Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 196 A new script is coming

   "DiDi..." Ronald's pager rang.

  Although he and Michelle Pfeiffer had broken up, Ronald still felt the need for a communication device that would not delay news from his agent and many of his friends.

After comparing AT&T's $1,000 answering machine with only 10 messages to Motorola's $400 pager with signals all over New York, Ronald decided to buy one Motorola "Pageboy II" type pager.

   The long pager has a clip that can be clipped to the belt. Ronald felt inconvenient after holding it for two days, took it off and threw it in the briefcase he was carrying.

   Diane Lane, who was borrowing from Aunt Karen's house, was lying on the sofa reading a novel, and glanced at her mouth, "You deserve this, I thought you were a resident doctor?"

   Indeed in New York, many young doctors have such a thing, which is convenient for the hospital to call when there are emergency patients.

   Ronald ignored the rebellious girl and called the service center. "My pager number is..., there is my message... Lawrence Wang? Okay, thank you."

  It turned out to be his accountant, Lawrence, and Ronald made a call.

  Lawrence said on the phone that he already had a plan for the tax treatment of his $350,000 screenwriting income, and he wanted to make an appointment with him for an interview. Ronald informed his aunt's address and asked him to come and talk.

   Donna was looking for herself today, so Ronald came to Aunt Karen's house. Donna was very happy after getting the Walkman she gave. There are many geniuses among her classmates, who are proficient in electronic equipment and taught her some transcription skills. This time, she said that she had a gift to give back to Ronald.

  "Ronnie", Donna took out a small box wrapped in gift paper from the room and handed it to him.

  Ronald took it, opened it up, and found a tape inside. A line of words "Donna's Pick - Nice Music Collection Vol.1" was written in pencil on the tape box

   Turned over the back of the box, and carefully recorded the selected playlists, all of which are Ronald's favorite pop music, including CCR, BeeGees, AirSupply...etc.

   Ronald was delighted, "Thank you, Donna, so I can listen to my favorite songs directly without having to keep changing records."

   "You're piracy, Donna." Diane Lane shifted on the sofa and lay down.

   "No, I've checked the relevant laws in the library. As long as it's a record or tape I've purchased, it's not a violation of intellectual property law to transcribe a single. It's different from Budd's who transcribes an entire album and then sells it."

"Forehead……"

   Ronald also laughed when he saw that Diane was at a loss in the schoolmaster Donna.

   Put the tape in the big tape recorder and press the play button. It was a BeeGees-style song, and the voice of a singer with a slightly younger voice, but clearly belonging to the BeeGees family, streamed through the living room.

  Ronald turned over the box and saw that it was sung by a singer named AndyGibbs. His last name should be the younger brother of the three brothers in the BeeGees band.

   for so long

   It's been so long since you and I found each other

   I feel so strong for you, girl

   Ronald looked at the title of the song and it was "I Just Want To Be Your Everything (IJustWantToBeYourEverything

   "Uh... old-fashioned." Diane Lane was quite scornful about her listening taste. She also went into the room and took out a large bag and threw it to Ronald, "This is my gift."

​​​​​​

  There are four novels including "The Outsiders", "ThatWasThenThisIsNow", "RumbleFish" and "Tex".

   "It's a very popular novel now, telling the story of a small town youth in Oklahoma. You can read it and improve your taste." Diane Lane said.

  Ronald opened it up, and it was all about teenagers and half-olds, drinking, picking girls, fighting, riding horses, gang fights and so on.

   "The author is very powerful. The characters of the four novels are all strung together. The protagonist of this novel is the supporting role in the lower part."

   "Really?" Ronald felt that the story was more contrived, and the characters were all aggressive teenagers. Although it was written in the 1950s and 1960s, social security has been bad in recent years, and schools have also been invaded. It seems that this kind of story has a market among teenagers.

   "Of course, it's the most popular youth novel right now, StayGold." Diane said a line from the urchin.

   Ronald didn't understand and looked at Donna.

   "It means to maintain the state of mind of a teenager." Donna knew that Ronald had never read a novel, so she didn't know the meaning of this sentence. "Her books are really popular, and my classmates are reading them."

   "She? A female author?" Ronald turned over the back cover, and it turned out to be a chubby female author. SE Hinton's pseudonym doesn't tell the difference between male and female.

   "Bell bell bell..."

   is Accountant Lawrence Wang ringing the doorbell.

   Ronald welcomed him in, and the two chatted softly at the small table in the corner of the living room.

   "The President announced a tax cut last year, and individuals with an annual income of more than $220,000 only need to pay 50% of the federal personal income tax."

   "50%? Only? Isn't it a tax cut?" Ronald's voice suddenly rose, attracting the attention of the two girls.

   "Sorry, let's talk somewhere else."

   "No, Diane, let's go talk to the room." Donna pulled Diane closer to the bedroom.

   "This is already the figure after the tax cut bill. Before your income last year, the highest tax rate you have to pay is 70%"

   "Then the script I worked so hard to write was remade after being sold to Colombia, and most of it will be handed over to the federal government?" Ronald was speechless.

   "That's not the case. The portion of your annual personal income above $220,000 needs to pay a 50% tax rate. For the portion below, the applicable tax rate is 38.5%, and then it will drop in steps, and the portion below $3,400 will not be taxed."

   "That's a lot. Why is the personal income tax so high." Ronald was very angry. As a result of his struggles, he worked for the federation?

   "So that's my first suggestion to you, set up a company just to accommodate the screenwriter's income," Lawrence said.

   "The corporate income tax also adopts a progressive tax rate. Your company's business model is very simple, and there is not much room for accounting, so it is better to separate different businesses, so that you can enjoy a more favorable tax rate."

   "Okay, then register another company."

"In addition, I suggest that you buy stocks with your personal income. As long as you hold it for more than a year, the investment income is not subject to personal income tax, but capital gains tax, which is much lower. After the chief commander cut taxes last year, it was only 33.8 %”

   "Can't I buy a house?" Ronald doesn't understand stocks, but he heard that the ups and downs are very strong, at least the house will not suddenly evaporate 90% of his wealth.

“There is a property tax on a house, which is high in New York State, and you have to pay it annually. If you buy in Los Angeles, that’s one of the highest in the nation. And it’s a state tax, and you don’t live there. If so, you will not be able to enjoy many services brought by the tax.

   For example, the simplest public education tuition fee reduction, you cannot enjoy this part of the subsidy if you are not married and have no children. It's not too late to buy real estate until you have kids.

   So a house is just an asset with constant costs if you don’t live in it yourself. "

   "Okay, then you help me open a stock account. What stock should I buy?"

"Your purpose is to avoid taxes, so don't buy stocks that are expected to rise in price. My suggestion is to buy some blue-chip stocks. The stock price is stable for a long time. You can hold it for a long time without selling it, so you don't have to pay capital gains tax. There is also a quarterly Dividends are considered living expenses.”

   "What are blue chips?"

   "Those are well-run, long-term companies with stable profits," Lawrence said in a language Ronald could understand. "Like Coca-Cola, Kodak, IBM or something."

   "Okay, then you can help me design it and set aside all the spare money to buy these three stocks in addition to next year's taxes."

   "You make decisions quickly, Ronald, don't you think about it?"

   "I don't have so much time to learn investment. Your point is clear and reasonable. Big companies won't collapse so quickly, as long as they are safe."

   "DiDi..." The pager rang again. Lawrence said goodbye and left.

   This time it was Spike Lee.

   "I heard that Bigelow got a $750,000 investment and started shooting her first feature film?"

"Yes, Douglas Jr. helped her find a private investor in Georgia and invested $750,000 for the production, and Katherine has approached it and brought in some MoMA artists to do free labor. She Ready for a big fight."

   "She's so lucky." Spike was very envious.

"It's hard to tell. You've seen her script. The $750,000 is only enough for the filming. She asked me to split the scene, and it was calculated that it must be completed within 20 days, otherwise the budget will be overrun. This shooting speed can catch up with Roger Coe. Mann."

   "Then who did her publisher find?"

   "No distributor is willing to release her film. I suggest that she choose a foreign film festival. There are many buyers at the film festival. Maybe she can find a company willing to buy it."

   "No matter what, she is lucky, I have no investors willing to invest in my film. I can only get a little money and shoot a little." Spike Lee hung up the phone enviously.

   "DiDi..." The pager reminded again.

   Ronald called the service center.

   "There is a message from you, please call Nisita from CAA, who has a screenwriting business."

  Ronald's heart skipped a beat, is this business coming?

   "Hello, Mr. Nisita, I'm Ronald."

   "Hi Ronald. What do you know about Broadway musicals?"

   "Musicals? I've only seen some of them, but I don't know much about the writing and production."

"It doesn't matter, just read it. I'm not asking you to write the script for a musical. You are famous all over the world and you have the characteristics of a musical. Universal is looking for a screenwriter who understands teenagers, musicals, and musicals. Would you like to? Two months of hard work and $100,000?"

   (end of this chapter)