"Are you ready?" Agent Richard met Ronald at the departure gate at Los Angeles Airport and asked him with a smile.
"What are you getting ready for?" Ronald wore a dark blue top, gray trousers, and polished brown leather shoes. He carried his suitcase and waved goodbye to several beautiful blond stewardesses in uniform.
A man relies on his clothes. Ronald's body shape, which he has exercised all year round, and his handmade suits by Red Gang tailors, made even Pan Am flight attendants take the initiative to chat with him.
However, when they learned that he claimed to be a movie director and that he frequently flew to Los Angeles and New York, the beautiful flight attendants thought that such a young Ronald was just joking to catch them, so they said goodbye to him cheerfully without leaving a note.
"Are you ready to compete for the 'fast-paced' director?" Richard took Ronald's luggage with a smile and put it in the trunk of his car.
"Do you even need to ask? Otherwise, why would I come to Hollywood?" Ronald sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt. Richard's new car is a Japanese white Corolla, which he used as a commission to serve Ronald.
I bought it. It looks small from the outside, but it has a lot of space inside. Chad put it in gear, "The director is the most critical position in a movie. It is related to the success or failure of the movie's box office. It is also related to my income and my future in CAA.
.This is your first time competing for the position of director. I want to ask about your mental state. It seems that you are in a good state of mind."
"I've been preparing for this day, don't make me nervous, Richard." Ronald joked.
Richard turned the steering wheel, got on the road, and said: "The situation is very interesting. David Lynch has delayed Tom Mount for a long time and also fooled us. Now he has taken over the Italian producer Raffaella
·De Laurentiis’s projects——
Screenplay and director for the film adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel "Dune."
"Isn't he not interested in science fiction movies?" Ronald still remembers the reason Lynch publicized everywhere after he turned down the director's job of the next Star Wars.
"Lynch said those were not his exact words. He said his exact words were, 'I'm not interested in any science fiction movie unless it incorporates other deeper human elements.'"
"Ahem", Ronald choked himself with laughter. Didn't this make George Lucas even more uncomfortable? It implies that Star Wars does not have deep human elements.
"Anyway, that's his choice. And he said something similar when he turned down Universal President Tom Mount's invitation to direct 'Fast-paced Richmond High.' I heard Nicita say, what he said was
…”
"What he said is that the script is quite interesting, but it's not my cup of tea." Richard drove the car directly to CAA's office, and Niceta asked Ronald to come to the office for an interview first.
"Then Lynch wished everyone present good luck, said nothing else, and without giving Tom Mount a chance to stay, he drove away in his Volkswagen Beetle."
Niceta shook her head. This kind of maverick artist style is really annoying sometimes. And the Hollywood star's polite and flattering way of rejecting the other person's speech is the most normal approach in the film industry.
"I still don't quite understand what's going on. Didn't Lynch express great interest? Why did he suddenly refuse?"
"Producer Rafaela De Laurentiis gave his 'Dune' movie a production budget of more than $30 million, and the writing and directing rights belong to Lynch."
"Oh," that's it, Ronald understood. "Fast Richmond High" is just a teen comedy with a budget of $3 million, only one-tenth of the former. And this kind of studio project,
The director's power is not that great and will be restricted by the producer.
"This Italian Laurentiis is very courageous." Ronald was very envious of Lynch for being able to work on such a big production.
"That's not true. He also has some compelling reasons." Niceta shook her head and explained to Ronald.
It turns out that Laurentiis bought the adaptation rights to Dune from another producer. At the end of this year, the adaptation rights will expire, and if they are not filmed, they will automatically return to the hands of the author Frank Herbert.
Laurentiis originally found Ridley Scott to direct the film in 1979, but such a large science fiction film is complicated to produce and takes a long time to prepare. In addition, the funds were not available, so it was never put into production.
After Scott auctioned the hit "Alien", he wasted two years on this project and ultimately achieved nothing.
The schedule for his next project "Blade Runner" was approaching, but the director had no choice but to give up on Dune.
In order to prevent the adaptation rights from being automatically transferred back to the author for $0, Laurentiis had to negotiate with him to extend the adaptation contract. The author Frank Herbert demanded a larger filming budget before he would sign the contract. In the end, Laurentiis had to offer a high price to renew the contract.
By the way, the contract for the adaptation of the two sequels of Dune was also signed in one package.
This project taken over by David Lynch is actually a trilogy.
"Lynch calls this an adult version of 'Star Wars.'"
Okay, now I have offended Lucas again. Fortunately, he is open-minded and not as knowledgeable as you. Ronald thought to himself.
"So who are my competitors?" Ronald asked.
"Tom Mount seems to have someone he likes, and we are still inquiring more." Niceta tapped her fingers on the table, "However, this is not the biggest reason why I invited you here today."
Ronald leaned back to make himself more comfortable, and raised his hand to signal Niceta to continue.
"This year, major studios have begun to realize the importance of youth films, and many studios will start filming youth-themed films in the second half of this year."
Niceta placed a diagram drawn by the secretary on the table and turned it over for Ronald to see.
"Disney's 'DZ Man' is an adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel."
Ronald nodded and found this movie on the chart that had already been launched. The producer was Zinnemann, and it tells the story of high school students in a small town in Oklahoma. The male and female actors were both people he knew, Matt.
Dillon, and Meg Tilly.
"20th Century Fox's 'Lights Out,'" Niceta continued.
Ronald's finger slid down. Fox President Shirley Lansing personally gave the green light to the cadet movie. It is the story of a cadet resisting the developer's demolition of the cadet. Timothy Hutton and Tom Cruise both
There are performances.
"And Grease 2," Niceta continued.
"What, has Grease 2 started again?" Ronald slid his hand down and asked.
"Yes, after Universal gave up, RKO Records' boss, Streetwood, decided to invest 6 million US dollars himself, found Paramount to invest 6 million US dollars, and started the project again."
This is another high school-themed movie, telling the story of high school students in the 1950s and 1960s, and the sequel to the hit movie.
"Why are there so many themes about high school students?" Ronald moved his finger downwards, and the next one he wanted to fight for was "the fast-paced Richmond High School."
"And that's not counting the slew of other teen movies that aren't about high school life. This is the year of the high school movie, Ronald."
"So?" Ronald is not afraid of competition. In a way, this phenomenon shows that major studios are beginning to pay attention to this subject, predicting that this subject will explode in the market next year. If the director can do it well, the market prospects will be
It's very good.
Niceta smiled. He liked Ronald's attitude of not being afraid of competition. With a nomination for Best Screenplay in hand, Ronald was barely qualified to be a director looking for opportunities in the eight major studios.
.
No, there are only seven major ones now.
"I have no doubt about your ability. Paula, Richard, and all my colleagues at CAA have confidence in you. Maybe except for a few axxholes." Niceta said.
"I mean, we are willing to do our best to help you win this director position, but this year's situation is indeed a bit special. You may not know that United Artists is about to be acquired by MGM."
"What? Why?" Ronald was quite surprised. United Artists was a studio founded by comedy master Chaplin and was known for giving directors the greatest artistic decision-making power. MGM was manipulated by a Las Vegas tycoon.
The company is dying, so why is it now trying to annex United Artists?
"This has a lot to do with director Michael Cimino." Niceta handed him a newspaper.
Ronald took it and looked at it. It was the Hollywood Reporter. There was a column on it that Nicita had specially highlighted with a red pencil so that Ronald could read it more easily.
"This week's box office?" Ronald looked at it doubtfully.
"Look at this year's box office results. This is the first time in America's history that the weekly box office of a movie has been published in a newspaper."
Ronald lowered his head and took a closer look. It was almost the summer season this year, and there was no movie with a total box office of more than 35 million US dollars. The western movie starring Diane Lane was also among them, and it failed miserably at the box office.
More than $500,000.
"Heaven's Gate" did slightly better, already at $3 million. But considering its $44 million production budget...
"Michael Cimino calls for re-edit of Heaven's Gate to be withdrawn, once again flopping at the box office. Now with this weekly box office reveal, audiences are looking at the rankings to pick the movie, so no one will go see it.
.
Pan American, the parent company of United Artists, has decided to sell the studio that has made the company a laughing stock, just because MGM is interested in its distribution network."
"Cimino can be said to have brought down a film studio by himself?" Ronald shook his head, which was considered impressive.
Niceta was very serious, "The bad things this fat man did not only sentenced him to death in Hollywood, but also had a great impact on the entire film industry."
On the one hand, this year's movie box office is very bad. On the other hand, newspapers announcing weekly box office results have made the situation worse. Movie theater chains have become more picky about the movies produced by producers.
If the box office performance last weekend was not good, the film schedule will be cut immediately this week and there will be fewer theaters showing it.
They now also announce box office results on TV, and many American families look at the box office rankings on TV to decide whether to drive to the cinema to watch a movie."
As Niceta spoke, she turned on the TV and pressed the play button on the VCR. A box office form popped up, with a host briefly commenting on each movie.
"I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked.
"Because the film market is shrinking rapidly, the box office this year has dropped by more than 40% compared to the same period last year. This method of announcing box office figures has put more pressure on studios. The result of this pressure is that directors are particularly
harsh.
Especially if you are a new director, if your debut film does not do well at the box office, it may be difficult for you to have the opportunity to direct movies in the future."
"I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked again.
"There are several reasons. The first is because ticket prices have increased, and there are no blockbuster movies this year, and the economy is not good and people spend less on movies. In fact, there are more movies released this year than the same period last year. This
That is to say, the market has more stringent requirements for film quality.
And the worst-case scenario for you is that of the four high school movies made this year, the fast-paced Richmond High had the smallest budget.
Grease 2’s budget of 11 million is likely to increase. Lights Out’s budget is 14 million. Even the poorest Disney-invested guy has 6 million, which is twice as much as you.”
"Maybe I didn't express myself clearly, Mr. Niceta," Ronald said.
"I understand the 'fast pace' of my screenwriting and the budget disadvantage among several films with similar themes. I also understand that if the box office is not good, my future career as a director will be very difficult.
But in which era was it not difficult to be a director? No matter who it was, even in the golden age of Hollywood, if the film was not a hit, there would be no films to make.
All these difficulties will not dampen my enthusiasm for directing a movie.
So, so what?" Ronald spread his hands, showing that he was not afraid of the challenge.
"Very good!" Niceta stopped talking, clasped her hands together and placed them on the table, "So you are ready, Ronald."