Exploiting Hollywood 1980

After that, Ronald spent two days carefully analyzing Cameron's script.

The story is very solid. A time machine goes back to the past and kills the son of the leader of the resistance army by killing his mother. American audiences have not seen such a plot idea before, and they will be very curious.

Cameron started out as a special effects makeup and special effects machinery, and the script laid out the special effects scenes very well. Ronald also saw a lot of special visual designs that were particularly unexpected.

However, the problem may also lie in Cameron's special effects background. Ronald thinks there are too many scenes in this regard. Even Spielberg and Lucas did not abuse special effects scenes. Instead, they used them very restrainedly.

Just like the shark in Jaws, it did not appear many times in the whole film. It used the audience's expectations and created suspense early, so that people could be scared when it really appeared.

Mark out all the special effects scenes in the whole film of "Terminator", and then Ronald began to score each scene based on the difficulty of realization and the audience's expected reaction, two dimensions.

Some special effects will make people unforgettable, such as the transformation of liquid robots into the appearance of various characters. Ronald knew that such scenes would cause a sensation when filmed, but the cost was unknown, so he questioned all such scenes.

There are also some scenes, such as another Terminator robot killer, which was broken and exposed its entire steel skeleton. This kind of shot can be achieved by machinery, making the audience feel very real.

Divide a large number of special effects scenes into two categories. Ronald suddenly felt that it seemed that this movie could be filmed in two parts.

Delete the scenes of the liquid robots with unknown costs, and then let the main line focus on the human warriors sent back by the human resistance and the duel between the Terminator steel killer sent back by Skynet. In addition to making the scenes simpler, this can also make the audience more focused on the main line and facilitate understanding of the plot.

When Ronald edited "Fast Pace" himself, he suffered from the pain of the main plot being too scattered. He wrote down his opinions, put them down, and waited two days to see if there were any new ideas.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

"Ronald, it's me." It was his agent Richard who came to pick him up at the door.

"Come on." Ronald put on his coat, fixed his hair, and went to the party together.

Although the script promotion of "Night of the Comet" encountered setbacks, Ronald still felt Hollywood's enthusiasm for him.

Perhaps the economic policy of the new president has worked, or it may be that Spielberg's ET and the Lost Ark of the Covenant have injected a shot of adrenaline into the box office. This year's annual box office has exceeded the whole of 1981 with more than two months left.

The first batch of children born after the baby boomers have begun to graduate from high school. Hollywood is still in the exploration stage of what movies these audiences like to watch. "Fast and Furious" is the first movie that has sold well at the box office for this audience.

The explosion of "Fast and Furious Richmond High" has made Hollywood producers a little confused.

To be honest, the director's level of this youth movie is not that strong, and the actors' performances are not worthy of Oscar nominations. Why can it sweep the national youth audience and become a phenomenal movie with a box office ten times the cost? Everyone is very interested.

Everyone thinks Ronald may have the answer. Since arriving in Los Angeles, Ronald has been invited by various acquaintances. For a time, Ronald has become one of the most popular people to be invited to Hollywood parties. His agent Richard often gives him invitations and takes him to various parties.

"Hi, Ronald, congratulations, congratulations."

Tonight, Ronald went to the party of the big star nicknamed "Sly", Sylvester Stallone. His new film "First Blood" is about to be released, and he started to hold a big party to connect with all parties, hoping to create momentum when it is released.

Stallone did not arrive on time. The one who greeted Ronald was composer Michael Gore. Since he and he won the Oscar for the theme song of "Famous", Gore has received a large dividend.

Unlike Ronald, who only wrote the lyrics of two songs, Gore was in charge of almost all the interludes and film scores of the soundtrack of "Famous". The soundtrack of "Famous" sold well, and he can receive a fat check every quarter.

"How are you doing recently? Are you still doing film scores?" Ronald was very happy to see his old friend. At the party, all kinds of strange beauties tried to get close to him with various purposes, making Ronald exhausted. It was more relaxing to chat with old friends who had worked together from poverty.

"I am now composing music for the TV version of 'Famous'. It is more reassuring to work with old friends." After Michael Gore won the Oscar, he seemed to have similar troubles, and many people wanted to take advantage of him.

"The ratings of that TV series seem to be bad." Ronald said.

"Yes, I heard that there are some problems with the renewal of the new season."

"In addition, I arranged the music for Erin's MV." Gore pointed to a black girl at the party, who was Erin Cara, the star of Famous.

"Is it still the theme song of 'Fa'?" Ronald has seen three or four versions of 'Fa' on TV. Erin Cara has been singing variety shows on TV for two years with this song.

"That's right, the comedians on SNL all laughed at Erin for singing 'Sa'. She hasn't sung anything else for two years."

"Hahaha..."

Gore held the wine glass and asked the beauties at the party to move away, then approached Ronald and lowered his voice, "Seriously, Ronald. What projects do you have recently?" Ronald became a director, and maybe he could use this old relationship to get some music work in the future.

"I have a new script, a science fiction film, and I'm looking for a producer willing to invest."

"Oh, my God. Why don't you continue to make youth films." Gore's surprise was not fake.

"Because I have no inspiration." Ronald spread his hands, "Many people don't believe me. I really haven't come up with any good stories. I read some old scripts from Universal, but I didn't like them."

"I believe you." Gore patted Ronald on the shoulder. As a creator, he understood the distress of having no inspiration.

"Where do you get inspiration for your screenwriting? When I don't have inspiration for composing, I often listen to some Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra's songs in the 1950s to find inspiration."

"Find inspiration? I'm about the same. I often watch old movies, or watch TV, news in newspapers, or chat with old friends." Ronald thought of his own creative (dreaming) process, which was probably these ways.

"Really? I heard a strange story today, and it was also a movie I read in the newspaper." Gore was excited and told about his friend's experience.

Gore's friend is Dean Pitchford, who used to be a lyricist.

One day he saw a news in the newspaper that in some small towns in Utah, local pastors and governments have always banned the playing of rock music and prohibited townspeople from dancing.

After hearing this, Pitchford had the idea of ​​writing a script based on this prototype, how a high school student who transferred from a big city broke the taboos of a conservative and closed town, and let the great inventions of the 20th century, rock music and disco dance, blow into this town with strong conservative religious beliefs.

"This kind of inspiration is rare." Ronald thought about it, and he was similar. He encountered some news, actors, and scripts, and then he didn't know how to trigger the dream. I think everyone's creative process is similar. It's just that his method is more mysterious and advanced.

"No, Ronald. This is not the end of the story. His script was sold to a producer. After being put into the turnover script by 20th Century Fox, Paramount suddenly became interested and was willing to invest. It gave him a guaranteed contract of "act or play". Do you think this is luck?"

"Oh! It is indeed luck." Even Ronald was envious after hearing this.

This is not an ordinary contract, but a guaranteed contract like the one signed by Jane Fonda. Even if the movie is not made for various reasons, Gore's friends can still get paid.

Moreover, the movie that Paramount likes and gives a guaranteed contract is definitely not a small production of more than 3 million yuan that he made, but at least a medium-cost movie of about 8 million yuan.

Why don't I have this kind of luck? The studio just wants me to continue directing youth films and be a director who repeats the previous work.

In the past few days, the CAA agent showed him a lot of scripts, all of which were sex comedies with an investment of about 4 or 5 million yuan. The quality of the scripts was not as good as "Fast Pace", which made Ronald very angry.

"Hi, Ronald." Erin Kara saw Ronald and came over to say hello, "Are you and Gore going to work together again?"

"Erin!" Ronald and Gore both hugged her.

"No, we just met. You should ask Gore more. I just wrote a few lyrics by chance. He is the genius of composing music."

"No, you are all geniuses." Erin Kara has been in Hollywood for a long time and has become much more mature. Her singing career has encountered a bottleneck. No matter how good the old song 'Fa' is, the audience is tired of it.

"I have to ask you, I am also learning to write lyrics and compose music by myself..."

"Let us welcome the great actor, screenwriter, director, His Highness Sylvester Stallone."

As several people were chatting, several bodyguards pushed open the door, and an emcee announced the arrival of Stallone, the host of the party, with the etiquette of introducing aristocrats.

"Sly..."

Ronald saw Niceta of CAA and other agents, including Vice President Ron Meyer, also came forward to hug Stallone.

For a moment, everyone's attention was focused on this big star who wrote, directed and acted in his own films.

This year, Stallone filmed the third installment of the "Rocky" series, which he wrote, directed and acted in. American audiences have not been tired of the boxing scenes of this Italian bull, and the box office of the third installment is about to break 250 million.

There is also "First Blood", which he will star in and will be released soon. It is adapted from the film of the same name and tells the conflict of discrimination against Vietnam veterans after returning to civilian life.

"I heard that the response to the media critics' special session of "First Blood" was very good." Richard quietly told Ronald.

"Let me introduce you, Sly, this is Ronald Lee, the director of "Fast Pace", and also a client of CAA." Niceta also appeared beside Stallone, and introduced Ronald to Stallone by virtue of their Italian identity.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Stallone." Ronald stepped forward.

"I know you, keep working hard to make some good movies." Stallone patted Ronald on the shoulder and continued to chat with Ron Mayer.

"I think you should take this movie. The fusion of comedy and action may be the direction of the future. This way you can differentiate yourself from that bodybuilding champion. You have acting skills, Sly." Ron Meyer and Ronald nodded, pulled Stallone away, and had a private chat with him.

This is a Hollywood celebrity. With three movies that grossed over 200 million, everyone has to respect him.

Ronald was filled with envy and asked Niceta, "Who is the bodybuilding champion he's talking about?"

"Who else? The Austrian Schwarzenegger, Mr. Olympia, the world bodybuilding champion. Have you seen Conan the Barbarian?"

"Oh, it's him." Ronald knew that Conan the Barbarian was a mythological movie directed by John Milius, Coppola's younger brother. It was released this year, and the box office was not as good as Rocky III, but it also broke 100 million.