Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 42 Preview

   "Thank you, thank you everyone. First of all I would like to thank the Academy's judges for awarding me the Oscar for Best Director,

I would also like to thank my first boss, Mr. Roger Coleman, for giving me my first chance to hold a guide tube...I want to thank all the crew...I want to thank my Kay Aunt Lun...

  Finally, I would like to thank one of my fellow directors, I don't want to say his name, but I can get here thanks to him as an inspiration to me! "

   Ronald finally stood on the Oscar podium and received his first Oscar for Best Director, in high spirits. Mara in a tuxedo smiles at him in the audience, fat Michael Cimino on the other side drooping...

   "Bell bell bell..." The alarm clock rang at 6:30 on time.

  I have big dreams in my heart, and the road has to be walked under my feet. Ronald went to the New World Company early in the morning to see the preview of "High School of Rock".

   "Ronnie, are you here? Help me move the copy." Director Allen stopped Ronald, who was standing at the door of New World Productions.

   "Isn't there a preview in the afternoon?" Ronald picked up a plate of film and loaded it into the van.

   "Yesterday Roger temporarily changed the time to 10:30 this morning, saying that there are free trial audiences available." Allen showed a "you know" wry smile.

   "Are there any free trial audiences too?"

   "Yes, it actually sells tickets." Joe Dante on the side said, "I heard that a scalper ticket can be copied for $5-10."

   "What? A $10?" Ronald looked incredulous. Usually the ticket price of a movie is only 2 yuan and 50 cents. Can someone pay 10 yuan to buy an exploitative film like "High School of Rock"? "

   "I just said you can't fool him, Joe." Director Allen laughed, "Ronald's sensitivity to price is very similar to Roger's."

  Er, that's a nice compliment to myself... right?

   "So what's going on? Why is there a free trial audience available?" Ronald asked, "Why is it early in the morning?"

   "It's Francis Coppola's new film, ApocalypseNow, which is also in preview this afternoon," explains Joe Dante.

   Usually, before the movie is officially released, it will find some audiences for one or two test screenings. Gather some feedback from the audience, and make final revisions based on that feedback before release.

   Generally speaking, to hold a test screening, the filmmaker needs to spend money, and find some people whose age, gender, income and target audience are as consistent as possible to watch. That way the feedback is more realistic.

  The general screening method is to call the members of the theater and ask them if they want to watch a certain type of movie. Before the preview, the audience didn't know exactly which part to watch.

   But Francis Coppola is famous enough, two "Godfather" box office swept the world, and also won the Oscar for Best Director with the second part of The Godfather. One said that it was a Vietnam War type film released by United Arts, and most audiences guessed that it was his new film "Apocalypse Now".

  The demand for watching the preview is very hot, and the feedback from the members of the theater is very good. Some people even heard about the preview of "Apocalypse Now" and came to open a membership card to ask for tickets.

  1000 internal tickets for members were distributed soon, and the theater took out the remaining 1000 tickets for public sale.

  Roger Coleman was also invited to see a preview of "Apocalypse Now," Coppola's To Film Insiders, and another dedicated screening.

   He heard about the popularity of the trial screening, and he immediately thought about it. Those spectators who lined up to buy tickets and didn't buy tickets just happened to show them a "Rock High School" without spending money.

   This is not killing two birds with one stone.

   There were already people queuing at the entrance of the theater at 8 am, waiting to buy tickets. The all-pervasive scalpers found out and began to speculate on second-hand tickets.

  Coppola decided to have only one public test screening in Los Angeles, and then went back to San Francisco Diorama to continue revising it, waiting to go to the Cannes Film Festival.

  The van drove to the theater where the preview was being held. The queue at the entrance was very long, almost circling the theater. Although it is stipulated that one person can only receive one, the 1,000 test tickets for "Apocalypse Now on Sale" could not withstand the crowd. When Ronald and the others arrived, it was announced that they were sold out.

"Ugh……!"

   Everyone sighed softly, and a loud noise swept through the entire queue. The unwilling people make various movements, cover their faces and sigh, and beat their chests and feet...

   There is also a female fan who may be a few places short of the line, and has already started to wipe her tears. Ronald looked a little fascinated, this is the style of a great director.

   "I heard that the commander-in-chief specially asked for a copy and sent it to the White House yesterday." Joe Dante and Aaron Akush both looked envious. In 1979, Coppola, like one of the film's Olympian gods, descended to the earth, and the audience's admiration for him was incomparable.

  The film started shooting in 1976, and the newspapers tracked and reported it, but the starring was changed, the hurricane blew the studio, and there was a military conflict in the Philippines, where it was filmed. After various accidents, the release date was bounced again and again.

  The industry has given up hope for this film. The newspaper even changed the title of the film to ApocalypseWhen? To ridicule Coppola for bouncing tickets.

  But movie audiences don't eat this set. In their eyes, Coppola is still the amazing director who made the two works of Godfather. Who else can shoot better than Coppola on the subject of the Vietnam War?

  Although the tickets have been sold out, there are still many fans who are reluctant to leave for a long time. Some people take cardboard and write the words asking for tickets at a high price, hoping that someone will be willing to sell them.

  The movie theater quickly put away the "Vietnam War Movie Trials" sign and advertised "New Movie Trials - High School Girls, Rock Punk, Disco Dance, Must-See, Free Trials".

  There are many disappointed viewers. In the mood that they have come here, they take tickets and enter the venue. They can't see Apocalypse Now, and it's not bad to watch youth movies.

  Ronald frowned. This doesn't seem to be the target audience for "High School of Rock".

   The audience who came to see "Apocalypse Now" are either fans of Coppola, fans of war movies, and a few readers of the original novel "Heart of Darkness". Among these people, there are not many spectators who look like high school students.

   "Ellen, Joe, is it okay for these test audiences? Can such test audiences reflect the real evaluation?" Ronald said to the two directors in the past.

   "Don't worry, Roger is very experienced." Joe comforted Ronald with a serious face, maybe he was still comforting his good friend Alan Akush.

   "Roger will get the desired response from a small audience of teens." Allen said the same, "He doesn't look at the final survey data, but directly at the target customer's response."

   "Our cinema chains are mainly drive-in cinemas, late-night cinemas in cities, old cinemas, and cinemas in small towns, where the audience is not picky." Joe added.

   The two of them seemed to have some concerns, and they were absent-minded. Ronald understands that this is the creator's natural reaction, and he has experienced it himself, so he will not persuade him. The audience will judge whether he should be excited or anxious after the movie is released.

   helped move the copy into the projection room. Ronald found a side seat in the theater and sat down. There are still 10 minutes before leaving the venue, the crowd is not full, there are about a hundred people. Ronald counted the **** ratio, and there are still more males, and only a quarter of the females.

   When the light dims, the movie officially begins. Ronald has watched this movie countless times in the editing room, and he has long lost interest in it. He only watched the phone booth scene where he appeared. He tilted his head most of the time, secretly observing the audience's reaction.

  Some male audience members were very cool, shouting and blowing some loud whistles during the beautiful dance scene in the gymnastics room. The Ramones band entered the school, and the scene of the students rebelling also won their applause.

   The rock music part, which had high hopes, didn't get much applause. Maybe they didn't listen to Ramones' music very much.

  The movie was over, Ronald went to the bathroom. Several of the men in it are still deliberately imitating the dance moves of the beauties in the movie. It seems that they like these scenes very much.

   Washing his hands and drying, Ronald came to the foyer, and the voices of some women came from another direction.

   "I especially like Liv Randall. She's such an independent woman!"

   "Yeah, if only I could be as brave as her."

   "Alas, I am very afraid of the principal of my high school, few people can face the resistance of power and freedom like her!"

   "Yeah, I'm scared of my boss right now. He's like Principal Toga, an old-fashioned old man. He reads the Bible to us in the office every day."

   Ronald looked sideways, and it turned out to be several young women waiting for a seat outside the bathroom, while chatting about the plot.

  I didn't expect that the most attractive thing for female audiences to watch this movie was the rebellious and independent rock hot girl played by PJ Sols. Not handsome, not rock punk, nor dance, but the independent spirit of the protagonist Liv Randall.

  The trend of women's independence makes young women generally envy those independent professional women, who can work and earn money by themselves, do not need to look at men's eyes to live, do not need to take care of children at home, and handle housework. Liv Randall is exactly what those independent professional women look like in high school.

   Ronald returned to the entrance of the screening room. Director Allen was working with several staff members to issue a questionnaire to the audience to collect their feedback on the film. I took a few pictures in the past, and the ratings were not too high.

   Ronald quietly pulled over director Allen and told him what he found in the bathroom. Alan was also a little surprised, and immediately went to discuss with Joe.

   "Hey, Jim, why are you here?"

  Ronald noticed a familiar figure flashing by, and Cameron was also in the theater.

   "I came with Mr. Coleman, who just officially promoted me to be the head of the stunt model and was also responsible for the design of the stunt photography track."

   Cameron, grinning, has just been promoted by boss Roger Coleman. He lowered his voice slightly:

   "The method you mentioned last time is very useful. As soon as Roger entered the workshop yesterday and saw the finished model display, he was full of praise. He called me today and decided that I would be responsible for the entire model manufacturing department."

   "Congratulations, Jim. You know, Roger is very cost sensitive." Ronald winked.

"Ronald, Jim, take this." It was Roger Coleman who came over and gave each of them an envelope, "Coppola will replay it in the theater tonight for the industry insiders. One, you guys also go to see it, it is very good for increasing your artistic level."

  Ronald took a look, it was United Arts' internal preview invitation, starting at 5:30 pm.

  Roger Coleman went on to deliver tickets to other employees.

   "Roger told me that Coppola used to be his assistant." Ronald whispered gossip to Cameron.

   "Oh, Roger is really well-connected..."

   (end of this chapter)