Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The box office of "Alien" exceeded 200 million US dollars, continuing to set the fastest box office record for a U.S. movie. "

Ronald watched the weekend box office review program on television. ET, which has been in theaters for more than two months, has a weekly box office of more than 10,000 US dollars per theater, and the number of theaters where it is shown has expanded to more than 1,700.

"Fast-paced Richmond High School" ranked second, but it is getting further and further away from ET aliens.

Family portrait movies still have much greater box office potential than youth-focused movies.

"Ronnie, when are we going to watch the US Open? Did your friend make it to the main draw? Who did he face in the first round?" Helen Slater asked Ronald from the inside. She had just passed away from her mother. Come over there and talk to your cousin Donna.

"Yes, he entered the main draw at Wimbledon in June. This time the US Open is in his hometown." Ronald replied.

Vincent Van Patten, the male protagonist of "Rock High School", has been on the rise since entering the professional tennis field and is now a regular participant in the ATP Challenger Tour.

He also defeated compatriot John McEnroe, who was ranked number one in the world, and won the championship at the Seiko Challenge held in Tokyo. This time at the US Open, he was ranked in the same half as McEnroe. Ronald was going to cheer up his old friend.

Those who are capable can do anything. This Vincent guy, in addition to being handsome and able to play the leading role in movies, did not expect that tennis is also a real professional level.

PJ Soles, the heroine of "Rock of Ages", has already called and wants to ask Ronald to go to the scene to cheer Van Patten when he faces McEnroe again in the third round.

Ronald knew she also wanted to find opportunities for her husband, Dennis Quaid, who had starred in several of her movies and was still missing a starring role.

I am very willing to help these old friends, but a role is a role after all. Ronald could not give away such a big opportunity for no reason.

"Ring, ring, ring..." Ronald answered the phone and called to Donna, "Donna, the telescope you ordered has arrived. Little Douglas is calling."

"Really? Let's go get it quickly. I heard that astronomy enthusiasts all over the world are looking for traces of Halley's Comet. It is said that there have been unconfirmed sighting reports. It would be great if I could be the first to see it. "

Donna ran out happily. Her high school focused on cultivating scientific knowledge. Donna became interested in astronomy and wanted to buy an astronomical telescope to see the stars.

Ronald searched several stores but couldn't find it. Few people bought this kind of thing, and Macy's didn't have it either.

When Staten Island landowner Douglas Hanson III, a good friend from the high school wrestling club, came to visit, he learned about Donna's hobby and boasted that he would buy it for her.

"He said he would bring it to you."

"Doug, do you really have the goods?" Donna took the phone and started chatting with Doug.

After a while, Douglas Jr. delivered the astronomical telescope that Donna wanted to buy to his home as promised.

"Donna, you are getting better and better, and you can also observe comets? I am most interested in comets."

"Of course, did you know that a comet that returned recently split, and the original comet became two very close to each other. According to the return cycle, Halley's Comet will pass perihelion in 1986, and this year it will be eight It should be visible to astronomical enthusiasts’ telescopes in the second half of next year.”

Ronald looked at Donna's serious look and found it interesting. Many key middle schools in America are like this. They offer many elective courses to talented high school students. As long as you are interested, you will develop knowledge in this area.

Helen hugged Donald from behind who was sitting and watching TV, "Shall we find something to do too?"

Ronald touched Helen's arm, knowing that she had been helpless recently. The agent introduced by her father often screened out audition opportunities with Gerald without telling her before recommending them. The agent introduced by my mother was a talent scout and did not have many connections in the industry.

Helen has only acted in one TV series and has not tasted the taste of a movie actor.

Ronald thought he might be able to help Helen fulfill her wish.

I should also start preparations for my next movie. Richard had a slew of offers for teen exploitation films, but no particularly great synopsis.

Hollywood is unwilling to change the formula for success. Since Fast Time became popular, Ronald has been getting books with themes such as sexual embarrassment, adults, high school students, or valley girls.

This made him a little helpless. Fast-paced success is not necessarily due to these superficial elements. Can you replicate a successful movie by taking apart the elements of a blockbuster and then putting those elements back together?

If you continue to make movies like this, you may not be able to meet the box office expectations given to you by major studios. Ronald couldn't explain why "Fast-paced Richmond High School" was such a hit.

This has something to do with the fact that it happened to have a few good actors, the script was interesting, Brooke Shields' popularity helped it, and it had nothing to do with the fact that there were no competitive films of the same type when it was released.

Ronald began to seriously consider whether to find Roger Corman to make another type of low-budget production. Now, he has just been proven that he can make youth sex comedy films, and I am afraid that the seven major studios will not give him the opportunity to practice in other types of films.

Only a boss like Roger Corman was willing to give Ronald the green light for his small production. This would just give Helen a role and let her do explicit scenes in an exploitation film, which she didn't want to do.

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any signs of dreaming about new movies recently.

"Let's practice meditation later." Helen thought of something to do.

Ronald and Helen have been practicing meditation recently, which is quite popular in middle-class families or artist circles in New York.

Since he practiced Jane Fonda's aerobics last time and dreamed of the movie "The Outdoors", Ronald often practiced women's aerobics by himself without fear of being laughed at by others. But it didn't trigger any dreams afterwards.

After careful thinking, he thought that maybe it was the final finishing exercise of crossing legs and deep breathing that triggered the dream.

So after seeing Helen's meditation posture, he felt that it was similar to the final posture and breathing rhythm of Jane Fonda's aerobics, so he started practicing it.

But except for numb legs, it didn't work.

"No, I'm going to the screening club at NYU. Some old friends invited me to meet."

"Then I'll go with you." Helen and Ronald didn't want to separate recently.

"Okay, let's go together." Ronald replied, "Spike Lee, who filmed the commercial for you last time, and Kathryn Bigelow are both here. Their screening club organized a symposium tonight and invited me to talk."

"Then I'll go too. I'm most interested in movies." Hearing that Kathryn Bigelow was also going back, Douglas Jr. immediately expressed his desire to go together to see something.

The three drove to the screening club of New York University, where Spike, Bigelow, and the Chinese graduate student Li Ang were waiting for Ronald and others at the door.

A year later, Ronald took the first step and the movie was released in theaters.

After entering the club, there were many new students waiting for Ronald to come and talk to them.

"You can't say that. Coppola is still the most capable director in America. His 'old love and new love' is something the audience doesn't know how to appreciate."

"I watched your movie and didn't like it. It's too Hollywood-flavored. Movies are not just a tool to make money, but should also be an art that leads the direction of social thought."

"Why do you make such an exploitation film?"

Ronald didn't expect that these classmates at New York University did not congratulate their alumni on their success, but instead began to accuse him of his Hollywood tendencies.

"I also want to make the kind of movie you mentioned, but the film market is not doing well now. Only by finding a film director who can sell well can I continue in this industry.

If you don't believe what I say, you can ask Spike, Catherine and others."

"I think that Stacy's shot shouldn't be shot like this..."

"Why don't you shoot a long shot at the beginning?"

Then there are some technical questions, and Ronald answered them one by one.

Many times it's not that the director doesn't want to shoot good-looking shots, but that the budget and shooting deadline limit, so they can only shoot in a fast way. Long shots are the most showy way for directors, but they are difficult to shoot, and a small mistake requires reshooting.

Actors who shoot long shots are also under great pressure, fearing that a mistake will delay the overall progress.

For a small production of more than three million US dollars, the most important thing is to ensure that the number of shots are shot on time and according to the schedule.

This practical answer made the students of New York University's Tisch School not very satisfied. A director of a hit film, without much artistic creation, is full of progress and budget, which is no different from the producers in Hollywood who are full of money.

Ronald answered the questions with a wry smile and sent the students away.

Only a few friends such as Spike Lee, Leon, and Kathryn Bigelow understood how difficult it was for Ronald to complete a theatrical film.

They also gave Ronald some technical suggestions, but everyone had made movies before and knew that shooting was constrained by many unexpected factors in art, and many times the director had no room to play.

So the suggestions of these close friends were all from a feasible perspective.

Everyone exchanged their experience in technology and directing actors' performances for a while, and everyone gained something.

Film director may be one of the professions with relatively few people in the world. It is a blessing for Ronald to be able to criticize each other's works with several directors in the circle. Many times, other directors will not speak frankly to each other like several young directors in New York out of courtesy or jealousy.

And those students who have never made a movie are full of art in their minds and can't make any feasible suggestions on the art of directing.

"I used to be like them, with art in my mind. I know after shooting my graduation feature film that finding money, shooting, and then negotiating with distributors are the most time-consuming work of a director."

Spike Lee recently got some money from the Black Charity Fund. His graduation film has been shot intermittently for more than two years. Recently, it has started again and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Li Ang also started to work as an assistant director for him, while preparing his own works. He seems to be able to apply for some official funding from the exchange association and start writing scripts.

Kathryn Bigelow is the worst. After finally getting investment in her first feature film "The Loveless", no one is interested in it after shooting, and no distributor is willing to distribute it.

The negatives of the film are in the warehouse, and it is unknown when they will see the light of day again.

"Maybe I can only try my luck at the film festival." Ronald said.

"Maybe, I have participated in two small film festivals, and no buyers are willing to try their luck." Bigelow could only shrug and leave everything to God.

"I'll keep an eye out for you." Douglas Jr. still hopes to help Bigelow's movie get released.

Ronald took out the Burger King commercial tape he shot, put it into the VCR, and showed it to a few friends.

"This is the commercial I shot recently. If you have time, you can help me shoot some. My agent Eddie often has business in this area."

"Oh, you're still playing these simple close-ups." Spike laughed when he saw another commercial where a girl spoke to a close-up.

Ronald still likes to play simple and direct.

"This actor is good." Bigelow commented.

"I don't know how good my acting is. I heard from my acting teacher that people's expressions will be magnified a lot on the big screen, which is a special test of acting skills. Many performances that can't see flaws on TV will have problems on the big screen."

Since the acting teacher at the performing arts high school played the role of a teacher in "Famous", he has a deeper understanding of the acting skills of movie actors, and Helen also chose his course to learn acting.

Helen accompanied Ronald to communicate and went home together. When she heard Kathryn Bigelow praising Lea Thompson's acting skills, she began to compare them. If she could be in this ad, she would be no worse than her.

"I watched the TV series you filmed for ABC TV. There is no problem with your acting skills on the big screen." Ronald comforted.