Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The new car given by Saab has been sent to Ronald by the dealer. He drove the bright red new car to the beach in Los Angeles for a ride.

"Night of the Comet" is still being screened steadily, and Ronald feels that his share will exceed the director's salary. So he bought Coca-Cola stocks with the director's salary and the commercials he shot.

Anyway, all Americans drink Coke, and Coca-Cola, which has higher profits than Pepsi, should be a good investment target... right?

Ronald himself has no knowledge of investment, and his family doesn't know how to invest. He asked Douglas, his high school friend, and the other party just said that at least he wouldn't lose money, and there would be dividends every quarter.

The promise of "not losing money" made Ronald feel at ease to buy it. . In the future, he won't have to earn living expenses by revising scripts for others, and he can live well with stock dividends for daily expenses.

"Hey, handsome guy, what car is this?" On the beach, a beautiful woman in a bright red bikini took off her sunglasses and asked Ronald who was sitting in the driver's seat. The red body of the car, the front of the car looks like a sports car, and the driver is a handsome guy, which makes the beauty interested.

"Saab 900, a good car from Sweden."

"Swish..." The beauty put on sunglasses and drove away. The car looks very powerful, but why is the rear end a five-door hatchback SUV? What Sweden, can Sweden also produce good cars?

"Hey, you will know when the advertisement is broadcast on TV." Ronald retracted his head into the car window. He started the car and cruised slowly, "They are all red cars, but Ferrari is still attractive."

A Ferrari drove over from the opposite side, talked to the beauty for a few words, and she got on the passenger seat of the sports car.

"Ding ding..." Ronald honked the horn twice. On the beach in Los Angeles, surfboards and sports cars are more attractive to beautiful women.

The car arrived at Venice Beach, and Ronald saw the disabled breakdancing master, nicknamed "Handyan". He was still teaching people breakdancing moves in a public roller skating rink not far from the beach.

Ronald thought he was amazing. The "Hand Man", who had difficulty walking due to the sequelae of polio, was much better than a healthy person when he danced breakdance.

Ronald parked his car and stood next to the roller skating rink, watching the "Hand Man" demonstrate to the enthusiasts. He wore a hooded sportswear, threw away his crutches, and walked to the center of the terrazzo venue with difficulty.

The "Hand Man" put on his hat to protect his hair, and stood upside down with his hands on both sides of his head to keep his balance. After waiting for a second, he spun his hands, and then his legs began to rotate like a helicopter.

"Oh oh..." Ronald was surprised. Is this a new move?

"Oh oh oh..." Amid the applause and cheers from the people next to him, the "Hand Man" stopped dancing, and he became the disabled person again, standing on the ground with difficulty.

Ronald hurried forward, picked up two stainless steel crutches, handed them to the "Hand Man", and then supported him and asked him to put his arms into the steel rings on the crutches and fix them.

"Thank you." "Hand Man" is a very shy person in life. He thanked Ronald, then walked to the wall step by step, looking at the blacks and Latinos in the venue who imitated his movements, with a proud light in his eyes.

"My name is Ronald. Have you been breakdancing here?" Ronald wanted to meet this strange man.

"Yeah, my name is Eddie Rodriguez," the hand man shook his hand with difficulty, "I like this dance very much, so I come when I am free."

"It seems that more and more people are dancing now?"

"Yes, in March, a documentary called "Wild Style" was released, which is dedicated to hip-hop music. There are shots of breakdancing battles in it, so more and more people come to learn this kind of dance..."

"Eddie, can you show us again?" Several Latino children came over.

"Of course," "Hand Man" Eddie went over and gave them a detailed introduction to some of the key points of breakdancing movements.

This shy man is usually very quiet, but when asked for advice, he talks a lot.

It seems that he really likes breakdancing. There are many people who like it here, so he performs here. If someone is willing to learn the moves, he will teach them.

Black and Latino children are very poor and cannot afford the tuition. It seems that the "hand man" teaches these young people who like dancing for free.

Ronald likes this kind of pure person very much. He spent a long time with him on Venice Beach and then went to the CAA office.

"Ronald, you came at the right time. Your friend Minahan has been looking for you for a long time." As soon as Richard saw him, he gave him a note with a phone number.

"Oh?" Ronald took it and saw that it was the office number of Minahan, an Israeli.

He called and asked, and it turned out that Minahan had finished filming the scenes in the Israeli desert in the movie "Sahara". After returning, he invited him to his office for a chat.

"Ha ha ha..." Minahan laughed hoarsely when he saw Ronald walk into the office. When he was in Israel, he didn't know whether he ate too well or was under too much pressure, but he gained a lot of weight, and the belt on his stomach could no longer hold him.

"You came at the right time, Ronald. All the scenes of 'Sahara' have been shot. I think we will succeed. We will definitely have a share in the Oscars next year."

Ronald is immune to Minahan's optimism, "Really? Why did you ask me to come?"

"I heard that you have done commercials for cars and hamburgers, and you edited both films yourself. Do you want to win an Oscar? Come and see my rough cut and give me some suggestions. I will give you a signature as the editor, and then you can go on stage to receive the award."

"Take a look first." Ronald suddenly had the idea of ​​looking at the sample film and agreed.

"Ha ha..." Minahan led him into an editing room, "Bring the film with the sound and picture synchronized."

The assistant wrapped the film around the densely packed guide pillars, and when he pressed the switch, a close-up of Brooke Shields appeared on the monitor.

Ronald reached out and touched his lips. The first girl in America is still so beautiful.

"Brooke has returned to New York. She's going to Princeton soon. We're shooting and packing up at the right time." Minahan pointed at Brooke on the screen and said, "We're lucky. This is Brooke's last movie before college. She will also be a strong contender for the Oscar for Best Actress. It's a big hit at the box office and well received by critics... Hahahaha, my dream is finally coming true."

"Give it to me." Minahan grabbed the control knob from the assistant and started playing the film forward. Gu Yao

Brooke Shields sat in the driver's seat of an antique car, wearing big goggles like a racing driver, and her white scarf was rustling in the wind.

"She's so beautiful." Ronald thought secretly. The beautiful woman dressed up as a man, and she was also heroic.

Brooke on the screen drove out of the starting point and sped on the dirt track. Then she took off her goggles, threw away the fur hat covering her hair, and then grabbed the wig on her head and threw it behind the car. Her real dark golden long hair shone brightly in the desert sun.

Brooke shook her head left and right and rubbed her hair hard. The oncoming wind blew her long hair away, and she drove farther and farther in the camera.

"Cut... cut... cut..." Minahan began to howl at the editing assistant like a bull in heat.

"Here, here, and here." Minahan turned the knob back and forth, "Cut it all, this is all garbage, garbage, garbage, keep this part."

"Wow," Ronald stood up in surprise, "No, Minahan, is this how you edit movies?"

"Intuition, intuition is the most important thing in editing, you won't go wrong if you listen to me." Minahan continued, "Cut here, cut to a close-up here. Did you write it down?"

The poor assistant editor kept writing down the editing points written by Minahan in his notebook.

"That's not how you use intuition." Ronald covered his face.

Without watching all the shots first, then understanding the rhythm of the movie, and then using intuition to repeatedly determine the editing points that would capture the audience's thoughts, you just cut directly based on your first impression?

"Ronald, what do you think?" Minahan had quickly determined the editing points for the first roll of film, and then stopped to ask Ronald.

"I think our working methods are completely different, so I'd better not give you any suggestions casually."

"Whatever you want, Ronald. How about you go out and talk to Yoram? He has something else to talk to you about. I'll work for a while and then come back to you. I want you to direct a movie for Cannonball."

"Okay, you go ahead," Ronald nodded and left the editing room, and found Minahan's cousin Yoram.

"Ronald," Yoram was a little fatter, "your 'Night of the Comet' is very good at the box office. Has Atlantic settled the commission with you?"

"No, my agreement must wait until the next release, and the commission will be based on the total box office. I only received the director's fee."

"That won't work, Ronald, you have to urge them on this matter," Yoram said, picking up the phone and calling Atlantic's distribution department.

"Hello, this is Yoram from Cannonball. When can we get the money for 'Night of the Comet'?"

"What? No, no, don't give me that. We are also a distributor... OK, OK, let's make it this way. Your reputation is still in a good range with me. Don't let me down."

After hanging up the phone, Yoram said to Ronald, "If you don't urge this kind of distributor, he won't take the initiative to ask for payment."

"Oh," Ronald thought to himself that he would also ask his agent to urge him.

"This time I raised another sum of money from Belgium. Minahan and I have discussed that we would like to ask you to shoot a movie for Cannonball. As long as Minahan has no objection to the subject matter and story outline, we can invest in it.

Of course, it would be best to use our company's stars, so that we can go to Cannes to pre-sell your movie and increase some investment. If that doesn't work, we can only make a movie with a small investment."

"Who is your male star?" Ronald didn't expect that the Israeli brothers had made such a big deal that they already had their own male stars.

"Chuck Bronson and Chuck Norris." Yoram pointed to the two posters on the wall and said.

Ronald looked up and saw that both of them looked familiar. Chuck Bronson was the star of "Deathwish 2", a mustache-wearing action star who had played Mysterio in "Once Upon a Time in the West".

The other Chuck was even more familiar, as he was the villain in the battle at the Colosseum in Bruce Lee's play "Way of the Dragon". He was also a black belt in karate.

"So you're still making exploitation films?" Ronald knew what was going on when he saw these two. Chuck Norris had no expression in "Way of the Dragon", only action scenes, so calling him a star was obviously too much of a compliment. Chuck Bronson was also out of fashion, and there hadn't been any blockbuster movies for many years.

"Yeah, exploitation films, you're an expert, erotic, action, explosions, youth, everything. Do you have any ideas?"

"I see, let me think about it," Ronald thought for a while, and thought of the "hand man" just now.

"Have you seen a documentary called "Wildstyle"? The dance in that documentary, which is called breakdancing, is very popular now. Even the most popular J danced at the Motown Memorial Concert. Did you watch the TV broadcast?"

"Breakdancing," Yoram wrote down the name of the dance, "I haven't seen it. Wait until I borrow a copy or videotape. Minahan and I will watch it tonight, and we'll discuss it tomorrow."

The next day Ronald came to the Cannon again. He went straight into the editing room and met Minahan.

"Cut, cut, cut... This is trash, this is good, keep this part, this part... What about the part in between this part? Find it quickly, the footage I shot was very good, why is it gone?"

"Yesterday you said it was trash, cut it, I'll go find it in the recycling bin." The assistant was sweating.

"Yesterday was yesterday, today it is not trash... Aha, Ronald, you are here."

Minahan saw Ronald, "Yoram and I watched the documentary and the dance of the kid named Jackson last night, I have to say, your interpretation of the trend is wrong.

This kind of dance performed by blacks and Latinos is impossible to be popular in the mainstream society of America. Didn't you see that their original soul music has not become mainstream? Or is it the rock music of white people that conforms to the mainstream aesthetics of white people."

"Is that so? Then I don't have any inspiration recently, or you can show me any scripts you have."

"No problem, I am collecting scripts everywhere in Hollywood now, and when there is a suitable one, we must cooperate on one. I will be the producer, you will be the director, Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director are our goals, ha ha ha..."