Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"'The Godfather' is only two hours and fifty-five minutes long, and 'The Boy' is only one hour and fifty-five minutes long. I don't think there's any problem. If you cut further, the classic scenes in Hinton will inevitably be cut." was cut off.

Those viewers will be disappointed. How am I going to meet the middle school students who write to me? I promised to watch the premiere of the movie with them. "

Francis Coppola was very excited in Niceta's office at CAA, constantly using gestures to strengthen his expression.

Niceta sat nearby, nodding in agreement with Coppola's complaint. He saw Coppola drink up the espresso in the cup, take out a bottle of Italian grappa from the cabinet, and pour a cup into the empty coffee cup.

"Drink some real coffee, Francis." Niceta poured a glass of Italian-style liquor for Coppola, who is also Italian. . Adding grappa to the finished espresso cup is also an authentic Italian way of drinking.

"Rick", Ronald pushed the door in from the outside, "Oh, Mr. Coppola is here too, hello."

Ronald nodded to them, "I didn't know Francis was here with you, I'll come back later."

"No, Ronald, come on, come on."

Coppola called Ronald in and said, "Listen, today's producers have no courage. There is no longer a producer who can support artists like Albert Rudy of Paramount." "

"What happened?" Ronald sat down and asked Niceta. He came to meet Niceta today. The first cut of Paramount's "Flashdance" had been completed, and Don Simpson invited him and Niceta to go see it.

"Warner Bros. insisted on cutting 'The Kid' to ninety minutes," Niceta replied.

"But this is a feature film, right? If it is cut short, will the audience feel disconnected?" Ronald looked at Coppola and asked.

"That's the artist's instinct, Ronald, and you got it right. I made this movie because a group of junior high school students in Fresno, California, voted who was the best person to adapt it, and I won. George won an overwhelming vote.

More than a hundred of their children signed a letter asking me to direct "The Kid", so I went to see Hinton's "The Kid", and that's how this movie came about.

Now that my movie is finished and Warner Bros. wants to cut it down to ninety minutes, how sad must those students be? Many of the classic scenes are not in the final version of the movie, but I obviously shot them..."

"This is a low-concept drama with no stars, Mr. Coppola, just like your 'Godfather'. The plot is the basis for the audience's satisfaction. Why should it be cut short?"

Ronald had no idea that Warner Bros. would edit Coppola's film. Who gave them the confidence that someone would do a better job than Coppola?

"I feel like this movie is like a teenage version of The Godfather, with the protagonist being the youngest of three brothers. The eldest brother, Jacky, has a bad temper and is impulsive like Sonny in The Godfather, while Johnny is gentler, like Fredo. Ponyboy and Johnny go into exile after killing members of a rival gang, not unlike Michael Corleone.

If any key plot point in the finished film is deleted, viewers who have never seen it may feel that the plot is disconnected and incomprehensible. "

Ronald was very upset for Coppola. One of America's greatest directors, coupled with the dedicated performances of many young actors, made this movie, but it was really uncomfortable to have it cut short at will.

"You have to be careful, Ronald. Those studio managers have become more and more cunning after 'Heaven's Gate', and they have become more and more in charge of the director's creation. You will gradually encounter these things in the future. Yes. Be careful of their little moves.”

After another glass of grappa, Coppola stood up and left.

"Why, even a director like Coppola who made 'The Godfather' doesn't have the final editing rights?" Ronald asked Niceta after Coppola left.

"The final editing rights are a very complicated contract. For this film, Mr. Coppola has the editing rights, but Warner Bros. has the right to decide the final length of the film. They set the total length of the film. Ninety minutes, so Francis also had to do some major surgery on the plot.”

"Why? Isn't the length of the movie always determined in advance?"

"It's not even the Supreme Court's decision. Now all the studios are adopting a conservative strategy. The ninety-minute length can be arranged during prime time after get off work, so as to ensure the number of screenings of the movie. .

Moreover, the current economy is not booming yet, with the annual unemployment rate exceeding 8%. Warner Bros. does not want to take the risk of cutting a feature film and raising the minimum ticket price. "

"Is this verdict really such a big impact on Hollywood?" Ronald felt that people in the film industry he met recently were discussing this issue.

"Everyone is complaining, and they are all looking for congressmen they know well to try to ban this matter through legislative channels. At least the Japanese must install video recorders with technology to prevent piracy, otherwise we will all have to go back to filming TV series."

"By the way, Mr. Coppola is here to see you? Can your CAA help him restore the length of the film?"

"That's impossible. Warner Bros. has the right to decide the total length of time in the contract, and there's nothing we can do about it. He came here to take on new movies. You know, his 'Peep Show' company..."

Ronald nodded to show his understanding. Coppola's company was still in trouble financially, and they were waiting for the two consecutive films "The Naughty Boys" and "Fighting Fish" to save their lives.

"Let's go to Paramount. Don Simpson invited you this time and will upgrade your title from associate producer to co-producer." Nicita said.

Don Simpson was very satisfied with Ronald's help in the filming in Pittsburgh. This time he took the initiative to invite them to see the sample film and said that he would upgrade Ronald to the producer level. This co-producer (-producer) is generally given to people who have made significant contributions to the filming.

"By the way, when will your Night of the Comet start filming? If you need any help, I can help you except that agents cannot participate in film investment."

"Thank you, Rick. Now we have to wait for the new CEO of New World to take office. I will go to discuss production in two days. My film may be the first production of New World after Roger Corman sold the company."

"Hahaha, Roger is a lucky man. Now Hollywood calls him Lucky Roger. He sold the company at a good price before the verdict came out."

The two went to Paramount's viewing room. The edited samples were still working copies and had not been finalized. So what Ronald saw was the working copy used for editing. Each editing port was covered with tape, so that each shot would be stuck when switching during the screening.

If you are not a professional director and editor, you will be distracted when you see this kind of editing port, so this preview is only open to insiders.

Only after the producer finally confirms the copy will the negative be edited in the order of editing, and then a version of the copy will be printed out from the negative, which is called a response copy. This copy has no cuts caused by tape, so it can be shown to the audience for preview.

If the audience has any feedback, the working copy can be disassembled and re-edited, and then a response copy can be produced. Generally, the preview and re-editing of large studios can be repeated two or three times until the release.

"Why is the jamming at this cut so short? I can't even notice it if I don't pay attention."

Although the internal preview of "Flashdance" used the working copy, the jamming at the cut was very short. Ronald estimated that it was only about five or six frames, which was much shorter than the 36-frame tape-attached cut of the normal working copy. The pause that flashed by was not much different from the response copy.

Director Adrian Lane replied, "We used a new type of editing tape. This tape has a very small pasting range, but the pasting effect is similar to the original 3 tape, but it is a bit expensive, costing twenty dollars a roll.

But now the working copy can be screened to the audience, which is much cheaper than the cost of reprinting. So I bought a batch after seeing it from a friend."

"Oh, what is the brand of this tape?"

"N-vis-o, if you want it, I'll ask my assistant to give you the phone number. They are all handmade. You can call them in advance to order."

The Paramount opening ended, and the morning of Pittsburgh appeared on the screen. The busy urban scene was rendered very well. The theme song "What is this feeling" written and sung by Irene Cara was very suitable for Alex's struggle to ride a bicycle to work in Pittsburgh in the morning.

Ronald stopped talking and concentrated on watching the movie.

The movie was two hours and thirty minutes long, and Ronald was very satisfied. Alex, a welding worker, was self-reliant and experienced a tortuous love experience with her boss Nick and his ex-wife. And her best friend gave up on herself because her boyfriend left her and her skating career failed. In the end, she was admitted to the ballet school in Pittsburgh, her dream came true, and she finally reconciled with her boyfriend Nick.

Adrian Lane's best skill is not the plot, but the seductive scenes. Jennifer Beals was watching TV at home at the beginning, wearing a T-shirt with a cut collar, her shoulders were exposed, very sexy.

In the restaurant, she took off her coat in front of her boyfriend Nick's ex-wife, wearing only a backless dress, and teased Nick along his legs with stockings, saying the line "I want to take your brain... out", which angered his ex-wife away.

Ronald only felt that a memory was awakened, and he couldn't help but cross his legs to make his pants less uncomfortable.

In addition to the seductive dance in the bar, Ronald felt that this movie didn't need a plot, and only kept these seductive shots, which could also attract a lot of audiences to spread by word of mouth.

The best thing is Alex's dance shot, wearing leg warmers throughout the whole process, and there are several close-ups. Isn't this a free product placement?

Ronald was very happy.

"How is it, did you see your signature at the end? Co-producer." The big and strong producer Don Simpson came over and put his arm around Ronald's shoulders and said.

"Don, why don't I see Marlene Jahan's name?" Ronald was a little serious. He read all the subtitles, but didn't find Jahan, who was a dance double for Jennifer Beals.

Even the breakdance master "Crazy Legs" who danced on the floor for the protagonist Jennifer Beals was signed. On the contrary, Jahan, who danced most of the moves, didn't.

"Did you find it? This is Mr. Eisner's request. He thought Beals would become popular because of this movie. In order to prevent the audience from having the image of this beautiful face and successful dancing career collapse, we decided not to sign, not to publicize, and not to tell the news media that Beals has a dance double."

"This? Then you have to compensate Marlene Jahan a little, right? Besides, this movie is not entirely about dance and sexy scenes. The love story between Alex and his boss Nick, as well as Alex's own struggle in his dance career and the love story between him and the supporting actors are also very touching. I don't think the audience will think that Jennifer Beals's performance is bad."

"Come here," Don Simpson pulled Ronald aside, "Mr. Eisner means to shorten the movie to 90 minutes, and all those plots must be cut out, leaving only the simplest plot framework, which will not affect the audience's understanding. Those sexy dances must be retained."

"Oh, poor Adrian. Are you going to edit the movie into a high concept? Sexy beauties, welders during the day, and strippers at night, right?"

"Hahaha, you are very smart. Mr. Eisner will summon Adrian Lane soon. You know, the Supreme Court's ruling is about to come out, and we are not in a good position. Everything must be based on breaking even."

"Oh, no..." Director Adrian Lane screamed. He learned from Jerry Bruckheimer the bad news that Eisner insisted on shortening the movie.