Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"All projects are suspended. All projects greenlit by Eisner have to be reviewed again, including our projects. Is Frank Mancuso crazy?"

In the office of the president of Gubel Peterson Pictures, Gubel's partner Jon Peterson watched his old partner Gubel angrily slap the script.

Jon Peterson and Gubel are a pair that complement each other. Gubel is known for his sharp words. He once went to Cuba to shoot a beach nature documentary. After being caught by the police, he used his mouth to convince the other party that he was just promoting the beautiful scenery of Cuba. In the end, he alarmed his superiors all the way, and finally chatted and laughed with Fidel and completed the production smoothly.

Peterson is a master of interpersonal relationships. He doesn't know much about movies. His first job was to dye the hair of women in other areas other than their hair in a hair salon. Soon he became Barbra Streisand's personal hairdresser and supervised Streisand's remake of "A Star is Born" to enter the film industry.

"I thought you didn't think this movie was good?" Peterson asked.

"Yeah, this has nothing to do with my opinion, but Paramount's perception of us." Gubel was angry that the new president disrespected him so much.

"Mancuso is an outsider. He will not dare to re-evaluate these scripts until he recruits a suitable production director. We should focus on the films that have been shot and are about to be shot."

Peterson knew that Gubel's dignity was challenged and comforted him.

"Steven (Spielberg)'s 'The Color Purple' is about to be completed, but he is anxious to hold a wedding ceremony. Didn't Mancuso claim to be good at marketing in an interview after taking office? We need to let him get more resources."

"And the 'The Legend of Billy King' adapted from J's song, urge them to cast and start filming as soon as possible."

"What about this fighter story?"

"Forget it, we will release it and put the script back in the rotation library. I don't want to be reviewed by Mancuso, an outsider. Anyway, after the 1950s, the audience didn't like to watch fighter movies..."

...

"Ronald, you have to help Helen again. No one expected that the Mexican father and son producers would not release Helen's contract. I don't have as many connections as you do in Hollywood. I'm afraid she will be disappointed again this time."

After Ronald arrived in Los Angeles, he received a call from PBS Gerald Slater. The acting career of his beloved daughter suffered misfortune again. The producers of the Superman series, the Salkind father and son, used the excuse that Helen had signed three film contracts to prevent her from filming "The Baseball Player's Wife". The heroine who was about to be in hand was about to fail again.

Gerald was afraid that his daughter would be stimulated and depressed again, so he quickly called Ronald, who had extensive connections in the film industry, and asked him to help find another movie to save the situation.

"Why? Salkind won't let Helen go, there is no reason? Didn't they cancel the second part of Supergirl? Have they found new investors?"

"It is said that the preview of Supergirl at Samsung was well received, and they are interested in continuing to shoot the Superman series, hoping that Superman and Supergirl will co-star in "Superman Part 4"."

"But this will not interfere with Helen's role in "The Baseball Player's Wife"?" Ronald was still not clear.

"I heard that it was the role in the Baseball Player's Wife, and some performances hindered the image of Supergirl, so Salkind Jr. ordered Helen to withdraw from the crew on the grounds of the provisions in the film contract. Ronald, can you go see her? I'm very worried."

"Well, remembering that he still owed Gerald a favor, Ronald had no choice but to pull his agent Richard to inquire about the situation."

"Are you going out, Ronnie?" Little Bud lived in a corner of Ronald's newly rented large apartment, a single room, which belonged to the driver's room.

It was the first time for him to live in such a luxury apartment with a monthly rent of four thousand dollars. After Ronald took him to familiarize himself with the facilities, Bud was very dedicated. As soon as he saw Ronald coming out with his coat, he would go up to drive.

"Drive the Mercedes, we will pick up Richard first, and then go to Helen's apartment."

A gray-green Mercedes-Benz, the cheapest new model in the S-Class, assembled in Malaysia and exported to America. After the dealer installed the in-car phone, it was sold to Ronald.

The new electric heated seat function is basically not used in Los Angeles, where the temperature is pleasant all year round. On the contrary, Ronald used the small table that can be pulled out and flipped behind the airplane seat many times.

He took out a notebook and began to record his inspiration on it.

John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" shot in Chicago has been packed up. Hughes, who returned to Los Angeles, privately asked Ronald to watch the sample film.

Ronald was surprised by the large number of shots in each shot and the actors' free improvisation. He felt that there were many experiences and inspirations to learn from.

Especially the "psycho" played by Ali Siti, who originally had messy hair, dark circles under his eyes, and huddled up and refused to communicate with others. After the five high school students got to know each other, the "princess" played by Molly Ringwald re-made her up, and she suddenly became a very beautiful girl, which attracted the favor of the "athlete" played by Emilio Estevez.

This plot of an ugly girl suddenly becoming beautiful after her friends' makeup touched Ronald's heart. Isn't this the dream of thousands of American teenagers? Ugly boys and ugly girls, through a miracle, suddenly become more handsome than a quarterback and more beautiful than a cheerleader.

Isn't this a good movie story theme?

"Such a good subject matter, I have to think about it carefully. Although I haven't dreamed of a movie, I don't believe that I can't make a blockbuster movie if I create my own."

"Ronald", when they arrived at CAA, little Bud went to the front desk to call someone. Richard came down and knocked on Ronald's car window.

Ronald woke up from his reverie, quickly opened the car door and let Richard in.

"Sorry, I'm just thinking about something. What's going on with Helen's script?"

Richard got into the car carefully. Ever since he knew that Ronald influenced the departure and stay of heavyweights like Eisner, Richard felt more and more that Ronald was a bit mysterious. When dealing with him, I became more careful.

"I read the script, and there are indeed some inappropriate plots in the middle. And the character named Debbie is a blond rock singer who has a very outrageous sex scene with the male protagonist."

Richard handed over the script.

"Extraordinary sex scene?" Ronald suddenly felt annoyed. Although he didn't know what the play was yet, he began to feel suffocated when he thought that Helen was actually going to perform such a play.

I turned to page 73. There is no sex scene on it? Ronald turned to look at Richard.

Richard smiled and pointed to a page in the first half of the script that he had marked with tape.

"Yeah..." Ronald felt even more uncomfortable.

Although this scene was written by the famous screenwriter Neil Simon, there is no too explicit plot. But the episode itself is even more egregious than exposure.

Rock star Debbie and baseball slugger Daryl fall in love at first sight. In bed, Daryl tries to explain baseball scoring rules to Debbie that she doesn't understand.

Daryl used the metaphor of first base, second base, and third base to make Debbie understand. When it came to third base, he got under the covers

"It really doesn't work. This scene will do too much damage to Supergirl's image." Ronald closed the script and said seriously, "Producer Salkind's idea is correct. If Supergirl appears on the screen, the audience will Thinking about third base, doesn’t that ruin the atmosphere too much?”

…

"Why do you have this strange idea? This is a very well-handled scene. Debbie is a rock star and Daryl is a major league baseball star. They are two people from two different worlds. This scene makes it right." Got to know each other better.”

Helen was preparing to participate in the second round of auditions for "The Legend of Billie King" in her apartment. She felt very uncomfortable hearing the fallacies Ronald said, so she gave Ronald a lesson from the perspective of drama analysis. class.

"Okay, okay, now you can't participate in the show due to contract reasons. Why don't you put the manager on this 'Billy King' first." Ronald glanced at Helen, she was nearby. After sweating profusely during aerobics, a sense of youth came to my face.

"Actually, it's a very good opportunity to be part of Neil Simon's drama. His previous roles in 'The Goodbye Girl' and 'California Suite' both earned the actor nominations and awards.

Helen wore a hairband on her head, a high-cut exercise suit on her lower body, and a pair of leg warmers on her ankles. She was practicing to Jane Fonda's video tape.

"The Legend of Billie King" required the female lead to be blond, and in the opening scene, she had not yet cut her hair short.

So Helen's long hair was tied into braids and coiled on her head. The sweat soaked her neck and seeped out, soaking the fitness clothes on her upper body. The front of her chest and the back of her waist were all wet, and the colors were obviously different.

Ronald withdrew his eyes and quickly flipped through the script of "The Legend of Billy King", focusing on page 73. Fortunately, there are no exposed plots or scenes.

"But this script is also very good. I have always wanted to play Joan of Arc like Ingrid Bergman. This movie is a modern American version of the story of Joan of Arc."

Helen finally stopped exercising out of breath and came over to look at Ronald who was flipping through the script. The sunshine outside the window shines through the window and shines on his golden hair, which is very beautiful. Ever since Supergirl, Helen has always been seen as blonde.

"What, this script...?" Seeing Ronald looking at her without moving, Helen smoothed her hair and looked at Ronald with two big blue eyes without saying anything.

"It doesn't matter, I called the executive producer Mr. Guber. He is very optimistic about your acting skills. I think as long as there are no problems in your second round of recall auditions, then most of this role will be yours. Your wish to play Joan of Arc It can be achieved.”

"Thank you." Helen kissed Ronald on the cheek, then got up embarrassedly and stretched out her hand to wipe the sweat that had accidentally stuck on his face.

Ronald raised his hand to wipe it too, and their hands met in the middle.

"Do it yourself..." Helen's face turned red, "I'm going to take a shower."

"Salkind is Mexican. If he were American, he would always approach Gerrard. You won't miss Neil Simon's play."

Guber, the executive producer of "The Legend of Billy King," received a request from Ronald and came to watch the audition in person. After watching the audition, he chatted with Helen.

He gave director Matthew Robbins a gesture.

"How was Helen's audition performance?" Gubel asked the director's opinion in front of Helen and Ronald.

"I'm going out first." Helen felt that it was inappropriate for her to be there, so she took the initiative to go out first.

"It's great, he and Christian have great chemistry."

Director Matthew Robbins is also a member of the New Hollywood generation. When he was at the University of Southern California, he was a classmate of Walter Merz and also wrote screenplays for Spielberg's Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After many years, he finally got the opportunity to direct alone.

"This Christian is also named Slater. Are he related to Gerald and the others?" Ronald discovered that the male lead who played the role of Helen's younger brother in the movie was also named Slater.

"It doesn't matter, it's just a coincidence."

Ronald saw that Gubel personally came out, and there was no problem with the female lead.

"Mr. Gubel, the fighter movie you told me about last time?"

"I have released the script. I will pick it up when other production teams at Paramount take a fancy to it. The new CEO has to review the movies that have not entered the preparation and shooting stage. Now I can only focus on this Billy King and Steven's Color Purple."

Ronald heard that the other party was not optimistic about the movie, so he stopped talking.

"You go back and wait for the notice. You are basically set." Ronald went out and said to Helen.

"Really? I felt pretty good during the audition."

For the audition, Helen changed her hair, tied it into a big ponytail at the back, and braided a small pigtail on the forehead, which made her look very playful.

"That's great, I'll take you back to the apartment first, I have something else to do later."

Little Bud drove the car over, got out and opened the door.

"Thank you, Ronald" Helen brushed the pigtail to her ear and gave Ronald a solid hug, "If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have said goodbye to movies. I didn't expect to be able to play the leading role."

"You deserve it," Ronald took the car door and invited Helen to get in.