Chapter 345: The trend of large-scale cancellation of TV series
After many rounds of discussions with David Simkins and other screenwriter friends, Ronald finally made an important decision. He decided to make moderate changes to the part of the movie he saw in his dream.
First of all, he was unwilling to let Danny DeVito play the protagonist Garfield, because DeVito's comedy performance structure relied largely on his appearance that made people laugh at first sight, and his strong personality.
brought by language skills.
This is a quite realistic business war drama. If too strong comedy elements are incorporated, it will dilute the overall drama theme and make the audience's viewing experience more fragmented.
Secondly, he was also determined not to play an overly sexy and glamorous heroine in the original work. Based on Ronald’s experience in dealing with lawyers and Wall Street elites, these people can be beautiful or handsome, but they are not brainless, or
An inexperienced vase. The actress in the dream is so sensual that the audience cannot believe that she is a successful Wall Street M&A lawyer.
For example, in "Working Girl" directed by Ronald, when they were working as secretaries, Melanie Griffith and Joan Cusack were both sexy. But when they were pretending to be managers, Griffith was
Instead, Sijiu had to put away her sex appeal, tie her hair up, and show off a shrewd, sophisticated, restrained sex appeal.
Diane can't just show her sexiness, but must transform into a successful career girl, as beautiful as is allowed in the current American business world. In other words, she can gain some advantages through her appearance, but she must not be like a "pretty woman"
Vivian in "" directly sells her beauty.
As for the overall tone, Ronald tends to adjust "Other People's Money" into a serious business drama with romantic comedy elements.
Such a script requires two elements as the necessary characteristics of the male protagonist. One is that he can have a chemical reaction with Diane. The second is that he must have a certain sense of comedy and make the audience sympathize.
Based on these two elements, Ronald began sending audition invitations to suitable people in Hollywood. Finally, three main candidates were identified.
The first one is Billy Crystal, who was directed by Ronald. His "When Harry Met Sally" happened to be a hit in America, and female audiences especially recognized his charm. His comedy talent also mainly relies on
It’s his lines rather than his appearance, so he’s a very good candidate in terms of box office appeal.
The second one is Batman "Michael Keaton". Although he became famous through Batman, his previous role as the male protagonist in "Gung Ho" was a man who made a petition to the executives of a Japanese automobile company to reopen the Detroit factory.
This resulted in a series of commercial films with cultural conflicts.
The third one is undoubtedly Tom Hanks, who has worked with Diane "Grown Up". He and Diane have proven that they can produce a chemical reaction on the screen. However, in terms of business and drama, they have not yet been effectively tested.
proof of.
Ronald basically followed this order and sent them the script to test their reactions.
…
However, before waiting for Billy Crystal's reply, Ronald received an unexpected invitation.
NBC suddenly contacted Ronald. They wanted to give "Working Girl" a full-season broadcast contract and invited his production team to negotiate terms.
"It turned out to be a replacement quota..."
At NBC, Ronald and the head of the writing team, Lawrence Conner, met with Rick Ludwin, the head of evening drama.
After chatting with him, I found out that the reason why NBC suddenly changed its mind was that they canceled three long-running TV series and six new TV series this year due to a sharp decline in ratings.
There are three TV series that were first broadcast in 1986 before the writers' strike and received good ratings. However, after the strike, the ratings fell sharply last year, and their performance this year was even worse.
The solution is that the advertising revenue plummeted, and I was directly ordered to write a finale and end it hastily.
The movie is called "A Fu at Home", about the arrival of an alien creature in a happy family, A Fu, who looks like a wild boar. It is a family comedy. In fact, A Fu has the feeling of "ET" back then.
Ugly but kind-hearted and with superpowers, his spaceship unfortunately crashed on Earth and met a group of kind-hearted people to help him.
A movie called "My Two Dads" tells the story of a twelve-year-old girl whose mother unfortunately passed away. Two single men, a financial consultant and an artist who both pursued her mother, jointly raised the orphan. This is actually the story of
It is also an idea brought about by the blockbuster movie "Three Dads and One Baby".
Both dramas use a time-tested blockbuster formula. The core concept of a blockbuster movie is transformed into a story that fits the rhythm of a TV series. Since the beginning of this spring, the ratings have dropped miserably. How can the writers' room turn around?
There is nothing Huatou can do.
If the first two series only made NBC feel regretful, then the third one made NBC scared. This series is called "Apartment 227", which tells the story of two gossipy black women in an apartment in Washington, DC, and their relationship.
Family story sitcom.
This kind of popular drama with ethnic characteristics is originally stronger than ordinary white family dramas, because black people are always more tolerant of black stories. But this drama has the longest history and the most attempts to save it (
TV series with many black stars as guest stars have also fallen below the red line.
There are also six new dramas released last year, all of which had high hopes after the general strike, and all of them were tragic and did not even make it to the end of the first season.
This led to a decline in NBC's entire ratings. Their leadership suddenly felt great pressure on Rick Ludwin, the head of evening TV series and talk shows. He had no choice but to watch the eliminated dramas.
Is there a suitable substitute to fill the vacancy?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! At the reminder of Late Show host David Letterman, Rick Ludwin remembered that this year NBC lost more than one weekend in a row
The ratings championship was snatched away by the Oscars show produced by Ronald.
He dug out the pilot episode of "Working Girl", watched it for a long time, and decided to give Daydream's new TV series the top spot.
"Then what..." After talking about the temporary replacement of "Working Girl", Ronald remembered Bannon's request, "That Seinfeld..."
"The ratings of the five-episode trial last year were not ideal...Hey, but if this trend of large-scale decline in ratings continues to spread, maybe I will let them try again..."
The right time, place and people made it easy to sign a broadcast contract. Ronald and Lawrence Connor got the contract for the twelve episodes of the first season on the same day.
They still had a few weeks to continue to produce the episodes after the pilot episode, so they immediately summoned the actors including the heroine Sandra Bullock, and the writers' room was activated again, and they started filming against the clock.
"Oh God, I can film again..." In a cafe in New York, a waitress received the page and called her agent to get the good news that the TV series in which she was the heroine would resume filming. She was called on the spot.
She came out, causing the boss to stop her quickly, "Sandra, what are you doing?"
"Your waitress got the heroine," a customer reminded from the side. The boss, who was silent for a while, began to applaud Sandra Bullock, and finally everyone in the cafe was cheering for this lucky girl.
applaud.
Sandra Bullock made a bow as in a classical drama. She immediately took off her waiter's apron and rushed to the Los Angeles studio as soon as she got the flight ticket booked for her by the crew.
A few days later, Ronald saw the girl in the studio. The makeup artist and hairstylist of the crew were adjusting her. Ronald asked the on-site director and screenwriter for their opinions. Sandra
Bullock's performance was full of passion, and the entire crew was motivated by her.
Doing something you love can really transfer this passion to the people around you.
"Well done, Sandra..." Ronald went over to encourage her. He also deliberately established Sandra Bullock's status in the crew. Because the TV series took longer to shoot, the pressure to meet the schedule was even greater.
It's a big deal. Most of the staff are there to watch people order dishes.
Ronald's face-to-face encouragement helped Sandra avoid a lot of messy crew struggles. After all, the series "Daydream" was rushing to be broadcast nationally on NBC, and it was impossible for them to have time to engage in any more crew struggles.
Gossip drama.
This seemed to give the crew the wrong hint. All of a sudden everyone thought that Sandra Bullock was the boss's woman, but it succeeded in achieving the effect Ronald wanted - everyone worked together and did not feel guilty.
Fight hard and make progress while maintaining quality and quantity.
"Why on earth do these TV series suddenly stop working?"
Ronald held several video tapes, pressed the fast forward button, and quickly watched the TV series canceled by NBC.
This abnormal phenomenon always made him feel a little uneasy. After comparing the quality of the three TV series when they first started airing with the quality of the series before they were cancelled, Ronald felt that there was not much difference in quality.
There are no major personnel changes or strategic direction adjustments within NBC. He also confirmed with NBC executive Rick Ludwin that it was indeed due to a sharp decline in ratings that large-scale mid-season cancellations were made and replaced with new ones.
Came up to replace him.
Ordinarily, the writers' strike has passed for so long, so it can't possibly still be affecting the quality of TV series production, right?
Ronald seemed to have caught some inspiration, but he was half a step away and couldn't explain the reason. He felt very upset, so he had to press the remote control of the video recorder, making random noises, and fast forward and rewind over and over again, hoping to be able to
Recapture that vague feeling.
"Ronnie, do you want to watch it?" Diane was annoyed by his actions.
Ronald made an apologetic gesture, "I was trying to find out why no one was watching these episodes suddenly."
"Forget it, I went to the study to take a look. Little Roger just happened to be asleep..." Diane waved her hand. She quite liked the movie "My Two Dads", and it happened to show two possible fathers.
When doing a DNA test to reveal who was the biological father of the child, Diane picked out the next two boxes of video tapes and went to the next room to watch them.
"Well..." Ronald simply turned off the remote control, installed the ejected video tape, and then threw it into the box next to it. Sometimes, if you think too much and too quickly, you will not be able to grasp the problem.
Nature.
By chance, Billy Crystal had finished reading the script for "Other People's Money" and called him to meet and chat.
"Hi, Billy..."
"Hi, Ronald..."
The two met in a cafe next to Bibberley Park, hugged each other and said hello. Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars award show, which was widely praised and is the most praised host in the past five years.
His reputation in the industry is rising rapidly, and Billy Crystal has raised much more project financing and received more scripts than before.
However, he still liked the script that Ronald sent him. The success that "When Harry Met Sally" brought him last time was unmatched by any other previous movies, and he also looks forward to it.
Hope to be able to work with Ronald again.
"I would love to play the role of Garfield..." Billy Crystal expressed his intention when he came up, "But I have just received financing for my new project and am still looking for a publisher, so I don't know what your plans are regarding the schedule.
When will the movie be shot?”
"Filming will start in the second half of this year. Is this your project?" Ronald reached out and took the script from Billy Crystal's hand. "Is this the cowboy film project you said last time that you planned to invest in it?
?”
"Hey, yes, I have always wanted to make a different kind of cowboy movie. It is a deconstruction of the traditional cowboy western movie. It is also a reminiscence and tribute to the western cowboy movies of the past in the new era of urbanization."
Billy Crystal talked about his project very smoothly. He had practiced finding funds countless times and now he is very smooth.
"If you are still looking for a publisher, I can recommend Columbia and Disney..." Ronas probably guessed what Billy Crystal meant, so he took the initiative to point it out.
"That's great, but if this happens, I may not have the time to participate in your movie."
"Hmm..." Ronald was flipping through Billy Crystal's script "City Hillbilly" quickly. The script of this movie is really well written. Today's Western cowboys are no longer driving.
Cows and the traditional job of driving them to the slaughterhouse.
After large-scale urbanization, high-income urban white-collar workers are generally willing to go to the countryside to experience the life of western cowboys seen in movies, and the tourism that welcomes people from these cities has become the cowboys on the farms now.
largest source of job income.
This movie is about a few city white-collar workers who have no power to control chickens. They engage in cowboy life and make fakes come true. They really rely on their own courage to drive the cows to their destination and find the precious things they have lost while living in the city.
s story.
If Billy Crystal only starred in this movie, then it would not be a problem to catch up with the filming of two movies this year. But if he is also a producer and is responsible for a lot of financing and distribution work, it will be really difficult to find him.
Taking care of two movies.
Especially since this is his first time doing this kind of work, he will definitely have to invest a lot of time and energy.
Ronald nodded, indicating that he already knew the restrictions on his schedule. This is also a common thing among famous Hollywood stars. It is determined by the characteristics of the film production industry, and it does not delay the friendship between the two.
"Does my daydream have an investment stake?" Ronald instead wanted to invest in his movie.
"Of course, that's what I want. Your investment is a very good recognition, and my future financing will be much easier..." Of course Billy Crystal would not refuse.
"Well, thank you." Ronald flipped through the script, and suddenly he discovered that there seemed to be a supporting role in it. An urban professional woman who also participated in a cowboy tour group because of her own emotional troubles.
She was harassed by the cowboy tour guide, and the three male protagonists did not dare to stand up for the beautiful girl. As a result, they attracted a real cowboy, a man who was about to change and teach them the true meaning of cowboy life.
"I'm talking about proportions. Can I arrange a personal audition for this female character?" Ronald pointed to the character named Bonnie and asked.
"But isn't Diane preparing for your new movie? Or do you want to wait for me to free up my schedule..."
"Hahaha, I'm not recommending Diane..." Ronald chuckled. In fact, he felt that the quality of this movie was good, and the vase role was suitable for Helen Slater's superficial acting skills. In this kind of comedy, she
It doesn't matter if you overact.
"Ah ha, no problem. I will send the script before the audition. This role is also very important. The key turning point in the story was caused by her..." Billy Crystal understood instantly and acted immediately.
I promise, as long as you don't know how to act at all, this role will be your recommendation.
"What did Billy say?" Diane, who had just finished feeding her son, looked at Ronald who came home and asked.
"He has his own project, and the schedule is not suitable. I have already asked someone to contact the second choice, Michael Keaton."