Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald took the audition photo that Eddie handed over and took a look. The girl in the photo smiled at him. Ronald was a little dazed for a moment.

The photo showed a very beautiful girl, a different kind of beauty.

Compared to girls from wealthy families like Helen Slater, her beauty seemed closer to the ordinary people of America.

Slightly curly red hair, a small nose, two very bright eyes, and two dimples on her cheeks when she smiled.

It is indeed very suitable for Burger King's advertisement. She is more like the girl next door from an ordinary family than Elizabeth Shue. This is exactly the kind of beautiful girl you can see in an ordinary community.

Born in a small town, studied in a big city, and worked as a part-time fast food waiter to earn tuition. At a glance, the audience will think of these backgrounds. It seems that Eddie did not promote unsuitable actors for his commission.

And...

Except for the color of her hair, this girl looks like an old friend of his.

"Doesn't she look like Antonia?" Eddie said to Ronald. "Her resume looks like her, too."

"Yeah."

This girl really looks like Antonia Franceschi, Ronald's ex-girlfriend, a famous leading actress, and now a dancer in the New York City Ballet.

The girl's photo

Ronald flipped through the audition photo, and there was a short resume on the back of the photo.

"Twenty years old, from Minnesota. Received scholarships from the San Francisco Ballet and the American Ballet Company. Just retired from ballet and turned to acting." Eddie introduced the girl's situation.

"Ask her to audition." Ronald glanced at Eddie, not as if it was intentional.

Ronald made a box office hit in his early twenties. CAA's Nicetta once warned him that many agents are actually doing other types of "matchmaking" business.

Beautiful girls in the entertainment industry ask powerful people for opportunities or financial rewards through agents, and then pay something.

"Lee, are you free? Come to my office tomorrow for an audition." Eddie was calling Lee Thompson. "It's not a print ad, it's a TV ad. Yes, it's for a big company, and they invited a famous director."

"I'll let her come for an audition tomorrow."

Ronald saw that Eddie didn't mention any exchange conditions, and knew that he really couldn't bear to see this girl's talent being worn out as a model for a local supermarket's price reduction promotion advertisement, so he recommended her to him.

"Okay, I'll come tomorrow. Why doesn't she continue to pursue a career in ballet? Is it also because of injuries?"

...

"No, I'm not injured. It's just..." Lee Thompson sat in the audition office, looked up at Ronald and Maguire, the director of the advertising company, and then turned to her agent Eddie, "Do I have to tell?"

"It's okay, they just want to know about your background." Eddie looked at Ronald.

"If it involves privacy, you don't have to say it. I just want to know why you don't do ballet. You know, being an actor is no less than ballet." Ronald was a little worried that the girl would give up because ballet was too hard.

Although this ad only has two lines, as an inexperienced actor, you may have to shoot many takes. If you are not prepared to endure hardships, it is easy for your performance to fail to meet the director's requirements.

"I like ballet, and I got scholarships from two ballet companies." Li began to defend her dream. "I gave up because... because Mikhail Baryshnikov, the male principal of New York City, said I had no talent."

The girl raised her head, her eyes a little bright, "He said I was too stout."

"What kind of evaluation is that? He himself is a dwarf who can't find a ballet partner." Ronald told Li the words of the ballet dancer who defected from Sewell and laughed.

Li was also amused by Ronald's words, and two dimples appeared on her cheeks again.

"I didn't know the director was Mr. Ronald Lee. I really like your "Fast Pace". I watched it twice."

"Put on this Burger King uniform and familiarize yourself with the lines." Ronald handed over a Burger King hat and a page of lines, and then pointed to the locker room for Thompson to go over.

"Okay." Lea Thompson put on her hat, went to the dressing room to change into work clothes, fixed her hair in front of the mirror, and then read the lines twice.

"Can we start?" Ronald pointed the camera at Thompson and zoomed to a close-up focus.

"From the East Coast to the West Coast, as many as two-thirds of customers think that grilled beef is better than fried beef. Burger King, grilled beef, McDonald's, fried beef."

"Okay, that's it. When we make a decision, we'll let Eddie notify you." Ronald was actually very satisfied with Thompson's performance.

"Okay, thank you." Thompson was ready to leave.

"By the way, have you worked at Burger King?" Ronald stopped Thompson and asked.

"No, but I worked at McDonald's in my hometown of Minnesota."

"Okay, thank you. You can go." Ronald, who got a satisfactory answer, signaled Thompson to leave.

"Don't you think she looks a bit like the famous..." Maguire asked Eddie.

"Does she look like Antonia?" Ronald replied. "Actually, I think Thompson's girl-next-door temperament is quite suitable for this ad. She looks like a pretty girl you might meet at Burger King."

Soon, Burger King was very satisfied with the results of the audition and confirmed Lea Thompson and Elizabeth Shue as the two actors for their new ad.

...

"This girl is a natural actress." Ronald has praised Lea Thompson's acting talent several times since the start of the ad shooting.

"She really didn't study acting before?" Ronald asked Eddie on the set.

"She just made some money and was able to sign up for an acting class."

"Let's take a close-up of Lea." Ronald told the photographer to start preparing.

The big close-up was replaced, and the photographer indicated that he was ready to shoot.

"Recording? Camera? A!"

Ronald gave the order to shoot.

Lea Thompson took out a baseball glove and put it on her hand in the close-up, then began to throw and catch a baseball by herself.

The camera slowly began to zoom in, slowly moving towards a close-up of Thompson's face.

"I know you are watching a baseball game, but I have good news for you. In a test from the West Coast to the East Coast, two-thirds of customers felt that grilled beef burgers were better than fried ones.

Think about it, two out of three people like grilled ones. Burger King, grilled; McDonald's, fried. Remember to go to Burger King for one after watching the baseball game."

"Cut!"

Ronald was very satisfied. Lee made the very boring advertising words very interesting. The rhythm and emotion of the lines were very good, and every emphasis was just on point.

"Very good,"

"Director, how did I shoot?" Lee Thompson came over to ask Ronald about her performance. Her dimples appeared on her cheeks again.

Ronald looked carefully at Lee Thompson's face. There was a depression under her cheekbone, which made her face three-dimensional. The difference between the left and right sides was not much. She was indeed suitable for being an actor.

"Not bad." Ronald replied, "You should be able to see this advertisement on major TV stations soon. "

Next, Elizabeth Shue's shot. She came from Wellesley College specifically to shoot this ad.

"This weekend, go to Burger King and order a Whopper. Just say 'grilled is better than fried' and you can get another free Whopper." Elizabeth Shue brought out two Burger King "Whoppers" and said to the camera.

Having had the experience of shooting chewing gum last time, Elizabeth also did a good job.

"Director, your movie is very popular now." Elizabeth Shue's mother said to Ronald.

"Thank you."

Unlike Thompson, Elizabeth has been admitted to Wellesley College. The two have very different ambitions for acting. Elizabeth is now shooting some commercials to earn some money for extracurricular activities. Ivy League-level girls' schools, students also have a lot of comparisons, such as going to Vermont to ski during holidays.

"Director, how did I shoot?" Elizabeth Shue also jumped over to ask Ronald about her performance after shooting.

"Not bad. You should be able to see this ad on major TV stations soon. ”

Perhaps because Sue’s mother was not very ambitious about her daughter’s career in the acting industry, Ronald made a correction in his mind. Elizabeth Sue still cares about her image on camera. Who hasn’t dreamed of becoming a star for a beautiful girl of this age?

But her mother’s plan is also normal. Going to college is very important for children from ordinary families.

Helen Slater finally agreed with her parents that she would not choose college after graduating from high school this year, but would take a gap year to try the career of an actress. For actresses, youth is short, and if they spend four years in college, they will miss many opportunities.

The two actors, Thompson and Sue, were wearing Burger King uniforms and chattering beside them. They were both young actors in their teens and twenties, and they had a lot to talk about.

Next, Ronald was going to shoot some close-up shots of two kinds of beef roasted and fried in different ways.

“The heat and bubbles of this roasted beef are not enough, and it is hard to tell it from the fried one. "Ronald looked at the Burger King kitchen scene set up in the studio and was not very satisfied.

"Turn up the flame of the gas grill a little bigger, let the flame jump out, and let the camera see it."

"This will burn the beef." The staff reminded.

"I don't care about this, I'm not going to eat it, I want to make it look good." Ronald glanced at the other party. As long as the shot looks good, he doesn't care whether the beef patties are burnt or not.

The strong flame was high and had exceeded the grill, making the beef patties sizzle and the juice on them bubbled.

"It's very emotional." Darcy Maguire sat in the post-production room and looked at the sample film shot by Ronald.

"Is this really okay? "Eddie pointed at the McDonald's logo on the monitor. The beef patties used for comparison were fried on a griddle and looked listless.

Ronald also turned to look at Maguire.

There are advertisements that attack competitors by name, but giants like McDonald's are not easy to deal with. They will not swallow their anger and let Burger King attack their burgers for tasting bad.

"This is a question for Burger King's legal team to consider." Maguire shrugged.

"And we have done a lot of preparation. The ad says that the number of people who think grilled patties are better than fried patties is twice the number of people who think fried patties are better. This is a statement of fact, not a subjective judgment, which can avoid some legal troubles."

"So they really did a blind test?"

"Of course, from the West Coast to the East Coast stores. Let the market research company find dozens of customers to do it repeatedly, and you will always get the desired results."

"Haha, then does grilled beef patties really taste better than fried ones?" Ronald asked.

These companies can do anything for marketing. Anyway, their contracts have been reviewed by lawyers, and all the data and facts are informed by Burger King in written documents. If there are any mistakes, they are deliberately deceiving, and it has nothing to do with me.

"How should I put it? If you strictly follow the process to grill, it is indeed better than fried. But you know fast food restaurants, sometimes the kitchen is not so strict when they are busy."

"That means it is not that delicious in fact?" Ronald said.

"Not really, they can choose whether to put onions, pickles, and many kinds of sauces." Eddie interrupted.

"Sometimes I don't like it either. They have too many choices. Sometimes I just want to eat fast food. There are always customers who think for a long time before deciding, which makes the queue very slow. And they have more waiters than McDonald's." Maguire is a working woman and has to eat fast food.

"So they have made so many gimmicks and hired more waiters, but McDonald's still has better business? And the cost of grilling is higher than frying, right?"

"That's right. Grilling requires an automatic grill, and frying only requires a constant temperature iron plate." In order to take this business, Maguire studied the differences between Burger King and McDonald's.

"Well, it's very interesting."

After Ronald finished shooting, the advertisement was completed. Burger King had great confidence in his level. After all, the fact that the business of hamburgers in the United States skyrocketed on the West Coast made them feel amazing.

Taking his own check, Ronald came to the accountant Lawrence and told him the use of the money.

"So you took the check given to you by Burger King and bought McDonald's stocks?" Lawrence looked unbelievable.

"Any questions?"

"No, nothing. I thought you would buy Burger King's stock. After all, you shot the commercial for them, so their sales will increase."

"They are not making money. Each store has many more waiters and special automatic grills. McDonald's can sell many more burgers in the same period of time."

"That's fine. Anyway, they pay a lot of dividends every quarter." Lawrence put away his surprise and started calling Ronald's stockbroker.