Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Your public relations consultant, Eva, has a good idea. This reporter has obviously divided the young and promising actors into two groups. The first group only had likes and focused on honing their acting skills. Ralph Mazio can enter This team will add a lot of topics to the sequel of 'Longwei Boy'."

Weintraub hosted Ronald at his home in Los Angeles. If Ronald hadn't tipped off the man this time, the sequel's male protagonist, Mazio, would have been in trouble.

"Did Ralph's statement go out?"

"At this."

Weintraub handed over a public statement. Ralph Mazio said that he and Emilio only worked together on "The Wanderer" and that the two did not have a deep friendship. He was busy filming a new film and was working on Preparing for the sequel of "The Dragon King".

And he expressed that he disagreed with the "Brat Gang" statement. They are not a gang. Like the Rat Pack, they always make movies together, but separate to find their own careers.

"It's similar to the caliber of Tom Cruise." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief. It was a method taught by a public relations manager.

"Little George's mother Barbara called me. After you talk to Eisner, give her a call back. Now he is very interested in being a fund director. Among his friends, they asked him if he had invested. He couldn’t tell what movie it was, it was very embarrassing.”

Weintraub's wife, Jane Morgan, saw Ronald and her husband finished chatting about the new movie, and took the time to whisper to Ronald a request from his friend, the wife of the deputy commander, Barbara.

Barbara's eldest son has never loved working so much. Now he is laughed at by his friends every day and said that he voted for a liar. He has not seen a single movie. He didn't talk back, he just said that he wanted to see Disney's long-term operation. The mother felt very distressed and called to care about her son's career.

"I will, Mr. Eisner made an appointment with me to meet and chat over the weekend."

"Martin's son is really a scourge. He has implicated several of the most promising actors in Hollywood."

Eisner met with Ronald privately in a small, intimate restaurant.

"Who says it's not the case? Fortunately, I was smart and asked Cruise and Mazio to issue a statement. Otherwise, my two new films would not have been released yet, and the leading actor would have been involved in controversy."

Now Emilio's "boy gang" has become the hottest topic in Hollywood. All male actors, when interviewed, must be criticized for their unprofessionalism, disrespect for acting skills, and only the spirit of having fun, and draw a clear line with them.

Privately, they were warned by agents and production companies one by one not to accept interviews with reporters in private. All interviews must be checked by professional public relations companies.

"Fortunately, he didn't involve the minor Molly Ringwald, otherwise parents all over the United States would tear him alive."

Eisner was still angry. Martin Sheen had purchased the rights to adapt "This Time, That Time", the last novel in Hinton's Oklahoma Boy trilogy, for his eldest son. The issuance contract signed during the period.

Although I am now at Disney, the responsibility still falls on me. Originally at Disney, he wanted to sign a contract with the father and son to distribute Emilio's first self-written and directed film "Wisdom."

Now that this kind of scandal has occurred, he just wants to blacklist both father and son, slap them to death, and never hire them.

"Ahem..." Ronald wandered around for a while and finally got to the point.

"Now the mother of one of the directors of the Screen Fund came to me and wanted to ask about the use of Disney's funds. You know, she has always taken good care of her children."

"I know. The contract I signed with Screen Fund can only be used for investment in live-action movies. But now the veteran gang in Disney, led by Roy Jr., wants to completely negate the strategic direction of former son-in-law Ron Miller. ”

"What should we do?" Ronald understood what Eisner meant.

Roy Disney Jr., the nephew of founder Walt Disney, forced his son-in-law Ron Miller and his cousin to go grow grapes in Napa Valley on the grounds that his son-in-law Ron Miller lost money on his investments in live-action movies.

The newly introduced duo of CEOs Eisner and Katzenberg secretly agreed with Ron Miller's live-action film policy and were unwilling to invest in traditional Disney cartoons with high costs and slow turnaround.

"When are you going to help me make a movie?" Eisner avoided talking about investment and instead invited Ronald to star.

"I've just finished playing Top Gun and need a break, and then there's the sequel to Dragon King..." Ronald said that he didn't have time.

"Then help me choose scripts and recommend directors who can make small and medium-cost movies." Eisner still wants to catch Ronald. Ronald is the key figure in the second phase of the Screen Fund. If If he can produce a blockbuster live-action movie for Disney, and continue to issue the third and fourth phases of the fund, then he will not have to worry about funding sources.

The cost of this kind of private equity fund is much lower than that of bank loans, and it is also much more convenient.

"Can I invest in my production company, Daydream Pictures?" Seeing that Eisner had given him the opportunity, Ronald immediately jumped on the snake and followed the stick.

"The Screen Fund's investment will also give some shares to the production company, but it's really only a little bit." Eisner made a small gesture.

"As long as you can participate."

"I will ask my assistant to send the script to you. Again, you can film whatever subject you want, and let whoever you want to star star. But now I can only give you the right to decide the budget of small and medium-sized productions. Say, I can give you the green light for any movie with a budget of no more than six million."

"Why?" Ronald couldn't help but be curious when he saw Eisner gave a specific data.

"If you are willing to direct, the amount of money is negotiable. If you don't direct and only participate in production, I can only give you 6 million. Because I plan to put small and medium-cost live-action movies on this brand

As he spoke, Eisner pushed a document over.

Ronald picked it up and read it. On it was a feasibility report on making comedies, action films, and romantic youth films that young audiences would like.

"Hmm... secretly crossing Chencang?" A Chinese sentence popped up in Ronald's mind. It turned out that in order to reduce the resistance in the board of directors of promoting live-action filmmaking, Eisner put some small and medium-sized films on the "Touchstone Pictures" sign that had nothing to do with Disney.

"This is a company founded by Ron Miller, specifically to shoot small and medium-sized youth productions. However, he has a very bad taste. The only movie he has shot since its establishment is the recent Walter Murch's 'Return to Oz' ', it is expected to make a profit, while the other six productions all lost money."

Eisner took a sip of wine and continued, "I made a compromise. From now on, Touchstone will not have any Disney-related logos on the titles, so that the audience will not know that it is a company controlled by Disney. Touchstone will be independently distributed. The channel will also allow larger-scale R-rated films, as well as the newly approved PG-13-rated films, as long as you want to make a profit, whether it is a script in our library, one you wrote yourself, or a fancy purchase. Send them all in. Katzenberg will approve them himself.”

This means that Ronald has a secret project creation and distribution channel, and he can invest in all the exploitation films he likes. Not only can I be a director, but I can also support my friends.

The next day, Ronald went to CAA's office excitedly. Richard was carrying boxes of scripts into his office.

After renewing his contract with Ronald for three years, Richard also had his own independent office. He also set up a special desk for Ronald. The refrigerator was filled with Ronald's favorite snacks, and he and Coppola Winery wine.

"So many? Has Disney moved all their film libraries here?" Ronald felt happy when he saw such a big battle. After struggling for several years, I finally got to the point where the producer came to ask me to direct.

Although it is only because of Eisner's special relationship with the Screen Fund, although he only has the right to make production decisions with a budget of less than 6 million.

"Do you need an assistant to condense these movies into a few hundred words of synopsis for you to watch?"

Ronald thought for a while and rejected the other party's suggestion. It is not easy to find an assistant who is professional and willing to work hard. Maybe the good scripts were let go.

"I'll see for myself."

Lying on a comfortable bed at home, Ronald picked up a script and read the first three pages to see if they aroused his interest. If so, he would read back. If the subsequent stories also made him want to read more. , just put it aside until you have time to take a closer look.

While reading this way, I didn't accumulate a few interesting scripts.

Ronald picked up another script, which read "ruthless people". The screenwriter was an unknown person named Dale Rauner, who had not written any scripts that had been made into movies.

"So it's a comedy?" Ronald thought the beginning was very interesting. Two stupid thieves kidnapped the billionaire heiress, a fat and vicious woman. And her husband is trying to kidnap her so that he can monopolize the inheritance and spend time with his lover. "

"This is worth taking a closer look at." Ronald thought my opening plot was very gripping and put it in a pile of scripts that he focused on by his bedside.

A wave of sleepiness came over him, Ronald yawned and fell asleep.

A screen appeared in the dream. A burst of drumbeats came, and a wide blue ribbon passed from the bottom of the screen to the left and condensed into a small ball. The ribbon also turned into the subtitles of Touchstone Pictures.

Then there was another drumbeat, and the subtitles on the second page appeared "Screen Fund Phase II Assisted in Filming."

"What a coincidence? What I dreamed about was the screen fund's touchstone work." Ronald's mouth moved and he smiled, as if he had found a suitable script and was ready to work with Barbara and Eisner.

"At the beginning of the film, a short, bald actor with shrunken speech was grabbing the hand of a mistress and repeating to her the imagination he had told her countless times. He wanted to kill his evil wife and then rob her of her inheritance. "

"This guy is really suitable for acting in comedies. He makes you laugh when you watch him." Ronald commented.

The man returned home and found that his wife was not there. He received a blackmail call saying that his wife was in their hands and that he was asked to prepare half a million dollars in cash as a ransom and that he would kill his wife if the police were called.

The actor's facial expressions ranged from impatient to incredulous. When he finally heard that the kidnapper had called the police and killed his wife, he actually laughed. Isn't this what he has wanted for a long time?

"This acting skill is really good. The close-up shot can show such rich levels."

Ronald also wanted to comment on the actor's acting skills.

The two kidnappers, wearing duck masks of the two nephews and nieces of Disney's animated character Donald Duck, released the cloth bag covering the head of the kidnapped wife.

A fat and ugly actress, with her thick lips pursed, began to spray. She wanted to put the kidnappers in prison and torture them to death.

"If my wife looked like this and had a super bad temper, I would also want to kill her." Ronald saw the two kidnappers, a man and a woman, trembling with fear after being sprayed by the hostages, and couldn't help but sympathize with the husband.

The two kidnappers locked the hostages in the basement and turned on the TV to see if there was any news about the kidnapping.

Who knew that all the channels were talking about the latest news of Mrs. Stone's kidnapping, and even the news that the kidnappers extorted 500,000 over the phone was exposed on TV.

The camera turned to the kidnappers, a man and a woman, who looked like a couple, and did not look like bad guys who could do kidnapping.

"Isn't this an old acquaintance, Judge Reinhold?" Ronald saw a close-up of the male kidnapper's face. He was the actor who played the role of Brad, the heroine's elder brother, who had a crush on Phoebe Cates in "Fast Pace".

"Can you believe it? All the TV stations are discussing this news."

"Do you feel guilty as I do?" The female kidnapper's voice was very scared, and her upper body shrank. It seems that she is really not a professional kidnapper.

"This performance is not good, it's a bit too much. Maybe dramas and musicals need such exaggerated body movements to attract the audience's attention. But movies have close-ups and close-ups, so only realistic and normal performances are needed."

Ronald commented on the heroine's acting skills. Even if it is a comedy, it is better to act according to the drama. The funny part of this script is not the lines, but the absurdity of the plot itself.

"Guilty? We have said it many times. They stole your ideas and made millions of dollars. We only need 500,000, which is already fair."

The camera zoomed in, and the blurry face of the female kidnapper behind became clear.

"Isn't this Helen Slater? No wonder her acting is so bad."

"Oh, no, I can't say that. If she or her father Gerald hears it, it won't be good."

"Why, do you dislike my acting so much?" Helen suddenly stopped acting and asked Ronald with big eyes. Her short hair had not recovered from "The Legend of Billie King" and just reached her shoulders. "What's wrong with my acting? This is the result of what I learned from Stella Adler's acting training class."

"No, I mean your acting is not suitable for movie performance." Ronald was a little scared when he saw Helen on the screen suddenly turned to question him.

"Really? Are you saying my daughter's acting is bad? You are the movie director, why don't you guide her? How did I entrust my daughter to you? You have to be responsible for adjusting her acting skills."

Gerald also appeared on the screen. He held a glass of wine and said to Ronald sternly.

"Ah, don't. I don't know how to guide acting!"

Ronald rolled off the bed in fear.