Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"One day my friend Arthur and I were having dinner together in a restaurant and this beautiful girl walked in and I said to Arthur, have you seen that girl of yours? I'm going to marry her. We got married two weeks later. …”

Nora Ephron moved quickly. A few days later, the video of some elderly couples interviewed in New York was filmed. Ronald sat and watched with her and Rob Reiner.

On the screen is a typical old white couple. The man is bragging about his story, and the woman is looking at him from the side, showing a hint of girlish sweetness.

"Fifty years later, we will still be husband and wife!"

A smile appeared on Ronald's face, and most of the videos that followed were stories of sweet couples reaching the end together. There was a Chinese couple who went back to their hometown in the south to get married on a blind date, which was also very sweet. There was only one Italian couple. After they got married, the man had many female companions, but thirty-five years later, he remarried his first wife.

"You see, most people who love each other end up together." Ronald pointed out with a smile.

"That's right..." Nora Ephron couldn't help but suspect that her perception was wrong. Maybe her marriage to her ex-husband Bernstein, who worshiped superfluous love, was the reason why it didn't end well?

"No, no, Ronald, I was almost deceived by you. The people you asked Nora to interview are all couples. Those who are divorced and separated cannot be interviewed together."

"But don't you think they all love each other? When these couples look at each other, their eyes overflow with love. Just like Harry and Sally, they also love each other very much. When they meet When the two broke up with their partners, they comforted each other, which was a subconscious sign of their love for each other. "

Of course Ronald refused to admit it and continued to stick to his point of view.

"That's true..." Nora Ephron had been won over by Ronald.

"Okay, I agree that we can shoot it this way for the sake of box office, but I still insist that from an artistic point of view, the film should separate them."

Rob Lehner's attitude was a little loose. After all, his Castle Rock Company has just started producing its own movies, and box office is a very important indicator for him. If the first movie they were involved with failed at the box office, there's a good chance there wouldn't be a next Castle Rock movie.

Nora Ephron put away the videotape. She felt that her screenwriting ability lacked some weapons when dealing with such commercial movies. So she asked Ronald if she could bring in her friend, another screenwriter.

"Of course, who is she?"

"Kelly, Carrie Fisher."

"Princess Leia from Star Wars?" Ronald and Nora Ephron confirmed. It was indeed Princess Leia.

After Carrie Fisher finished filming "Star Wars", she didn't have many successful works as an actor. After she realized that she couldn't make it to the top female stars in Hollywood, she began to turn to the behind-the-scenes work that really interested her.

Nora Ephron and she are good friends, and it just so happens that Carrie Fisher's private love life is similar to Sally in the movie script. Kelly first lived with singer Paul Simon for a few years, and later fell in love with Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd and was engaged.

Unexpectedly, Paul Simon came back to find her, so she canceled the engagement and returned to Simon's arms. After she finally got married to Paul Simon, she only lasted a year before getting divorced. However, after the divorce, she and Simon were no longer connected. She was a real-life version of the woman with the character of Sally in the script.

Of course, recently, she fell in love with a federal senator again. It is said that she found true love this time and is now in sweet love.

It just so happens that the final reunion ending needs an actor who is in love to play it. Nora Ephron is confident about it.

Because she signed a temporary agreement with the Writers Guild, Carrie Fisher can now work on the crew openly.

…

Ronald then flew to the capital, Washington, D.C., and made an appointment with Mrs. Barbara, who had returned from the Elephant Party's national convention, to finalize the marketing of "Working Girl."

"Look at my lips, there are no new tax increases!" Old George's "heroic appearance" at the national conference was continuously played on the TV in the room.

“I will continue to support volunteer organizations, whose brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand glimmers of light in a vast and peaceful sky.”

Barbara sat in front of the TV. She couldn't get enough of watching this clip. While watching it, I was retelling that speech of Thousand Points of Glimmer to myself. How passionate and contagious it was? The people of America must have been moved by the pride of their ancestors who sailed on the Mayflower to open up a new world.

"What do you think? Ronald?" Barbara turned to ask Ronald.

"It's very contagious. I see that your children respect their father very much in the camera." Ronald looked at Barbara's overflowing pride, what else could he say? Of course, I picked what she liked to hear.

"You are a good boy..." Barbara's eyes shimmered with excitement. She has seen this more than a hundred times, and it still looks so good.

"Uh..." Ronald wanted to say what he thought. This kind of speech style of the founding fathers is no longer suitable for the media effect of the current television media covering most of the national audience. What people like now is the kind of politician who can tell a few jokes and use approachable words. Just like the current president and the governor of Arkansas.

But Barbara didn't give him this opportunity. She talked a lot about how respected she and her husband were at the national convention and how capable their children were. She had been fed up with the exclusion of the first lady Nancy during her eight years as the wife of the vice president.

Now suddenly, the wife of the president-elect (that's what she thought) was respected by everyone in the party. This contrast made her a little too excited.

Ronald had to listen to Barbara's repeated words several times, and waited for her to use up her passion for showing off. Then he picked up the phone and called the two former and current female ministers to finalize their schedule for participating in the "Working Girl" promotion.

"Thank you so much," Ronald rubbed his hands. It was really hard to ask Barbara for something in return.

The wife of the president-elect had a busy schedule. She was about to meet other people and continue the old routine of praising her husband and family.

"You should meet George Jr. when you are free. He told me about your help several times." Barbara held Ronald's hand. It was still this young man who made her happy. Her two sons were not like him, who could listen to what she said so carefully.

"Of course, I will. My friend Douglas Jr. will continue to let the "Continue to Promote Employment and Prosperity Action" Action Committee help Mr. Candidate. "

"Ahahaha, you really know how to make me happy." Barbara patted Ronald's hand and turned to walk out.

"Of course, when I am with you, I just need to praise your husband and several children," Ronald smiled and left with satisfaction.

...

"I didn't expect it to be you, Ronald. "

In Washington, DC, Ronald also had a date with Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway. After learning from Coca-Cola that the investor who made the same judgment as himself and bought a large amount of Coca-Cola stock was actually Ronald, an old acquaintance, Buffett became interested and asked him to meet in Washington, DC.

"Ha, I bought it for the dividends, too." Ronald clearly felt that Warren's interest was higher than the previous times he met him. "David has a high talent for composing music. We have asked him to compose the soundtrack for several movies we daydream about."

Warren Buffett was obviously much more interested in talking about stock investment than talking about his son David. He took Ronald and talked about buying Coca-Cola. Many people actually don't understand why he invested heavily in such an old blue-chip stock with little market change.

Now that he has such a soulmate, Buffett is very happy and talks freely.

"David..." Ronald wanted to bring the topic back to his son. Talking about his son with his parents is the best way to please the conversation.

"He is a talented person, but it's a pity that he doesn't like investment. "Warren Buffett commented on his son and immediately turned the topic back to stocks. It seems that Buffett is quite dissatisfied with David, the most talented of his children. This kid is obviously very smart, but he is doing movie soundtracks.

"You see, dividends are a very good idea. If we regard the rise and fall of stock prices as dividends. Then as long as we use the discount rate to convert the rising part into dividends, we can actually treat stocks as bonds..."

"This is a really interesting idea. If bonds do not pay dividends, when they are finally redeemed, the dividend value of the bonds is expressed by price. Isn't it the same as stocks in reverse?" Ronald drew inferences from one example and asked along Buffett's line of thought.

"Hey, you are a talented investor. Few people understand what I mean so quickly. "

Buffett was even happier, and then he said a lot of terms that Ronald couldn't understand, and talked about his analysis. According to the current price-to-book ratio of 5 times, many people only saw that he only had a 6.5% return on Coca-Cola, which was not as good as the 9% long-term government bonds.

Ronald understood it at first, and many people on Wall Street thought that buying Coca-Cola was not as good as buying government bonds. But they didn't see that Coca-Cola's future business was very bright.

"But many people didn't see the amazing creativity of Coca-Cola's management team, which provided a 30% return on net assets in the past five years, and an annual growth rate of 17% in earnings. If the return on net asset reinvestment is counted, it will be higher. "

But later, Buffett said a lot of terms, which exceeded his understanding.

Warren looked at Ronald with a puzzled look, knowing that he didn't understand finance very well, but was just optimistic about Coca-Cola because of his intelligence.

"You have to learn finance, Ronald. With your investment and company size, it is impossible to do every project yourself. Financial statements are the language to interpret the company's operations. "

"Okay, I'll find someone to teach me. "Ronald also felt that it was time to catch up on his lessons.

"Are you free tonight? Come play bridge with me..."

...

"A Club" A man taller than Buffett got a good hand and started to bid. It was Munger.

In the evening, everyone formed a casual card game. Ronald and Warren Buffett partnered up to play against Mrs. Graham, the female boss of the Washington Post, and Warren's business partner Charlie Munger.

"Pass", Buffett's hand was not good.

"What does Washington think of the Writers Guild strike now?" Ronald took the opportunity to ask Mrs. Graham. This is the best newspaper owner in Washington and even the country, and is very well-informed about a lot of news. This kind of recreational card game is a good place for everyone to exchange news.

"Nothing," Mrs. Graham called, a response that indicated she had a good hand and might hit a grand slam. "The commander-in-chief has arranged for a special commissioner to mediate again. This time, no one is on the side of the Writers Guild. Now the new season of the TV series is about to be finished. No one can stop the anger of all the housewives."

"So, it's impossible for the TV station to continue to persevere?" Ronald's judgment was approved by Mrs. Graham.

"Hurry up and call the card. I'm going to hit the Grand Slam this time." Munger was dissatisfied and urged Ronald to call the card quickly.

"Um, what do you mean, no general? What time is it coming?"

Ronald hated this precision bidding method. It is precisely this bidding system adopted by the American team in the World Championship that Munger and Graham adopted.

In this kind of bidding, a club indicates that there are 16 to 20 points in the hand, and the response also accurately depicts the card type and points in the hand, so it is called an accurate system. The advantage is that you can call out the card types of both sides, and it is easy to call a game or a slam.

"Eight to 10 o'clock big," Mrs. Graham explained. In bridge, if you don't understand the other party's bidding agreement, you can ask the other party to explain.

"Oh...I'll pass too," Ronald couldn't shout. Soon the advantage of precise system came into play. Ronald and Buffy were defeated by each other and lost by 120 points.

"Well, you have to learn to be precise, Ronald. This bidding system is just like investing..." Charlie Munger is an academic, and he talks about investing more carefully than Warren Buffy. set.

"Really?" Ronald was furious and picked up the dealt cards, "But sometimes, you can't be too precise. It takes a little courage, especially in our industry."

"Three hearts!" Ronald shouted viciously.

Ronald and Buffy used the natural bidding method. There are not many agreements. Whatever suit is called is the suit used to play the trump card. The opening bid of three hearts means that I only have seven hearts, and the other cards are very bad.

"Hey hey hey, four hearts," Warren Buffy also got excited and called to end the game. If Ronald can do it this time, he can come back.

"Um..." Munger grimaced, and started bidding at the third level. His precise system started bidding from the first level. The space that could convey a lot of information was lost to Ronald's reckless (or brave) bidding. Blocked. After thinking for a long time, he was still afraid that his and Graham's cards did not match, so he had to let it go.

"Hahaha..." After Buffett's cards were revealed, Ronald was very happy. They hope to succeed in this round, but if Munger is given the opening bid, they can get a small slam in spades.

In the end, Ronald played his cards correctly and stole a hand from the opponent with courage and intuition.

"Ronald, your card skills and courage are both good." Mrs. Graham admired her very much. "In business and life adventures, courage may be the most difficult thing to obtain."

She seemed to be talking about Ronald's card-playing skills, but also seemed to be talking about other things.

If Ronald realized something, news of a new strike came the next day.

Twenty-one dissident union members who still support the June 16 proposal filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to invalidate union rules that bar them from returning to work during the strike.

Some union members who disagree with the negotiators have threatened to resign their union membership and return to work if the strike is not resolved by July 28.

The protracted strike finally achieved a substantial turn for the better.