The new year has arrived and Ronald is back in Hollywood.
Little Bud took time off to spend time with his family and girlfriend, and Ronald called a taxi home. When he arrived in West Hollywood, where the apartment was located, Ronald simply asked the driver to stop. He found a new store opened near the apartment, with the
The sign says video rental.
Ronald walked in and took a look. The store occupies the corner of the street. The sign can be seen by the crowds on both roads. The rent for such a store is the most expensive. It seems that the video tape business has been good recently and it can be rented.
Got a good location.
The rental store was full of racks for video tapes. Ronald found some old classics at the corner. He asked the store owner for a basket and threw the video tapes one by one into it.
"Actually, you don't have to pick up all the video tapes at once. The rental rate of classic movies is not high. You can borrow new ones every time you come to return them."
"I'm a directing student, and I have to do my homework." Ronald made up a nonsense reason.
"It's up to you. Ordinary video recorders can't rip it anyway." The shop owner didn't care.
"Oh? Why?" Ronald asked him reflexively.
"Hey, otherwise how can we make money by opening a rental store? Congress has passed legislation. All video recorders sold in America have copy protection devices. If you put these video tapes into the video recorder and copy them to a blank tape, they will automatically trigger and record.
The picture flickered on and off, making it impossible to see."
The shop owner looked at Ronald and thought to himself, I have seen many young people like this. They all want to borrow it back and rip it all at once, so that they don’t have to pay the rental fee of a few dollars each time.
"That's good." Ronald did not put the video tapes back on the shelf as the store owner thought. Instead, he continued to look at the remaining shelves of movies shot in recent years and put the good ones in there.
"This is the sales counter, each tape is 99 US dollars." The store owner reminded Ronald when he saw that he had put the latest video tapes into the bag.
"Can you pay by credit card here?"
"Of course", the shop owner suddenly realized that he is a real movie enthusiast.
Ronald continued to browse the store, and on one wall, he found many videos with titles and actors he had never heard of.
"What kind of movie is this? Why haven't I seen it?" Ronald asked the shopkeeper as he picked up a video with an actress in a swimsuit on the cover called "Orange Is the New Black 6".
"This is a good film. It was recorded directly on video tape without going through the screen distribution channel."
Ronald put it back on the shelf, and it turned out to be this crude movie, like the old drive-in exploitation films.
After picking up a lot of video tapes and paying the bill, Ronald returned to the apartment. He picked up the video recorder he bought before Sony sued Universal and started experimentally ripping.
Sure enough, the video recorders before this did not have anti-piracy functions.
The next day, Ronald called his agent Richard and asked him to help him rip all the classic old films, and then send them to the film studio in Xujiahui, so that Director Huang and his young assistant directors could
Opportunity to be exposed to the latest Hollywood techniques.
"Minahan Golan came to see you several times during the holidays. Do you want to meet him when you are free?" Richard picked up his notebook and talked with Ronald one by one.
"Just in time, I want to find him too." Ronald thought of Diane's incident. Now he was in a position of neither superior nor inferior.
If you want to make a suitable movie, you can play a trick and appoint Diane to play a supporting role or above. However, you must take into account the box office performance, and you cannot rigidly appoint Diane to play the leading role.
What if I want to make a movie with Diane as the protagonist? I don’t have enough financial resources.
It happened that Minahan's Cannon Pictures gradually became the company that produces the largest number of movies in Hollywood.
Last year, 17 movies were shot, more than Paramount and Warner Bros.
"Ronald, you are welcome." Minahan enthusiastically hugged Ronald who came to visit.
"Next year, next year I can receive you in the brand new Cannon Pictures building." Minahan pointed to a construction site opposite and said boldly to Ronald.
"Oh, it seems that your business is very good." Ronald thought to himself, as expected of a Jew, the office building has not been built yet, and he has already reserved an office on the first floor.
However, Cannon is now making all the difference in the European pre-sale market. In addition to his country's Jean-Luc Godard, he recently signed the famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli with his own help and returned to Hollywood to film operas.
The movie "Othello".
"Hahaha, it's all thanks to your break dancing. This is our cannon, and it's the beginning of my success in Hollywood. I, Minahan, will never forget this friendship, Ronald."
Ronald waved his hands modestly and was about to ask Diane for a role.
"How about we work together again?"
"Ahem..." Ronald coughed a few times in a cover-up manner and put down the coffee brought by his secretary. Why did Minahan start making his own ideas again? It's impossible for him to go back to making those low-cost movies.
"Look, Ronald. You've only made two movies in the past year. Most of the time, you've been on vacation. Why not put this time to good use?"
"Being a director is very tiring, working every day..." Ronald was interrupted before he could finish.
"I found that Hollywood is a waste of high-quality resources. Look at you, look at Stallone, look at Schwarzenegger, you just make one or two movies every year, and then... bang... either go to Hawaii or the Caribbean
On vacation, you must know that in the golden age, a director and an actor had to shoot at least three or four movies every year."
"Today's directors are different from those in the past. In addition to directing, they also have to worry about casting, stars, rehearsals, editing, and many other things." Ronald found that Minahan was getting excited again. What was wrong with him?
"Last year you recommended Goncharowski. His director's 'Runaway Train' has been selected for the Golden Globe Awards at the end of the month, and he is very likely to win. I gave him a two-film contract, and he will soon be starring in 'Music'."
"The Voice's" heroine, Julie Andrews, is collaborating in a new film."
"Oh..." Ronald found it difficult to interrupt.
"Quack..." Minahan noticed Ronald's expression, "You must have thought that I invited you to make those low-budget exploitation films, right?"
"Huh?" Ronald raised his eyebrows. Cannon still wants to make a big production?
"I'm telling you, we did those big moves at the end of last year." Minahan turned around and took a few documents from his desk.
"This is an agreement reached between me and the Salkinds, the owners of the Superman movie rights. I have purchased the rights to shoot the fourth Superman movie."
"Ah?" Ronald looked Minahan up and down. Where did this fat Israeli guy get so much money?
"When the time comes, invite your girlfriend, that Helen Slater, to come and appear together in the fourth part. The male and female supermen will destroy all nuclear weapons and save the earth together. How about that? Are you interested?"
Minahan chuckled, "Not interested? It doesn't matter. I signed a seven-film contract with Chuck Norris, with a total salary of 25 million. Whatever action movie you want to make, I will give you more than 1,500."
Investment. How about it?”
"Chuck Norris can't act," Ronald muttered a few times.
"Not interested yet? I'm going to discuss with Stallone here to sign him to film for Cannon. Do you want to direct him on the set? Let him obey your words obediently."
"Can you sign him? Is he willing?" Ronald knew that Stallone is a popular action star. He has two blockbuster series, "Rocky" and "First Blood". He can act in any movie and get paid.
Five million dollars.
"I can throw money at him! If five million doesn't work, then eight million. If eight million doesn't work, then ten million, twelve million, fifteen million. I don't believe he won't be tempted!"
Ronald licked his lips. Not to mention Stallone, I was tempted.
Minahan pointed to the construction site outside the window, "The Cannon Building we invested in will be completed next year. I also want to acquire several European theater chains and an American cable TV station, whether it is distribution, pre-sale, filming, or even
We have to get involved in video tapes and TV stations. From now on, Cannon will be a comprehensive entertainment entity.
"Ronald, will you fight with us? I can give you the best treatment. Just like Fox and John Ford did back then."
As he spoke, Minahan looked over with bright eyes and stretched out his hand to shake Ronald's hand.
"I have to think about it again. This is a big decision and I have to discuss it with my agent." Ronald stretched out his hand and shook his hand.
…
"Where did Minahan get so much money? I even thought he was crazy." Ronald returned to CAA's office and told his agent Niceta exactly what happened.
"You don't know yet? Minahan's Cannon, with the help of Wall Street tycoon Michael Milken, raised $300 million in cash from junk bonds. Now the whole of Hollywood is in shock."
"Junk bonds? What are those?"
"I don't know. Anyway, it is an extremely powerful financing method. Minahan is bold enough and his ambitions are also great."
"Is it reliable? The name doesn't sound reliable, junk bond?"
"Anyway, let's wait a little longer. Now no one understands what he wants to do. Anyway, your Top Gun hasn't been released yet, so there's an excuse to delay it."
"Um……"
Ronald felt that the broker's knowledge structure also encountered blind spots.
"Lindsay, Lawrence, do you know what junk bonds are?" Ronald called his personal lawyer and accountant. All three of them got on the long-distance call and held a conference call."
"Junk means, also called high-yield bond, which refers to the rating of corporate bonds. If the operating conditions are not good, then the rating agency will give a relatively poor rating, such as BBB, which are collectively called junk bonds in the bond market.
, usually the interest will be higher." Ms. Lindsay, the lawyer, explained to him.
"I don't understand, since the rating is garbage, how can anyone buy it?"
"This is all thanks to our commander-in-chief." Lawrence smiled. "Under the leadership of the president, the Federal Reserve has implemented a low interest rate strategy for a long time. With the recent Plaza Accord, the U.S. dollar has begun to depreciate significantly against the currencies of other G6 countries.
This is a rare era of easing in history. There is a lot of liquidity with nowhere to go, and any corporate junk bond is worth investing in."
"Is this okay?"
"Yes, a lot of money is being spent looking for possible investment projects. Of course, projects like cannons require high-level people to package and sell them. The person who packaged the bonds for them was Milken of Wall Street. He is now called the Junk Bond King in the circle."
"Is this money reliable?"
"Unreliable, the interest rate is very high, and it requires very high growth to cover the interest rate. Moreover, Milken's methods have always been brutal. The companies he packages have more or less whitewashed financial statements, if not for fraud."
In the end, Douglas Hansen, a third-generation rich man from Staten Island, helped him solve his doubts.
"The interest cost of this money is very high. If it is used to invest in industry, it is difficult to find suitable projects. Therefore, most people use it to do leveraged buyouts, invest in the securities market, or bet on the appreciation of the yen.
.”
"It seems I have to be more cautious. I think Minahan is a little crazy."
"Whoever has 300 million US dollars in cash is like that."