Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald, let's take some photos?"

"Right away!"

Ronald brought the main actors of the crew to the hot spring to rest this time, and arranged a photographer to take the highlights and stills, and also arranged an assistant photographer to take some videotapes.

These can be used as promotional materials after the filming of the movie is completed. If there is a chance, you can go on a talk show and play some wonderful clips. If there is no chance, you can also crop and modify the photos and make them into posters.

"Please come closer, okay, the two male and female protagonists are in the middle, very good... cheese! Another one."

The photographer pressed the shutter continuously and took several group photos for everyone. He was about to leave when Ronald called him, "Let me take a separate photo with all the dancers. Patrick, Cynthia, and Jennifer, you come too."

Took those ugly dancers, they took separate photos with the main creative staff, either alone or in pairs. The fat female dancer with excellent shoulder movements also took a separate photo with Patrick Swayze.

"Write down their names and addresses, and after printing out, enlarge one and mail it to them separately along with the negatives."

Ronald instructed the photographer and asked Bud to write down the photographer's phone number so that he could check it later.

This was the experience gained from "The Karate Kid". Ronald's action director and stuntman Daryl Vidal relied on this photo with Master Miyagi and Daniel to make the karate club do a booming business.

When you enter his club, you will see him wearing a wig and posing as the "Crane Kick", and drying the wings of a white crane with Morita Noriyuki, the actor who plays Master Miyagi.

Behind the front desk, there are news reports and TV reports, including the text that Ronald said he was the real Master Miyagi who performed the Crane Kick. It was played in a very large size, so that all the children who came to the club excitedly asked their parents to sign up and learn real Goju-ryu karate from the real "Master Miyagi".

The budget for "Dirty Dancing" was limited this time, and the dancers invited were actually those who could only be dance coaches in the industry because of their poor appearance. They usually earn their living by teaching some dance enthusiasts to dance.

They can take photos with the protagonist and director in a movie that is released in the cinema, and when they recruit students, they can also increase their fees.

They train hard, and compared with their outstanding dancing skills, the minimum wage of the actors' union is a good value for money. Ronald hopes to compensate them as much as possible in the future.

After the rest at the resort, the actors went back to rehearse.

Ronald himself secretly went to MGM's office and met with Weintraub.

"Do you want to find a broker to buy copyrights?" Weintraub was very busy. MGM's people were restless. No one had worked seriously for more than half a year. Now many things had to be cleaned up from scratch.

But he still took the time to meet Ronald, the biggest contributor to his promotion to a senior leader in Hollywood.

"Yes, my current music director seems to be playing tricks. I don't want to wait until the filming of the movie is completed, and then suddenly find that I have no money to buy music during post-production." Ronald said that his small production needed a lot of copyrights of songs from the 1950s, and then asked Weintraub to recommend a capable candidate.

"From the 1950s and 1960s? That's very convenient. I just happen to have someone here. He was the copyright management manager of the former RCA Records. I had a lot of dealings with him when I opened the record company.

After Columbia Records acquired RCA, its copyright department was merged and he was laid off. Now he is buying music copyrights for movies and TV series and working as a full-time copyright broker."

"Tear..." sound.

Weintraub wrote down the contact information on the note, tore it off and handed it to Ronald. "You'd better finish your small production quickly. We are going to start the preparations for Moonlight."

Ronald took the note with Jimmy Reiner's name and phone number written on it.

"Thanks, you're busy."

Ronald said goodbye and called the broker named Reiner to ask him to come out for negotiations.

"So, your movie needs about 15 to 20 old songs from the 1950s as background music and interludes, right? What's the budget?"

"The total budget for the movie is 4.5 million. I've reserved about 400,000 for music copyright fees. Can you buy all the songs?" Ronald handed the other party the music list made by screenwriter Eleanor.

"It's a piece of cake. If I don't mention your name, even half the price is enough. I've seen these songs, most of them are on some small swing dance song labels in Nashville and Detroit at the time. There have been many mergers and acquisitions in the record industry in recent years, and most of the copyrights should be in a few companies such as RCA.

Except for these two top three songs on the charts that year, and these two famous bands, such as this one by the Four Seasons and this one by the Raspberries, which require a licensing fee of 20,000 US dollars, the rest of the 5,000 to 10,000 can be bought."

Jimmy Reiner ticked on the list, then added up the total, and the final total price was less than 200,000 US dollars.

"Very good, how long do you need?" Ronald was very satisfied with the broker introduced by Weintraub. Independent brokers like to close deals as soon as possible so that they can do the next deal.

"How long do you need to buy all the copyright licenses?"

"At least three days, at most a week." Jimmy Reiner was very straightforward.

"But my movie already has a music director registered with the union, and your name cannot appear in the subtitles as a music director."

Jimmy Reiner waved his hand to show that he didn't care, then picked up his efficiency notebook and began to plan the time and object of the next negotiation.

"By the way, do you want a complete copyright authorization? If you get it, you can release the original soundtrack." Jimmy Reiner asked Ronald a question while writing. It's like a grocery store owner who has already sold you a bottle of wine, and when he is looking for wine, he asks you if you want an upgraded version of aged wine.

"Oh? How much will it cost me?"

"Not much, your music is mostly old songs from the 1950s. Many singers at that time gave up their performance rights and sold them to the company in packages. So as long as you are willing to bid, the record company is willing to sell a little more.

That is, the songs of these famous bands require separate authorization from the songwriter and performer."

It turns out that using interludes in movies involves two types of copyright.

One is the right to use the song after it is recorded into a record. This right can be rented to the producer, who can record and mix the original record tracks into the movie soundtrack.

The songwriters and singers can receive a portion of the remaining dividends from the box office of the movie that uses their music.

After Ronald filed this money with the Musicians' Union, it will be allocated to the two major union organizations ASCAP and BI according to the agreement, and then the union will be responsible for distributing it.

Another copyright is the right to re-interpret and publish, also known as the complete copyright.

You can use this copyright to re-record the record and then publish it in a collection. You can also give priority to inviting the original singer to re-sing a new performance version for the movie, and the copyright of this version will remain with the production company, not the original record company.

Even if it is not re-recorded, in order to obtain this part of the right to publish the soundtrack, the production company will have to pay the star singer a one-time transfer fee of about 20,000 US dollars. The less famous singers will receive a decreasing fee.

"I suggest you buy the complete copyright. Old songs are not expensive. Then you can also have the opportunity to release an original soundtrack. I think there will be no problem in getting your money back. We can sign a five-year or ten-year authorization period. During this period, no matter how many times you reprint, you will not be charged a one-time transfer fee. You just need to pay them royalties every six months."

Ronald calculated his own money. The money allocated for music in the budget was almost all used up. Many popular movies now have pop music on the charts to help market the movies.

I don't have the money to hire pop singers or bands to create new songs for the movies. I think re-issuing old classics can also make a little noise.

"Okay, let's do it according to your recommendation."

Jimmy Reiner only took three days to get the copyright of all the music specified by Eleanor. Ronald called a private lawyer from New York to review all the contracts in Los Angeles.

"No problem, there are no major problems with these contracts. You can sign." Miss lawyer Lindsay Doll stretched and pushed all the contracts in front of Ronald.

"There are also several blank music copyright purchase agreements. After you find a suitable new theme song, you can use this template to sign a contract with the songwriter and singer. Just fax the contract to me when the time comes, and I don't have to make a trip."

"Okay," Ronald signaled to the lawyer with his eyes that he understood.

He was still communicating with art director Ryan Weaver on the phone. When he reviewed the photos and storyboards of all the scenes in the script again, he found a lot of problems.

"So how did they solve the problem of continuity of the scenery?"

"The exterior scenes were shot in two places in different states, but it is actually one place in the movie, and there is a lot of tedious work to do here.

David Chapman, the exterior designer, thought of many ways. For example, the scene where the protagonist Baby goes down the mountain from the dance hall to the cabin where Johnny lives, the first half was shot at the mountain lake villa in Virginia, and the second half was shot at the Boy Scout camp in North Carolina.

We need to add some people to ensure that all the scenes are in order and all shot together. Try to have no flaws in the finished film.

For example, on the way down the mountain, the two There are many street lamp posts nearby, so you need to hire one or two more props people to make prop street lamps exactly the same as those in the Virginia mountain lake villa here in North Carolina.

The agency has asked David Chapman to list all the props that may be exposed, and then we will cross-check. The script supervisor of this movie is also unprecedentedly heavy. The two locations require a lot of detailed work. I suggest you find a few more people to join the script supervisor team. "

"Please make a list and I will ask Richard Levitt to look at it and then go to recruit people."

Ronald hung up the phone and added a sum of money to the budget usage list.

"Spending money like water...ah ha." The lawyer lady saw that Ronald looked bad and started to joke.

"Yes, what I fear most now is to hear about additional manpower and additional money.

Fortunately, there is no bad news that I fear the most, 'there is not enough time for a certain work, and the overall filming will be postponed. The money wasted is terrible, hundreds of thousands a day."

"Okay, anyway, you don't have to worry about having no money. If you have no money, go direct a new movie and make it back." The lawyer lady yawned again.

"It's so boring here, I'll go find a movie to watch."

"I'll ask little Bud to take you there." Ronald didn't even raise his head.

"What good movies are there now?" The lawyer picked up the "Hollywood Reporter" on the coffee table and turned to the box office column.

"Standby seems to be good. It has won the box office champion for four consecutive weeks. You directed many of the top ten. Top Gun and The Karate Kid 2 are both yours, right?"

"Yes, and I also produced The Evil Husband."

"I've seen that one. Helen's performance is very funny." The lawyer giggled non-stop.

"No, this is last week's box office. Where is this week's new newspaper?" Lindsay Doll looked at it for a long time and found that the date was wrong. He wanted to see what new movies were on this week.

"There is an interesting movie I found this weekend. It's from Australia, called "Crocodile Dundee". The new newspaper seems to be at the door."

"Oh, I'll go and take a look." Lindsay walked out and brought in a few new newspapers.

"Oh, God..." Lindsay turned to the latest box office report, screamed in fear, walked over quickly, and pointed it out to Ronald.

"Your Top Gun is No. 1 at the box office again."

"Huh?" Ronald was also surprised and took it to have a look.

In the 19th week of its release, when the North American box office was close to breaking through 160 million, the blockbuster "Top Gun" once again topped the box office rankings with a weekend box office data of 3.5 million.