"Ronald, I need your help. You have a wide network of contacts in major TV stations. Can you help me talk to NBC again, or find a new broadcast platform for the new film?"
Steve Bannon approached Ronald about his participation in the investment in the TV series pilot "The Seinfeld Chronicles" produced by Castle Rock.
NBC conducted an internal pilot for "The Seinfeld Chronicles" and the audience response was very unsatisfactory, so NBC executives officially informed Bannon that NBC would not buy the TV series.
"I don't know. You put the video tape and the evaluation summary here. I have to watch it before I can give you an answer."
These words are not perfunctory. Ronald and Bannon are very familiar with each other, and there is not much conflict of interest in their cooperation. Bannon is responsible for finding money from Wall Street, and Ronald is responsible for coming up with ideas, so his words are very direct.
"I'll watch it with you here. This pilot episode is actually quite funny. The feedback from the pilot episode was not good, mainly because NBC failed to find a suitable audience for the pilot episode." Bannon has a very nouveau style in doing things. Since Rona
De agreed to consider it and just stayed here to read it with him.
The pilot episode is very short, only 23 minutes.
The name of the lead actor and creator is Jerry Seinfeld. The male lead of this TV series will also use the actor's real name.
The plot of the pilot episode is quite simple and interesting. Seinfeld is a Jewish man in New York. One day, he discusses the relationship between men and women in a cafe with old friends and neighbors, as well as a waitress.
Laura, a girl Seinfeld met in Michigan, is coming to New York, but he doesn't know whether Laura sees him as a potential date or just a friend.
A few friends were discussing there, what kind of signals did Laura give in her words and actions? It meant that he was interested in Seinfeld and there was a possibility of a romantic relationship between the two. What kind of signals did Laura give to show that Laura was just
Treat Seinfeld as a casual friend?
As a result, Laura, who was picked up by Seinfeld at the airport, gave an ambiguous signal every time she communicated with Seinfeld. It could be understood as either the first type or the second type.
Later, Laura asked to spend the night in Seinfeld's apartment. And when she arrived at Seinfeld's apartment, Laura took off her shoes, ordered a glass of wine, and turned off the lights.
Just when Seinfeld was feeling good and took off his shoes, Laura received a phone call, which was obviously about the relationship between men and women. Then Laura told Seinfeld that he should never get engaged, which made Seinfeld
See clearly that Laura is not a good match for him.
The end of the series is a tragedy. Although Seinfeld has no possibility of developing a relationship with Laura, he has already promised Laura in advance that he will accompany her to visit various attractions in Manhattan and signed up for a five-hour sightseeing cruise.
.
"It's quite funny, and the casting of male and female actors is also very good, but I feel that this TV series is a bit too profound."
Ronald laughed non-stop when watching the pilot episode. This TV series is very suitable for the tastes of intellectuals and urban youth.
But the TV series is aimed at a national audience, and those Oklahoma parents may not be able to appreciate some of the sense of humor and laughter of New Yorkers, Jews, and idle urban white-collar workers.
"But you can't deny that he's funny, especially the actor named Jason Alexander. He looks like a traitor... It makes people want to laugh just by looking at him."
Bannon's understanding of film and television dramas is still limited to those very naive ideas about good guys, bad guys, boyfriends, and girlfriends. But who knows? Maybe TV dramas are more naive than movies.
After all, compared with movies on the big screen, TV series have two disadvantages. First, its screen is very small, and generally it can only show some close-ups and close-up shots. If the actors' performances and images do not impress the audience,
Then they may not understand what the story is about.
Second, because when watching TV, it is not like watching a movie, sitting there with a group of strangers in a large dark room. There is nothing else to do except watching the movie. It is naturally forcing the audience to
You can only watch it on the big screen.
When people watch TV, they have many choices. They can change the channel, chat, drink Coke, or eat pizza. So at this time, some more exaggerated and dramatic performances are needed to keep the audience engaged.
After returning from the distraction, you can also keep up with the progress of the plot.
Bannon is right. Jason Alexander is indeed as he said. He has a fat head, big ears, and a slight bald head. In a movie, this kind of appearance is likely to be a supporting role of a character actor. But in a TV series, it is
It's very convenient to give him a close-up and with that smile, the audience can understand that he is a bad friend.
"I can't tell, Steve. I can't promise anything, but I will communicate with the people at NBC..." Ronald also thought he could give it a try, since it wouldn't be a waste of favors anyway.
"This is what I'm asking you to do. I don't ask for any extra care, Ronald." A smile appeared on Bannon's fat face, "But you have to worry about that Brandon Tartikoff. He is
The biggest problem with our rejection from NBC was that.
All the executives and audiences who came to see the internal test screening liked the TV series and gave it high ratings. Only Brandon Tartikoff gave a lot of far-fetched objections. But you are Hollywood's judge of audience preference.
No one understands the authority of it better than you. As long as you express your objective feelings, I don’t think anyone can object to your intuition.”
The Brandon Tartikoff Bannon is talking about is the president of NBC. He is only 40 years old this year and is a golden boy in management. Since he switched from ABC to NBC, he has ranked last among the three major TV stations in ratings.
The company has built a TV station with the highest ratings and credibility.
It includes family dramas led by "Family Ties", new police dramas led by "Hill Street Blues", and late-night talk shows led by Johnny Carson and David Letterman.
If such a business genius takes the lead in opposing the purchase of this TV series, there must be a good reason.
So Ronald didn't really believe Bannon's story, so he picked up the phone and called a partner at Castle Rock, the production company of Seinfeld Chronicles, who was on "Steel Magnolias" and "When Harry Met Sarah."
Leigh's collaborator on both films, Bob Reiner.
"Hi, Ronald. How was the box office of When Harry Met Sally?" Bob Reiner answered the phone and asked Ronald about the box office of the movie. It turned out that the movie he didn't like was now getting very good reviews.
, he regretted it a little, and also admired Ronald's foresight to change the ending of the movie to the happy ending it is now.
"It's not bad. We managed to get more than 900 theaters to show it in the first weekend of large-scale screening. They saw the results of the small-scale screening in the first two weeks and were very satisfied. As long as it is a movie that both of us like,
It must have done well at the box office.”
Ronald was very respectful to Bob Reiner, saying that both of them liked the movie, with only a small difference of opinion about the ending. And he only mentioned the box office, which is a profit that both companies can share.
place without mentioning the critical acclaim - something that cannot be shared with Reiner.
"That's right, Bannon came to me here about the TV series Seinfeld. I want to ask, what is your attitude towards this TV series? What do you think of it yourself?"
"Ha, the quality of this TV series is pretty good, but it's not suitable for the market. We'll probably give it up and focus on promoting Angellian's comedy instead."
Sure enough, Rob Reiner, as one of Castle Rock's partners, told Ronald the truth.
When this TV series was piloted within NBC's top brass, it was actually welcomed by almost all executives. And the laughter density was very high.
But Brandon Tartikoff is a very mature manager. He never chooses TV series according to the taste of executives, but insists on using the feedback of the pilot families as the main indicator.
When NBC aired the pilot episode of this TV series, it invited 400 families to participate. These people all signed a pilot agreement and were able to see some pilot episodes that other ordinary TV users could not see.
In exchange, they have to submit detailed viewing reports and answer calls from ratings investigators. If necessary, they will be invited to the TV station to hold pilot feedback meetings, where everyone can discuss why they like or dislike a series.
It is said that "The Seinfeld Chronicles" received one of the most horrific pilot responses in television history from these 400 families.
The top two reasons for hating Seinfeld are: "No audience is eager to watch the show again" and "None of the characters are particularly popular."
Rob Reiner's company produces TV series. In the promotion stage of TV series production, they usually only have the episode scripts of the first few episodes and the first episode that is filmed and shown to the TV station for pilot broadcast.
So for a company like Castle Rock, they have many dramas that are selected by various companies at the same time every year. If this one doesn't work, they will have another one that may stand out.
The TV series starring Angel Jillian that Reiner mentioned has received a 13-episode first season order from NBC, and they have already decided internally to abandon Seinfeld.
"Thanks, man, I understand."
Ronald put down the phone. Unlike Reiner, Bannon was a broker between Wall Street funds and Hollywood production companies. What he obtained from several Wall Street funds and anonymous individual investors was the investment in "Seinfeld Chronicles"
"Directed investment.
Therefore, if the TV series starring Seinfeld does not get an order from the TV station, he will be very passive. Those on Wall Street may think that he lacks real competitiveness and cannot grab the investment rights for TV series that are sought after by TV stations.
Ronald himself didn’t know much about the production of TV series, and he was almost bypassed by Bannon, a Wall Street liar.
"Honey, I'm leaving first." At dawn the next morning, Ronald was kissing Helen Slater in the airport terminal.
"Well, every time you come, I'm in a good mood, but I can't stay with you too long..." Helen smiled and wiped the lipstick on Ronald's mouth. She and Ronald
When we get together for a short period of time, we can still resist arguing with him about his acting skills. But after more than a week, there will definitely be friction.
Even though Ronald let her go in a gentlemanly manner, Ronald's good temper could not be tolerated for more than two weeks. It would be best to get together for a short period of time like this, as it would also leave the best memories of each other.
"Hey hey hey..." Ronald asked the waiter embarrassedly for a hot towel and wiped his mouth...
"Let's go..." Ronald, his bodyguard, agent, driver, and some publicity personnel from the crew boarded the Gulfstream business jet again.
The plane took off and flew to the west coast where the sun had not yet risen. Ronald asked the stewardess for a blanket to cover him and fell asleep. The crew and agent Richard all knew that he had worked hard all night (but
They have different definitions of hard work...), everyone sat far away from Ronald to give him a good rest environment.
On the plane, Ronald always slept very soundly. In the dark space in front of him, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared.
"Any way, I just want you to know that I will do everything I can to make the responsible parties responsible for changing the places they are responsible for, or at least be almost responsible..."
What appeared in Ronald's dream this time was not a big screen, but a small television.
The 4:3 TV screen is very small, and the camera can only see the back of a man wearing a red shirt, facing an apartment door, and the profile of a blonde beauty wearing a gray velvet inside the door. The two of them.
We were talking through the door, and it seemed like we were strangers to each other.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Oh, she is so beautiful." Ronald recognized at a glance that the blonde beauty wearing a gray fleece was Helen Slater. Under the fleece was a
T-shirt, Helen's blond hair was cut short and scattered on both sides of her ears, her skin was fair and rosy, and her two big eyes were shining.
The camera turned to the over-the-shoulder shot on the other side. The man in the red shirt was Seinfeld, the leading actor in Seinfeld. Like Ronald, he seemed to be attracted by Helen's stunning beauty and didn't know what to say.
So I said something very stupid.
"Thank you so much!"
…
"It turns out that Helen will be filming a TV series later, and her acting skills are more suitable for TV series."
Ronald looked at Helen on the TV. She was a little older than she is now, but the charm of that young woman also made him very attracted.
…
When the camera turns, it's still the same place, still at the door
"The people from the insurance company want you to assess the damage to the car." The man in the red shirt said
"I have already determined the damage, and the total is 875 US dollars." The camera zoomed out a little further than the previous shot, showing a mid-range shot of Helen's upper body. This time she was wearing a dark shirt, with the buttons slightly unbuttoned, revealing
Wearing a red T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he frowned slightly, as if he was confused that this man knocked on his door again.
"Eight hundred and seventy-five dollars?" Seinfeld was heartbroken. He refused to admit that he hit Helen's car. But he was reluctant to have such an opportunity to deal with a beautiful woman. He took out his checkbook and said, "I'm telling you.
Say, I will write you a check for $875 on behalf of the person who hit your car right now, and then I will go find the perpetrator and ask him to compensate me."
Helen smoothed her blond hair, looking puzzled.
"Who should the check be made out to?" Seinfeld took the opportunity to want to know the name of Helen's character.
"Becky..." Helen spelled out the character's name.
Seinfeld tore off the check, handed it to Helen, and asked, "What are you doing on the weekend?"
Karen grabbed the check and said, "You are really shameless... you hit my car, and then you didn't admit it, and now you're asking me out?"
"I didn't do it!"
"Sneeze!" Helen's character sneezed, and her acting skills seemed to have improved a lot compared to her current performance.
"You're so beautiful!" Seinfeld still looked like in the pilot episode, looking like he wanted to pick up girls but was also very cheap.
…
"This TV series actually ran for so many seasons?"
Ronald shouted in his sleep.
"Ah, oh..." Ronald woke up and took a cup of black tea handed over by the flight attendant and drank it. Everyone in the cabin was familiar with this strange habit of dreaming when flying.
, I have already told the stewardess in advance what to do.
While drinking black tea, Ronald wrapped himself tightly in the blanket and chewed the wolfberry in the black tea.
Judging from the pilot episode, this TV series is about Seinfeld, a Jewish white-collar worker in New York, how he shamelessly disparages various things with his friends, and also tells how he meets all kinds of beauties and wants to pick up girls.
things.
Helen Slater in the series is obviously more mature and more feminine than she is now. If every episode or two has a new guest female character who is pursued by Seinfeld, then this TV series must be renewed.
Many seasons.
And after it has been renewed for many seasons, it can still hire an actress of Helen Slater’s caliber and good looks, so this TV series must have good ratings.
The more Ronald thought about it, the more he felt that it was right. This TV series might be beyond everyone's expectations and be an unpopular dark horse.
He waved to Richard, "Go and see if the satellite phone on the plane can be used now? I want to make a call to the president of NBC. This is my credit card..."