Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 156 Chapter 107 Inspiration from the naming of the script

   "So we belong to the Quakers?" Ronald drove Aunt Karen and Donna to church.

"Yes, Ronnie. Your mother and I belonged to the Staten Island Quakers, and your father was from the Quakers of New England. Don't you remember? Maybe because the church over there used Another name for the denomination of 'the Quakers."

   It was the first time Ronald knew what denomination his parents belonged to. After losing her husband, Aunt Karen was very busy earning money, often working on Sundays and rarely going to church.

   The leg warmer business has been on the right track for the past two months, Donna has gone to a key high school, and Aunt Karen has finally had a chance to resume the tradition of going to church on Sundays.

"Before in Little Bard, there were several Quanzhou veteran wives who also came to make leg warmers. They told me that there was a Quaker church in Manhattan. Today, a new priest came to preach. I heard that His speech was great."

   "I remember going to church when I was a child. Isn't it true that there was no priest, everyone was silent, and they communicated with God?" Donna still has some memories of going to church.

   "Maybe it's a different way to get close to God. I heard that this priest is from the south."

  …

   "Dear Catholics, I hope you all close your eyes, close your eyes and pray, and pray with me for a miracle in your life..."

"Have you heard the good news? It's the gospel of God, spreading among the brothers and sisters of our congregation... I'm going to tell today's 'Genesis' 4:1-4:16, the story of Abel and Cain... …”

"Congregation, we are all brothers and sisters, and we are MyBrother's Keepers, which means you are a trusted, godly person who takes care of others when they need or struggle. This The words were very heartfelt and sent a strong message…

   That is when you show a lot of courage, a sense of responsibility, and a willingness to put others ahead of you. "

   "God created the world 5500 years ago, he created it all in six days and rested on the seventh..."

"The former governor of California, now the candidate for leadership of the Elephant Party, has won caucuses in 36 states. He is God's choice for America, let's pray for him to beat Jimmy in the presidential election at the end of this year. , to lead America to prosperity and security..."

This pastor from the South has a very attractive sermon, his voice is magnetic, and his speech is very rhythmic. However, Ronald has no sense of religion, but feels a little strange, "Isn't the current commander a southerner? Why? This pastor from the South supports the former governor of the Elephant Party?"

   Aunt    looked at him, dumbfounded, the question was beyond her knowledge, "Maybe the former governor was a more religious man, Amen."

   Aunt Karen went out to socialize with the other veteran wives, and she didn't forget to bring her own cookies. Donna secretly said to Ronald, "I don't like this priest. He said that the earth is only 5,500 years old, and that the theory of evolution is wrong. All living things were created by God. Dinosaur fossils turn a blind eye..."

   "Yeah, but you said that there were no priests in the church before, so what happened to everyone praying silently?" Ronald had never heard of such a custom in the church before.

   "I don't know. Even though that church is also a Quaker, everyone is silent for half an hour, no one speaks, and they communicate with God. Then there are social occasions, and it doesn't matter if the priest is not presided over."

   "Then let's go to that church in the future." Ronald felt that the priest was very capable of brainwashing, and he didn't like his family being brainwashed.

   "No, I remember when I was in middle school, it was closed because there were few believers."

   "Girl, you must be talking about a Quaker liberal." Next to him was a college student-like person with a long beard and long hair, which gave him a very spiritual feeling.

Seeing Ronald looking over, he introduced himself, "I'm from the Anthropology Department of Yale University, and I deliberately grew beard and hair to investigate churches around the world." He took out his university library card, and sure enough it was on it. The photo of the popular has slightly longer hair, and the beard is shaved, which looks normal.

   "What do you mean by liberal?"

"After the First World War, many religious institutions went bankrupt, and no one believed in God." The college students discussed with Ronald in a low voice, "At that time, churches also began to lean towards the side of freedom, and they did not deny scientific research findings, such as your sister said. Earth longevity, evolutionary issues. Tends to think of the Bible as an ancient story rather than a sacred canon.”

"Some conservative institutions use more conservative views to attract believers on the right. They are fundamentalists. They believe that every word in the Bible is truth, not a metaphor or description. For example, Moses divided the Red Sea, or Christ's return to earth is a real thing."

"But these claims seem too bizarre in modern society, so starting thirty years ago, a Southern priest, Billy Graham, began promoting evangelicalism in America. Evangelical dress Biggies are more centrist, but opposed to liberal attitudes to the Bible."

   "Have you heard the good news? This sentence is their incision. They often start with this sentence when they preach."

   "But we are Quakers, why have evangelical priests come?" Ronald asked.

"This is a misunderstanding. Evangelicalism is not a denomination, but an evangelical movement. It includes all denominations. For example, within the Baptist denomination, which is the most extensive and has the largest number of believers in America, it is divided into liberals, evangelicals. faction, and fundamentalism."

"It's easy for liberal believers to embrace science or doubt the existence of God, so there are fewer and fewer believers. Fundamentalists are too extreme. Now, the churches that have developed better in Puritanism are basically evangelicals. They He also reconciled with the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has a lot of momentum in the world.”

   "What did he mean by my brother's protector just now?"

   "Hahaha, don't you read the Bible?"

Seeing Ronald a little embarrassed, the college student explained, "This is the content of the fourth verse of Genesis. Cain, the son of Adam, offered God only the fruit of the plant that fell on the ground. And his brother Abel killed himself and raised it. of animals, and sacrificed their flesh to God. God favored Abel, and Cain killed Abel."

"God reproached Cain, and Cain quarreled with God, saying that I was not my brother's protector. So to say that someone was my brother's protector later was to praise him for having the virtues that Cain lacked, and to treat brothers and even strangers Put your own interests ahead of yourself."

   "My Brother's Keeper," Ronald repeats this biblical phrase, which feels like a perfect title for his new Vietnam War script.

   A retarded fool, on the contrary, understands the true meaning of God better than all wise men. He couldn't throw grenades or aim with a rifle. During training, he threw grenades into the sky, which almost caused an accident. Fortunately, the platoon leader pulled him to avoid the explosion-proof ditch.

After    was deployed to Vietnam, others in the company despised him and deliberately left him on Vietnamese soil. After the fool was caught by the Vietnamese army, he took him to fight. Seeing that he was a fool, he did not mistreat him. After the encounter with the original troops, the Vietnamese army in ambush took many of the original comrades prisoner.

   The original comrades thought he was a traitor and brought the Vietnamese on purpose. The fool took care of the wounded among them, and secretly released the captives at night, giving them weapons and sending them home to see their mothers. The Vietnamese were alert and chased with fools.

   The fool played with his comrade's grenade. I don't know if it was intentional or just out of curiosity. He threw the secretly hidden grenade into the sky and killed himself when it fell. In the chaos, the platoon leader and his comrades were able to escape and returned to America to reunite with their families, but everyone said that the fool was the incarnation of Christ, who was not killed by a grenade, and was still on the battlefield in Vietnam, the protector of all brothers.

  Ronald took out his notebook and quickly wrote down his inspirations. He got excited and wrote dozens of pages of plot.

   until Aunt Karen asked him softly, "Ronnie, have you written? We should go back."

   "Ah? Is it already noon?" Ronald saw that most of the believers in the church had gone to lunch, "I'm sorry, Aunt, I was inspired to write a lot of plots."

   This time, there are not only brothers and friendships, controversial plots, war policies against the federal government, and religious plots, I’m afraid it’s not going to be a big sale. Ronald is pleased with his inspiration.

   "Let's go to Burger King? Their burgers and fries are delicious." Donna said with a smile.

   "Okay, let's go."

   Burger King's beef is a bit better than McDonald's. Donna ate vigorously. "Mom, I don't like this priest. What he says is different from what we read in our science textbooks."

   "Yeah, don't delay Donna's studies, Ivy League scholarships have no theological content." Ronald helped.

   "Okay, I'll go to the Sunday party for veterans and families in the future." Aunt Karen didn't really like the atmosphere of the church, and no one praised her delicious baked cookies.

  …

   "Chak chah chah..." Ronald was frantically typing on a typewriter at home all afternoon and night. When inspiration comes, he must hurry up and code more words. If inspiration leaves, he can't get it back.

   Every now and then, he took a sip of the red wine next to the table, lit another Marlboro, and smoked while looking for notes made by his friend who interviewed Aunt Karen.

   Sometimes he buried himself in typing, leaving the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer in the cold.

   Michelle Pfeiffer, wearing a bathrobe and wrapping her head in a towel, sat next to him watching the paper he typed out and helping to sort it out. Pfeiffer knew that Ronald had entered a strange state. On the basis of the dozens of pages of first drafts, Ronald wrote very quickly, and he had accumulated nearly 100 manuscript papers.

   Pfeiffer looked at the man who was two years younger than him, and his focus was really attractive. Will he be the next gold medal screenwriter in Hollywood? Like John Milius, who wrote Apocalypse Now, or Billy Wilder, who wrote and directed it?

   "You're done." Ronald finished the 96th page of the manuscript, and after more than 10 hours of continuous writing, the first draft was written in one go.

   "Honey, I forgot the time." Seeing Pfeiffer holding his first draft with a smile on his face, Ronald couldn't help but stretched his back and took a sip of red wine. The urge to write quickly flowed onto the manuscript. Ronald didn't seem to have finished writing yet, and his energy had not yet been released.

  Michelle Pfeiffer gently pulled down the towel wrapped around her head, and her silky hair flowed down like a waterfall, pouring down onto her open-necked bathrobe, as well as her snow-white shoulders and chest.

   "Ronnie, you are really talented." Pfeiffer was hugged tightly and whispered in Ronald's ear, "Uh...ah..." Pfeiffer exclaimed in a low voice.

   That is the man who has been encouraged to express his gratitude with his actions.

   (end of this chapter)