Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald returned to Hollywood when the new year arrived.

Bud took a leave of absence to stay at home with his family and girlfriend, and Ronald called a taxi home. When he arrived in West Hollywood where the apartment was located, Ronald simply asked the driver to stop. He found a new store near the apartment, with a sign saying videotape rental.

Ronald walked in and saw that the store occupied the corner of the street, and the people on both sides of the street could see the sign. The rent of such a store is the most expensive. It seems that the videotape business has been good recently, and it can afford to rent a good location.

The rental store is full of shelves for videotapes. Ronald found some classic old movies at the corner. He asked the owner for a basket and threw the videotapes into it one by one.

"In fact, you don't have to take all the videotapes at once. The rental rate of classic movies is not high. You can borrow new ones every time you come to return them."

"I'm a student of the directing department and I need to watch it to do homework." Ronald made up a reason.

"It's up to you. Ordinary VCRs can't copy anyway." The owner didn't care.

"Oh? Why?" Ronald turned around and asked him.

"Hey, otherwise how can we make money running a rental store? Congress has passed legislation that all VCRs sold in America have copy protection devices. If you put these tapes into the VCR to copy to a blank tape, it will automatically trigger, and the recorded images will flicker and be impossible to watch."

The owner looked at Ronald and thought that I have seen many young people like this. They all want to borrow and copy them once, so that they don't have to pay a few dollars for each rental.

"That's great." Ronald did not put the tape back on the shelf as the owner thought, but continued to observe the remaining shelves of recent movies, and put the good ones in.

"This is the sales counter, $99 per disc." The owner saw Ronald put the latest videotapes into the bag and reminded him.

"Can you pay with a credit card here?"

"Of course," the owner suddenly realized that he was a real movie enthusiast.

Ronald continued to browse the store. On one wall, he found that many of the titles and actors on the tapes were things he had never heard of.

"What movie is this? Why haven't I seen it before?" Ronald asked the owner, picking up a videotape with a female actress in a swimsuit on the cover, called "Orange Is the New Black 6".

"This is a good movie, not released through the screen distribution channel, but recorded directly on the videotape."

Ronald put it back on the shelf. It turned out to be a shoddy movie, just like the exploitation movies shown in the old drive-in theaters.

After paying the bill with a bunch of videotapes, Ronald returned to the apartment. He picked up the VCR he bought before Sony sued Universal and began to rip the tape experimentally.

Sure enough, the VCRs before this had no anti-piracy function.

The next day, Ronald called his agent Richard and asked him to help him rip all the classic old films and send them to the Xujiahui Film Studio so that Director Huang and other young assistant directors would have the opportunity to get in touch with the latest Hollywood techniques.

"Minahan Golan has come to you several times during the holidays. If you are free, would you like to meet him?" Richard picked up his notebook and went over them with Ronald one by one.

"It's just right, I want to find him too." Ronald thought of Diane's story. Now he is in a position where he is neither up nor down.

If he wants to make a suitable movie, he can be a bit irritable and specify Diane to play a role above the main supporting role. But he must consider the box office performance and cannot rigidly specify Diane to play the leading role.

What if he wants to invest in a movie to make Diane the leading role? The financial resources are a bit insufficient.

It just so happens that Cannon Pictures, where Minahan is, has gradually become the company with the largest number of movies produced in Hollywood.

Last year, it made 17 movies, more than Paramount and Warner Bros.

"Ronald, welcome." Minahan hugged Ronald who came to visit him with high spirits.

"Next year, next year I can receive you in the brand new Cannon Pictures building." Minahan pointed to a construction site opposite and said to Ronald heroically.

"Oh, it seems that your business is very good." Ronald thought to himself, worthy of being a Jew, the office building has not been built yet, but a floor of office has been reserved.

However, Cannonball is now making waves in the European pre-sale market. In addition to Jean-Luc Godard from the United States, it recently signed the famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli with its help and returned to Hollywood to shoot the opera film "Otello".

"Hahaha, this is all thanks to your breakdancing. This is the beginning of our Cannonball and Minahan's success in Hollywood. I will never forget this friendship, Ronald."

Ronald waved his hand modestly and was about to ask Diane for a role.

"How about we work together again?"

"Ahem..." Ronald coughed a few times to cover up and put down the coffee brought by the secretary. Why did Minahan start to make his own ideas again? He couldn't go back to make those low-cost movies.

"Look, Ronald. You have only made two movies in the past year. Most of the time, you are on vacation. Why don't you use this time?"

"Being a director is very tiring, working every day..." Ronald was interrupted before he finished speaking.

"I found that Hollywood is a waste of high-quality resources. Look at you, look at Stallone, look at Schwarzenegger, you all make one or two movies every year, and then... bang... either go to Hawaii or the Caribbean On vacation, you must know that in the golden age, a director and an actor had to shoot at least three or four movies every year.”

"Directors today are different from those in the past. In addition to directing, they also have to worry about casting, stars, rehearsals, editing, and many other things." Ronald noticed that Minahan was getting excited again. What was wrong with him?

"Last year you recommended Goncharowski. His director's 'Runaway Train' has been selected for the Golden Globe Awards at the end of the month, and he is very likely to win. I gave him a two-film contract, and he will soon be starring in 'Music'." 'The Voice' actress, Julie Andrews, in a new film."

"Oh..." Ronald found it difficult to interrupt.

"Quack..." Minahan noticed Ronald's expression, "You must have thought that I invited you to make one of those low-budget exploitation films, right?"

"Huh?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. Cannon still wants to make a big production?

"I'm telling you, we did those big moves at the end of last year." Minahan turned around and took a few documents from his desk.

"This is an agreement between me and the owners of the Superman film rights, the Salkinds, and I have purchased the rights to the fourth Superman film."

"Ah?" Ronald looked Minahan up and down. Where did this fat Israeli guy get so much money?

"When the time comes, invite your girlfriend, that Helen Slater, to appear together in the fourth part. The male and female supermen will destroy all nuclear weapons and save the earth together. How about it? Are you interested?"

Minahan chuckled, "Not interested? It doesn't matter. I signed a seven-film contract with Chuck Norris, with a total salary of 25 million. Whatever action movie you want to make, I will give you more than 1,500." How about investing?”

"Chuck Norris can't act," Ronald muttered.

"Not interested yet? I'm going to discuss with Stallone here to sign him to film for Cannon. Do you want to direct him on the set? Make him obey your words."

"Can you sign him? Is he willing?" Ronald knew that Stallone was a popular action star. He holds two blockbuster series, "Rocky" and "First Blood". If you act in any movie, the salary is five million US dollars.

"I can throw money at him! If five million doesn't work, then eight million. If eight million doesn't work, then ten million, twelve million, fifteen million. I don't believe he won't be tempted!"

Ronald licked his lips. Not to mention Stallone, I was tempted.

Minahan pointed to the construction site outside the window, "The Cannon Building we invested in will be completed next year. I also want to acquire several European cinema lines and an American cable TV station, whether it is distribution, pre-sale, filming, or even We will all be involved in video tapes and television stations. From now on, Cannon will be a comprehensive entertainment entity.

"Ronald, will you fight with us? I can give you the best treatment. Just like Fox and John Ford did back then."

As he spoke, Minahan looked over with bright eyes and stretched out his hand to shake Ronald's hand.

"I have to think about it again. This is a big decision and I have to discuss it with my agent." Ronald stretched out his hand and shook his hand.

…

"Where did Minahan get so much money? I even thought he was crazy." Ronald returned to CAA's office and told his agent Niceta exactly what happened.

"You don't know yet? Minahan's Cannon, with the help of Wall Street tycoon Michael Milken, raised $300 million in cash from junk bonds. Now the whole of Hollywood is in shock."

"Junk bonds? What are those?"

"I don't know. Anyway, it is an extremely powerful financing method. Minahan is bold enough and his ambitions are also great."

"Is it reliable? The name doesn't sound reliable, junk bond?"

"Anyway, let's wait a little longer. Now everyone doesn't understand what he wants to do. Anyway, your Top Gun hasn't been released yet, so there's an excuse to delay it."

"Um……"

Ronald felt that the agent's knowledge structure also encountered blind spots.

"Lindsay, Lawrence, do you know what junk bonds are?" Ronald called his personal lawyer and accountant. All three people received long-distance calls and held a conference call. "

"Junk means, also called high-yield bond, which refers to the rating of corporate bonds. If the operating conditions are not good, then the rating agency will give a relatively poor rating, such as BBB, which are collectively called junk bonds in the bond market. , usually the interest will be higher," Ms. Lindsay explained to him.

“I don’t understand, if the rating is rubbish, why would anyone buy it?”

"This is all thanks to our commander-in-chief." Lawrence smiled. "Under the leadership of the commander-in-chief, the Federal Reserve has implemented a low interest rate strategy for a long time. With the recent Plaza Accord, the U.S. dollar has begun to depreciate significantly against the currencies of other G6 countries. This is one of the rare times of easing in history where a lot of liquidity has nowhere to go and any corporate junk bond is worth investing in.”

"Is this okay?"

"Yes, a lot of money is looking for possible investment projects. Of course, projects like cannons require high-level people to package and sell them. The person who packaged the bonds for them was Milken of Wall Street. He is now called the Junk Bond King in the circle."

"Is this money reliable?"

"It's unreliable. The interest rate is very high. It needs very high growth to cover the interest. And Milken's methods have always been barbaric. The companies he packaged have more or less embellished financial statements, if they are not fraudulent."

In the end, it was his childhood friend, Douglas Hansen, a third-generation rich man from Staten Island, who explained his doubts to him.

"The interest cost of this money is very high. If it is used to invest in real industry, it is difficult to find a suitable project. So most people use it for leveraged buyouts, or invest in the securities market, or bet on the appreciation of the yen."

"It seems that I still have to be cautious. I think Minahan is a little crazy."

"Anyone with $300 million in cash will be like that."

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