Ronald and his agent Niceta came to Universal Pictures to sign a director contract.
Universal Studios was originally a studio and location set up by Universal Pictures. Now it has become an amusement park. When Ronald was filming "Rock and Roll High School", he also worked with Marla, an extra student from Van Nuys High School.
, came here for a date.
Returning to the old place, Ronald has become the director of a theatrical feature film, and the girl with a good figure has gone to who knows where. Is she still hanging out in the film industry, or is she honestly married and becoming a housewife?
Ronald cleared these nostalgic emotions from his mind. Today was a landmark day in his life. He should look to the future instead of looking back to the past.
The director and contract have been reviewed by CAA and Ronald's personal lawyer, and the terms were finalized after a few back and forths.
Ronald had a director-for-hire contract. Universal hired him to shoot "Fast-paced Richmond High" because he was still a newcomer and couldn't get the kind of film deals that established directors enjoy.
Just like Amy Heckerling, who lost in the "fast-paced" director competition, because she was appreciated by the president, she signed a director's contract. It was only agreed that Heckerling would produce a film for Universal, not
It is up to her to negotiate with Universal about which script to limit.
If the first film does well at the box office, the contract for the other two films can be automatically renewed. Ronald was actually a little envious after hearing this. Why was Heikelin able to get such good conditions when it was also his first film?
Ronald's contract terms are relatively strict. Since the tragedy of "Heaven's Gate", Michael Cimino single-handedly bankrupted United Artists, one of the top eight companies, and it was acquired by MGM. All major studios have
The director's contract terms are even more stringent.
Ronald must abide by the agreement to complete filming within seven weeks after the start of filming. If the schedule falls significantly behind schedule, Universal's producers have the right to fire him. If the daily samples he shoots fail to pass the producer's review in a row,
If he is asked to reshoot, he also has the power to fire him.
Of course, judging from Ronald's level of study at the "Roger Corman Film University", this possibility is close to zero.
Those who have the power to fire people are the two producers who signed a contract with him today, Art Linson and Irving Azoff.
Art Linson, one of the two, started out as a producer. At the previous Oscars, he was the producer of the movie "Melvin and Howard" that defeated Ronald's "Famous" and won the best original screenplay.
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But Lin Sen was not willing to be a producer. His dream in life was to be a director. For this reason, he gave up continuing to produce other popular movies. He picked up the director himself and directed a comedy movie "Freak Reporter" by Bill Murray.
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This big production failed miserably at the box office and was criticized by film critics. He had to return to his career as a producer and supervised several small productions for Universal.
Another producer, Irving Azoff, actually has little interest in being a film producer. He is an executive of MCA Records Group and the manager of the half-popular band Eagles.
But he belongs to Sheinberg's faction in the MCA group, so he was sent to balance the power of the crew. And the youth film needs a lot of rock music for soundtracks, so it is most convenient for him to take care of the copyright issues. So Azoff also came to be the director.
Got this producer.
A low-budget youth comedy with a budget of 3 million, just for fun.
"Ronald v. Lee", Ronald signed his signature on the dotted line at the bottom of the contract. This means that he officially became the director of "Fast Pace".
"Congratulations." The two producers stood up and shook hands with him.
"Our time is limited. We will be there when filming starts, and we will not have time to go to the crew every day. At that time, there will be an executive producer designated by Universal to represent our permanent crew."
"When can I see him?" Ronald asked. He wanted to communicate with the executive producer (line producer) early and reach a consensus.
"Soon, she will be involved in the casting stage, and you will be able to meet in a few days."
Ronald and his agent Niceta walked out of the office, and on their way to the parking lot, Ronald said with emotion, "This is the first big opportunity in my life, and for Universal, it is indeed a small opportunity that can't be in the parking lot."
It's a small production. I thought at least one of Tom Mount and Mr. Sheinberg would be present to sign the contract."
"Don't think so, Ronald. You will sign a contract with them one day. I am very optimistic about you." Niceta is becoming more and more satisfied with this client who has no intention of signing. Not only did he hook up with Sheinberg through him,
line, and also met Spielberg.
"Actually, it's not that Mr. Shenberg doesn't value you. He was involved in something today. Columbia has proposed new terms regarding the transfer of Spielberg's ET."
It turns out that ET's script was not completely abandoned by Columbia, but was put into the warehouse of the turnaround deal.
The inclusion of the script in the circulation agreement indicates that Colombia has no intention of producing the film in the near future. However, if other film studios want to film, they must obtain Columbia's consent and purchase the rights to film the script from here.
Originally, Niceta came forward to negotiate an agreement with Columbia to purchase the ET script for US$1 million, but for some reason, president Frank Price vetoed this price and insisted on demanding a higher price.
Ovitz quickly followed up on the second round of negotiations. Price refused to lower the price anyway. Instead, because of Ovitz's intervention, he raised the price and proposed to add 10% of the final net profit of ET Films as part of the Colombia transfer agreement.
condition.
Ovitz didn't know for a while whether Price was deliberately making things difficult for Sheinberg, or whether he had sensed something was wrong. He had no choice but to start arduous negotiations. Sheinberg also handled the matter personally.
"In the end, we will probably talk about 5% of the net profit share. Frank Price, the president of Columbia, surprised us. He didn't just read the script." Nisita joked. "I don't know why Price discovered the potential of et.
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In the evening, Ronald found Cameron and Gale, and the three of them celebrated Ronald in the restaurant. He was the first to realize his dream and become a film director.
"What other reason could there be? It's just that Price saw a few Jews together and suspected that they were conspiring to secretly steal a script that could sell well." After hearing Ronald talk about ET, Cameron said
blurted out.
"Don't say that, I remember that Gale seems to be of Jewish descent." Ronald said softly.
"My father is Jewish, but my mother is Catholic, and I was basically raised according to Catholic customs." Gale replied, not caring about this.
"Do you still remember Jenny, the scene recorder of 'Rock'n'Roll'? I remember her last name was Rosenberg. After filming 'Rock'n'Roll,' she seemed to have a good future." Ronald thought of an acquaintance, Jenny's starting point was very high when she debuted.
"Yes, in this industry, Jews have a large network of connections, and it is indeed an advantage to join the industry." Gale does not deny the status of Jews in the film and television industry.
"First of all, congratulations to Ronald for realizing his dream." Gale and Cameron raised their glasses and the three of them drank it down in one gulp.
"Sheinberg, Spielberg, Ovitz, they are all of Jewish descent. Frank Price is of pure Anglo-Saxon descent, and his ancestors can be traced back to the passengers on the Mayflower.
So it's normal for Price to be suspicious when seeing three of them Jewish people participating in this project. If he insists on keeping ET's script, Spielberg may not immediately start the project. If he lets him go to Universal, he will stay.
Sign a 5% net profit sharing agreement so that he can make money no matter what.
It seems that Frank Price is still very sophisticated."
After listening to Ronald tell the whole story, Gale used the family wisdom of the daughter of a Jewish investor to analyze the ins and outs of the incident for the two men."
"Rosenberg, Sheinberg, Spielberg, all Jewish names are very distinctive." Ronald said.
"Yes, many of the Jews in America are actually descendants of Slavs from Eastern Europe who immigrated here before and after World War II. Of course, some also changed their names to Anglo-Saxon. For example, my ancestor's original surname was Hurwitz.
He immigrated to America and later changed his name to Hurd.
Witz is also a common Jewish surname ending, and there are also examples such as Horowitz, which was changed to Holtz. Haeckelwitz changed his name to Heckerling."
Ronald's heart moved. It seemed that Amy Heckerling was also Jewish. After these people occupied high positions in the studio, they promoted Jewish directors and actors. As long as they were Jewish, they could get better jobs.
opportunities, or move forward faster than your peers.
"Ding ding ding..." James Cameron tapped the wine glass with a metal spoon, "I also have news to announce. I got the position of special effects director and will start filming immediately."
"Congratulations!" Ronald came back from his thoughts, raised his glass and gestured to Cameron together with Gale.
"What movie is it?"
"It's the sequel to 'Piranha' directed by Joe Dante. The budget for this project was $500,000. No television station was willing to buy the television rights, no distributor was willing to pay an advance, and Roger Corman was unwilling to invest.
It happened that an Italian producer, Ovidio Assonitis, came here. He wanted to enter the American film market and invested this money. My special effects work in War of the Stars caught his attention.
I just signed the contract and will soon go to Jamaica to scout the location.
This script is very interesting, and there are shots of piranhas jumping out of the water and attacking humans. It's much more difficult than 'Piranha', which copied 'Jaws' and hid the danger under the water, but it also has more visual impact.
force."
Cameron has also taken a big step forward in his career.
"What about you, Gail, do you have good news too?" Ronald looked at Gail's smile and guessed that her career progress was also good.
"Yes, Roger asked me to be the executive producer (line producer) of several movies. After I accumulate some experience, I can be my own producer."
"congratulate."
Gale had been working as a production assistant on the crew before, and now he has become an executive producer. In the film industry, to become a producer, you must start as a production assistant, and then become an executive producer, responsible for the daily life of the set. management, and then it was my turn to be a producer.
But in any case, with the word "人" added after producer, the power and title are significantly different, marking the beginning of a formal producer's career.
The threesome who talked freely about their ideals on the set of "Rock High School" have now initially realized their ideals. A lot has happened in less than three years, but they are all moving forward slowly but surely.
Ronald mentioned the time when they talked about their ideals on the set, and the three of them toasted together to congratulate each other.