The continued success of the films he produced and directed has led to him being nominated for the Oscar for Best Director for two consecutive years. "Dirty Dancing", which is a perennial hit in the video market, has made Ronald one of the rare rich men in the industry.
According to estimates by some industry lawyers and accountants, Ronald Hwang's income from the film's video tapes is at least 30 million U.S. dollars per year (actually far more, because they underestimated overseas distribution and two
income from the original soundtrack).
And his vision for selecting scripts is also superb, so many people come to Ronald, not only to ask him to invest, but also to use his reputation as an investor to persuade other investors: You see,
This is the movie script that Ronald is interested in...
Before Mike McDavoy came, Ronald was already surrounded by people working on several projects, and every day people came to him with scripts looking for insight.
Of course, the scripts of these people must first be selected by David Simkins and evaluated by Michelle Cannold for their market potential before they are sent to Ronald.
In the middle, there are a few exceptions. They can bypass the daydream screening mechanism and directly submit the script to Ronald's desk.
"This story is good and very philosophical, but is it the same as the "The Wedding Banquet" that you wrote before the "When Harry Met Sally" script you revised for me last summer? They are both Chinese scripts?"
It was AngLee who came over with the outline of the script. He went back to his hometown for the Spring Festival. As soon as he returned to America, he came to Ronald with two scripts.
Ronald frowned. Making movies is all about making money. Although he trusts AngLee's artistic standards (his graduation film was very good), if he is given a special case, more people will come to him through connections in the future.
Make an exception yourself.
"That's right, when I went home to celebrate the New Year this year, the information bureau there was soliciting Chinese scripts from all over the world. I heard that if you win the award, you can get a bonus of 400,000 yuan..." AngLee said a little excitedly.
"Dollar?"
"NT$..." AngLee knew that this amount of money was too little. He actually did not rely on this money to make movies. "There is also an additional reward, which is to fund the filming of the winning script. There is a tutoring fund of NT$4 million. As long as we can
If you find the rest of the money, then China Film Corporation will also underwrite the distribution there..."
Ronald understood what AngLee meant. He was still afraid of making English-language films and wanted to enter the industry by making Chinese-language films first. He wanted to win an award for this film, and then get an investment and distribution contract there, and then come to film.
Nader here seeks remaining investments and releases from America.
"Well, how much do you need to make this movie?" Ronald thought about it. This kind of Chinese-language movie actually has a fixed audience of moviegoers in America, including Chinatowns in major cities, plus some art theaters.
line. Because whether it’s this movie or Last Year’s Wedding Banquet, the story has an exotic appeal to the audience.
Many American viewers actually like to see the customs and customs of other places in the world. Traveling is too expensive, and watching movies is also a cheap way to increase bragging rights with friends.
"Um, I don't know..." AngLee's script has not been completed yet, and he has never made a feature film that has been released in theaters, so he is still in the dark about this.
"In this way, if you can win an award and get a distribution contract in your hometown, I will give you a budget of half a million US dollars. As a small-budget feature film, it is basically enough.
Then Daydream will be responsible for the distribution and video distribution in America. You can ask a colleague of Daydream to be your producer, or you can find it yourself, and we will agree on a share ratio at that time..."
AngLee left happily. Now he is just waiting to try his best to perfect the two scripts, and then ask someone to cooperate in translating them into English versions. As long as he has Ronald's promise and returns to his hometown to compete, he will naturally have one more than other contestants.
ensure.
People there still quite recognize and even worship major Hollywood directors. In particular, the "News Bureau" that organizes the draft competition allows such scripts to win awards and write a summary report. The winning scripts have also been endorsed by famous Hollywood producers.
And the director's approval... isn't that a great achievement of the literary and art department?
Even if some local contestants are not convinced, you can use Ronald's name to convince them: they are valued by big Hollywood directors, are you better than him?
…
"This is the revised opinion jointly given by Mr. Weintraub and I...you can refer to it. The American audience is not prepared for some settings and needs more preparation. You can also use the version released in Hong Kong
Cut it again..."
After sending Ang Lee away, Ronald brought in Tsui Hark, the director of "The Kid 3" who had held several test screenings.
Several different audience groups conducted internal test screenings, and the problem they responded to was the same, that is, everyone did not understand the background of this kind of martial arts that can make people fly to heaven. Unlike the myth of martial arts in East Asia, American audiences with "shallow knowledge"
, still stuck in the stage of real punches and kicks during fights.
Although the audience has seen Darth Vader's chokehold and teleportation on the screen, the first two films of Dragon King were very realistic kung fu fights. The style suddenly changed and it seemed that some additions were needed.
An introduction to the background of the story is enough. Just like the plot of Luke Skywalker’s teacher Obi-Wan explaining the Force to him.
Anyway, several years have passed since the last movie, and the audience may not remember how Daniel won the battle. Moreover, American audiences also accepted that some people in ancient times had some weird abilities, as long as they felt comfortable in the movie theater, that's fine.
It's not impossible to gain universal acceptance.
In short, Weintraub was unwilling to reshoot some of the plot. His financial situation seemed to have a serious problem, and he was no longer willing to increase the shooting budget extraneously. If it didn't work, that was it.
"Jean Claude, Duf, can you wait for me? I want to meet Mr. Mike Medavoy of Orion. He must have been waiting for me for a while...Okay, thank you, Claudia, please
You and the two gentlemen should have a chat first. Their movie has been edited and is ready to be released..."
Ronald first went to say hello to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Lundgren who had already arrived, and then introduced Claudia Wells to them. Beautiful women are useful as publicity managers, and the two strong men recognized them.
She immediately started to introduce their new movie "Cyborg".
The business is getting busier and busier, and many small projects have been delegated to several important directors. Ronald only needs to receive some important customers, and he likes to arrange these people into one day and solve them all at once.
After exchanging pleasantries, Orion's Mike Medavoy explained his reasons for coming. Orion has many big productions to be released this year, and its cash flow is somewhat tight.
For example, the rock star Jerry Lee Lewis biopic "Fireballs" starring Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder, and "The Devil" starring Mel Streep, both cost 20 million.
Around the production budget.
In addition, the film "Valmont" directed by Milos Forman, also adapted from the "Dangerous Liaisons" stage play, has a production cost of 33 million.
The concentrated release of these blockbuster films diverted a lot of Orion's own funds from promotion and distribution, resulting in insufficient investment in new films. So Mike Medavoy came to ask Ronald if he was interested in investing in their project.
"I'm really interested..." Ronald knew that Orion's good films are as famous as their bad films. This is the result of the director's responsibility system. Giving the director full artistic decision-making power, it is possible to produce better-than-average films.
There are several levels of amazing movies, and there are also movies that are extremely bad.
I have my own dreams to refer to, and I have accumulated a lot of intuition about market reactions in the past ten years. As long as they can choose the right movie project, they can still make a profit, and maybe they can win a few Oscar nominations. After all, in the past ten years, they have
It won two Best Picture awards and more than a dozen major awards.
"Mr. John Kruger hopes to cooperate with you. He said that you can choose any of our big projects next year, and we can give you the most generous investment terms for each movie..." Mike Medavoy handed over several scripts
The summary is placed on the table, spread out word by word.
"This is really an honor. Thank you Mr. Kruger for me." Ronald picked it up and read it.
John Krueger is the boss of a communications company, Metro Media. He sold his television network business to the Australian Rupert, the big boss of 20th Century Fox, a few years ago.
He later used part of the money to buy 6% of Orion's shares. After that, Orion ushered in a breakout year, with "Platoon", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "RoboCop" and other powerful films being praised.
It was also a hit, attracting competition from another wealthy man, Sam Redstone, the young owner of the theater chain. The other party also bought 6% of the shares.
This aroused Kruger's competitive mentality, and he continued to increase capital in a short period of time. Finally, the shareholding increased to 26%, driving away Redstone and becoming Orion's largest shareholder.
Kruger has a bit of a movie fan mentality and has given green light to many big productions, but there has never been a winner like Platoon. He feels that he seems to have not found the right director, so he has not continued to be lucky. So for Mike Medavoy
The proposal was given the green light, and he was willing to offer the most generous investment terms and also borrow Ronald's vision.
Ronald looked at each piece carefully. Orion's style is really art first, without any commercial considerations.
For example, "Hot Spot" is a project of Dennis Hopper, a Hollywood veteran who has been addicted to drugs for a long time. He was once the director and actor of "Easy Rider", the genesis of New Hollywood. After his comeback, he even won the Oscar for Best Actor.
Nominated for supporting role and best screenplay, he is a veritable all-rounder.
But the plot of "Hot Spot" is that of a typical old-school noir movie, a genre that doesn't have much of an audience these days.
There is another film, "State of Grace", which is a more innovative script. It tells the story of an undercover police detective who works for a childhood friend who is now a gang leader. He also falls in love with his friend's sister. In the end, his friend is killed and he is at the funeral.
A story of revenge success.
The "innovation" of this movie is that it actually copied many plots from the popular TV series "SWAT 4587". Many Hollywood movies are always remade into TV series, but there are still many reverse remakes.
Rare.
Ronald read it for a long time, but didn't feel anything. He was going to leave the outline of the script first, and then see if he could do it. When he was dreaming at night, he opened a script at the end, which he had come across before.
"Dances with Wolves, is your Orion publishing it now?"
"Oops, I'm sorry, there are still some problems with the contract for this movie. My secretary was careless and got in." Mike McDavoy took the script back, "Why, Kevin (Costner) is also looking for it.
Pass you?"
"Actually, I approached him. I was a little interested in that novel, but the author is his friend..."
Ronald thought to himself, it seems that Westerns are still as unpopular as film noirs. Male stars like Kevin Costner will eventually be demoted to find second-tier Orion to cooperate. Not yet
Negotiated!
"Actually, I like this script very much. I think it is different from all the western movies in the past. This movie does not take the cowboys as the core perspective, but uses the majestic Indians and their settlements to show an epic picture.
…”
Mike Medavoy felt that Ronald had a special interest in "Dances with Wolves", so he made a special explanation about it.
"Well, you're right..." Ronald nodded frequently, thinking to himself, how do I know whether such an unpopular movie can be a hit? Didn't I just dream of a great big scene scene? It must be even if it doesn't make much money.
Money will also be favored by Oscar.
I'm interested in Oscar now!
"Then what's the reason for the failure to reach an agreement?" Ronald asked. From the way he said it, it seemed that Orion was also quite optimistic about it? With the backing of a wealthy man like Kruger, it was just a matter of paying for it.
"Kevin (Costner) wants the final cut..." Mike Medavoy said an answer that Ronald didn't expect.
It turns out that Kevin Costner not only directed and acted, he also wanted to get the final editing rights that only single-digit well-known directors in Hollywood have.
"Did I hear it wrong, or...this seems to be his directorial debut, right?" Ronald thinks male stars can really do whatever they want? These people have the approval of the audience, and they can talk about conditions that are better than his own.
Qian's director is even more ruthless.
"If you can convince him and vouch for him, we can also find a workaround..." Mike Medavoy said slowly.
The so-called final cut rights are actually not so rigid. Many new directors do not have the right to make editing decisions. After the preliminary cut is cut, the studio's senior management will read it and give their opinions. Generally speaking, the new director only has the right to make the final cut.
If you have strong communication skills and professional skills, you can try to argue.
Directors with successful experiences, or big-name male stars like Kevin Costner or Clint Eastwood who try directing, will be given the power to assemble the final version. In other words, they plan and assemble the final version at the studio.
With a given movie duration, most of the editing shots can be decided.
There are only a few scenes involving classification, and the studio will interfere. But the studio also has a cage for them. That is the length of genre films. A general genre film is ninety minutes, and a film with unique content is 120 minutes.
A particularly good epic film lasting two and a half hours.
This allows the director to perform on his own in a designated arena without deviating too far from mainstream commercial theaters.
In the last category, only directors like Ronald, Spielberg, and George Lucas, who have almost no losses, can decide both the editing and the duration. Of course, Ronald has never exercised this power.
Because he himself is also a believer in the logic of commercial films.
In "Dances with Wolves", Kevin Costner wants all the power. Ronald guesses that he is either overconfident or wants to make an epic blockbuster and has to fight for two people for his ideals.
More than half an hour in length.
"Okay, let's make an appointment with Kevin..." Ronald and Mike Medavoy confirmed that he was interested in "Dances with Wolves".
"Okay, let's make an appointment to meet again. Kevin will pay attention to your opinion..." Mike McDavoy was so happy. This movie is a direction that no one has explored before, and it is suitable for Orion to shoot.
Moreover, Kevin Costner's debut film was "Night of the Comet" shot by Ronald. He would value Ronald's opinions and maybe let Ronald direct it. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?
…
Finally, Ronald will invite two muscular men who are buzzing around Claudia Wells's skirt and talking nonsense. Today they brought the edited version of "Cyborg" and are about to
Screened for Ronald and Daydream's executives.
"Huh? Is this movie about cyborgs?" Ronald couldn't help but be skeptical after watching the test screening.
When Minahan Golan proposed this movie, it was obviously a science fiction film. A half-human, half-mechanical cyborg fights various monsters from the cosmic era, escorts medicines to save mankind, and BiuBiu shoots lasers.
Selling point.
Although in the end, Cannon was on the verge of bankruptcy and had no money to complete the special effects, so Ronald bought it at a bargain. After Jean-Claude Van Damme finished editing, he decided whether to put it in theaters or directly release it to the video tape market based on the effect.
But it was cut like this, which Ronald could not have imagined. The whole movie is no longer a science fiction film, only the monsters and the desert setting are a bit science fiction. The whole... How should I say the whole? It has become a martial arts film!
"Ronald..." Claudia Wells is very comfortable in her new position, and her beauty can also receive great preferential treatment in real life. Two action stars compete to show their affection, and she is in Ronald
It is also appropriate for De to say a few nice words.
"Well... the plot of your movie has almost been changed. Is it still called Cyborg?" Ronald thought about it for a moment. In fact, Jean-Claude Van Damme's editing level has improved quite well. He can edit this semi-finished product.
It's rare to be like this.
Apart from giving too many slow-motion close-ups to himself and Lundgren, there are no other big problems. And this kind of abuse of slow-motion means that he was led astray by those TsuiHark directors...
"We also plan to change our name. Corey helped us think of a name, called Tian Lei Di Huo..."
Jean-Claude Van Damme quickly proposed a new title.
"This is a Chinese idiom. If it is translated into English, the audience will not understand it. Let's change it to one that is easy to understand. Or call it biochemical warrior, no...peak warrior..."
"Okay, this is a great name..." Overly deliberate flattery from the two action stars flew over.
"Damn it, I'm not Claudia..." Ronald thought to himself: These two idiots don't know what to say nicely when trying to pick up girls, so straightforwardly... Forget it, they are only at this level, usually
There are a lot of female fans who like them, and they probably don’t need any words to impress them.
Ronald decided that the film would be released in the Hollywood theaters he was familiar with. It happened to be the freezing period before the summer season. The theaters were not very picky about the quality of the film. It was released just in time to fill up the schedule before Dragon King 3.