Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 565 Contract Issues

   "All projects are on hold, Eisner greenlights all projects to be re-examined, including ours, is Frank Mancuso crazy?"

   In the office of the president of Guber Peterson Pictures, Guber's partner Jon Peterson watched as his old partner Guber angrily slapped the script.

Jon Peterson and Guber are a good partner. Guber is known for his sharp words. He once went to Cuba to shoot a beach nature documentary. After being caught by the police, he persuaded each other with a mouth that he was just here to promote the beauty of Cuba view. In the end, he alerted his superiors all the way, and finally chatted and laughed with Fidel, and successfully completed the production.

   Peterson is a master of relationships. He doesn’t know much about movies, and his first job was dyeing hair in areas other than women’s hair in a hair salon. He soon became Barbra Streisand's personal hairdresser, and supervised the production of Streisand's remake of "A Star Is Born" into the film industry.

   "I thought you didn't like the movie?" Peterson asked.

   "Yeah, it's not what I think, it's what Paramount thinks of us." Guber was angry at the new president's disrespect for him.

   "Mancuso is a layman, and he won't re-evaluate these scripts until he has hired the right production director. We'd better focus on the movies that have already been shot and are about to start."

   Peterson, knowing that Guber's dignity was being challenged, spoke comfortably.

"Steven (Spielberg)'s 'Purple' is about to be finished, but he is in a hurry to hold the wedding ceremony. Didn't that Mancuso interview himself after taking office and claim to be good at marketing? We have to make him more Get some resources."

   "And the 'Billy King Legend' adapted from the MJ song, urging them to start shooting as soon as possible."

   "The story of this fighter?"

   "Forget it, let's release it, and put the script back in the rotation library. I don't want to be censored by a layman like Mancuso. Anyway, after the 1950s, audiences don't like watching fighter movies..."

  …

   "Ronald, you have to help Helen again. No one thought that the Mexican father and son producers would not let Helen's contract go. I don't have your network in Hollywood. I'm afraid she will be disappointed again this time."

   Ronald got a call from PBS Gerald Slater when he got to Los Angeles. The baby daughter's acting career suffered another misfortune. The producers of the Superman series, Salkind and his son, used Helen's three-film contract as an excuse to prevent her from filming "The Baseball Player's Wife". It's going to be yellow.

  Fearing that his daughter would be stimulated and depressed again, Gerald hurriedly called Ronald, who was well-connected in the film industry, and asked him to help find another movie for emergency.

   "Why? There's no reason for Salkind not to let Helen go? Didn't their second Supergirl movie not be filmed? Did they find new investment?"

   "It was said that Supergirl's audition at Samsung was ok. They are also interested in continuing to shoot the Superman series. I hope Superman and Supergirl will appear together in the 'Superman Part 4'."

   "But that doesn't interfere with Helen's role in 'The Baseball Player's Wife'?" Ronald still wasn't quite sure.

"I heard that it was a role in the baseball player's wife, and some performances hampered the image of Supergirl, so Salkind Jr. ordered Helen to withdraw from the set on the grounds of the rules in the film. Ronald, you can go and see She? I'm worried."

   "Okay, remembering that he still owes Gerald a favor, Ronald couldn't, so he had to pull in his agent Richard to check the situation."

   "Are you going out? Ronnie?" Little Bud lived in a corner of Ronald's newly rented apartment, a single room belonging to the attached driver's room.

It was the first time he lived in this kind of high-end apartment with a monthly rent of 4,000 US dollars. After Ronald showed him around the facilities, little Bud is very dedicated now. As soon as he saw Ronald coming out with his coat, he would go forward. drive.

   "Pick up the Mercedes, we'll pick up Richard first, then go to Helen's apartment."

   A grey-green Mercedes-Benz, the cheapest new S-Class, assembled in Malaysia and exported to America. After the dealer added the in-car phone, it was sold to Ronald.

  The new electric heated seat function is rarely used in Los Angeles, where the temperature is pleasant in all seasons. On the contrary, it is a small table that can be pulled out and overturned like the back of an airplane seat, which Ronald uses a lot.

   He took out his notebook and started recording his inspirations on it.

  John Hughes' "Breakfast Club" in Chicago has been packed, and Hughes returned to Los Angeles to privately invite Ronald to see the samples.

   Ronald, who was amazed by the large number of shots in each shot and the free improvisation of the actors, felt that he had a lot of inspiration to learn from experience.

  Especially the "neuropathy" played by Allie Siti, who originally had messy hair and dark circles under his eyes, huddled in a ball and didn't communicate with people. After five high school students got acquainted, Molly Ringwald's "Princess", after giving her a new make-up, suddenly turned into a very beautiful teenage girl, causing Emilio Estevez's play "Athlete" favor.

   This kind of ugly girl suddenly became beautiful after being put on by a friend's makeup, which made Ronald feel a little bit. Isn't this the dream of thousands of teenagers in America? Ugly man and ugly woman, through a miracle, suddenly became more handsome than a quarterback, more beautiful than a cheerleader.

   Isn't this a good theme for a movie story?

   "Such a good subject matter, you have to think about it. Although I didn't dream of a movie, but I created it myself, I don't believe that I can't make a blockbuster movie."

   "Ronald", at CAA, Bud went to the front desk to call someone, Richard came down and knocked on Ronald's car window.

   Ronald woke up from his contemplation, hurriedly opened the car door, and let Richard in.

   "Sorry, I was thinking about something. What happened to Helen's script?"

  Richard got into the car carefully. Ever since he knew that Ronald influenced the fate of heavyweights like Eisner, Richard felt more and more that Ronald was a little mysterious. When dealing with him, I became more careful.

   "I read the script, and there are indeed some inappropriate plots in the middle. And this character named Debbie is a blond rock singer who has a very outrageous **** scene with the male lead."

  Richard handed over the script.

   "Extraordinary **** scene?" Ronald suddenly felt annoyed. Although he didn't know what kind of play it was, when he thought that Helen was actually going to play this kind of play, he began to feel suffocated in his heart.

   turned to page 73, there is no **** scene on it? Ronald turned to look at Richard.

  Richard smiled and pointed to a page in the first half of the script, which he marked with tape.

   "Mmmmmmm..." Ronald felt even more uncomfortable.

  Although this scene was written by the famous screenwriter Neil Simon, there is no overly exposed plot. But the plot itself is more than exposing.

   Rock star Debbie and baseball slugger Darryl fall in love at first sight, and in bed Darryl tries to explain to Debbie the baseball scoring rules she doesn't understand.

  Darryl used the analogy of first base, second base, and third base to make Debbie understand. When it came to third base, he got under the quilt and said, "This is third base."

"It really doesn't work, this scene does too much damage to Supergirl's image." Ronald closed the script and said sternly, "Producer Salkind's idea is correct, if Supergirl appears on the screen, the audience will Thinking of third base, wouldn't that be too disruptive?"

  …

"Why do you have this weird idea? It's a very well handled scene. Debbie is a rock star, Daryl is a Major League Baseball star, they're two worlds, and it's just this scene. Learn more about each other.”

Helen was preparing to audition for the second round of "The Legend of Billy King" in the apartment. Hearing Ronald's fallacy, he felt very disliked, so from the perspective of drama analysis, he wanted to give Ronald an audition. class.

"Okay, okay, you can't act now because of your contract anyway. Why don't you put your manager on this 'Billy King' first." Ronald glanced at Helen, who was near The dance exercise, which was sweating profusely, brought a youthful smell to my face.

   "Actually, it's a very good opportunity to be in Neil Simon's play. His previous "Goodbye Girl" and "California Suite" have all earned the actor nominations and awards.

  Helen has a headband tied on her head, wears a high-cut exercise suit on her lower body, and a pair of leg warmers tied to her ankles. She is practicing with Jane Fonda's videotape.

   "Billy King Legend" requires the female lead to be blonde, and in the beginning of the plot, she has not cut her hair short.

   So Helen's long hair was tied into a braid and wrapped around her head. Sweat wetted her neck, seeped out, and wet the upper body gym clothes, the front chest, and the back waist were all wet, and the colors were obviously different.

  Ronald took his eyes back, quickly flipped through the script of the "Billy King Legend", and focused on page seventy-third. Fortunately, there are no exposed plots and shots.

   "But the script is also very good. I always wanted to play Joan of Arc like Ingrid Bergman. This movie is the modern American version of Joan of Arc."

  Helen finally stopped exercising out of breath and came over to look at Ronald who was reading the script. The sunlight outside the window shines through the window and shines on the ends of his golden hair, which is very beautiful. Ever since Supergirl, Helen has been known as blonde.

   "What, this script...?" Seeing Ronald looking at her motionless, Helen stroked her hair, her big blue eyes, and looked at Ronald silently.

"It doesn't matter, I called Mr. Guber, the executive producer. He is very optimistic about your acting skills. I think as long as your second round recall audition is no problem, then most of the roles are yours. Your wish to play Joan of Arc It can be done.”

  "Thank you", Helen kissed Ronald on the cheek, then got embarrassed, and reached out to wipe the sweat accidentally stuck on his face.

  Ronald also raised his hand to wipe, and their hands met in the middle.

   "You come by yourself..." Helen's face turned red, "I'm going to take a shower."

   "Salkind is Mexican. If he was American, Gerald would always be approached. You won't miss a Neil Simon play."

   The executive producer of "The Legend of Billy King", Guber, received a call from Ronald and came to watch the audition in person. After watching the audition, he had a chat with Helen.

   He gave director Matthew Robbins a gesture.

   "How was Helen's audition?" Guber asked the director's opinion in front of Helen and Ronald.

   "I went out first", Helen felt that it was not appropriate to be there, and took the initiative to go out first.

   "Nice, he and Christian have a great chemistry."

Director Matthew Robbins is also a new Hollywood generation. When he was at the University of Southern California, he was a classmate with Walter Murkey. He also wrote for Spielberg's Jaws, and the third contact for many years. Since then, I finally got the opportunity to direct alone.

   "This Christian is also surnamed Slater. Are he and Gerald related?" Ronald discovered that the actor who played the role of the younger brother in Helen's movie was also surnamed Slater.

   "It doesn't really matter, it's pure coincidence."

  Ronald saw Guber appear in person, which is no problem compared to the heroine.

   "Mr. Guber, that fighter movie you told me about last time?"

"I've released the script, and I'll wait for the rest of the Paramount production team to pick it up. The new CEO wants to re-examine the films that haven't entered the preparatory stage, and now my main energy can only be put on this comparison. Likin, and Steven's purple top."

   Ronald heard that the other party was not very optimistic about the movie, so he stopped talking.

   "Go back and wait for the notice, you are basically set." Ronald went out and said to Helen.

   "Really? I felt pretty good when I auditioned too."

   For the audition, Helen changed the issue, tied a big ponytail at the back, and had a small braid on the forehead, which looked very playful.

   "That's fine, I'll take you back to the apartment first, I'll have something else to do later."

   Little Bud drove the car over, got out of the car and opened the door.

  "Thank you, Ronald" Helen put the braid to her ear and gave Ronald a firm hug, "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably say goodbye to the movie. I didn't expect to be able to play the heroine."

   "You deserve it", Ronald took the door and asked Helen to go up.

   (end of this chapter)