Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ring, ring, ring..." The phone rang again, Ronald picked it up and demonstrated to his neighbor Miss Weber,

"This is Ronald Portrait Photography Studio, may I ask you..., OK, I have written down your name and phone number, your appointment time is 02:30 pm.

"You see, it's very simple." Ronald looked at the neighbor girl, today's temporary operator.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The phone rang again in a few seconds. Ronald:

"This is Ronald Photography Studio, may I ask you... OK, OK, your appointment time..."

"Ring, ring, ring..." The phone that had just been put back rang again,

"This is Ronald, may I ask you..., tomorrow afternoon, can I..."

"Ring, ring, ring..."

"Ahem..., please go ahead"

"This is Ronald Portrait Photography, may I ask you to make an appointment for a photo shoot? "Fortunately, Miss Weber took over immediately.

Since 10 o'clock in the morning, Ronald's phone began to ring non-stop, and the book recording appointments became longer and longer. Soon, the appointments for the photo shoot were full, and Ronald had to arrange time in the evening.

There were so many people that there was no place to change clothes and wait, and the customers' comments made a mess.

There were more people in the afternoon than in the morning, and it was not until 8 o'clock in the evening that the photo shoot was completed. Ronald felt that the momentum was not right. The effect of the advertisement was far beyond his expectations. Today is Christmas, and there will be more people tomorrow. If there is no improvement, his reputation will collapse.

After thinking blankly at home for a long time, Ronald decided to expand the business immediately, took out a pen and paper, and began to plan.

First find the neighbor Mrs. Weber, Ronald immediately raised his daughter's The daily wage of his son increased from $5 to $20 a day. He also paid a little rent to Mrs. Weber and asked her to temporarily use the living room and bedroom of her apartment as the waiting room and dressing room of the portrait photography studio.

In the next few days, Miss Weber was promoted from a switchboard operator to a secretary. She was responsible for making appointments and recording the number of people photographed every day, and issuing numbers to each customer. Arrange customers to line up next door, put on makeup, and call their numbers when it was their turn.

Her mother, Mrs. Weber, was also hired by Ronald to file the film of each customer, send it to Kodak Photo Studio twice a day, and then take back the printed photos.

In order to prevent mistakes, Ronald also bought a Polaroid instant camera, took pictures of customers, and asked Mrs. Weber to use it to archive together with the film to prevent wrong delivery.

Ronald no longer accepts outdoor photography business. Only shoot in the apartment. After taking portraits every day, he would file them at night after developing them and send them to the client the next day.

Working non-stop from morning to night, Ronald had earned more than $14,000 after a week's vacation. Excluding the cost of hiring Mrs. Weber and his daughter, the cost of film, and the cost of developing them, he made a net profit of more than $12,000.

Looking at the cash in the drawer, Ronald counted them one by one. It was real money.

The strategy of celebrity endorsement was very successful. As soon as customers saw the two audition photos of the beauties, they would have a fantasy that they could also take such photos.

This is because the customers Ronald attracted were mainly young people in their teens and early twenties, and more than 80% of them were women. Most of them had never appeared in film or television dramas.

They Similar to the two dancing beauties in "Rock High School", they are at the age of being the best in the world and full of dreams for the future, and their minds are full of thoughts like "I will definitely succeed, just one photo is missing".

As long as the audition photos are taken well, they can become the next Olivia Newton John (the female lead of the movie "Grease"), dancing on the screen with John Travolta, and becoming the idol of thousands of boys.

Ronald, relying on his experience in the crew during this period, briefly explained to them the role of the audition photos and the shooting methods, and then talked about some gossip.

Then he showed them the audition photos of Demi Moore and Nastassja Kinski, and casually mentioned that director Roman Polanski chose them, and the customers couldn't wait to pay for the photos.

Ronald didn't say that it was because of his audition photos that impressed the dwarf director, that was all the customers' own imagination.

The nearby Kodak photo shop also made a lot of money. The manager was surprised and asked tentatively whether he should send someone to serve him, hoping to take over his stable big customer.

Ronald's advertising was right, and with Demi Moore's invincible beauty, the wave of people during the holiday was still beyond his expectations. This business seems to be profitable.

In theory, if Ronald's purpose is just to make money and find a career, then this start is very good.

Next, he should register a company, rent a venue, hire people, and then sign a contract with Kodak photo shop to ensure the time and quality of printing. When the business stabilizes, he can start recruiting photography assistants and expand the scale step by step.

Then try higher-level photography business, such as shooting covers for fashion magazines and shooting models for print ads.

However, Ronald's ideal is to be a film director and do something real. Portrait photographers, no matter how successful they are, are not as influential as fledgling film directors. After all, the scale of the audience of the work, the number of digits of money earned, and the satisfaction they get are not at the same level.

Should I take advantage of this wave of popularity and do another advertisement? I should make as much money as possible in a short period of time, at least enough to pay for my four-year tuition and the graduation short film.

Ronald was a little hesitant.

The constant flow of people in the apartment day and night has aroused the curiosity of many people. Ronald thinks that if this continues, it will attract the attention of the IRS and send people to check the accounts.

In addition, Ronald is also worried about theft and robbery. Venice is relatively safe, but there are people from other communities wandering around.

Too much cash at one time is afraid of attracting people's covetousness and being targeted by the IRS. Ronald asked when he was taking pictures in Staten Island. The tax rate for individual freelancers is high now. If you earn more than $400 a year through photography, you have to pay taxes.

In addition to the tax filing season in April every year, freelancers also need to estimate the tax amount for the next quarter and prepay the income tax for the next quarter in advance.

California's state tax is not friendly to freelancers. In short, in addition to the high tax rate, the tax payment procedures are also very cumbersome. If you pay a few dollars less or a few days late, you will attract a large fine from the IRS.

Everyone avoids it as much as possible, so small businessmen and freelancers try to use cash transactions as much as possible to prevent the IRS from catching them. But the IRS will also conduct surprise inspections based on reports or clues in the news.

Cash transactions can avoid taxes, but it is not safe to keep so much money at home.

If the cash deposit is too high at one time, it will arouse the bank's vigilance and report it to the IRS.

It would be great if there was a familiar senior who could ask for advice on such matters.

Ronald simply called Aunt Karen to wish her a happy new year and ask her how to deal with such matters.

Ronald half-concealedly said that he worked part-time as a portrait photographer and made a lot of money, but he didn't know whether he should continue to do business to earn tuition or continue to work in the company to accumulate experience.

Aunt Karen comforted him and told him not to be afraid, God would give him guidance:

"If you don't have an answer, then act on your intuition. This is the guidance God gives you. Every time you determine the direction by intuition, you will be smooth sailing. If you don't follow God's guidance, but think about it over and over again, you will often be frustrated."

After drinking a bowl of typical American chicken soup, Ronald decided... to listen to Aunt Karen.

I was indeed quite hesitant about the idea of ​​expanding my business. I might not want to continue subconsciously, so I just had to be careful.

Ronald went to the advertising agency of the Los Angeles Times again and published another notice of closure in the Times. From then on, he only accepted orders recommended by old customers on weekends to avoid attracting thieves and the IRS.

Then he broke the whole into small pieces and went to the post office and Western Union to buy some money orders for $300-500. This kind of money order is purchased with cash, which is more reliable than checks and will not bounce.

So it has a good reputation and can be cashed at any time in major department stores and supermarkets.

He divided the remaining cash and money orders into two parts, one to carry with him and the other to hide in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Ronald felt a little relieved.

He planned to go to the bank every one or two weeks in different time periods to deposit some money into the bank account, flying low and avoiding the radar of the IRS.

After doing these things, Ronald's thoughts became clearer. The current business volume is undoubtedly brought by the holidays and advertising. After the holidays, if we don’t continue to advertise, we can’t maintain this scale of customer flow.

Rather than trying to expand the business, it is better to close the business and return to a semi-underground state. After all, it is not certain where to go to school in half a year. If I go to New York, it will be troublesome to handle the business here.

For fear of scaring Aunt Karen, Ronald only sent $500 home this time. When he returns to New York, he will give her more money to make her life easier.

In a blink of an eye, the Christmas and New Year holidays passed, and it was time for Ronald to go to New World Productions and work as an editing assistant.