ate breakfast in the terminal hall of Los Angeles Airport, waiting for his agent Richard to pick him up.

When he just got off the plane, the terminal hall broadcast someone looking for someone. Ronald heard his name and went to the public phone to answer a call from the secretary of CAA. He knew that Richard was delayed by answering the phone just before departure.

Ronald drank the last sip of coffee, picked up the "Variety Weekend Edition" bought at the newsstand, and turned to the weekly box office column.

"First place Superman 2, 14 million, this is the second movie adapted from the Superman comics,

Second place Cannonball Run, 11.7 million, invested by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest Company,

Third place The Lost Ark of the Covenant 8 million..."

"The Lost Ark of the Covenant box office is very strong. The third week is only 4% lower than the first week. It seems that it will enter a long-term screening."

Ronald put down the newspaper. In the new week's box office, "The Lost Ark of the Covenant" was only surpassed by two new films and ranked third. It seems that Hollywood will pursue Spielberg, the genius director who dropped out of college again.

At this time, Richard came over and greeted Ronald. The two walked out of the terminal and got into his Corolla car.

"Spielberg's assistant Catherine called and said that Steven has signed a contract with Universal to produce the ET movie. He also wants to hear your opinion on the latest version of the script. Please go to his house tonight to have a chat."

"Why? I'm afraid I can't give any new opinions. Besides, all the secrets of his spectacle movies are in Steven's own mind. The script is actually not as important as other feature films.

Besides, I have to work on my own movie. Can you find a way to help me turn it down, Richard?"

"This time Mr. Spielberg invited you to his home and office, which is the big house that Universal built for him after the success of "Jaws". This is equivalent to a private invitation. If you have some personal relationship with him, it will probably be of great benefit to your future career."

"But I will be very busy, casting, scouting, interviewing the director of photography and art director. I really want to be a guest, but evaluating the script will take up a lot of my time, and my subsequent work is very trivial and troublesome."

CAA is very enthusiastic about this matter, and Spielberg is unwilling to sign them. If Steven has a personal friend in CAA, it will be beneficial whether he wants to insert actors into his movies in the future or seek opportunities to sign him again.

Ronald himself is not very interested. He has already got the position of director, and the new social relationship will be of limited help to him for the time being. The most important thing for his directing career at the moment is to make a high-grossing movie.

"After all, he is Steven, the owner of the highest box office record for American movies. Having a personal relationship is very important for your long-term. At least don't reject him immediately, go meet him, and then find a way to turn down the script evaluation work."

Richard is more sincere to himself than other agents, and his words are quite thoughtful. Ronald nodded, "Okay, I'll think about it."

"By the way, how do you respond to Mr. Dean Conti, the director of photography I asked you to invite?" Ronald is obsessed with Conti, the director of photography of his first movie "Rock and Roll High School". He shot a low-cost production of hundreds of thousands of dollars very well, with high picture quality and unified style.

"Candy is still filming the sequel to Halloween, and he has been offered many movies. He said he really wants to work with you, but he has already agreed on other jobs. Universal gave you three recommended candidates, so you can meet them when the time comes. Youth comedies don't require high photography."

"But Dean Candy is one of my own." Ronald thought to himself. The crew is a messy place. If some people who know each other well and have worked together before work together, the efficiency will be much higher.

"Let's go to Universal's project office first, and then I'll take you to the hotel. This morning, Art Linson, one of the producers, will introduce you to the executive producer of the crew. The accountant will also work at your place, and all the expenses in the preparatory stage of the crew will be reimbursed by her."

The two soon arrived at Universal Studios, and Art Linson waited for him at the door, "Hi, Ronald, hello. Did you just get off the plane?"

The two hugged each other warmly, and Linson handed over a key, "The office is yours for this period of time. Another producer, Mr. Azov, and I will come to see it often. Sometimes we just stroll over after lunch. It's very close."

"Thank you, I hope you will come to see it often", which is also what it should be. There are very few experienced producers like Coleman who let go after determining the director's level.

He looked around and found no trace of other people. "Is the executive producer not here? When will he arrive? I want to talk to him about the casting and location scouting arrangements as early as possible."

"It's morning now. People in the film industry are not used to getting up early. You should be able to see him soon... But I want to correct two of your mistakes. It's her, not him. She will serve as the deputy producer. I will basically come to the crew every day. There is no need to set up a permanent executive producer."

Well, it seems that Art Linson has not given up his dream of being a director. This time he made it clear that he wanted to stay on the set and see more of how he was filming. It also has some supervision implications.

In this case, it is indeed unlike those busy producers who need an executive producer to watch the stall on site and report any problems at any time. It is normal to arrange a nominal deputy producer in this way.

The associate producer of the crew has a big name, but the actual power is not certain. It can be a relative or friend of the producer who names the film and adds subtitles. It can also be the power of acting producer, which varies depending on the crew.

Anyway, it won’t be the executive producer’s way of getting into every shooting detail. For me, it’s one less constraint from the crew.

The two waited in the office for a while, and a woman wearing sunglasses walked in, "Hi, Art. Hi, Ronald, we meet again." It was Amy Heckerling, who failed in the director competition. .

"Hi, Amy," Ronald greeted Heckerling, who failed to compete with him. "Is your new movie confirmed? Is Art also the producer?"

Although Heckerling did not get the directorship of "Fast Pace", her personal relationship with Tom Mount was still known by the industry. An agent at CAA, Rupke, signed her and helped her sign a directing contract with Universal.

Richard told him this. Back then, Lapke used tricks to trick Richard who wanted to climb out of the mail room, and the two had a grudge.

Ronald heard the news from Richard that Heckerling was digging for gold in Universal's script library.

"No, I haven't seen any good scripts that can compare to 'Fast-paced Richmond High', so Mr. Mount and I requested to be an associate producer on the 'Fast-paced' crew. I want to be this part of the movie.

"Huh?" Ronald was wondering why Heikelin didn't find a script to start a project and join his own crew.

"I can help you in many ways, Ronald. For example, I am very familiar with rock music. When I read the script, I paired music for each plot. I also drew up a song list, and each song was It is irreplaceable..."

"This woman is really bold. With the support of Tom Mount, she just forced her way into the crew and wanted to usurp her own power?"

Ronald felt resentful in his heart, "Tom Mount is also a pig. He put himself and Hecklein on the same crew. Is he preparing to find fault with himself and replace him with Hecklein?"

"I just got off the plane and have to go to the hotel. Let's talk in detail tomorrow." Ronald didn't appear to have a seizure, but he didn't go to pick up her playlist. He turned around and said hello to the producer Lin Sen, and talked to the manager. Chad is gone.

"Go to CAA, I want to see Niceta." Ronald ordered Richard in the car.

Richard didn't know that Heckerling had such a plan waiting for Ronald and started the car. He looked at Ronald's face. Apart from being too serious to smile, he couldn't tell whether he was angry or not.

"Nisita, can you let Hekelin leave?" Seeing Nisita, Ronald made his request straight to the point.

Niceta didn't know what was going on and looked at Richard. After listening to the brief introduction, he picked up the phone to negotiate with Lapke.

"His secretary said he was out of the office."

"I want to see Ovitz." Ronald said calmly.

"Calm down, Ronald," Niceta stood up, took two steps, and said to Richard, "Can you give me and Ronald some space to talk?"

Watching Richard exit the office, Niceta looked at Ronald and said:

"I know you are very dissatisfied with me, but I don't know about Heikelin. I will definitely stand by you and protect your interests, which is to protect my own interests."

Then he squatted down slightly and approached Ronald who was sitting, "There are some things that I won't admit I said outside of this office.

You have to know that Heikelin is of Jewish descent, as is Universal's president Sheinberg. Although he selected you, he still admires Heikelin, who is also of Jewish descent, and is happy to see her succeed. "

"And Ovitz too."

Ronald glanced at Niceta, with a hint of questioning in his eyes.

"I'm Italian."

Ronald thought to himself that Tom Mount was probably taking advantage of Sheinberg's ethnic psychology. Now that Spielberg had brought ET to the world, if he was really replaced by Heckerling due to lack of ability, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to What will be said.

"I still want to see Ovitz, I must express my attitude." Ronald thought for a moment and said to Niceta.

Niceta put her hands on his shoulders, "Are you ready? Hollywood is a colosseum."

"certainly."

"Welcome to the industry." Niceta turned around and called Ovitz's secretary's office, "Yes..., yes... he is very angry, I can't stop him."

Live him. "

After giving Ronald a hint, the two went to Ovitz's office together.

"Didn't you say that CAA's culture is like a big family? Why did Rapke betray me, your client?"

Ovitz seemed not to have expected the extent of Ronald's anger. He handed the crying baby in the cradle next to his desk to his secretary, "Take her to another room, don't scare her, and change her into a disposable diaper." "

"It's my little daughter. My wife complained that I didn't take enough care of her, so I had to bring her to the office."

"I'm sorry, she's beautiful." Seeing that the baby was frightened, Ronald also put down his angry expression.

"This is too much, but Ronald, this is just a small thing for the president of MCA to bother Mr. Sheinberg about this... On the one hand, he is not available, and on the other hand, he will not I won’t get involved for this hour.”

"Lapke knew that I was also a client of CAA, so why did he support Heikelin regardless of the conflict of interest?"

"Be fair, Ronald. Hecklin is a high-quality client. Lapke didn't know this would happen when he signed her."

"Hecklin must want to squeeze me out of the crew. If I fight back and squeeze Hecklin out, whose side are you on?"

"Of course I support you. I will tell Lapke that we should pay attention to conflicts of interest between clients in the future. I promise."

"Tell him to eat shit." Ronald left Ovitz's office angrily.

"Conflict of interest, where would the interest come from without conflict?" Ovitz laughed secretly and told his secretary, "After changing the diaper, bring my baby in."

Entering Nicita's office, Ronald no longer looked angry, but found Nicita's wine cabinet, opened a bottle of the most expensive whiskey, and poured a glass for himself, Nicita, and Richard.

"You impressed me, Ronald." Nicita praised.

"I don't think it will be possible to get Hecklin to leave in a short time. This is a long-term battle. I need you to do a few things for me." Ronald took a sip of dry whiskey without ice and said to Nicita.

"Please go ahead."

"First, I want to know any new moves of Heckerling. I know you have the ability."

"Okay."

"Second, contact Cameron Crowe and ask him to come and talk. I want to invite him to join the crew as a screenwriter and original author. I need more allies."

"No problem."

Ronald turned to Richard and said, "Reply to Mr. Spielberg's assistant, I will go there in the evening."

In the afternoon, Ronald urgently called Gail, the new producer of New World Company. Ask her how to play the power struggle in the crew.

"Power is not something that comes with being appointed. In addition to letting the superior appoint him and giving him the appointment letter, the powerful person must also convince everyone in the team, so that they will obey your orders."

Gail has also worked in several crews and has seen directors who are highly responsive and directors who are collectively despised by their subordinates.

"How can we get this kind of authority?"

"This can only be achieved through little efforts in things. If they follow your instructions and shoot the daily samples well, they will gradually obey you.

As you said, Heckerlin took the initiative to undertake the music matching work, which is to show her ability to her superiors through things.

She will not compete with you in everything, but she will definitely show off her ability in casting and music matching, which can show her ability in front of the producer.

She may not come to do practical and unobtrusive work such as location scouting and script analysis, because she cannot leave a deep impression on her superiors.

Just like Jim, the stunt model he made in Jamaica was very good, and the producer fired the original director and let him take over. This is the benefit of knowing how to show off in front of superiors."

"Thank you, Gail, I think I know how to do it."