Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Press your clock, Lindsay. I still don't understand why the legality of recording a TV show determines the success or failure of Sony and Universal's lawsuit. Just from what I just said about fair use, you are giving me explain."

Ronald was on a long-distance call to his personal attorney, Lindsay Dole. Big things have happened in Hollywood these days. The Supreme Court may overturn the judgment of the Ninth Circuit Court and re-judgment the video infringement case between Sony and Universal, with Sony winning.

For a while, people in Hollywood were panicked. Everyone was saying that the second television crisis would come, and this time it would completely defeat Hollywood.

Ronald heard some rumors but couldn't make sense of them at all. He didn't know who was right, so he simply made a long-distance call to lawyer Lindsay for advice.

"Okay, Ronald, let me sort it out with you...

First, in 1976, Universal Studios sued Sony Corporation, believing that the video recorder technology they manufactured was used to pirate movies, and asked the court to rule that Sony was subject to the automatic relief clause.

As long as Universal discovers that a videotape has pirated Universal's movies, it can automatically seek compensation from video technology manufacturers such as Sony. "

"I understand that." Ronald nodded. Legally, if the automatic relief judgment is established, then film studios will not need to bear the burden of proof in the future, and Japanese companies such as Sony will automatically be considered jointly and severally liable for piracy.

As long as someone is found to be using Sony's video tapes for piracy, Sony will automatically lose money. In this case, the video tape product is equivalent to a death sentence in the American market.

“But 1976 happened to be the time when the copyright law was revised, leaving a loophole for individual consumers’ infringement, called fair use.

For example, if the footage of the assassination of the commander-in-chief broadcast by a public television station is used in a documentary about the incident in the future, it will be considered fair use. Because the main purpose of documentaries is not to make money, but to educate the public. "

"I understand that too." Ronald knew that in this special case, the film would be based on footage of public events broadcast by public television stations, and it could be used reasonably.

"So Sony's lawyers, from the perspective of fair use, believe that it is fair use for consumers to record TV programs at home and watch them when they have time. Because the TV station's programs have educational significance and comply with the first Amendment speech exception.

Since recording television programs is legal, video tape companies cannot be prohibited from selling video recorders and blank video tapes in America. This brought great convenience to individual piracy, so Universal appealed to the Circuit Court, and the ruling was changed to Universal’s victory. Sony finally appealed to the Supreme Court.

The district court ruled in favor of Sony, and the Ninth Circuit Court reversed its ruling in favor of Universal. Now, it seems that Sony has won the majority support in the Supreme Court and can win with a vote of 5:4, changing its ruling again and winning the lawsuit. "

"But I heard from my agent that the Supreme Court voted 6:3 in favor of Universal. How could it happen now?"

"You are talking about the first discussion. The Supreme Court can have two opportunities to discuss a case. After the first discussion, the judge who wrote the minority opinion knew that he could have a chance to win two votes, so he wrote the minority opinion into a majority opinion. Tone.

Sure enough, Justice Brennan was persuaded and jumped from favoring Universal to favoring Sony. Finally, they persuaded the current president to nominate Justice O'Connor, the first female justice in history. So the verdict they are about to write is that Sony wins 5:4. "

"What happened? Lindsay, if you can rip the video tape casually, won't no one go to the movies?"

"I have read the opinion of the Supreme Court. If an individual user does not have time to watch TV, it is fair use to use a video recorder to record it and watch it later when he has time.

Television stations actually like this invention. When viewers use video recorders to record programs, the television stations' programs will be seen by more people, and the advertisements will be sold at a higher price. "

"shxt, then our movie deserves to be unlucky?"

"Does this have a big impact on you? I heard that the plaintiff is joining six other studios to lobby in Congress, trying to pass legislation to ban the sale of blank video tapes and the copy function of private video recorders."

"I can't tell. My agent is already discussing whether to increase TV series business for actor clients."

…

The news that Universal may lose the lawsuit and that video tape manufacturers can enter the American market in a big way spreads more and more widely in Hollywood. Many practitioners are beginning to think about the impact of this judgment on themselves. The Screen Actors Guild even began to consider organizing demonstrations.

Shirley Lansing, who was producing the film "Footloose," also began to make corresponding adjustments to the production strategy.

"Isn't Michael Cimino back yet?" Lansing asked the assistant.

"His agent said Cimino has been scouting in Oklahoma and a new version of his script has been sent out and should be arriving soon."

"Call his agent and be sure to get through to him. Don't think I don't know about the tricks he played at United Artists. I guess he didn't go to Oklahoma at all and is currently enjoying himself in a strip club in Los Angeles. Then send me a bunch of bills for tens of thousands of dollars.

Tell his agent that if he wants me to reimburse those bills, he has to move his fat ass over here. "

"Should I tell his agent exactly what he said?"

"Quotation." Shirley Lansing waved her hand and asked the assistant to go out.

"Ah," Lansing covered his forehead with one hand and sighed. This Supreme Court ruling came at a really bad time. He had to reconsider whether he wanted to go to Paramount as vice president.

Executives of production companies are evaluated by the success or failure of movies. Videotapes will bring a lot of piracy, so next year's performance will definitely not be good. If next year's revenue drops too much due to piracy, Eisner, the smart man, will definitely put the blame on himself.

Instead of this, it is better to temporarily leave the management position of the studio and organize an independent production company with his partner Stanley Jaffe. Using Jaffe's production ability and his connections in the big studio, he can better play his strengths.

I will call Jaffe later. He is a smart man and will give me better conditions than my old partner Melnick.

And compared to office politics, I actually prefer to go to the set to watch the filming. Although Lansing is a very bad actor, her experience of working with those male stars like John Wayne is still fresh in her memory and very pleasant. It is not a bad thing to run to the set more often.

The assistant knocked on Lansing's door again, "Ms. Lansing, Cimino's delivery has arrived."

Lansing nodded and opened the package. Inside was a script and a bag of documents. Lansing opened the script. Cimino had changed a lot of things. The whole story became darker. The town treated the foreign high school student Lun more cruelly. In the end, the town pastor also joined everyone to expel their family.

"Tsk," Lansing frowned. In the trend of the hit movies in the past two years, the audience began to like comedy and warmth. This kind of movie plot with deep hatred and deep hatred is no longer popular. Moreover, Cimino's script is 140 pages long. Maybe it will be a blockbuster of more than two and a half hours.

Does Cimino think of himself as a layman scammer of United Artists back then? It's a length of 90 minutes, not a minute more.

She opened the file bag, which contained a lot of receipts. Lansing flipped through it casually. Fortunately, it was not too much. She was about to sign when she found a piece of paper mixed in the receipt.

"Request for payment. Based on the revised script, I request the producer to pay part of the script adaptation fee in advance, $250,000."

"Ring..." The phone rang, and Lansing picked up the phone.

"It's Cimino's agent." The assistant's voice sounded in the microphone.

"Put it in," Lansing adjusted his sitting posture so that his breath could reach his throat more fully.

"I don't know why your client thought I would be blackmailed by him. Maybe he doesn't know the big things happening in Hollywood now. Everyone is cutting budgets, but he dared to give me $250,000 for the first installment of script adaptation.

... Tell him he's fired."

Lansing finished speaking in one breath and fired Cimino on the spot. He pressed the call button again and found his assistant.

"Give me the agent phone numbers of two people, director Ron Howard, and actor Tom Cruise."

...

Not everyone is like Lansing after hearing the news from the Supreme Court. The first reaction is to cut the production budget to adapt to the more depressed film market next year.

For example, the three lawyers who just bought New World Productions are discussing how to find a talent to run the company.

They used leverage in the financial market to finance the purchase of New World, but their original purpose was not to run a film distribution company. Instead, they felt that Roger Corman's distribution channels were greatly underestimated by him.

They wanted to buy it, split it up, and sell the production and distribution capabilities to capital that was interested in investing in Hollywood. As for those exploitative film libraries, they were actually worthless, so Corman just took them away.

However, the Supreme Court's ruling made their valuation of the company fail, and now New World cannot be sold at the expected price for a while.

The three lawyers are now forced to find an insider who knows the business to run New World. If they are lucky enough to make a few hit movies, they will have time to sell it.

"What did Tom Mount of Universal say?" A lawyer asked another lawyer who contacted Universal.

"He has distribution guarantees from Universal. In recent years, all the movies produced by his own production company have been distributed by Universal. And he seems to have found a partner and is going to Japan for financing, so Mount has no interest in being the CEO of New World. What about Paramount that you contacted?"

"Katzenberg is very comfortable at Paramount, and he is unwilling to take the risk of coming to New World. What about the woman at Fox?"

"Lansing's level is not good, and she was fired by the new boss of Fox. She also rejected the invitation of the headhunter."

The three continued to name a few senior executives, but the headhunters had no good news.

"It seems that these former presidents and executive vice presidents who were in power will not come to New World. They are all integrated production and distribution companies. I really don't understand why they look down on New World?"

"It seems that we have to look down. Among the subordinates of these candidates and the vice presidents who report directly to them, are there any suitable candidates?"