Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The news that Universal decided to release "Fast and Furious" on the East Coast was immediately sent to the office of Ronald's agent CAA.

"Where is Ronald?" Nicita asked Richard. Universal couldn't find him, so she told him the good news.

"He told me that a friend invited him to dinner. I have been asking him to let me know when he goes out. There may be good news."

"Well done. We have to consider renting a long-term apartment for this client. A director whose debut work sold for 20 or 30 million can't live in a motel all the time."

Nicita told Richard, "You go to the hotel and wait for him to come back. Tell him the good news as soon as possible. Ned Tanin will talk to him tomorrow. This old sly guy also needs Ronald's support now."

The one who invited Ronald to dinner was his former boss, Roger Corman and his wife Julie. Ronald walked into this restaurant with a unique decoration. It was opened by Greek immigrants and mainly serves Greek dishes. It is located near Hollywood. The business was good at dinner time and it was full of people.

"When I received a call from your new secretary saying you were inviting me to dinner, I thought someone was playing a prank on me, Mr. Coleman." Ronald was brought to the table by the waiter. Seeing the Coleman couple, he made a joke first.

"Hahaha." Julie Coleman was amused and laughed. Roger's stinginess had reached a certain level.

"Do you know, Ronald? Roger was invited by Joe Dante to guest star in "Break the Daredevil Three Times". He played an old stingy man who waited outside the phone booth, waiting for others to finish their calls and rushed in to pick up the extra ten cents after the call was connected."

"Hahaha", Roger Coleman did not feel offended by Dante's invitation to him to guest star in an eclectic role. Instead, he felt it was very interesting. He liked this guest star experience very much.

Ronald was seated with the help of the waiter. Greek cuisine is famous for various olive oils, low-fat foods and wines. The three of them slowly tasted the delicacies and began to chat.

"Henry Fonda passed away two days ago." Coleman said the biggest news in the industry recently.

"I asked Jane, his father left a will, no funeral, cremation and burial in the church."

"Hey, I worked with his son, Peter, on many exploitation films. Peter didn't like working with big studios and insisted on independent production, but his father's last movie he directed and produced failed at the box office, so he stopped filming. The current film market is really not very prosperous."

"So Ronald's success is particularly rare, isn't it? Peter's movie even invited Brooke Shields to be the protagonist, but it didn't sell well." Julie interrupted from the side, interrupting Coleman's nostalgia.

"Yes. Congratulations, Ronald. Do you know? Every director who debuted with me, after they independently made their first successful movie, I would treat them to a dinner to congratulate them."

"Thank you," Ronald raised his glass filled with white wine to indicate.

"In fact, I feel the same way as Peter. The internal affairs of big studios are too complicated. My movie was involved in high-level personnel and almost failed to be released."

Ronald told Coleman everything he knew.

"I'm thinking about not cooperating with a big studio for my second movie, but producing it independently. At least this way I can stick to my own ideas and not be influenced by office politics."

"Then you may only be able to make movies for small film companies like me. The film market is like this. Last year's annual box office was less than 50 million US dollars. Big studios don't dare to invest in big productions."

"I don't mind. A small production of 300,000 or 500,000 US dollars is fine, as long as it can be released and make money. I want to start writing some scripts after this busy period. By then I will have some savings and can invest some on my own."

Roger and Julie looked at each other, "Then we'll wait to see your script."

I didn't expect that inviting Ronald to dinner would bring unexpected gains.

Ronald's filming this time will definitely make him famous in the circle. As long as he takes out the script and shows his willingness to direct, there will definitely be someone willing to distribute and invest. I only need to provide the filming team and distribution channels, which is equivalent to sitting back and enjoying the fruits of others' labor.

"In fact, I invited you this time, and I also hope that when you direct a movie in the future, you can invite Roger to make a cameo appearance. One of his current hobbies is acting. He has appeared in many of his disciples and friends' movies in the past." Julie put down her glass and said to Ronald.

"Really? Roger also likes acting?"

"Of course, Coppola let me play a senator in his Godfather Part II."

"I'll remember it." Ronald looked at Roger Corman's appearance, and he was indeed very suitable for playing the role of a sanctimonious teacher, politician, boss, etc.

"Now your movie "Fast Pace" is hotly discussed by many people, and my two older children also like it very much."

"Yes, I was also surprised, and I felt a little bit unsure of what I did right."

Ronald was telling the truth. The sudden popularity of the movie surprised many of the actors who participated in it, and they became celebrities all of a sudden.

Luckily, he was the director, and he did not appear on the screen or accept interviews, so the fans did not know him.

"Several leading actors called me to thank me, and they seemed to have become famous all of a sudden. When they went out, they would be surrounded by people and asked for autographs.

The funniest thing was Ray Walston, who played the teacher. He called me and said that he was very happy. Now when he walked on the street, people finally stopped calling him Uncle Martian Martin, and now they all called him Mr. Hand."

"There are also many film critics who are saying good things about you. You can ask your agent to help you collect them. It will be very interesting to read in the future." Julie added next to her.

"Speaking of film critics, what's up with that Roger Ebert from Chicago? Why is he so upset with me?"

Ronald was a little bothered by what the TV show "Bald and Glasses"...no, "Sisco and Albert" had said about himself.

In the weekly film review show hosted by the two, Bald Sisko gave his "Fast Pace" two and a half stars out of four, saying that the film has some controversial plots, but the protagonists Sean Penn and Phil Bee Cates's performance is unconventional, and as the director's first work, it deserves encouragement. Half a star would give a recommendation.

But Spectacled Albert was highly critical of his own creation. I think the movie is vulgar and has low style. Only Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance shows star potential in the whole movie, so I can only give it one star.

"Don't worry about the criticism of film critics, I never care about them." Roger advised him not to be angry.

"The profession that Albert and his colleagues are engaged in is parasitic on the film industry. Originally, film criticism was a way to market movies. Now audiences increasingly rely on weekly box office rankings and recommendations from friends to choose films. The film review industry is changing. Gradually losing his original influence.”

"They are both from Chicago. Sisko belongs to the Chicago Tribune, a higher-level newspaper with a larger circulation, and its readers are mostly white-collar workers. Albert belongs to the Chicago Sun-Times, a subway tabloid. The readers are not high-level, just those Destroy the conservative underbelly of the disco movement.”

Roger knew some of the ins and outs, and he himself was constantly scolded by film critics.

"These are people who have been dissatisfied with Roe v. Wade and want to overturn the Supreme Court decision. So it's normal for him to be dissatisfied with the abortion scene in your movie."

Julie knows better, "Feminist organizations in Los Angeles love your movie very much. They think the actions of the protagonist Stacey are brave and smart, and they think she is a benchmark for female characters in related youth movies to deal with similar plots. "

"Yes, don't be scared by them. These people are forced to become film critics because they failed in making movies. For example, Roger Ebert himself used to make exploitation films, and he was still the kind who relied on exposing vulgar taste. "Roger Corman exposed Abbott's background.

"Ah? Is that so? Is this the jealousy of losers towards winners?" Ronald thought to himself.

"Yes, he used to be involved in the low-budget film industry, and everyone in Hollywood who made exploitation films knew him. In the early 1970s, he tried to return to Hollywood and work as a screenwriter.

As a result, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls", which he wrote, was rated X and suffered a major box office failure, so he had no choice but to return to writing film reviews. "

"I didn't expect there to be such dark history." Ronald listened with interest.

"He later participated in the screenwriting of several movies, all of which were "

"Who are these people?" Ronald lowered his head and ate a piece of roast lamb. The lamb in the Greek restaurant tastes very good. Drizzle it with some lemon juice and pair it with white wine. It melts into the mouth after entering. The taste is layered and delicious.

Back at the hotel, Richard was already waiting for him at the front desk.

"Why are you here? What's the matter?" Ronald saw that Richard seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

"You are finally back. Universal asked you to discuss the release of 'Fast Pace' in the Central and East Coast tomorrow morning. They will urgently arrange several media meetings, including Dallas, Chicago, and New York."

"Oh, Yes!" Ronald received another surprise and good news. He clenched his fists at the hotel front desk and shouted Yes several times! , attracting several guests to look over.

"We'd better find you a high-end serviced apartment. If you live here all the time, it will be very troublesome if something happens and you can't be found."

"Okay, help me arrange it."

Early the next morning, Ronald came to Universal's headquarters to discuss arrangements for an emergency road show. The time schedule is very tight, and we often only have a dozen hours of stay in a city. After accepting a joint interview with the media at the hotel, we will fly to the next stop.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, will go through the process with him.

"Ronald, what a good boy. I knew you would succeed, and the reshoot budget I approved for you was worth it. Brooke Shields' cameo in the end was very good."

Ned Tanning came over to congratulate Ronald and asked someone from the marketing department to take a photo of himself and Ronald.

"Please believe that Universal will fully support your movie marketing."

"Thank you, Mr. Tanin." Ronald answered calmly.

"Fast-paced is sure to be a hit at the East Coast box office."

"Thank you, and good luck to you!" Ronald shot back, echoing the exact words Tanin said to him when he announced the reduction in the scale of the show.

News of Tom Mount's resignation had already spread, and Tanin's compromise on the key vote proved to be a big mistake. He does need good luck to cling to power.