Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Bang!"

With a crisp sound, the fine champagne was opened and the cork shot out.

"Congratulations, Ronald." Nicita raised the bottle and filled Ronald with champagne.

"Would you like one?" Nicita took out a cigar, cut it for Ronald, and lit it with a match.

"Thank you!" Ronald imitated the boss, crossed his legs, sat at Nicita's desk, and took a sip comfortably.

On Monday night, the second day after the first weekend of the release, CAA's agents held a small celebration for Ronald.

"Two and a half million dollars in the first weekend. According to the predicted first weekend multiplier, your movie is expected to get one to fifteen million. Plus the money sold to Universal Television Network. Congratulations! Ronald, you succeeded."

"Thank you!"

Ronald exhaled a mouthful of smoke, and squinted his eyes at the congratulatory card opposite, which read "Congratulations". It was made by Nicita's assistant, with hand-painted letters on a white background, which felt a bit cheap.

"Don't be disgusted. I asked Lucy to prepare this. She must have been bad at handicrafts in high school. Hahaha." Nicita was a little regretful. If the movie was released nationwide as originally planned, the box office figure could at least be doubled.

"No, in fact, I am very grateful. During this period, only you have supported me with all your strength." Ronald took a sip of champagne. The bigwigs of Universal were in serious conflict, and the box office performance of the movie was greatly affected.

Only Richard from CAA accompanied him, and Nicita also helped him contact Spielberg's Amblin Studio to find new projects. Sure enough, the agent who only makes money because of himself is the most reliable person at this moment.

"This is just a preview. Universal expects your movie to be screened on the West Coast for more than four to six weeks. They will hold a larger celebration party."

"By the way, do you have a girlfriend? If not, CAA can introduce you to one. At this moment, many girls will actively approach you to seek opportunities because of your success."

"No need, I have my own arrangements."

"Very good, I like this about you, Ronald. Many directors forget themselves after success and cause a lot of trouble between men and women. You are sober after success, which is the way to be successful in Hollywood for a long time."

After the movie was released, Nicita's attitude towards him also changed, and she began to flatter him inconspicuously.

"I heard from Richard that you foresaw the box office success before the release? How did you do it?"

"Just like the new Super Bowl champion quarterback, Joe Montana, I saw it. The ball is there, I just need to pass it."

"Hahaha! You are great." Nicita started to applaud regardless of whether she understood it or not. Richard and several assistants also began to follow.

Ronald raised his glass to thank them.

"It's late, I'll go back first."

"Let Richard take you."

"Ding Di." Richard's Corolla car stopped at the door of the CAA office. "Where are you going, Ronald?"

"To the department store. I want to see the box office of "Fast and Furious."

"Okay!" Richard started the car and drove to the Sherman Oaks Department Store where the filming took place.

"Two tickets for "Fast and Furious Richmond High School."

"Only tickets after 8 o'clock."

"Okay, give us two."

The two sat at the American Burger across from the cinema, eating and observing the flow of people watching the movie.

Most of the people who came to see "Fast and Furious" were young people, and there were many friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends and girlfriends.

"The Best Chicken House in Texas" also attracted many adults to watch it because Dolly Parton starred in it.

The rest were families who came to see "ET the Extraterrestrial."

"I feel like you're not very satisfied, Ronald." Richard spent more time with Ronald during this period and got to know him better. He knew that Ronald was not as happy as he appeared to be at the CAA celebration.

"Of course, Nicita keeps repeating Universal's estimate that 'Fast and Furious' has four to six weeks of release time, and he hasn't discovered the potential of this movie yet."

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"Almost everyone underestimated the box office potential of this movie. How could it be a movie that was released in just four weeks? They were all blind."

"Honestly, Ronald. If it was a week ago, I would have thought you were disappointed with Universal's release schedule, so you were talking nonsense. But the box office last weekend proved everything, you were right. So this time I also believe in your judgment."

Richard happily rolled up his shirt sleeves and picked up Pepsi to toast with his client.

"Can you tell me how you figured it out? You said in Nicita's office that you saw the wide receiver like Joe Montana, and I felt that he didn't understand. To be honest, I didn't understand it either. Why didn't we see it? Didn't those Universal distribution directors see it either?"

Ronald put down the cup. Of course, he couldn't say that he dreamed about the 15th anniversary edition of "Fast and Furious". He could only say a few words that he could say.

"Richard, what do you think is the most powerful marketing promotion for a movie?"

"The theater poster? Or the cardboard poster? The billboard at the ticket window?"

Ronald shook his head, "None of them, not these things."

"Is it a trailer before other movies? But this time we only have a few trailers. They are inserted before Dolly Parton's movie and have almost no effect."

"neither."

"What is that? I can't think of it."

"Let me ask you another question, how do you choose movies when you go to the cinema?"

"I listen to my friends, or my girlfriend helps me choose, or her friends tell her. By the way, we also look at the box office rankings in newspapers and TV."

"That's where I saw it. Universal arranged for retired stars and executives to watch the movie. I saw their grandchildren's reactions when they watched the movie, and I knew I would not fail."

"I do not understand……"

"Wow..."

The two people who were talking were interrupted by the sound, and the audience from the last "fast-paced" performance began to disperse.

"That Spicoli-like is so handsome."

"Yeah, he was able to save Brooke Shields while surfing. He's really lucky."

"What's that girl's name? She like, the scene in her bikini is really great. The director like, must be a veteran of flowers."

"I think it's a shame that Stacey chose Mark. It's obvious that the audio salesman is good-looking."

"What do you know? This kind of nerd will make more money from work in the future."

"Then why don't you go out with that nerd in class and date the quarterback of the football team?"

"For me, dating is not the same thing as getting married."

…

Ronald and Richard stood nearby and eavesdropped on the audience's conversation for a long time.

"Do you understand? The biggest marketing for a movie is the word-of-mouth spread among the audience. If they watch it well and tell their friends and classmates back home, their friends and classmates will also come to watch it."

Richard nodded, then shook his head, "I know they talk about movies, indeed more than other movies, but I don't know how you do it."

"That's a million dollar question." Ronald smiled, of course because he took a lot of shots that were easy for people to spread word of mouth.

For example, the daydream of the swimming pool bikini, the revealing scene of Stacey and Mike, or Spicoli saving Brooke Shields, are all scenes that are very suitable for word-of-mouth communication.

"Do you know what brand of shoes Spicoli used to hit himself on the head when he was high? The checkerboard pattern is quite nice."

"I don't know. I just know that the store where Stacey works has the same uniform as the pizza store across the street. Their clerks are also very beautiful."

"Beep..." One of the young men whistled to the clerk opposite, "What's your name? Is it Stacey?"

"It's Stacey, what about you? Mike?" The beautiful shop assistant also saw the fast pace and joked with him.

"Hahaha……"

Ronald and Richard walked into the cinema. At eight o'clock in the evening, the attendance rate was still very high, and more than one-third of the audience were seated one after another.

Ronald's intense discomfort watching his own directorial work has slowly dissipated. He began to judge from the perspective of an experienced director the various mishandlings of the films he made at that time.

"Welcome to our show, The Late Late Show. Today we're featuring an American icon, Brooke Shields."

At the end of the movie, Brooke Shields and Spicoli, played by Sean Penn, appeared on a talk show together. Brooke Shields gave Spicoli a check for $20,000 on the spot.

Then he spent it immediately, invited Van Halen to sing at his birthday party, and soon became a pauper again.

"Hahaha, it's so funny." Most of the audience stayed in their seats and watched the endings of the protagonists.

"That Spicoli-like guy is so handsome that he didn't even attend any classes and ended up dating Brooke Shields."

There is also the unearned Spicoli, and the like-like valley accent when speaking. The audience has been talking about these characters and plots, which are signs that this movie will become popular.

Ronald's mouth was full of smiles...

"What are the box office statistics for that fast-paced movie from Monday to Thursday?"

The head of Universal Pictures' distribution department asked his subordinates for statistics. It's almost a week since it was released, and the box office figures from Monday to Thursday after the first weekend are also an important reference.

"Two million and four hundred thousand..." The subordinate checked for a long time and hesitated to say a number?

"How much?" The supervisor grabbed the statistical form.

"Four hundred and ninety-eight theaters, a total of $2.4 million in box office, only $100,000 less than the three-day opening weekend."

"Is there any mistake?"

"No, I checked it three times. The average daily box office per theater has dropped slightly, and is still over US$1,200."

"Hurry up and call the lab and ask them to print more copies. fxck! How come such a fierce film only prints so little."

Soon, calls from theaters in California and the West Coast came to Universal Pictures urging them to make copies.

"fxck! This is a fucking blockbuster movie that's as good as Xiao et's. Why not distribute it nationwide? It's too late to say anything now. Quickly arrange media interviews for several leading actors, including newspapers and TV."

The director of the marketing department also began to curse, "We had made an overall marketing plan at the beginning, but some fool canceled it. Now we have made temporary arrangements. Where can I find space and interview time?"

"Keep your voice down, it was Tom Mount who canceled it." A colleague pulled him and signaled to several vice presidents who were passing by the media office.

"Hmph!" Tom Mount, who was in the corridor, heard his subordinates' complaints and returned to his office to sulk.

"Ring, ring, ring..." His direct line rang.

"Hello, I'm Tom."

"Nicola." It was his wife's voice on the phone.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Mount changed his voice and spoke gently to his wife who had helped him a lot in his career.

"Why did the boss of HBO cancel my promotion plan? Did you do something that made the whole industry know about it?"

"I..." Tom Mount finally coaxed his wife and started calling friends in the circle to inquire about the news.

A circle of friends were all making fun of him, only the old father-in-law told the truth.

"Tom, it's time to save some dignity."