Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Coleman's office was across from New World. Ronald and his agent Niceta walked to Millennium Pictures, found Coleman, and told him the situation.

"Raimi? Robert Raimi? No way? He worked for me for three years, became sales director, and then left in 1978 to go to Ebassy Pictures...

I heard that he did a good job at Embassy Pictures. He successively produced movies with good box office, and increased the annual revenue from 20 million to 90 million. He was poached to Universal. I don’t know why he rejoined New York. The world is in trouble with you. "

Roger Coleman was a little surprised. He had a good impression of Remy. When he was in the New World, he was always able to meet deadlines and quantities, and often exceeded sales targets.

"That's right, Remy strongly opposed the release of Ronald's movie when he was at Universal, so after 'Fast Time' became a hit, he had a difficult time at Universal and was under a lot of pressure. This is probably why he The reason for returning to the new world," Nisita interjected.

"That's right," Ronald thought to himself. Remy had previous experience in sales at New World, coupled with his performance in significantly increasing revenue at Embassy Pictures, and finally he was gold-plated as the vice president of Universal.

For the three lawyers who acquired New World, he knew both distribution and production, and had worked in a large company. His resume was indeed perfect.

"I'll give him a call. Their phone number shouldn't have been changed yet." Roger Coleman picked up the phone and was about to call to ask about the situation.

"Mr. Coleman, with all due respect, the distribution channels for Ronald's film project are now blocked. The key lies in how you and the new bosses of New World signed the contract at that time, and whether Ronald Can I get the guarantee of New World Distribution?”

Coleman nodded to indicate that he knew, picked up the phone and dialed the switchboard of the New World, "I'm looking for Robert Remy, this is Coleman."

His other hand searched in the drawer for a long time, took out a contract and threw it to Niceta, and then explained:

"My purpose is very simple. I want to retire and spend time with my family. If I want to make a movie, there will be a professional distribution agency to help distribute it. So I signed a distribution contract with them for five movies in two years.

As long as it is a movie produced by me, New World will unconditionally distribute it with a distribution fee of 15% of the box office. However, Ronald did not sign a production agreement with me personally at that time, but with New World Company, so Remy would have a certain degree of autonomy. "

"Wait, the phone is on." Roger Coleman signaled the two of them to be quiet, and then said into the phone, "Hello, Remy? This is Coleman, Ronald is here, and he said you don't want to release it. His movie?"

"The script is anti-America?...Huh?...Too much nudity?...Smearing government agencies?...Tell me, what do you have to do to release Ronald's movie? I promised this good boy . Modify the script until...? What do you want to do? ... I will discuss this with your three bosses... OK, that's it."

Roger Corman hung up the phone, and then looked at Ronald calmly, "He said you have to revise the script until he is satisfied, otherwise he will not give you the green light for production. There can't be too much nudity, and How do you want to deal with making government-affiliated research institutions into villains?”

"Mr. Coleman, I can't do this. Without some ice cream for the audience's eyes, there is really no audience for this small production. And the bad guys in the government research institute are an important plot twist in the third act. , the savior that everyone was hoping for turned out to be a bad guy.

I couldn't get rid of this plot, otherwise the third act would lack the twist and final climax... unless it was completely reinvented..."

"bullshxt, do you really want to change the script?" Coleman stood up in surprise. Originally, he meant to help Ronald withdraw the distribution agreement, but he didn't expect that he would actually consider changing it.

"I hate it the most in my life when people modify my scripts and edits. Ignore this bastard. Just find another distributor. Don't worry about my feelings. There is a clause in my agreement with them that I cannot get involved in film distribution for five years. , otherwise I will do the distribution for you personally.”

"Mr. Coleman..." Ronald wanted to express his gratitude.

"You don't know why I started my own publishing company." Coleman waved his hand, opened the door and let his secretary make a few cups of coffee.

"At that time, I completed the filming and editing of America's first psychedelic-themed film, 'The Trip.' At the end, I arranged for the leading actor, Peter Fonda, to honestly tell the audience what psychedelics had done to him. impact and will not try again in the future.

But that son of a bitch at American International Pictures, Samuel Arkoff, the genius who invented the Arkoff formula, re-edited the ending of my movie without permission and gave Peter Fonda a mirror-shattered The special effects freeze the protagonist in a state of mental disintegration.

In anger, I broke off cooperation with them, and then started my own distribution network from scratch. If a film director doesn't have the courage to stick to his own creativity, then he should stop doing this as soon as possible. "

"Mr. Coleman... I wonder if you have the financing limit?" Niceta interrupted Roger Coleman and wanted to discuss Ronald's financing issue with him.

Coleman took the coffee and drank it all. "I understand that the distribution company generally wants to take the lead. So unless you can get more than one million investment from the distribution company, they will not allow other investors to have a quota of 500,000.

I have negotiated with Remy. He will allow you to withdraw the distribution contract and return the 500,000 investment. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other. In addition, I am optimistic about your movie, so as long as you need it, within the limit allowed by the new distributor, I will continue to invest."

"Thank you, Roger." Ronald was very moved. Roger Corman treated him as a film director and artist instead of a calculative businessman at this critical moment.

If it weren't for Coleman suppressing Remy and withdrawing the distribution contract. In the end, Remy blocked his contract, then "Night of the Comet" would be stuck in the middle, and he must be very uncomfortable.

A dedicated director was blocked by Remy for distribution. If he directed it casually, Remy might find a handle to slander him.

"Can I borrow your phone? Mr. Coleman, I'll call Atlantic right now. They've clearly told Ronald that they're willing to distribute his film." Seeing Coleman's clear statement, Nicita asked to borrow her phone to contact him.

"Just use my phone. I'll go make a cup of coffee. This time is really sleepy." Coleman gave the office to Ronald and Nicita so that they could contact each other conveniently.

After a while, Ronald opened the door of the office and invited Coleman in again.

"Atlantic has expressed its willingness to take over. They will invest another $400,000 to make up a total of $500,000 in investment. As our domestic distributor in America, we can sign a contract immediately. So you can only keep $100,000 of investment here." Nicita said, which meant that Coleman and Atlantic exchanged investment amounts.

"No problem, come get the check anytime after you sign the contract." Coleman patted Ronald on the shoulder, "There will always be problems in film preparation, don't be discouraged. Filmmaking is like this, if it doesn't work here, it may work there."

"Thank you, Roger. It's just that Atlantic's funds are all preparing for the release of 'Valley Girl' shot last year. They can't withdraw funds to invest in the release of my film until it is released in April."

Atlantic is very small, and all the funds can only guarantee the production and distribution of a low-cost film. Ronald also went to see this "Valley Girl" on site. It was directed by Martha Coolidge, a female director of Gail's good friend, and starring Nicolas Cage.

"I haven't talked to you about this, Ronald. Are you too obsessed with the special effects? In fact, your script can be shot very well with 500,000 to 800,000, and there is no worry about sales."

Coleman felt that Ronald was making a fuss. Can't a science fiction film be shot with 800,000 US dollars? As long as the method is right, 300,000 can also be shot.

"I asked Jim Cameron to come and calculate the cost again and again. The two main scenes cannot be reduced. The first is the scene of the comet destroying the earth, which is a big visual chocolate for the audience.

The second is the deserted city, which is a kind of lonely temperament that a movie must have. Without these two points, this movie is a bit, a bit..." Ronald didn't know how to put it.

"A bit like the cheap science fiction movies I made?" Coleman laughed.

"Hahaha..."

Roger Corman also laughed, but he quickly regained his seriousness and said to Ronald, "I'll tell you two stories, maybe they will inspire you."

"I'm listening with both ears."

"One is Peter Bogdanovich, who used to be a film critic and later served as an assistant director in my "Wild Angels". After the filming, he told me that he could make a movie.

I gave him some extra film, a set that had not been dismantled, and then an actor Boris Karloff owed me two days of filming time.

As a result, he asked Karloff to sit there, put on the costume of the previous movie, and started telling stories. The scenes that originally cost a lot of money to shoot became a few old friends chatting and telling stories through the mouths of third parties.

This saved a lot of money. If it weren't for an old horror movie actor telling a story to introduce the beginning, the movie would not be so exciting."

Ronald nodded and took note. He knew that Corman's implication was to use script adjustments to avoid expensive shooting scenes.

"The second story is about a racing film I shot. I went to a sports car sales center to borrow a car to shoot a movie. The dealer agreed to lend me his sports car for the filming, but asked me to sign an agreement to guarantee that there would be no problems with the car, otherwise he would pay compensation according to the price.

I know that the most likely thing to go wrong in car filming is the front windshield, so I removed the front windshields of all the cars, and then used the method of downgraded shooting to shoot a high-speed chase scene."

"This is to let me be creative and think of ways that others can't think of to save costs, so that the final effect of the film exceeds the cost." Ronald wrote down the inspiration of the second story again.

"Remember, Ronald, there is nothing in the difficulties encountered in filming that can't be solved by a screwdriver and a roll of tape. If you can't solve it, tear up this script."

"I'm afraid this won't work," Ronald thought to himself, "When Coleman made movies, the audience could tolerate this shoddy shooting method, but now with the science fiction blockbusters of Lucas and Spielberg, the audience's taste has been cultivated.

Furthermore, this kind of third-party storytelling avoids big scenes, and I am afraid that the audience will throw rubbish on the spot. "

However, this idea can be used as a reference. Ronald nodded and asked, "Even if I use a side profile to shoot the scene where the earth is destroyed by a comet, the deserted city is the key environment for the plot of the movie.

Without the effect of the desertion of this modern city, I am afraid that the lonely survivor temperament created by the movie would be discounted by more than half. No matter whether I use set-up shooting or apply to block traffic in Los Angeles for a few days, the cost cannot be reduced. "

"Why do we need the help of the police? Have you forgotten the old way of making movies in the new century? Guerrilla tactics?"

"This is also a way." Ronald agreed, disapproving in his heart. This important scene will take at least two full days to shoot, and there are so many related shots. If we follow Coleman's method and tear out the scenes in the script before it can be shot, we may not be able to get the kind of atmospheric shots required by the script.

Besides, with so many shots, it’s impossible to play hide-and-seek with PD.

unless……

Unless you're shooting at night when the power of the PD fades.

But this is not appropriate. "Night of the Comet" is a zombie movie with a bright atmosphere, not a horror movie that focuses on dark night scenes.

Horror is not the background of this movie. In fact, this is a zombie movie with a romantic comedy background. Two valley girls are looking for their own romance in the lonely apocalypse. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as the combination of comedy and horror that CAA has always advocated.

Moreover, there are many scenes where the sky is covered with red comet dust. How do you shoot such a scene at night? I have only heard that there is a way to shoot night scenes during the day - "day to make night". I have not heard of shooting day scenes at night, and there are no such powerful lamps to bring out the illumination of the sun.

But these are details, and Ronald has two immediate problems to solve.

The first is to modify the contract with Minahan's Cannon Pictures. The original distributor of America has changed, and the guarantee terms need to be re-drafted.

The second is to discuss the schedule with Nicolas Cage. Now the movie will obviously be postponed, which will conflict with his new film. If it can't be accommodated in the schedule, he will have to find a new leading actor.

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