In the new building of 20th Century Fox, scenes of "Die Hard" are still being filmed.

Some areas that were originally scheduled for interior decoration were suspended, and the messy construction sites were retained until the filming of the movie was completed before decoration began.

The company's legal department was most affected. Their office is on the floor below the filming location and is often disturbed by noise and dust. However, employees like it because they can sneak up and see the filming location.

"There is no problem with this version of the contract. You can sign it."

After reading the new version of the contract sent by the legal department, Ronald's business lawyer, Mickey Kanter, a well-known barrister in the Los Angeles entertainment industry, whispered in his ear, saying that he had helped him rule out Fox's burial.

All mines in the contract.

Goldberg, the president of Fox, gave Ronald a top-notch salary that a commercial director could get to direct "Working Girl". But the price was that Ronald's daydream could only be symbolically paid to the production company.

Signing, and not much dividends.

After Ronald's agent and company executives argued hard, Daydream finally obtained a commensurate small amount of investment and enjoyed priority rights to share the rights. Fox's legal department had buried a lot of director obligations in the contract.

, and is linked to the final share.

For example, whether the movie can be nominated for an Oscar, its box office performance, and the marketing activities that Ronald must attend as a director, etc.

But in terms of seniority, these elites in the legal department are all named partners of a famous large law firm in Los Angeles, JFK Jr.'s boss when he was a lawyer, and the disciples and grandsons of Mickey Kanter.

Of course, these little tricks cannot escape his discerning eye.

After arguing hard, Fox's legal department had to make concessions on many contract terms. Today, when Ronald flew back from New York, he could come over to sign the contract.

"Cheers!" Goldberg took out champagne to celebrate this small victory. Recently, under his management, many projects have been successfully promoted. Many projects have found popular stars to star, except for Ronald's.

In addition to the film, there is also a project by female director Penny Marshall that is about to start production.

"Can your casting be faster? We wonder if we can release the casting news for 'Working Girl' in time for the Christmas holiday?" Goldberg's real expertise lies in public relations and marketing.

"I can't promise anything, but I'm going to meet with my casting director to find a candidate for the heroine later."

"Ah, you always put the producers at ease and walk the walk, Ronald. That's why Hollywood likes you so much... Hahaha..." Goldberg drank the champagne with satisfaction.

Everyone ended the brief signing ceremony, and the photos taken by the photographer will appear in the latest news column of newspapers such as The Hollywood Reporter tomorrow as a small news announcement about the launch of the project.

"Ronald..." At the elevator entrance, lawyer Mickey Kanter stopped Ronald, "Can we talk?"

"Of course..." Ronald and he walked to the window on the side, separated from the others.

"Can I ask, why did you compromise on the box office share and then win back on the video share? Are you more optimistic about the video share? Is it because Top Gun's video sales figures gave you confidence?"

As a senior lawyer in Hollywood, Mickey Kantor is very concerned about the trends of the industry. Ronald, uncharacteristically, did not care about the box office dividends this time, which made him feel that another change in the profit distribution pattern was just around the corner.

Thinking of the recent frequent contacts between several major labor unions and the Producers Guild, Mickey Kanter wanted to know the thoughts of Ronald, a director known for his high return on investment.

"Actually, no one can predict the box office of a movie, Mickey." Ronald spread his hands, "In fact, in this industry, no one knows what to do (to make money)."

Seeing that Mickey Kanter didn't believe him, Ronald added, "But I know that the return of video tapes is far easier than the box office of a movie. My accountant told me that there is room for manipulation in this.

Far less than the box office. And like the box office, you don’t have to wait another year after the release to get the refund from the theater. You see, the Dirty Dancing movie is almost out now, and I haven’t gotten a single point yet.

Where’s the return of the money?”

"Great business observation, great." Mickey Kanter admired Ronald's business sense. A young director can be artistically successful while also having a business mind. One person has two talents at the same time.

Geniuses in the field are rare.

"Has the box office of Dirty Dancing exceeded 100 million? Several girls in my family really like to watch it."

"It's still a little short of it. I don't expect it to break through until the end of January next year." Ronald smiled. Dirty Dancing's box office performance in North America exceeded everyone's expectations. It has already exceeded 80 million and is about to exceed 80 million.

90 million. If some copy rental fees for overseas distribution are included, the book profit has far exceeded 100 million.

But as Ronald said just now, the return of box office dividends has always been a very difficult matter. The cinema must be dragging its feet and wait until the end of next year before the legal deadline for suing is reached before the box office dividends are paid in full.

But the money-making ability of Dirty Dancing does not lie solely in the box office.

The soundtrack album of the movie "Dirty Dancing" has quietly been at the top of the sales charts for many weeks. Sales have been suppressing Michael Jackson's new album until recently when MJ personally called Ronald to say hello.

Only then did they beat the reported sales figures.

But even so, the sales in America have made RCA very happy. Next year, the sales volume is expected to exceed 10 million, bringing huge wealth to the record company and Ronald himself. At the end of the year, there is another album

The huge check will cost Ronald a huge amount of income tax.

While the iron is hot, the second soundtrack album "More Dirty Dancing" produced by RCA and Daydream has also been completed recently. 10 songs did not have the chance to be included in the first album, but have appeared in the movie, as well as

5 new interludes selected by RCA to match the genre of the movie will be released soon at the end of February next year.

In comparison, Ronald's "Dirty Dancing" video, which Coca-Cola carefully produced and which Coca-Cola subsidized at $6 per copy, is expected to rank third in revenue from a movie that cost less than $5 million.

appearance.

Fortunately, the videotape, which will be sold around next year's Super Bowl, is a short-term business and the repayments are quick. Ronald will receive his first repayment before next year's Oscars party.

Even recently, the leaders and Congress want to cancel the preferential personal income tax. Investment in the stock market cannot be deferred and exempted. How to handle the tax on so much money needs to be carefully considered. If you really can't afford to buy a house, forget it.

Ronald, who has recently become energetic after counting money and works 10 hours a day without feeling tired, is waiting for the income from records and video tapes to arrive, so he can rush to buy a house in Los Angeles and decorate the landscaped garden on Staten Island.

The project is in progress.

"Mitch, do you want to come up with me and take a look? Die Hard is being filmed there. It's a good movie." Ronald, who was happy, saw Julia Taylor, who was coming with him, and was already waving to him in front of the elevator.

So an invitation was also extended to Mickey Kanter.

"Why not? This is a movie you produced?"

"Yes, First Blood takes place in the building, you know what I mean?" Ronald and guests like Skilled and Mickey went upstairs to visit the crew.

…

"Alan, what are you doing here?"

When he arrived at the filming floor, Ronald saw Alan Rickman at a glance. He had a big, bad-looking beard and was chatting with the crew.

"Hello, Ronald, I'm practicing my American accent with them." Rickman came over to say hello to Ronald. He just had nothing to do right now, joking with these small-town staff and chatting with them.

When they chat, they imitate their accents.

The theater actor born in London's West End is honing his skills all the time.

"Where's Joel (Silver)?" Ronald saw that not only the supporting actor Rickman, but also many staff members were chatting and playing on the set as if they had nothing to do, and he suddenly felt that Joel Silver's

The producer acted a bit irresponsibly.

"Ronald, Ronald...fuck you...you are finally here, just come..."

Just as he was talking, Joel Silver came over from a distance and said, "Let's talk in my lounge."

"This is my lawyer, Mr. Mickey Cantor, whom you know. This is my casting director, Julia Taylor, from New York."

Ronald couldn't show such eagerness, and continued to introduce everyone to Joel Silver as normal.

"Mickey, Julia, everyone is on their own, I have something urgent..."

Joel Silver knew the regulars in Hollywood, so he took Ronald to the lounge next to him.

"What's wrong? Where's director John McTiernan?" Ronald entered the room, looked at Joel Silver who was sweating with anxiety, and asked.

"I didn't investigate carefully before. McTiernan is a 'field director'. Fortunately you can come, we have to solve this matter..." Joel Silver took a script and handed it to Ronald

come over.

Ronald opened it and saw that the script was much thicker than when he turned it on. There were many blue, pink, yellow, orange... inserts in various colors.

According to Hollywood rules, the script is locked after it is turned on. Once it needs to be modified, it must be copied on paper of a different color and then replaced with the original white paper. Every time it is modified, a new color must be used to allow the actors and crew to

The staff members are clearly visible and everyone is in sync.

The colorful papers Ronald saw showed that Director McTiernan continued to revise the script on the spot after the filming started. Fortunately, Joel Silver's on-site management was excellent. Otherwise, if he did not follow the rules, everyone would probably be angry.

The version of the script will be wrong, and there must have been a lot of problems.

"How's the progress?"

"The progress is okay, but the overtime hours every day are very long. Just like now, the crew is waiting for that bastard McTiernan. Halfway through the filming, he felt that the original plot was unreasonable, so he had to revise it. This happens every day

Things, our crew will inevitably go over budget."

"If you overspend, just overspend. What do you want me to do?" Ronald was also mentally prepared for this kind of thing. Not all directors were trained by Roger Corman. Many people were filming and filming.

If you get new inspiration, it would be wrong if you don't let him take pictures.

This is why, every time he cooperates with a new director, Ronald will relax 20% of the budget, and this part of the money will be used as a reserve fund in case the director is halfway through filming and various unforeseen circumstances arise.

"You have to tell me, will these modifications improve the quality of the film? Or are they purely to satisfy the director himself?"

Joel Silver has nothing to hide from Ronald. The two are the final persons responsible for the film project, and they are both in the same boat. At this time, it is most reliable to listen to Ronald's thoughts, who is also the director.

"Actually, it's okay... I haven't seen the sample film. Judging from the revision of the script, John McTiernan didn't mess around. But his inspiration is really not very good? I saw that many plots were filmed halfway through.

Rewritten?”

Ronald picked up the shooting diary. In many of the shooting records above, the director re-wrote the scenes and lines and re-shot the scene halfway through the shooting. If it weren't for the skill of Joel Silver's assistants, these would have been impossible.

Confusing shot numbers can kill an editor during post-editing.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "That's okay, I have to give the assistant girls more overtime pay, reward them with delicious food every day, and often write all the scripts every night

It is very common to work overtime until midnight when copies are dismantled, replaced, and bound again.”
To be continued...