Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Alan Parker stood up immediately, "Wait a minute, this movie will be great, it will greatly enhance the reputation of this school and attract more students to apply."

A school director with steel-gray hair and half-frame glasses immediately retorted: "Our school has been on the map for forty years, and there are still hundreds of qualified applicants every year who are not admitted because they exceed the number of admissions. Admissions publicity is the last thing we need."

Producer Da Silva also stood up: "I assure you that this will be a movie of very high quality and taste, and it is definitely not a work that slanders and defames the reputation of the school."

The school director who spoke also stood up, supported the table with both hands, and looked directly at the director and producer:

"Gentlemen, I can't take this risk. Let you defame the golden signboard of our school like you defamed the reputation of Turkish prisons in the previous movie "Midnight Express."

"Why? When I contacted you last time, everything went smoothly. Why did you suddenly make such a decision?" Producer Da Silva asked the principal.

The principal raised his hand and motioned the steel-gray-haired school director to speak.

"Last time when you came to the performing arts school, one of our teachers heard the crew members discussing the script of 'Hot Lunch', which included female students getting pregnant, school bullying, racial discrimination, and other fabricated plots."

"She reported the situation to me. I think these plots will never appear in our school and cannot represent the image of the New York Performing Arts High School. After an emergency meeting of our board of directors, it was decided to immediately terminate all cooperation with the 'Hot Lunch' crew."

The school director raised his head high and said with contempt to the crew members with his eyes.

The principal finally added:

"This is a joint decision of the board of directors and the New York Board of Education."

"Bang!" Director Allen slapped the table angrily. The school director began to question his last movie, which was already a personal attack.

Everyone had to get up and leave.

"Ruin the reputation of Turkish prisons. Does that place have a reputation? Or is your school's reputation the same as that of Turkish prisons? It's inexplicable!"

"A bunch of trash who don't understand art are managing a school named after art. It's ridiculous!"

The director was still angry all the way.

Ronald followed him out of the principal's office. Across the playground from the window was the auditorium, which could accommodate more than 2,000 people.

Originally, it was planned to be used to organize this large-scale audition. All senior and graduating students in the school would come to participate in the audition. Now it has all become a bubble.

"Pah, pah, pah..." The sound of baseball came. Ronald looked and saw that it was three student-like boys playing on the playground.

The catcher caught the pitcher's ball three times, and the boy who swung the bat had poor skills and didn't hit it once, so he was struck out.

The group walked out of the school gate, and Ronald looked back again.

This is an old stone building built before World War I. The stone walls, with red doors and windows, give people a sense of arrogance of old capitalists.

The High School for Performing Arts is located on 46th Street in Midtown Manhattan, not far from Times Square, and is in the center of the capitalist world. They are now indeed qualified to be arrogant and let the "Hot Lunch" crew out.

…

“Dxnit, who leaked the script?” Producer David Da Silva yelled, “If I find out, I’ll… I’ll kill this bastard.”

“Don’t be like that, David. The Performing Arts High School will eventually find out. The point now is not to pursue responsibility, but to come up with a solution.” Director Alan Parker said calmly and rationally.

“Not necessarily, in fact, we can give them a fake script…” Ronald thought to himself.

“Coffee is here,” Margaret walked into the meeting room with a tray of coffee, and Ronald hurried forward to help.

Everyone was suddenly attacked by the board of directors at the Performing Arts High School. Now they are back in the casting studio, holding an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

“Alan, you should consider returning to Christopher Gore’s script. Let’s go back to the starting point and start again.”

Christopher Gore, this name sounds familiar. Ronald flipped through the script in his hand, and sure enough, in the author column it said "Christopher Gore"

"No, Chris's version is still a Hollywood package. When I agreed to the director at the beginning, I agreed that you would let me write my own version of the script, and Chris would only retain the right to sign."

"Oh my God, Alan. Why are you so stubborn? The attitude of the Performing Arts School today is very clear. They will not agree with the plots you wrote. A poor black boy makes a rich white girl pregnant? Then which New York parents would send their daughters to the Performing Arts School to dance ballet?"

Producer Da Silva jumped off the stool excitedly.

"And they also refused us to borrow the shooting location. Where can we shoot? If we build a scene, we have to add at least 5 million to the budget. The original budget of 8.5 million is based on real-life shooting."

"That's your problem. If you only want Chris's script, why did you ask me to direct it?" Alan Parker said bluntly, "David, you must have wanted to make a different movie at that time, right?"

The director continued: "This is 1979, not 1959, and the audience no longer buys those false stories. A blockbuster movie must make the audience feel that it is real and believable. How can they still do it after being baptized by 'The Godfather'?" Can you watch 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

Producer Da Silva is unwilling to take a step back:

"Of course I know that the audience needs to see true stories, but authenticity does not mean copying news documentaries. Movies are a kind of entertainment, and the audience still needs to get a positive ending in the end."

"And we must also take into account the school's attitude. Appropriate compromises are necessary."

"Compromise? There is no compromise in art. A little compromise here, a little compromise there, and in the end you end up with a bunch of mediocre crap."

The producer and director were arguing more and more fiercely. Their heads were almost touching each other, and their saliva spattered onto each other's faces as they spoke angrily.

Seeing that they were a little out of control, their faces were red and their necks were thick. Even Margaery couldn't persuade him.

Ronald had an idea and deliberately sent the script forward. The script fell to the ground with a loud "snap", interrupting the argument between the two.

"Sorry," Ronald said, picking up the script.

"Ronald", the two bosses turned around and called out his name at the same time.

"You happen to be a peer of the story. Please tell me your opinion. Do you like the real world or false stories?" Director Allen took the lead in throwing a high-speed straight ball.

"Yes, Ronald, for you, do you want them to end up making adult movies and not be able to find a job serving dishes, or do you want them to realize their dreams at the end."

Producer Da Silva swings at the ball from the perspective of American Dreams.

Ronald felt very regretful now, so what if he let these two old bastards fight?

Why do you want to be this good old guy, like a bad catcher, caught between the pitcher and the bat?

If you agree with the director, you will offend the producer, and your job opportunities will definitely be ruined in the next few months. I agree with the producer, that would be worse, the director might have fired himself on the spot.

"Uh... uh..." His heart was racing, Ronald picked up the script to cover up, and turned it over left and right.

What my eyes swept across was the plot of the singer character CoCo. She was tricked into filming by a director who made adult movies, and she cried very sadly.

"Why don't we combine the two?" Ronald suddenly thought.

Combined? The director and producer were furious again, "If this can be put together, why are we arguing?"

"For example, CoCo, she can be deceived, but why not let her get a small job in the end? In this way, her experience will be in line with reality, and she will realize a small dream of hers at the end." Ronald said softly.

"That makes sense, what do you think, Allen?" producer Da Silva asked the director.

Director Parker stared at Ronald intently: "This is a good idea. Ronald, you are a peer of the character in the play, and your ideas are of great reference value."

"Shall we make modifications based on this and contact the performing arts experts again?" The director turned his chair to the producer and asked.

Producer Da Silva replied: "That's it. Then we have to think about how to find alternative filming locations and how to find other suitable people to audition."

Hearing this, everyone was a little discouraged, but the atmosphere was much better than when they were tense just now, and they began to actively think of ways to solve the problem.

Margery gave Ronald a thumbs up secretly.

As a result of the discussion, the producers decided to take a three-pronged approach.

The first is to continue revising the script and try to negotiate with the New York Academy of Performing Arts again to get them to change their minds.

The second is to find other art high schools in the New York area, such as the New York Music School and the School of American Ballet. Although the number of students in these schools is not as large as that of performing arts colleges, they can still gather together some suitable filming locations and audition students.

The third is to expand the scope of joint auditions between the two casting companies and send audition notices to Broadway, Hollywood, and even high school performing arts clubs. The crew in New York held an audition for a thousand people to select eight leading roles.

Those who cannot be chosen for the leading role can also be cast in minor roles and extras.

Director Alan Parker came over and said to Ronald, "Take this script back and think about how to revise it when you audition with me these days."

Ronald nodded quickly in agreement.

"You are peers, and there may be some perspectives that we cannot see. So don't read the content of the script, but learn its writing format. Then focus on writing two places."

"The first is the ending of the eight protagonists, and what small success they achieved in the end. For example, if you say CoCo finds a job, you have to think about what kind of job she can find and make enough money to support herself after graduation."

Ronald quickly nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about not thinking about it completely. Just think of as many protagonists as you can."

"Then there are those real-life scenes. Which scenes in art high schools are attractive to you are the ones you and your high school classmates would like to see on the movie screen."

"Write it carefully. If it is good, I will add your name to the list of screenwriters." Director Parker finally drew a big pie.

…

Everyone had left, and producer Da Silva personally sent director Parker off, continuing to talk as he walked.

Ronald stayed behind, put away his coffee cup, sat down alone, picked up the script and weighed it. To realize his dream of becoming a director, screenwriting is an inevitable step.

(