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Chapter 16 New World Production

"Iron clothes, press pants."

Early the next morning, Ronald got up and ironed his shirt and trousers. He recited the ironing tips he learned from Aunt Karen. The shirt should be ironed by dragging it back and forth with the iron; when ironing the trousers, it should not be dragged back and forth.

Fix it in one place and press it while ironing.

Putting the iron aside, he picked up his trousers and put them on. He looked in front of the full-length mirror next to the living room door and saw that the trousers were neatly creased. Ronald put away the iron, put away the movable ironing board fixed on the wall, and ironed

The board bounces back into the closet and becomes part of the wall.

This apartment is mainly designed for young couples who have just started a family. It has complete living facilities. However, in America, this kind of ironing is usually done by housewives. It is still a bit strange for a grown man to do it. Aunt Karen

Donna had to go to work every day and was still very young, so she taught Ronald to do housework.

After getting up early to exercise, I took a hot shower, shaved, took the sliced ​​bread from the refrigerator and threw it into the toaster. Now that the bread was baked, it popped out. Ronald paired it with sliced ​​tomatoes and a few slices of sourdough.

Cucumber, squeeze on the salad dressing, cut the bread into two triangles.

Touching his smooth chin, Ronald tucked his shirt into his belt. Ronald still hoped that a gentle and beautiful woman would do this for him in the future.

The taste is not as good as Aunt Karen's, but it is better than freshly made. With black tea, it is not worse than the $1.50 breakfast at McDonald's. I ate two homemade sandwiches, tidied up, and set off to see New World Productions.

Samples.

The office of New World Productions is in North Hollywood, not far from the Walk of Fame. Ronald drove into the company.

The office is a two-story building. The exterior walls on the left and right sides of the door are painted brick red and ivory white respectively, which is very elegant. On the door are the four metal numbers 1607, which are the company's house number.

Perhaps the boss did not have any company logo or name in order to save money, indicating that this is a strange company that produces 15 low-cost exploitation films a year and makes money with each film.

After saying hello to the beautiful woman at the front desk, Ronald went to find Gail, the assistant to the president, and knocked on the door of the best office in the corner of the second floor.

Gale, who was sitting in the secretary's seat outside, was chatting with Jim. He looked up and saw Ronald. Gale walked out from behind the desk happily: "Ronnie, you seem a little different today. You look a bit like the one in the movie."

Superman, very handsome. Roger will be arriving later, so Jim and I will watch the samples you took later."

Jim winked at him from the side.

"No, it's because I came early." Maybe it's because he shaved his beard that he became more handsome? Ronald thought.

Ronald motioned for Gale and Jim to continue without greeting him, and continued walking around the company. After leaving the door, he looked around along the corridor. This was the first time for him to come to the office since the filming started. Ronald was in the office before.

I work in the screenwriter's room upstairs and rarely go to the second floor.

The walls on the second floor were pasted with various movie posters directed or produced by Roger Corman. Ronald quickly found the film "The Intruder" that Roger said yesterday was his only money-losing movie. It was as big as a head.

The white man with a thick neck was looking in the mirror in front of a cigarette vending machine. Ronald looked familiar, so he looked in the starring column at the bottom of the poster and found that it was William Shatner. The popular science fiction TV series "Star Trek"

)", Captain Kirk of the spaceship Enterprise.

Continuing to walk forward, I saw another movie poster with a very scary name, "Death Race 2000". The poster had a crooked mouth and was holding a machine gun and killing people. Isn't it the phenomenal movie from the year before last? "

"Rocky" actor Stallone?

Ronald couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kind of low-cost exploitation film must have been made before Stallone became famous, otherwise Roger Corman couldn't afford to hire him. But his ability to discover talents is really great.

If this movie were released now, Stallone's fame alone would make a lot of money.

The doors of the rooms on both sides were closed, and inside were the editing rooms. Ronald knew that the two editing rooms had people working 24 hours a day, almost 365 days a year. With 15 films a year, the editing workload was huge.

After turning the corner and about to go down the stairs, a strange voice came over.

"Roger, we have bought the rights to remake "Midnight" for US$2,500, and we can start filming our airplane comedy."

"Wow, that's great. Once you finish filming the second set of 'Rock and Roll', you can go find investors."

This was the voice of Roger Coleman. Ronald stopped and it was a bit impolite to eavesdrop on others. But the man spoke really fast and urgently, as if he was going to quarrel with Roger. Ronald now

It was a bit awkward to walk out.

"Hey, Roger, you can find someone else to shoot for you. We have already received investment and are going to make a movie at Paramount, one of the eight major studios." The strange voice became excited, "You know we were there yesterday?

Who did Paramount see? It was Michael Eisner. Michael fxcking Eisner. And his guy, Jeff Katzenberg."

"Paramount will give us money, big budget. Do you know how much it will be? Three hundred fxcking half a million. That's more than New World's 12 movies combined for the entire year."

"There's absolutely no need to yell, Jerry. A contract is a contract. I don't understand why you're so eager to go to Paramount. The lead-up to the big studios will be long. As long as you shoot for me for five more days, you'll be fine."

Finish the second set of photography, and then you'll never have to make a movie for me."

"Okay, okay, Roger. Look, David, Jim, and I have been working on this movie for five years, and now that Michael Eisner has given the nod, we still need to work with their writers on

The script was rewritten in two weeks until Katzenberg gave the green light."

"Can you imagine? David, Jim and I, this is the moment when our three dreams come true. You're not going to let us kiss goodbye to our five-year dream, are you?"

"Then who will complete your filming tasks? Jerry, this is a matter of principle. You should learn from this and respect the spirit of the contract."

"Why not let Joe Dante do the filming? He is always with Allen, you can let him take over the filming of the second unit. Please."

"Okay, I'll think about it. Let's go see last week's samples first."

"Okay, Roger, our second team has shot a lot, and there is only a little finishing touch in the end..."

Ronald heard Roger Coleman and the man named Jerry leaving and going to the left, which should be the direction of the conference room on the first floor. So he slowly went downstairs.

After drinking a cup of instant coffee at the front desk, I finally saw Roger Corman and Jerry walking out together, preparing to go to the screening room on the other side.

"Good morning, Mr. Coleman."

"Ah, you're already here, just in time, help me move the samples to the screening room." Then Roger picked up the phone at the front desk and called Gale, "Gale, come to the screening room, we're about to start."

Ronald and the projectionist put the samples into the screening room on the first floor. After entering, there was a narrow staircase leading to a small screening room. Watch the projectionist put the film on the projector, turn on the power, and the cooling fan hummed loudly.

There was a sound, and Ronald hurried downstairs.

When I came out, I saw Roger talking to a beautiful middle-aged woman wearing a business suit.

"Ronnie, let me introduce, this is my wife Julie. Julie, this is the talented young man I told you, Ronald Lee."

"Hello, Mrs. Coleman." Ronald hurried forward to say hello.

The proprietress Julie Coleman is also a producer of New World. Like Roger, she is an extremely efficient producer. I heard that she manages 5 crews and has to take care of 3 children at home. Really

Iron lady.

The two couples sat down on the sofa in the middle of the theater. Ronald chose a seat behind Roger.

Several more people walked in one after another, including Gail and Jim. They found a seat behind Ronald. Then came the producer of "Rock and Roll High School", who sat directly in front of Ronald. Roger sat on the other side.

On the empty seat on one side.

Roger Corman leaned toward the producer and the two began to talk in a low voice, and Ronald heard a little,

"...I haven't seen Mr. Eisner at all...3.5 million is real."

Another little man came in and sat on the other side far away from Roger Coleman.

"Who is this?" Ronald asked Gail.

"Rock'n'Roll High School's second-unit director, Jerry Zucker."

It turns out that he is Jerry Zucker, the same Jerry who just argued with Roger Corman. He and the producer of "Rock and Roll High School" went to meet with Paramount people yesterday to discuss cooperation on a new film.

On the set, otherwise it wouldn't be Ronald's turn to film.

The last person to come in was Joe Dante, who closed the door behind him.

Ronald said hello to Joe, and Joe smiled and nodded. He seemed to be in good spirits, and the coffee at the police station was okay.

"Let's show yesterday's sample first," Roger Corman said.

Gale motioned to the projectionist to start the show.

The lights went out, and a bright light came from the projection room at the back. Ronald couldn't help but sit up straight, feeling uneasy. This was the first time he saw the footage he shot on the screen.


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