Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The vacation continued for a while, and Ronald finally adjusted his mental state.

On this day, he received a call from Walter Murch. The rough cut and first assembly of the film had been completed, and he could go to the editing room to discuss the details.

"Walter, how is my new movie? I feel like this is the movie where the actors have the best cooperation since I started working in the industry. What's your evaluation?"

Ronald saw Murch in front of the editing table and couldn't help asking him what he thought of the film he invested in. Since Murch taught himself editing in San Francisco, he has shot many blockbuster movies. It is time for Murch, who is like a master, to evaluate whether he has made progress in the past few years.

"The dance scenes are very good, never seen before. The casting is probably one of the best I've ever dealt with in a movie, other than Coppola's 'The Godfather,'" Murch said when he saw Ronald Come He happily stood up and hugged him, and then gave up a seat for Ronald to sit together in front of the editing table.

"But the movie clip I gave you is a little less interesting, so I really hope you can come over and discuss it with me."

"Fun?" Ronald asked.

“The rough cut of the entire film is two hours and ten minutes long.

Every shot you shoot is pretty much the same. I don’t have many options, unlike some directors’ films where the rough cut will be more than double the final length.

And among many shots, only the first shot is often the best. Editing for you is like completing a high school student's homework, which is a multiple-choice question. "

"Ha..." Ronald smiled, "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"From a producer's point of view, this shows that the director has his own vision for the finished film and can complete the shooting on time. From a director's point of view, there may be less freedom for the actors to express themselves on the set. But from an editing point of view, , I feel it’s a little less challenging, unlike when I edit for other directors, I often have to push the limits and put together seemingly impossible clips.”

"Hahaha, I'll just take it as you praising me."

The two joke around, starting at the beginning and slowly looking through all the shots.

Over the past two days, Ronald gradually entered the state and began to express his thoughts to Murch on the processing of certain shots.

The two share the same editing methodology and can often quickly agree with each other's opinions. Ronald didn't know much about sound design, so Murch took the lead in this area and even found time to give Ronald lessons.

Every day's editing work is progressing slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye, discarding cutscenes of one or two seconds and using a more interesting connection method. The length of the film has gradually been reduced from more than two hours to one hour and fifty minutes, and is gradually moving towards the scheduled target of one hour and forty minutes.

One afternoon, the two were discussing a shot in the editing room. Both Ronald and Walter Murch insisted on their own ideas. The two discussed for a long time with no results, so they took a break to replenish caffeine.

Murch asked Ronald, who was drinking a strange drink like wolfberry black tea, a question he had wanted to ask for a long time.

"I heard that those high-ranking Jews are looking for trouble with you?"

"Yes, they also asked Michael Douglas to come to me for an interview. In fact, they just didn't want a rich Jewish girl to fall in love with a poor Irish boy, and finally gave up on the rich Jewish second generation to get together with a dancer. ”

"So what are you going to do? Our current version contains a lot of intimate scenes between the baby and Johnny, as well as the scene where they finally resolve their misunderstanding and look forward to their future together."

"I have my own way." Ronald smiled and replied to Murch.

"You don't want to get things done secretly, do you? That won't work, it will cause big problems."

"Ronald", Murch pulled Ronald to the table, "You are still very young. When you entered the industry, the Jewish forces in Hollywood had already retired from the stage and behind the scenes. You may not understand their ferocity.

If you deceive those old Jewish guys with the idea of ​​making a yin-yang copy, there will be big problems later. If nothing else, the PAA, which handles film ratings, is also a place filled with Jewish people. They can jam you there and give you a bad rating.

Even if you get a good rating from PAA, or find a way to bypass them and find a theater to release it yourself, it is still very risky. Don't forget, the son of the Douglas family is looking for you. "

"What happened to the son of the Douglas family?" Ronald did not answer Murch's question, but was curious about his evaluation of Michael Douglas' family, as if there was some gossip.

"Well, I haven't caught up with the days when Jewish gangs were running rampant in Hollywood. I heard from my predecessors that before the 1960s, Jewish gangs had a reputation of being more feared than Italians. Legend has it that Michael's father, Kirk, was a Jewish gangster in Hollywood. Hollywood spokesperson.

Do you know the actress Natalie Wood who unfortunately passed away a few years ago? "

"Of course, I saw him at the Golden Globes," Ronald replied.

"Legend has it that in her early years in Hollywood, she was coerced by Kirk Douglas. He was a Hollywood 'sexual predator'."

"No way?" Ronald raised his brows when he heard this kind of gossip. He is also familiar with Hollywood. He and the actress are consensual, and then communicate through the agent, and everyone gets what they want. Have you never heard of such forced things happening? Do you want to make it so ugly?

Unless it is a non-union-filed project, some small production companies, movies launched directly for the video market, I have heard of such things.

Michelle Cannold, the distribution director of Weston Pictures who was poached by Ronald to Daydream Pictures, talked about the chaos of those small projects. Weston Pictures used to specialize in shooting NC-17 content videotapes.

"Hollywood is now a new place. But when I was in college, it was still a chaotic hodgepodge. Many actors did not have makeup artists and had to do their own makeup. Actresses often had to find brothers as assistants to protect themselves on the set.

I also heard that...Kirk Douglas once made a little actress named Jean Spangler pregnant in Hollywood in the late 1940s. She disappeared on the night she went to meet Kirk for negotiations.

Later, his body and handbag were found on the way from her home to Kirk Douglas's home. There was an unfinished note inside with Kirk's name on it."

"Is it true? ? "Ronald had never heard of these gossips, "Why do people think of Italian mafia when talking about gangs? And no one mentions Jewish mafia?"

"You can figure it out yourself. There are two reasons for this. On the one hand, Jews gradually occupied the upper class of Hollywood, and they were unwilling to make movies and TV series about Jewish gangs. On the other hand, Italian directors like to shoot gangster stories.

Nowadays, most of the stereotypes of ethnicity in the American people come from movies and TV series. As more and more such movies are made, they gradually become a symbol of Italians, and many ignorant Italians are still very proud..."

That's right.

Ronald touched his ears. After Coppola filmed The Godfather, the mafia in many movies all looked Italian. Although "The Godfather" is essentially a family film, the background story of the mafia, many gangsters began to learn the style in the movie. It further deepened the stereotypes of other ethnic groups about Italians.

Thinking of this, Ronald smiled at Murch. The other party obviously cared about him very much, so he said these gossips.

"It's okay, Walter, I know my limits. When I invested in this film, I thought about it. The old Jewish men wouldn't say anything about it."

Ronald whispered his thoughts to Walter Murch.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that if the Jews still bother me, any action they take will deepen the audience's impression of the story of the Jewish girl. So the best way is to pretend not to see it."

...

After a while, the rough cut of the film was completed. After assembling the film into a complete copy for the second time, Ronald called Michael Douglas, who had helped to pass the message, and asked him to come and see the finished film.

"You shot this film in Virginia before, right? I was shooting "Fatal Attraction" in New York at that time, and I returned to Hollywood at about the same time as you." Michael Douglas was still dressed like a nobleman, very energetic, and hugged Ronald as soon as he came in.

"Oh, how was the collaboration with director Adrian Lane? I worked on his 'Flashdance' crew, he's a very talented guy."

"Great, just great. He's a very good 'actor director', he won't give us too many constraints, as an actor, it's the most comfortable to work with a director like him. Glenn often told me how lucky he was to work with Adrian."

"Glenn?"

"It's the heroine, Glenn Close, she's a great actor, she plays a slightly psychotic lover who wants to destroy my family. Have you met her?"

"Oh, it's her. I met her once, at the party of 'The Big Chill'. Kevin Costner originally had a lot of shots, but they were all deleted in the end..."

Ronald chatted with Douglas about gossip for a while, then invited him to the screening room, and watched 'Dirty Dancing' with him, which had already been matched with music.

"Boom... Boom..." Mambo's drum beats sounded, and a dance scene with an old treatment appeared on the screen. Several dancers were dancing hot in the basement. The seductive shots were shown on the screen in slow motion.

"Is this what you call 'hot dancing'?" Douglas touched his chin, as if he was very interested.

The copy was one hour and forty minutes long, and the final subtitles had not been added.

Michael Douglas, who had watched the entire movie, looked at Ronald.

"You changed the ethnicity of the heroine Baby? Or to be more precise, you hid it, right? I didn't hear anyone say they were Jewish throughout the whole movie.

And Johnny's ethnicity was not mentioned much, only when the two of them hugged and danced in the crowd at the end, they mentioned it.

If you cooperate like this, I think those old men will have no problem. But does this hinder your creative freedom?" Michael Douglas asked Ronald politely.

"Michael, you lived in Los Angeles when you were a child, right?" Ronald did not answer, but asked the other party in return.

"No, after my parents divorced, I lived with my mother in New York. I went to school there when I was young, and then I went to New Jersey for college. Why?"

"Then how come you don't know that the Kellerman Resort Hotel in the movie is based on the Catskills? Aren't those resort hotels that are exclusively for Jews called Borscht by you?

There is also borscht in the food that appears in the movie. They are all resort hotels that Jews go to. Any Jewish child there can tell, right?"

"Oh, actually my mother is not Jewish. She is of Irish descent. So when I was a child, I didn't go to those resorts that are exclusively for Jews. We went to Long Island in New York for vacation."

"Pfft..." Ronald almost laughed. No wonder Michael Douglas didn't react to his ethnicity hidden in the background of the story.

This kind of treatment of not saying it but just hinting at the ethnicity of the character is a way Ronald came up with to deal with Jewish forces.

From beginning to end, the movie never mentioned that Baby's Houseman family was Jewish. And the actors he chose for the Houseman family did not have a particularly obvious Jewish nose like Barbara Streisand.

Even the heroine Jennifer Grey has a much smaller nose than another candidate Sarah Jessica Parker.

Only Jewish audiences can find a familiar background from the clues. They will notice Jennifer Grey's nose, which is not obvious but fully reflects her ethnicity.

Ronald did not mention a single Jewish word in the whole movie, but the background of the story tells that this is a Jewish story everywhere.

Then, the audience will be divided into two parts, one part of non-Jews, who are unaware. The other part of Jews know that it is telling their own story.

This is what is called "those who understand will understand, and those who don't understand can't understand."

If the Jewish high-level officials want to make trouble for themselves, they will inevitably mention in the media that Ronald has anti-Semitic tendencies, deliberately filming Jewish girls without self-love, and losing their virginity to the vulgar Irish.

Whenever they mention this meaning, those audiences who didn't feel that Ronald was telling a story about a Jewish girl will suddenly realize it.

The entire American society does not have much good feelings towards Jews. These conservative Jewish old men dare to come out and promote this outdated and racist concept. They will definitely be attacked by the mainstream media.

Therefore, Ronald's clever way of telling the story actually put those old stubborn people who opposed the filming of this story into a dilemma.

If you only hint at it in the media, then people will not understand what you are saying. If you say it clearly, it will arouse more people's disgust.

It is better to let it go with your eyes closed. As long as the media marketing does not deliberately promote that this is a Jewish story, then there will be no problem.

"So, you will not deliberately mention that this is a Jewish story in marketing, right?" Michael Douglas understood Ronald's handling and nodded in appreciation. Then he asked Ronald to give a guarantee.

"I'm not a fool. Why should I deliberately provoke the cognition of old men for no reason?

Besides, Jews only account for less than 3% of the American youth population. I invested in this movie myself. Of course I want to make money. I don't need to give up a larger market, right?"

"You convinced me," Michael Douglas nodded in agreement.

Ronald laughed and took out a cigar given to him by Paramount President Ned Tanin from the seat next to him. After cutting it, he lit it diligently for Douglas.

I didn't know before that Michael Douglas's maternal lineage was of Irish descent. This makes it easier to explain. He also lived with his mother after his parents divorced, so he was closer to Irish descent and would not object to this kind of plot.

"I'll take a message to you and say something good for you." Michael Douglas took a big puff of his cigar and then slowly exhaled the smoke, "It's top quality stuff."

"A friend gave it to me. It's the Fuente Hemingway series from the Dominican Republic." Ronald took out a new wooden box and handed it to Michael Douglas, "Take it and help me test the quality. I know you're an expert."

"Thank you, I will," Michael Douglas took it in his arms, "But those old men will be more stubborn. They don't know much about the current situation in America. In their opinion, everyone should respect Jewish culture and religion.

They may not understand that most Americans don't know that the Catskills is a Jewish holiday resort.

If you have better evidence that the audience will not find out that this is a Jewish story, I think they will be more relieved."

"I'll hold a preview and then do a questionnaire survey of the audience. What do you think?" Ronald thought for a while and asked.

"I think it's OK. When you're done, send the results to my agent. I'll make an appointment with my father."

"Very good!"

Ronald was also very satisfied with Douglas's help. He narrowed his eyes and started smoking with him.

"Then I'll go first. It's really fun to chat with you." Michael Douglas enjoyed it for a while and stood up to say goodbye.

"I'll see you off," Ronald stood up to see him off.

"In addition," Michael Douglas turned around and said at the gate, "Can the last scene, the one where Johnny and Baby look forward to the future together, be deleted? I thought about it and this might be the only place that makes the old men uncomfortable."

"Why? I didn't say Baby is Jewish? I just said that she joined the Peace Corps and Johnny was going to be a dancer. They were in a long-distance relationship and had no confidence in the future."

Ronald was a little confused after hearing this request.

"Uh... I just think that the old men would not be happy that the rich girl and the poor boy were not in a short-term relationship, but had long-term plans. You know, they are all rich people, and they may be more worried about this kind of thing than the ethnic gap."

"Oh, I'll think about it." Ronald frowned. It turns out that these old men are thinking about not only ethnic conflicts, but also conflicts between the rich and the poor.

But this movie itself is a love story that transcends ethnicity and class. If there is no happy ending, will the audience be unsatisfied?

"In addition, we should not be bound by Baby's ethnicity, but on the other hand, we should not bring the stereotype of poor Irish people into the movie, what do you think?"

"Hmm..."

It turns out that Michael Douglas himself has also considered it. He doesn't want his mother's Irish ancestry to be labeled as poor and can only make money by physical strength and physical ability, such as dancing, but not by brains.

Ronald's mind is fast, and now Michael Douglas is needed to be the middleman to pass the message to the Jewish old men. Besides, this is really not a necessary plot.

"From another perspective, maybe leaving the future of Baby and Johnny blank is also a good way to deal with it. This will leave a suspense for the audience..."

"Hahaha... Yes, you can also make a sequel. You are such an interesting person. We should keep in touch in the future. I will invite you if there is a party."

Michael Douglas is also a producer. When he heard Ronald say this, he knew that he wanted to make a sequel.

…

“So, you want to delete this scene that tells the future story of the male protagonist? Well, it’s about 20 seconds.”

Walter Murch was sitting in the editing room and heard Ronald’s new idea.

“What do you think? I got feedback from Michael Douglas that the theaters may have some concerns about this scene. I wonder if we should leave it blank to avoid controversy.”

“Leave it blank?”

Walter Murch cut this scene, then went back a few minutes and watched the whole story several times.

“Leaving it blank is a good idea. Baby and Johnny may face the future together. It may also be that Johnny came back to give Baby a good memory and gave her a dance she deserved, so that she would become the focus of everyone and then break up.

This treatment is a more advanced method. It allows the audience to participate in the creation of the film.”

Walter Murch talked about his film theory again.

After several creations such as script, performance, shooting, and editing, the director lost control of the film. And whether the audience likes the film in the end depends on the impression they have after watching the film in the cinema.

Often, about 10% of the content of a movie is a combination of the audience's imagination and impression, and may not be in the movie.

"Very good, let's cut it like this, and then organize an internal preview and do an audience survey to see how many people can tell that this is a Jewish story. The distributor needs to use it as a reference.

Then we can send it to PAA for rating."

Ronald hopes to get a PG-13 rating. With such a rating, all teenagers can go and watch it for themselves. Add to that the name "Dirty Dancing", wouldn't it be crazy?

"Hahaha..." Thinking of the happy part, Ronald laughed in the editing room.

The internal preview was scheduled for a few days later.

All the participants in the preview were found by Ronald from high schools and universities near Hollywood.

He didn't really believe in the preview method of letting the secretaries of the film company watch the movie. These people are all working in the company, and they may be suspected of saying good things for the boss's face.

It is better to select from the identified target customers, which is more in line with the actual situation.

Ronald called his distribution team, Michelle Cannold's team, General Manager Eddie, and two agents to the scene.

The audience's reaction gave these people who would have a direct relationship with the distribution and marketing work an intuitive impression, which is a very good thing.

Sometimes, no matter how good the audience rating data is, it is not as shocking as seeing the audience clapping like crazy on the spot. It can make these people more confident in their work results.

Ronald still remembers that the "Break Dance" he shot was like this. After seeing the enthusiasm of the audience after the release, learning to break dance on the spot, and stopping the actors from leaving, Minahan Golan was full of confidence to take over the distribution work himself.

"Dong... Dong Dong..."

The familiar rhythm sounded, and the audience looked at the deliberately old picture. The loving dance moves on it made the young people shout "Oh oh".

The opening is the Houseman family going to the Kellerman Resort. The audience was quickly involved in the plot by the bright rhythm.

When Baby saw Johnny and Penny's tacit cooperation at the dance, and accidentally entered the dancers' resting place, and saw their blushing and heart-pounding dance, the audience was silent, with only a lot of swallowing sounds.

As the story continues, Baby and Johnny gradually fall in love with each other. They practice lifting movements in the lake, making both male and female audiences make "tsk tsk" sounds of envy.

Finally Johnny broke through the obstacle, returned to the Kellerman Hotel, and invited the baby to dance on stage.

When the audience saw this, they could no longer restrain their passion and began to whisper to each other in low voices. The dance music "I've found the time of my life..." started, and some people started clapping along with the rhythm.

Finally, the baby made a shocking leap and was lifted up by Johnny like a bird.

The audience's emotions had been stirred up for more than an hour and a half, and they couldn't bear it anymore. When they saw this kind of scene, they all started to burst into laughter. They started to applaud and applaud desperately.

A female audience member in the front row felt that her applause was too quiet and began to stomp the ground hard.

Immediately, this stomping action triggered a chain reaction, and all the audience began to imitate it, making the floor of the screening room make a loud bang. The manager of the screening room thought something was wrong and rushed in to check.

"Thank you. Please fill out a questionnaire for us. We have a gift for you."

At the exit, Michelle Cannold's team began handing out questionnaires to the audience. There are many problems above.

How would you rate this movie?

Would you recommend this movie to a friend?

Do you know what ethnicity the baby is?

Do you know what ethnicity Johnny is?

Do you know what's wrong with Penny?

…

After collecting the responses to the questionnaire from all viewers, Michelle Cannold was very excited and came back to report to Ronald.

"The movie's rating is A, 94% of viewers said they would recommend it to their friends, and 92% said they would like to watch it again if they have the chance."

"Yes, what about the cognitive part?"

"Less than 20% of the audience found out that the baby was Jewish. In fact, some people only remembered it after seeing others answering questions.

Only 30% of the audience knew that Penny was pregnant. We filmed it in a more subtle way. Unless someone familiar with the pregnancy had gone through it, or had a similar experience themselves, most of them just thought that Penny had a stomachache and thought she had appendicitis. The proportion is higher than that of pregnancy. "

"Very good, send a copy to Michael Douglas." Ronald asked his agent Richard to handle the matter.

"Where is Niceta?" Ronald asked when he saw that Niceta was not around.

“Rick was talking to the marketing manager at Procter \u0026 Gamble, and he insisted on seeing the finished film.”

"Oh." Ronald looked far away and saw Niceta's figure in a light-colored suit. He and another man also in a suit were talking about something.

"You are needlessly worried. We are handling it very well. You can read the market research report there." Nisita insisted to the manager of P\u0026G opposite.

"I don't think so. The two women sitting next to me both clearly said that word."

"What's wrong?" Ronald asked Niceta as he joined the discussion.

"This is the marketing manager of Procter \u0026 Gamble... He feels that there is a plot of abortion in the movie. Their acne cream product is mainly targeted at teenage girls. He doesn't want to take the risk and wants to withdraw the product placement."

"What?" Ronald didn't expect this to happen. "We handled it very carefully, sir. You see, in the market survey we just conducted, less than 30% of the audience discovered Penny. My physical problem is..."

"I understand, Director Ronald. I personally support the Roe v. Wade case and the Supreme Court's decision. But the target market for our products is teenage girls. I can't risk that any conservative forces will organize protests after this movie is released. Activities, linking the name of our company with...

This is P\u0026G's consistent policy, please understand. "

"But you signed a contract with us."

"But there is a force majeure clause in the contract." The other party insisted.

"If I understand correctly, force majeure refers to natural disasters such as earthquakes. This is not a force majeure." Ronald retorted.

"Haha", the other party smiled, "P\u0026G's legal team is composed of elites from all over America. We also have the top ten law firms in several cities across the country, ready to hire services for us, so we at P\u0026G believe that this is force majeure."

"You! shxt!"

Ronald was so angry that he couldn't speak. His daydream was that of a small company without a strong legal team, he would suffer losses no matter how he fought a lawsuit like this with a multinational company.

"Then I'll leave first, Director Ronald. P\u0026G's legal department will submit the contract termination documents to you, and we will pay the liquidated damages in accordance with the terms."

"Damn Jews," Ronald cursed in his mind as he looked at the other person's big, crooked nose.

"Sorry, Ronald, I didn't expect them to have such an idea." Niceta came over to apologize.

"It doesn't matter," Ronald waved his hand, indicating that it was none of Niceta's business.

It's nothing more than diverting part of the distribution budget to pay for P\u0026G's cancellation of product placement.

From now on, I will not accept any advertisements for P\u0026G acne cream! However, their competitor Unilever can consider it.

"You have to find me some advertising business, something short and fast." Ronald pulled Nicita aside and whispered.

"You financially?"

"There is no problem now, but the issuance fee..."

"I'll make arrangements right away and ask those old customers about their intentions."

Suddenly short of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Ronald had no choice but to temporarily pick up advertising business that he had not wanted to take on.

He hoped to get two well-paid advertising productions that could be completed in a short period of time to replenish his bank account.