CBS female host Pia agreed to contact David Letterman. They had been colleagues in CBS Los Angeles in their early years. When Letterman was still a weather forecaster, he wrote a scene for Pia.
Letterman, who received a call from an old colleague, was very talkative and agreed to meet Ronald and the producer, who was at home with his family.
Producer Lin Sen and Ronald visited Letterman's home together.
Letterman has been famous for a long time, and his house is not big, much smaller than the nationally famous mansion of his teacher Johnny Carson.
Letterman was still making preparations for the show at home. He pulled aside the materials on the living room table and greeted Ronald and Linson warmly.
"I was a little busy, and I heard Pia call and say, do you want me to guest star in a movie?"
"Yes, we would like to ask you to guest star as the host to interview Spicoli, a character in the movie. He was invited to your morning show because he saved Brooke Shields."
"The Late Show, I'll be switching to the evening show next month."
"Invited to your late night show. You'll ask him a few questions, and Spicoli will answer with that typical idiot's thinking."
"It's very interesting. I also have some acting skills. You may not know that Brother Zac asked me to star in 'The Unprecedented', but unfortunately my agent rejected it."
"That's why we wanted to meet you, Mr. Letterman."
"Is that all? I thought you would give me a big role." Letterman read two pages of the script and laughed.
"If your agent hadn't refused, we would have let you audition for the role of a teacher in advance."
"That's it. When I play a teacher, it still looks very similar."
…
After chatting with David Letterman for a while, he happily agreed to make a cameo.
"I didn't expect that Letterman himself was so easy to talk to, but his agent was actually too tough." After Ronald went out, he said to the producer Lin Sen who came with him.
"It's because he's so talkative that he lets his agent be responsible for screening all opportunities. Letterman is essentially a naive person. Maybe it's because of this that he can host the talk show well," Lin Sen replied.
Maybe he is right. Letterman, who is naturally friendly and approachable to people, if he were allowed to handle all business cooperation invitations by himself, he would probably agree to all the invitations, which would be a disaster.
Several big-name guest stars have already agreed, and Ronald began asking his assistant to contact Sean Penn, who is currently performing in his stage play in Chicago. The three actors need to find a suitable shooting time and shoot the reshoots at once
over.
Just when everything was ready, Ronald suddenly received a call from producer Lin Sen. Their reshoot plan was questioned by Universal Pictures Senior Vice President Ned Tanin. He was needed to go there tomorrow.
Universal Production held a meeting with Tanin and other senior executives to discuss.
"Why? I don't understand. This is just a small production, and the total cost of reshoots is only 300,000 US dollars. Why would this vice president Taning suddenly come out to question us?"
"Don't be angry, this Tanin is a well-known nuisance. He has a bad reputation among directors and often interferes in projects set by other senior executives.
This movie has nothing to do with him, but as a senior vice president, he does have the authority to raise questions about any project. We need to go to a meeting with him to explain his doubts, and Mr. Sheinberg's people will speak for us.
of."
Lin Sen rushed to Ronald's editing room and discussed with Ronald how to deal with Tanin's doubts.
"You have to be careful not to be frightened by his initial doubts. Tanin is good at frightening the person he is talking to with his super aggressiveness at the beginning..."
"Super aggressive
"When they come up, they will slap some labels on you and criticize your film creativity, shooting techniques, editing, etc. As long as you refute it based on the facts and be able to speak reasonable truths, Tanin will not insist on objecting.
He is accustomed to using this method to scare away those liars who pretend to be his own abilities."
"Who is he?"
"I started my career in the mailroom of MCA. I have never produced a movie. I only show my power by attacking the director and then pointlessly cutting out some other people's clips.
Lucas cut several minutes of "American Graffiti" because he was making things difficult for him. After the movie became a hit, he swore he would never work with Tanin again and left Universal to find 20th Century Fox to collaborate on "Star Wars."
.”
"Turns out he was a troll."
"Yes, when he accuses you rudely, you must stand up and fight back appropriately, so that he will know that you really understand how to make a movie."
"I need to fight back against his random accusations," Ronald made a mental note.
In the conference room the next day, Ronald saw the super aggressiveness of Vice President Taning.
Tanin has a traditional Jewish appearance, with a hump-like bulge in the middle of his big nose. He has slightly curly hair, and his eyebrows disappear when they reach half the distance from the outer corners of his eyes. There are two small eyes below.
Staring at Ronald with a fierce look on his face.
If you remove all the comfortable elements on the face of Cannon Pictures boss Minahan Golan, such as big glasses, a kind smile, and a sincere face, and replace them with three points of arrogance and rudeness, he is also a Jew.
Tanin’s first impression.
"I don't understand why you would give the green light to such a script, which is full of contempt and trampling on traditional American morals. This kind of script should not be filmed by us at Universal."
As Tanin attacked Ronald's film, he glanced at Sheinberg's subordinate, a female vice president.
"Mr. Taning, I don't know why you said that. This is originally a youth comedy..."
"Comedy? A real comedy should be like 'Melvin and Howard', which is suitable for all ages, and there is no such scene that purely satisfies the audience's low taste." When Tanin attacked, he did not forget to mention the Oscar-winning film he produced.
Award-winning comedy film.
"But 'Fast Tempo' is a low-budget youth comedy. We lack marketing investment and need some shots to get the audience into the cinema..."
"Walking into the cinema? Do you want more people to watch your 'movie'?" When Tanin mentioned the word movie, he put his hands on his chest, raised two fingers each and clicked twice.
The movie was put in double quotation marks, sarcastically saying that what Ronald was filming was not a movie at all.
Ronald's anger was suddenly aroused by his actions. Why is it not a movie? The "Melvin and Howard" you greenlit failed miserably at the box office. You relied on public relations to get several Oscar nominations and film critics.
If you praise me, do you even know how to make movies?
"Of course, I don't think there is any problem with this. When a director makes a movie, of course he hopes that it will do well at the box office. Even if it is a small production, I hope that it can be a big hit at the box office, rather than just being satisfied with four or five million at the box office.
Already."
Ronald hit back. Tanin just mentioned that Melvin and Howard, which he greenlighted, won a few Oscars but only had a box office of just over 4 million.
These words first frightened Lin Sen, who was sitting next to him. He glanced at Ronald to see if the young man had misunderstood his meaning and responded appropriately, instead of retorting like this and exposing the opponent's background.
"Mr. Tanin, what Ronald means is..."
"I know what he means!" Tanin looked a little angry, "You anti-Semite..."
Now even the female vice president next to me frowned. Where did the label of anti-Semite come from?
"How can there be anti-Semitic plots in my movie? My two heroines are Jewish actors." Ronald himself pays great attention to such details, and the quotas for all races in "Fast Pace" are fully met.
"Why not? Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates are both actors of Jewish descent. You let them appear naked in the movie and play two ignorant and superficial girls who were deceived by men of other races."
"I don't understand why taking pictures of beautiful Jewish girls is anti-Semitic? Does it mean that if you look for an ugly Jewish girl, or a Jewish boy picks up beauties of other races, you support Jews?"
"I'm afraid if this is the case, the reputation of the Jews will be even worse, right?" There was something in Ronald's mind that he had not yet said.
However, the female vice president next to him understood what he meant and smiled at him. Taning's unreasonable and arrogant attitude made her, who was also the vice president, very annoying.
"You have never made a movie, why should I trust you? Can you guarantee that your movie will be a hit? In that case, why do you need to invest 300,000 yuan in re-shooting shots?" Tan Ning also looked at the re-shooting budget.
question.
"Of course I can guarantee that." Ronald thought to himself that the original film had a 15th anniversary edition, how could it not be a hit? And the few scenes he shot were better than the performance in his dream.
"Do you really believe him? Lin Sen? Will the 300,000 US dollars of reshoots have any effect on the movie box office? If this investment cannot increase the movie box office of more than 900,000 yuan, we will be in a loss-making business.
"
The female vice president under Sheinberg also raised questions. Of course, she was actually giving Ronald and Lin Sen a chance to explain.
"Of course, Brooke Shields and David Letterman are both celebrities with great appeal. Their participation in the show can attract more young audiences to go to the cinema. As long as they have watched the movie, word of mouth can spread
The movie was a hit. We had no marketing budget, so the reshoots were our best marketing."
"How can you prove that your movie will be popular? Our investment in reshoots will definitely pay off?" Tanin frowned and stared at Ronald. What he disliked most was movie directors who talked nonsense. But listen to Ronald
The young man De said slowly, as if he did have his own set of ideas.
In this era of sluggish film market, only by finding a director who can really bring box office returns can we invest and make bets. Otherwise, if the company's annual report comes out and the losses increase, his position will not be preserved.
Shenberg has Spielberg as a cash cow, but unlike him, he has to question every movie to ensure his right to speak. Anyway, if the movie is a hit, no one will raise his doubts.
If it’s not a hit, it’s prescient.
"I'm confident in my movie!" Ronald nodded to the female vice president next to Tanin. "I hope our reshoot budget can be approved early. The two stars who promised to guest star have tight schedules.
Don’t delay.”
"Please let me make a phone call first, and I will prove it to you." After finishing speaking, Ronald walked out of the conference room, went to the front desk to get an extension, and made a long-distance call to his personal accountant, Lawrence Wang.
"Lawrence, this is Ronald. I don't have time to say more. Tell me, how much money can I use now?"
Lawrence didn't hesitate and answered immediately: "Ronald, I assume you are in urgent need of cash right now.
Your securities assets have not increased significantly, but if you buy IBM, Coca-Cola, and Kodak stocks for more than one year, you only need to pay capital gains tax, not personal income tax. If you sell them all, in 35-7
Just over $80,000.
The tax on your sale will be paid next year, so the money you can use in the short term is this money plus the cash in your bank checking account of US$100,000. Leaving the tax that needs to be paid in April this year, you can use it approximately
Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
If you need more, then consider using your house as a mortgage to get a bank loan."
"If I write a check for $300,000 now, will it bounce immediately?"
"No, it will only bounce if Wells Fargo finds out that your account does not have enough money when they go to cash it. You have about two days to balance the account. If you sell the stock, I can have the cash transferred in within two days.
Your checking account will not bounce."
"Okay, you can wait for my orders at any time."
Ronald turned around and entered the conference room again, took out a checkbook from his pocket, took out a pen, signed a check for three hundred thousand dollars on the first one, and handed it to Ned Tanin.
"This is my personal check. I can pay the re-shooting fee of US$300,000. Universal will split the account with me based on the investment ratio."
"No, I believe you. You are very confident in your movie. I like people who are confident." Tanin unexpectedly said something in response to his doubts.
"Finally we have the budget, we can arrange reshoots." Lin Sen opened the car door and let Ronald get in the car.
"Why did Tanin finally agree? I thought he would let me pay for it myself.
"Of course he agrees. If you pay for it yourself and it sells well at the box office, and Universal has to pay you dividends, he will become a laughing stock in the industry. How can any capitalist be exploited by a director?"