Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Diane Lane and Laura Dern were skeptical about Ronald's claim that he could edit the movie "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Magic Stains" and release it.

"Do you think he can really edit it, Diane?" Laura and Diane went to the hotel booked by the Golden Globe Awards Organizing Committee to play together, still thinking about whether their first movie could be released.

The Golden Globe Awards had a 15% audience rating last year, and the annual broadcast fee was over a million dollars. Compared with the judges who only knew less than a hundred people, the organizing committee had too much money to spend. So Laura, who served as the "Miss Golden Globe", was given a large room in a five-star hotel, which was located at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel where the event was held.

"I don't know, but you can see that Jane Fonda respects him very much and invited him to her home to talk alone. Maybe he is really a bit of a genius?" Diane didn't know Ronald's directing and editing skills very well, but she only knew that he won an Oscar for writing lyrics.

"That makes sense. Artists can't be inferred by common sense." Laura thought.

Born into a performing arts family, she knew that the level of film artists does not depend on time and experience. It is common for young people to beat the masters with one punch in the film industry.

Among the film director biographies on her father's bookshelf, there is a book about the young genius Orson Welles. At the age of 23, Orson Welles directed the radio play "Martians Invade the Earth", which fooled half of the American people into believing it.

"I have to call my mother and ask her for me." Laura Dern said that she was not like Diane who had already made several film works. Laura was still looking forward to the early release of her first film.

A week later, Ronald finally waited for the preview audience invited by Universal. In a Hollywood movie theater, more than a hundred audiences invited by the theater to participate in the preview of an anonymous "teen comedy".

"Go to the women's bathroom later and listen to the opinions of the female audience." Before the show started, Ronald hid at the door behind the theater and quietly instructed his agent Paula Wagner.

"Women's restroom?" Paula nodded in agreement.

"Can you help me see what they are talking about in the men's restroom?" Then Ronald assigned a task to Richard Lovett, the youngest of the three.

"What job are you assigning me?" Rick Niceta, who has the highest status in CAA, looked at Ronald and asked with a smile.

"Don't you want to talk to me about something? Oh oh..." Ronald reacted and hurriedly thanked Paula and Richard, "Please help me, I really don't have anyone to help me. I will go to the lobby to listen to the audience's reaction later. Thank you, thank you!"

Niceta smiled and pulled Ronald out of the screening room.

"Do you think Ronald has become a little bit..." Richard said to Paula Wagner, who rarely appeared.

"Confident, sensitive, aggressive?" Paula smiled.

"Artists treat their works in this way. They are full of confidence, but afraid of criticism. This is Ronald's first directorial work, which is his debut film. It is abnormal if he does not have this contradictory mentality. You will know it if you deal with artists more often."

With a "whoosh", the automatic door of the theater shook twice and finally stopped in the closed position. A globe logo appeared on the screen, and the preview of "Fast and Furious Richmond High School" released by Universal began.

The brisk opening music quickly brought the audience into an ordinary department store in Southern California...

Richard and Paula stopped talking, found a seat and sat down to watch.

Nicita, who was outside the door, was talking to Ronald. He had something to ask Ronald.

"The senior executives of Paramount called in person and asked if you could help look at their movie "The Magic Stains". The ending of this movie has not been edited. If it cannot tell a complete story, it can only be abandoned and locked in the film library."

"Ah? They really came to you?" Ronald was surprised. Did Laura and Diane pass on their words?

"Yes, but I don't recommend you to take over the editing. It's okay to help look at the copy. But Lou Adler is not just a simple director, he is also the boss of the record industry. We don't know what he thinks."

"Then you arrange a meeting between me and him? If he really wants help from others, then it won't be too late for me to help, otherwise just take a look at other people's work."

"Don't you want to take a vacation? There are still six months before the release, you can take a long vacation and then start preparing for a new project. I know you are fast, six months is enough to write the script for the next movie." Niceta replied.

"Write a script?" Ronald repeated this sentence, "I don't know, Rick. I've been very nervous recently. I can't write any quality scripts, and I have no inspiration at all. On the other hand, I can't stop and rest completely. I'm always looking for things to do.

I seem to have gotten used to this fast-paced life of less than five hours of sleep a day, filming, watching samples, editing, rewinding... This movie has also accelerated the pace of my own life. I feel uncomfortable when I stop, but I'm not in the mood to write a script."

"Why don't you travel abroad, Ronald? Many directors will fall into this kind of anxiety after completing a work. What they need is to find a girl and go to a resort for two months together.

I’m not asking you to waste time on vacation, but timely rest and adjustment are needed. If you need, I can also give you a few invitations to the party, as long as you don't indulge in it..."

Niceta saw that Ronald had a tendency to be anxious and became concerned about the client's mental health.

"I don't need to pay to find a girl to accompany me, hahaha." Ronald laughed and said haha. He didn't really like the kind of parties that Niceta mentioned. Drinking and having fun can easily make people lose their minds.

Moreover, there is a lack of real high-quality beauties there. They are all those who want to enter the entertainment industry but cannot get in.

He continued, "Hey, I also know that I may have ordinary life syndrome. The fast and dramatic story rhythm in the movie assimilated me, but the ordinary rhythm in life made me feel abnormal."

Ronald also vaguely felt that his mental state was a bit too excited. He was eager to work but could not calm down to write a script that required forward and backward planning.

As for the girls, they couldn’t find a suitable partner for a short-term vacation for a while. After filming the movie, all the beauties on the crew scattered to find new jobs. At the moment, the prosecutor who can skip testing and communicate directly is far away in New York, and the girl he wants to date is also auditioning constantly in New York and has no time to come to Los Angeles.

"I think I'd better use work to adjust my status. Do you have any short-term job offers?" Ronald asked.

“Except for Paramount’s ‘Stain Band’ asking you to see if there was any way to remedy the editing, there were only a few sporadic script offers, but you said you couldn’t settle down to write the script.

I actually don’t recommend that you immediately invest in writing scripts commissioned by studios. After your new film is released and gets some good reviews, the asking price for such commissioned scripts will be higher. "

“What about jobs other than screenwriting?”

"There is a job opening for the trainee director of Coppola's new film... But that requires competition with many people from the Directors Guild. Based on your qualifications, it is actually a bit too strong. You have already directed a feature film, so you don't need to compete with other directors. Learn from others to increase your qualifications.”

"Isn't Coppola's new movie not released yet? That 'Old Love, New Love' starring Natasha Kinski? Is there a new movie coming out so soon?"

"It's a long story. Paramount was originally going to release his new film, but Coppola released his own edited version in Los Angeles without Paramount's consent, and was terminated from the distribution contract.

Columbia, which was acquired by Coca-Cola, took over distribution at the last minute. But Coppola also faced a heavy financial burden because of this. He signed a gambling agreement with Colombia...

Now he can only continue to take on new jobs to solve his bankruptcy crisis. "

Ronald nodded. If he had this opportunity at the beginning of last year, he would definitely fight for it. "How is the quality of Old Love and New Love? Have you seen it?"

"No, but it will premiere soon. You can go and see it for yourself. I heard that it is a breakthrough in technology, but the format is a bit old. It is an old-fashioned musical."

"Also, director Peter Bogdanovich would like to meet with you."

"What is he looking for me for? I don't know him?" Ronald asked curiously. This famous director who made "Paper Moon" frightened him after his girlfriend Dorothy Stratten was killed some time ago. It was so embarrassing that he disappeared from the circle for a long time.

"Maybe it's about his dead girlfriend Stratten. You used her poster in the movie. I heard that the copyright of many of Stratten's portraits is now in his hands."

"Then let him talk to the producer. I'm not interested." Ronald had seen Bogdanovich's movies, but he didn't have a strong desire to communicate with him.

"Why don't you go in and watch your own movie?"

"To tell you the truth, I've watched it hundreds of times in the editing room. Now I can't feel the charm of the movie itself at all. It's all about the scenes when I was shooting and editing. And it's so dark inside that I can't even feel the charm of the movie itself." I don’t know the expressions of the audience, I’m here waiting for them to come out and score.”

"Okay, then I'll go in and watch." Niceta carefully pushed away the people in the screening room to prevent him from making a sound, and then got in.

Today is the first time that Ronald's client's film will be screened in front of an audience, so all three of his agents from CAA are here.

The name is help, but it actually also means evaluation. Look at Ronald's performance and potential, and then consider how much resources to invest in him and what kind of opportunities we will strive for.

Ronald waited at the door for the show to end, bought a bag of popcorn and a glass of Coke, and started eating and drinking by himself.

For the past six months, it has been really hard for me to do nothing and just wait. Every day I am thinking about how the movie will do at the box office after it is released. Just like a defendant waiting for the judge's decision, only when the gavel falls can he stop being on tenterhooks.

"If I don't have any job, I can go back to New York and help my aunt sell leg warmers. It might be better to be with my family." Ronald thought while eating.

More than an hour later, the door of the screening room was pushed open with a bang from inside, and many viewers who had finished watching the movie walked out one after another.

Universal staff set up a stall at the door. There is paper for viewers to write ratings and comments.

Ronald stepped in to help with the distribution and retrieval, and listened to the audience's feedback.

"The scene that impressed me the most? It was Linda at the swimming pool... haha."

"What do you think the filming is not good enough? I think the plot of Stacey and Mark's love is not very good. Why does Stacey fall in love with him?"

"Am I willing to accept a return interview by phone? Yes, I'll leave my number."

…

Ronald looked at a lot of audience ratings, and many people gave them relatively high scores. The average score might be between B+ and A-.

"What do you think?" After the two agents came back from the bathroom after listening to the feedback, Ronald quickly asked them about the feedback they heard. Queuing in the bathroom is often the moment when viewers reveal their truth.

"Girls generally admired the daydream episode played by Phoebe Cates. Although it was a nudity scene, they didn't find it objectionable," said Paula Wagner. "Maybe they also have a fantasy complex. Ronald, you just made the actor who played Brad in the dream scene very handsome."

"What did they say about Stacey's scenes?"

"I didn't mention that scene. Maybe it was too real?"

Ronald nodded. In the scene with Stacey, scalper Mike became a fast shooter, and finally Stacey became pregnant. The ending of this plot was not very good. The audience may have selectively forgotten.

"What did you say there?" Ronald turned to Richard.

"A lot of people like Spicoli, and the male audience members are talking about how he ended up dating Brooke Shields, was on Letterman's talk show, and invited Van Halen to sing for his birthday." Richard replied, "Maybe Everyone wants to be like Spicoli, who can get high qualifications by playing all day long and become a winner in life.”

"He was the only character who received applause when the character's ending was revealed at the end of the movie," Niceta added.

"Can I keep a copy of the phone numbers of the viewers who left their phone numbers so they can call back?" Ronald asked the Universal staff who was sorting out the scoring and evaluation papers after watching the audience leave.

"I need to organize these first and discuss them with the company's senior management. Then I can send a copy to you, Director Ronald."

"Can I leave you your phone number? I am his agent and I will contact you when the time comes." Richard quickly took out a pen and wrote down his phone number.