Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 160 Workers' Pickets

   "The Screen Actors Guild announced a strike, and three films shot in New York were suspended due to the star's absence."

   Ronald looked at the cover headline of Backstage magazine on the newsstand, bought it too, rolled it up with Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and took it back to the apartment.

The    strike was not resolved at the last minute as Brooke Shields' mother Terry had hoped, but it broke out. Each TV station has begun to report the news that happened in their own homes, and the language is still relatively restrained.

   Newspapers and magazines are less cautious, all kinds of gossip and interviews are flying around. Perhaps because of the distance from Hollywood, the studio's control over the media was not in place, and the three major production movies in New York were suspended and were picked up.

The worst is "Richand Famous", a film starring two beauties, Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen, which started the day before the strike, and two days the next day. The big beauty did not appear on the set directly. Furious director Robert Mulligan resigned on the spot.

   I heard that the movie also has Jacqueline Bisset's investment, willing to lose his own money for the strike.

   Fortunately, I didn't join the Actors Guild because I didn't want to be an actor. Ronald secretly rejoiced, watching Good Morning America while eating his own sandwich and scrambled eggs from McDonald's.

   With him was the agent Eddie Cohen. The two were going to meet with Calvin Klein first, and contact Brooke Xiaosi to discuss the shooting of the advertisement.

   "These people are really crazy, they are willing to lose money for the strike?"

"That's not the case, Ronald." Eddie put down his knife and fork, took a sip of water, "the strike is temporary, and Jacqueline's so-called investment is only a small percentage, and the majority of the loss is still the system. studio."

   "But isn't this irresponsible for the filming? How much will the crew lose for a day's shutdown? Besides, the strike is still far away, and I don't know when it will end."

"It's not your own money anyway. If you don't abide by the union's regulations, you'll end up only quitting the union or being fired from the union. Even a star can't bear such consequences. Actors' insurance, and the calculation and acquisition of follow-up remuneration are all unions. Helping out.

  For actors who are not members of the union, the hiring of the crew will be greatly restricted. For a movie, it will increase the trouble of the future artistic career. There may only be one person in Hollywood who can do this. "

   "Who is it?" Ronald wondered, wanting to get to know this great man.

"Who else? George Lucas. He was dissatisfied with the directors' union rule that credits must be placed at the beginning of the film, insisted that the Star Wars opening credits had no credits, and quit the directors' union. But that's because he With the rights to Star Wars, there is nothing to fear.”

  Tsk, powerful people can do whatever they want in Hollywood. Ronald thought, and Eddie drove to Calvin Klein's studio.

  …

"I'm afraid Brooke Shields' mother didn't give in so easily. I asked my friends in the industry that Terry is known for being greedy and protecting her daughter like a hen." Calvin Klein sat on a chair, facing Ronald Talk to Eddie.

  Calvin's studio maintains his usual style, focusing on simplicity. The large floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the interiors and furniture made of steel bars and planks look very modern and Bauhaus.

  The only problem is that it is not comfortable to sit on. Ronald adjusted his sitting position, really feeling inferior to his own sofa.

"Yes, but I got inside information that the strike will last for at least a month, so Terry has to face reality, she will panic. The price of her daughter's salary will be reduced, which gives us an opportunity to take advantage of this empty space. file and persuade her to shoot some commercials for her daughter.

  I am afraid that if you want Brooke Xiaosi's advertising pay to be reduced to your psychological expectations, this is the only chance. After taking pictures of endless love, her worth will probably go up all the way. "

Calvin pondered for a moment, "You are right, Ronald. At the beginning, a large number of actors would drop their prices to accept the advertisement, but over time, the advertising agency will react. The real appeal is the original one. Those who are suitable for shooting commercials. At that time, Brooke Shields' worth will recover, or even increase."

   "We'll all go meet her and her mother later, Terry cares about being respected," Eddie added.

   "Good morning, Ms. Shields. Good morning, Brooke." Ronald stood at the door, welcoming Brooke Shields and her mother.

   "Hello, we meet again." Terry recognized Ronald, "Are you still the director of the commercial?" It seems that Ronald doesn't have enough coffee spots.

"Yes, I'm Ronald. If you agree with Brooke to shoot the Kelvin jeans commercial, I'll be the director of the commercial." Fearing that Terry forgot his name, Ronald quickly introduced himself to him again." I also directed the Hershey's Chewels commercial."

   "Hello Terry." Calvin Klein came over to say hello to Terry and Brooke, who had the fashion-industry face-to-face ceremony.

   Ronald looked at his hands, would he change his habit of shaking hands in the future?

   An hour later, the two sides had no objection to the creative idea of ​​the advertisement and the shooting schedule, but Terry refused to lower the price, and she and Calvin were still talking about Brooke Shields's worth alone in the room.

   Ronald and Brooke were waiting outside. Brooke Shields picked up the various fashion magazines on the table, flipped through them and put them down, as if the girl had grown up again recently. According to the mother's teaching, the two long legs sit with their knees together like a lady.

  Calvin's chairs here are not very suitable for tall people. Brooke can't find a comfortable position. After changing a few times, he still returned to the old position. Today, she wore a white silk shirt, beige pants mixed with linen, and flat sandals, which was very tasteful.

   Ronald couldn't help but think of Diane Lane watching TV at his aunt's house with her legs hooked on the arm of the sofa. It is also a single-parent family with an acting girl. The two are about the same age, and the father and mother discipline their daughter in different ways.

  Bert gave Diane a lot of freedom, while Terry dominated all the details of Brooke's life.

   Maybe it was Ronald's smile that misunderstood Brooke, and the girl asked, "Do you have any thoughts on my jeans commercial? I heard that you are the director."

   When her mother was away, Brooke's voice was not the same, it was a little shrill, maybe Terry also asked her daughter to speak.

  Ronald looked at Brooke Shields, who was trying to look like a little adult, and replied with a smile, "My work is equivalent to an executor. I mainly realize Calvin's ideas in the camera, and he is in charge of the entire advertisement."

   "Of course, how to express your characteristics is also the focus of my work." Ronald added, looking at Brooke's demeanor listening intently to his speech.

   "If you were shooting, what would your creativity be like?" Brooke Shields obviously didn't want to let Ronald go, and began to seriously discuss advertising with him.

Ronald glanced at the conference room, the door was still closed, "Purely hypothetical discussion, if it were me, I would shoot some scenes where you are engaged in various sports, showing CK jeans fit snugly, trimming the curves of women, Perfect for everyday wear.”

"I like your creativity. When I see this kind of jeans advertisement, I will buy a pair." Brooke Xiaosi talked about her favorite issue, broke down in an instant, gave up her ladylike attitude, and sat down on Ronald's side. Point, also raised a leg.

"I tell you, those commercials are very uncomfortable to shoot, some of the clothes are specially made and not the same as what they sell in the store. I have to stay in one position for a long time. Fortunately, I was trained by my mother since I was a child, and those photographers They all love taking pictures of me."

  The door opened with a click, and Calvin and Terry came out. Ronald turned his head and saw that the two of them were expressionless. For a moment, he didn't know whether they had reached a deal or not.

   "Swipe", Bo Ji Xiaosi saw her mother and instantly returned to her ladylike state, with her waist straight, her legs and knees together, and her feet on one side of the lady sitting.

   "Ms. Shields, I will contact Brooke's agent, I hope we can set a shooting schedule as soon as possible." Calvin Klein and Terry hugged each other again, this time saying goodbye.

   "Ronald, it's nice to see you again." Terry took the initiative to extend his hand, breaking Ronald's idea of ​​changing to hug etiquette.

   "I'm also very happy to meet you, Ms. Shields." He politely shook hands with Terry, and several people watched the mother and daughter leave.

   "How is it?" Eddie was more anxious than Ronald.

   "She agreed, and I'll find her agent to sign the contract. But the shooting schedule hasn't been set yet, and Terry still has hope for endless love..."

   It seems that with such a star mother, it would not be too pleasant to deal with. Ronald felt that Calvin's face was a little ugly, and it seemed that the price was not low.

  …

  New York University's final exam has been completed, Ronald thinks there is no problem, the summer school also offers a lot of courses, and those who hope to get credits can choose not to take classes on vacation. The course selection for summer courses is relatively easy, and you can take elective courses from other colleges.

   But Ronald is not very interested. He has already made an agreement with Walter Murkey of the San Francisco Diorama Company. After a while, he will go there to take a real editing class and be his assistant.

   It was Martin Scorsese who called Ronald and asked him to talk about final assignments.

"I didn't expect you to write a review like this, Ronnie. You're surprising me when you think Hitchcock's 'Psycho' is so groundbreaking in Hollywood that you think he's a parody of Orson Wells' 'Touch of Evil' piece."

"Actually, I prefer to use the word plagiarism. The heroines are all Janet Leigh. Wells' use of her obviously gave Hitchcock a lot of inspiration. And his use of black and white film light and shadow also inspired A lot of important parts of Hitchcock."

   "I'm not trying to argue with you, Ronald. I gave you an A+ for this final paper."

   "Thank you, Professor."

   "You have some original ideas. In this industry, most people follow what others say, and only a few have their own ideas, so stick to them." Scorsese encouraged Ronald.

   "How is your new film? Professor."

   "Hey, work has been suspended, and it has been affected by the strike."

   "What? Isn't your film already in post-editing? Is there a scene to make up."

   "No, I was targeted by the workers' pickets."

  It turned out that in addition to the two major actors' unions, the strike leader Ed Asner, also mobilized the American Musicians Association to participate in the strike. An important part of the later stage of the film is the soundtrack. The strike by the Musicians Association forced many film and television dramas that had been filmed and transferred to later stages to be suspended.

They also organized more than 500 composers and "music staff" to form workers' pickets to tour the soundtrack studios of major studios. When they saw someone making a soundtrack, they stopped them. Many studios had to put the soundtrack. Put the work abroad and let real musicians go abroad to make music.

   Scorsese didn’t get United Arts’ budget, so workers pickets came to his home to stop the soundtrack and sound editing, and had to temporarily stop work.

   "This is to force the capital into submission." Ronald said.

   "Yeah, the finished film can't be post-production either. Asner and the others want all the theaters to have no new films to release after a month, forcing the Producers Association to make concessions."

   "This guy is really a fighter..."

   "Yeah, my movie might have to be delayed by another year to catch up with the Oscars in 1980."

   But in this case, isn't "Blue Coral Reef" going to make a lot of money? Ronald thought that there was no new film, and the theater had to extend the time of the current film to save the emergency.

  It is a pity that the world famous has been released, and this wave of dividends has not been received.

   (end of this chapter)