"First of all, you must have a work. If you don't have a work, we have no way of judging your directing ability. I don't care if it's your student work, a short film, or an advertisement. In short, if you want to be a Hollywood commercial director, you must show your ability.

works come.

I was able to give Spielberg a chance because I saw his student short film Amberlin. Yes, that is the name of his current company. In this short film, I saw that the visual style and narrative ability were very outstanding among his peers.

.Only then can I have confidence that he can control a feature film...

So I gave him a chance to direct a TV movie, which is what you later saw as Duel. From this one-and-a-half-hour feature, I saw more things. The first is that it creates a sense of tension.

Ability. Secondly, he can control a relatively complex narrative.

I thought Steven was a good guy and I should give him a chance to direct a theatrical film. Then we saw a story about a killer shark in the shallow sea, and the rest is history..."

Sidney Sheinberg was invited by Ronald to come to New York University's Tisch School of Cinematic Arts and gave a lecture to many students here.

When answering the questions, many students of directors wanted to know how they could have a chance to break into Hollywood. As we all know, Spielberg was discovered by Newberg, and then he became one of the highest-grossing directors in Hollywood.

One.

"I hope this little story answers your question." Shenberg pretended to wave to the students below.

The students began to applaud, but they were not very satisfied inside.

Such a formulaic answer has no particular practical significance to them. Sidney Sheinberg has told this story many times in interviews with newspapers, magazines and TV media. But the 1970s was a time of great

It’s a good time for new movie stars to stand out.

At that time, most of the older generation of directors had quit Hollywood with the demise of the big studios. At that time, the eight major film studios were not controlled by large media companies as they are now. There were also many new ones from

Wall Street players have taken over these studios.

So they basically don't know how to play in the Hollywood industry. This also gives these directors in their twenties and thirties the opportunity to direct movies with a budget of millions or tens of millions.

The current film market, especially the distribution industry, has formed a multi-monopoly structure. Production costs are rising. Today's special effects blockbusters, such as Cameron's Terminator, have exceeded US$100 million in production costs.

Even ordinary genre films need stars to star, which makes it almost impossible to see a production cost of less than 20 million in mainstream theater movies. Ordinary TV movies and movies for the video market have a production budget of

There are also very few with less than 3 million.

A film of this scale is undoubtedly too risky for a student who has just graduated from college and has no works. There is also a lack of exploitation films like Roger Corman's on the market, which is suitable for novices.

try.

"We want to ask Ronald Lee the same question and see what different answers he has. Few people know that he is also an alumnus of New York University. Maybe he will tell some industry secrets to his juniors.

Junior sisters, do you want to listen?"

The moderator was a teacher from New York University. He responded to the call of the student group and asked Ronald to come on stage to talk about his views on these people's future employment in the industry.

"First of all, I want to correct you. I did not graduate from New York University. After studying at New York University for more than a semester, I got an opportunity to work as an assistant in a commercial film production in Hollywood. I immediately grabbed him, and then

I went to Hollywood and never came back here to complete my studies.

My Aunt Karen talks about this all the time, and she always tells me Ronald, you have to get your college diploma, otherwise, if you lose your job, it will be hard to find a job."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The college students were happy to hear this indirect compliment, as if they had found something better than Ronald Lee, and as if he was really inferior to them with diplomas in the job market.

"I know you may be thinking, this is a catch-22. If you don't have a filmography, a producer like Mr. Sheinberg won't give you a chance. But if you don't have such an opportunity

, how did you get your first work?”

Ronald has long seen the dissatisfaction and confusion in the expressions of these college student audiences. So he will talk to these people about the real situation in this industry. These students who have studied film directing have graduated and will continue to work in the future.

I'm afraid there won't be more than 20% of those working in Hollywood. The rest of the people are lucky enough to shoot some product instruction videos, or advertisements for some local companies, or they can completely change careers to do other things.

.

As for those who can truly become a film director in Hollywood, there may not even be 1% of them. And what his Daydream Pictures needs is how to discover these 1% of geniuses.

"I would say the only way to be a director is to be a director. You can shoot your student projects, and you can go to other film studios to shoot the remaining film. Then let your classmates take turns being the director of photography, lighting

, scene notes, actors.”

The expressions of the students began to change from confusion to disappointment, but there were also a few people who seemed to have a feeling of enlightenment on their faces.

"Film directing is a very small industry, and there are not many film directors in America. You can't find a book in the bookstore that teaches you what skills you need to have and what you need to do when you really become a film director.

, how to overcome difficulties.

So the only way is to learn how to be a film director while directing a film.

In your homework or in your short film, you will have a rough idea of ​​what you will need? What other skills do you need to learn?

With these and some good luck, you may be able to direct your first feature-length film. If your luck continues to be good, investors may come to invest in your first feature film.

A theatrical movie. If you are very lucky and your first theatrical movie makes money, then you will have the opportunity to shoot your second and third movies. If they keep making money,

Then I guarantee that there will be endless movies for you to make in Hollywood.

If you are very lucky and can get a great script and work with some great actors, then you may get this thing."

Ronald smiled and pointed to the photo of himself holding an Oscar trophy on one side of the lecture hall, which triggered a burst of laughter from the entire audience. It seems that the only gap between us and Ronald Lee is

A little good luck.

Next, Ronald also said that any students who have already produced their own works and have new scripts that they want to film can send in all their previous works and plans for new film projects.

To Daydream Pictures.

In this way, they will be able to select them for the support plan for new film directors launched this year and provide them with a guaranteed investment of 500,000 yuan. With this money, it will be much easier to attract other investments in the future.

Most students are still frustrated because the terms of Ronald's last support plan are also chicken-and-egg prerequisites.

But there were some students who had made their own short films when they were students, and they were very excited. After the speech, Ronald was surrounded by people asking about the specific details of the plan.

"In 1988, I used a home video camera to shoot a 30-minute mockumentary called The Legend of Big Banger, which tells the story of the porn star John Holmes. I had also done it as a student project before..."

The male student who stood up to ask Sheinberg a question now took the time to introduce himself to Ronald.

"1988? You were still in high school at that time, right?" Ronald was surprised. People who can make a short film in middle school, no matter how rough it is, are extremely talented people. Newcomers like Spielberg

Hollywood directors have all had similar experiences.

"I was in preparatory school at that time, and the leading actors were all my classmates and friends." The male student smiled shyly.

"What's your name?" Ronald looked at the two video tapes and some documents he handed over, which seemed to be the new film he wanted to make.

"My name is Paul Thomas Anderson, and here is my plan. I want to expand the movie I made before."

"Have you graduated?" Ronald was eager to recruit him into Daydream as an assistant.

"Haha, you were deceived. Paul is not a student of ours at New York University. He studied English literature at Emerson College. He came here because he knew you were coming. Another of his short films was at Sundance

The festival got attention, but that wasn't enough to attract investment, so I tried my luck."

Another student next to him quickly revealed the depths of this guy also named Paul Anderson.

"Actually, I attended a film course at New York University. At that time, I wanted to enter the television industry and work as an assistant on some film crews, so I needed some knowledge of film shooting."

Paul Thomas Anderson is obviously the type of person who decided early on to become a film director, and his actions are very purposeful.

"Hey, that doesn't count. You only attended classes at NYU for two days..." The student who came with him started to tell the truth again.

"Oh?" Ronald smiled after hearing this, "There's no problem with that. Orson Welles didn't know anything about film production before he shot Citizen Kane. His director of photography, Greg Turan, said to him,

Everything you need to know to make a movie can be taught in two days."

"Ah, this..."

Suddenly hearing that Ronald compared Paul to the film history wizard Orson Welles, both Anderson himself and the classmate were stunned.

"This is my business card. It has the phone number of my script supervisor David Simkins. When you call him, just say I asked you to call him and ask him to take a look at your script.

Of course, it still takes a lot of journey to get to the point of shooting, so don’t be happy too early.”

Ronald smiled and took out a special business card, wrote David Simkins' phone number, and handed it to Paul Thomas Anderson. When the students were stunned, he turned back to greet Sidney Simkins.

Berg set off together to Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks.

The Knicks had a home game today. Sheinberg and Ronald appeared in the box on the top floor together, and Edgar Bronfman Jr. and his family were also invited to watch the game here.

.

"The real game is still more fun to watch. When I went to the All-Star Game two months ago, although the game was good to watch, it was boring without fighting." Bronfman Jr. is also a basketball enthusiast. He played in the All-Star Game before.

I got in touch with Ovitz when I was working in New York, and this time I came to New York to watch the game. I wanted to find an opportunity to meet Sheinberg, a key figure in the success of Universal Pictures, and talk about Seagram’s influence on Universal.

acquisition.

"Of course. Although this is not the playoffs yet, I think this kind of game is really much more exciting than the All-Star Game. Especially this year, Michael did not participate in the All-Star Game."

Ronald smiled, the NBA All-Star Game is still very exciting. But in the All-Star Game in February this year, the biggest star in the league, Jordan, was still playing baseball. It was not until the regular season at the end of the season that he announced

When he came back, he did not wear the No. 23 jersey he had always worn, but changed to No. 45.

"This is what I want to see Mr. Shenberg. You are a truly talented producer who has stood out in the market. After acquiring Universal MCA, we at Seagram really want to continue to receive assistance from your wisdom and experience."

."

Seagram turned to Sheinberg and retained him in the new company.

"I didn't know that Seagram still valued me so much? I thought that in your eyes, I was already an old man in the past tense." Shenberg replied calmly. Little Bronfman's words were full of meaning.
To be continued...