Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Minahan and Yoram contacted their colleagues in Los Angeles overnight and found a script about breakdancing in the script library of Hollywood studios.

This was a follow-up work after the big hit of "Flashdance". It mainly describes a female dancer who wanted to enter Broadway to perform in musicals, but she never succeeded. She met a group of black and Latino breakdancing people on the streets of New York, absorbed various elements of new dance, and put them into her own dance.

In the next audition for a classic Broadway dance drama, she conquered the old-fashioned director and producer with this trendy and pleasing dance and won the position of the heroine.

The two hurriedly contacted Ronald, but no one, including Ronald's agent, knew where he was.

Ronald had returned to his hometown on Staten Island. He went to visit his childhood friend, Douglas Hansen III.

"Do you want to renovate your aunt's old house?" Douglas had an excuse to get out of the big party at home and took Ronald to the Chinese restaurant in the south of the island for dinner.

"Yes, this is my mother's hometown after all. I want to build a house here so that my aunt can have a place to live in the future. She didn't say it, but I can see that she still likes the neighbors and community here."

"Well, the problem is that there is no. I can help you get it. But the place was originally built for low-rent housing for workers. The distance between neighbors of that kind of shotgun house is very close. If your aunt buys someone else's house and renovates it, there may be unpleasant rumors.

Besides, she is now a small rich man and can move to a better community. My family has a piece of land not far from your old house. If you need it, I can transfer it to you."

"Then it's settled." Hansen is the largest landowner at the southern end of the island. He nodded and his new home plan was completed.

"In fact, our Staten Island has always been a base for the film industry, but it has gradually declined since the late 1970s." After talking about business, Douglas began to sigh. If there are often crews coming to Staten Island, he can also socialize with those actresses as a producer.

"I didn't know that."

"Hey, you didn't go to school here at that time. I went to see the filming of "The Godfather" when I was a kid."

"Was The Godfather filmed here?" Ronald said he heard it for the first time.

"Yes, the house where his daughter's wedding took place at the beginning of The Godfather is in the middle of Staten Island. There is also the place on the north side of the island facing the Statue of Liberty. Several big stars used to live there."

"Paul Newman?" Ronald heard from his aunt.

"Well, Martin Sheen also bought a house there."

I didn't expect that Emilio Estevez and his brother Charlie Sheen were also born on Staten Island.

"But after they became famous, they all moved away."

After the meal, the two simply took the train to the north end of the island and looked for Paul Newman's former residence near the pier.

"Woo..." With a whistle, the yellow ferry that office workers on Staten Island use to commute every day began to dock again.

The two stopped and looked at the ferry. When they were in high school, they often came here to see the scenery and wait for the ferry to take them to Manhattan Island to compete with other high schools in wrestling matches.

"Hey, is that Ronald?"

Yoram on the boat suddenly patted Minahan on the shoulder, "Ronald! Ronald!" The two fat men began to wave their hands and shouted Ronald's name.

They finally found the phone number of Ronald's apartment through their connections, asked Aunt Karen to find out that they were going back to Staten Island to visit friends, and immediately took the only means of transportation that directly connected Staten Island to Manhattan.

"Why are you here?" Ronald looked at the two Israeli brothers who were sweating in the winter and ran off the boat quickly.

"We came to you to ask you to make a movie."

"Movies are good, I can invest," Douglas Jr. interrupted from the side.

...

"What do you think? This subject matter is also favored by you. Can this script sell well?" Minahan stared at Ronald with wide eyes.

Ronald was in Douglas Jr.'s mansion, flipping through the script without saying a word. He was thinking that the several fragments in his dream were inconsistent with this script in many places. Except that the protagonist was a female jazz dancer and worked with two breakdance masters, there was no similarity in the story.

Ronald finally waited until he finished flipping through the script and closed the cover. Minahan and Yoram began to get nervous, waiting for Ronald's judgment.

"Well, can I ask you a question first? Why were you not interested in the breakdance theme I recommended to you before, but you took the initiative to find me this time?" Ronald was most puzzled by this.

"Oh, it's my daughter," Minahan began to make up a lie, "My daughter called me and said that the streets of Los Angeles are full of people dancing this kind of dance, so I thought of you."

"Oh? Is there any other reason?" Ronald didn't believe this nonsense. He didn't want to shoot this breakdance for Minahan.

Douglas Jr. was right next to him, and there was Eddie, the agent in New York, and CAA paid more and more attention to him. As long as he waited for "The Karate Kid" to be released and revised the script himself, he would soon be able to attract investment and distributors. He would occupy a large proportion of the investment. Wouldn't he be happy?

"Ah, alas, there is another reason."

Gu Yan

Minahan could not hide the truth from Ronald, who was experienced in the industry, so he had to tell the truth, "Orion Pictures also invested in a movie with a similar theme. I came to you to complete it before them and release it before them."

"Orion is also shooting?" Ronald was shocked, "Did you get the story outline?"

Could it be that the movie he dreamed of was invested by Orion?

But it doesn't make sense. Orion is famous for investing in art films. How could it make a simple, Roger Corman-style low-cost exploitation film in the dream?

"Hey... I asked a friend about it." Minahan told Ronald the story outline of "Hot Street Kids" he had inquired about.

"That's right, ethnicity, liberation, blacks and Latinos trapped on the streets, and the acceptance of them by the white mainstream society, this is what Orion likes."

"I actually have some ideas for breakdancing movies. I can rewrite your script. How do you want to cooperate?"

Ronald felt that if he wanted to make this movie himself and then take the opportunity to go to China across the Pacific to track down the traces, he had to cooperate with Minahan. Since the project has been established, it is bound to be late to build a distribution channel from scratch. It is better to cooperate with Minahan's Cannon, which has good European distribution capabilities, and then see if MGM is willing to distribute in North America.

"We want to fight fast and find experienced people in the market. This is why we came to you first. We will consider others if you don't want to."

Ronald waved his hand. He didn't like this kind of clumsy flattery.

"Hey, this is what we think. I will give you a director's salary of $200,000. Then give you 5% of the profit share." Minahan made the conditions.

"Of course, if your friend Mr. Hansen is interested, we can also open up some investment quotas for you." Yoram looked at Doug next to him and quickly added.

"I can shoot, but I want 20% of the share, and then my friend will take 20% of the investment share."

"Seven percent, we can't give more. The budget is about one million US dollars. If you are willing to convert the director's salary into a share, we can give this number at most." The two brothers, Yoram, are better business negotiators.

"Why do you give me, uh..." Ronald began to calculate their estimated total North American box office.

"Twenty million dollars? My friend Ronald has never had a lower box office performance. This is also his specialty. He should get 15%." Douglas Jr. was born in a business family and took over the negotiation.

"Eight percent"

"Twelve percent at least"

"Ten percent?"

"Okay?"

The two agreed on the share ratio and looked at Ronald.

"I can give up the director's salary, but I want a share of your overseas sales of copies." Ronald proposed a new condition.

"One percent?" Minahan agreed painfully.

"Deal!" Ronald was very happy. Overseas distribution has always been the forbidden fruit of the studio. The intention of proposing a share was also to understand this piece of fat meat.

"If I have time, I will go to the European and British film trading markets with you."

"That's no problem. I originally wanted you to go to see the works of other countries and help me choose." Minahan was very distressed about letting outsiders get involved in overseas distribution, but in order to get Ronald's agreement, he didn't care. Anyway, he is a director, and artists are unwilling to intervene in such commercial behavior.

"Well, we can sign the contract after the lawyer comes to review it."

"Then call quickly." Minahan said to Ronald.

"Today is New Year's Day, there is no need to be so anxious, right?" Ronald didn't want Miss Dole to express dissatisfaction with him.

"We only have three weeks."

"What?" Ronald was shocked, "How much time did you say?"

"Three weeks, two weeks of shooting, plus one week of editing, we need to get the rough cut version to promote it to the North American theater screening."

"No, only two weeks of shooting time, and there is no finished script yet? Then you should ask someone else?" Ronald thought, what a joke.

"Don't be like this, Ronald. I can give you another 200,000 director's salary, and other conditions remain unchanged. This is not impossible for you. I know your efficiency in filming. If it was in the Negev Desert in Israel, I made up my mind to ask you to take the helm, and MGM would not be unwilling to release my "Sahara" now."

Minahan was anxious and said all his biggest difficulties.

"Is that so?" Ronald thought about it, and the balance began to move to the other side. His aunt's new house still needed money to buy land for construction, and he also wanted to shoot breakdance and go to China to have a look.

"Then I'll make a few calls to see if I can find the right people and places, and then we'll see?"

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