Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 577 Chapter 207 Grumman's Expectations

  Ronald told the two screenwriters all the flight details he had learned with Miss Long Legs, and asked them to integrate these flight battle scenes into the entire story and character development.

   The Grumman Company, which was invited by the crew, performed very positively. They specially sent a vice president in charge of public relations to ask director Ronald to discuss adding cameras to the F-14 Tomcat fighter.

   Came to Long Island, New York, Bethpage, where Grumman is headquartered. Most people in this small town work directly or indirectly for Grumman.

   Several senior executives of the company welcomed Ronald very much. He made a special trip to wash the dust for him, and tasted American steak in the company's executive canteen.

   This large-scale military industrial enterprise is actually similar to the industry of America's rival, the Souvelle Union. Schools, hospitals, canteens, and even hotels are run inside the enterprise. It's like a small society.

  Visit the company's historical exhibition hall, Ronald knew that Grumman not only built countless attack aircraft, fighter jets, patrol aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft for the Navy during World War II, but also was responsible for the production of early warning aircraft on aircraft carriers.

  Grumman's fleeting years were unfavorable. F-14 won the order for export to Persia and delivered the first batch of fighter jets. Unexpectedly, the embassy hostage incident occurred a few years later, and it was a big solo flight.

  The company is in the Air Force and has not received any new orders. Now the main product is the improved version of the F14 Tomcat. Grumman hopes that Ronald can also photograph the Tomcat as beautifully as he did with Saab's Lightning fighter.

America's military is easily influenced by the public. If the movie can lead the dance trend like Ronald's "Break Dance" and "Dragon Power Boy" lead the trend of karate, use this movie to lead the public to oppose each other. The enthusiasm of the F-14 Tomcat, then the Navy still has a large order to renew.

  The engineer and Ronald held meetings for several days, and found ways to form a plan for the location of the camera that Ronald wanted to install. Either install a small camera in the cabin, or simply replace the camera pod, and replace the high-resolution reconnaissance camera with a movie camera that can work in a high-altitude and high-acceleration environment.

   Then Grumman specially formed a team that will follow Ronald to the Miramar base in California to modify the F-14 Tomcat fighter.

"I don't have any intuitive experience with what fighter jets do. Do you know any experienced pilots? I want to chat with them." After the discussion, Ronald remembered and asked Grumman's people about air combat. the opinion of.

  The navy with a strong bureaucratic atmosphere is slow to respond to their own requests, but Grumman is very enthusiastic about himself here, see if they have connections.

"Your movie is called TopGun, right?" an engineer asked Ronald. "Why don't you talk to the real TopGun veteran Pete Pettigrew? He was one of the first TopGun flight schools. Instructor, and one of the few pilots who has shot down a MiG-21 head-on."

   "Oh yeah?" Ronald wrote down this man's name, thinking that this is rare.

TopGun flight school, because in the Vietnam War, American fighter pilots could only use missiles, forget the skills of cannons and dogfights, a school set up by the Pentagon to face elite pilots, where they will learn the system Fighting skills, greatly improve the combat capabilities of the navy and air force.

   "Is he still at TopGun School?"

   "It seems that he has been transferred to the reserve. You can ask the navy. He has a good relationship with the navy."

   After a hasty end to his trip on Long Island, Ronald came to the Ziegfeld Cinema in Manhattan to attend the premiere of his good friend Jim Cameron's new film "The Terminator".

   "Congratulations, congratulations", Ronald saw Cameron in a suit, and his girlfriend Gail. Next to it is the heroine Linda Hamilton.

   "God, I'm so nervous." Cameron showed a rare nervous look, "Schwarzenegger only attended the premiere in Los Angeles, and few stars came, and it seems that few reporters came today."

   "Don't be nervous, the box office has nothing to do with the stars who come to cheer." Ronald is experienced, and his movies have no big names to attend the premiere.

   "Really? I also hope that my movie will sell well." Cameron pulled Ronald to sit down, he was eager to hear the comments of his old friends.

"Dong dong dong dong..." One hour and fifty minutes passed, and under the theme song of Terminator, Ronald saw the last cumulonimbus he photographed. Sarah Connor, pregnant with the future savior, opened the door. A shot of the jeep running into the distance.

   That was a reshoot by him and Cameron Gale.

   Ronald was very excited. The rhythm of this film was very tight. Cameron, who directed a feature film for the first time, grasped the rhythm very well.

The two big explosion scenes in    did not cost much, but they produced very realistic effects. And Schwarzenegger's horrific makeup, one red eye, and a metal skull coming out of the flesh. The really frightened audience screamed a few times.

  In the end, the hero and the Terminator Killing Machine perished together. The heroine Sarah Connor, who inherited the legacy of the hero who returned in the future, was determined to raise her son.

   After the subtitles were raised, there was no sound from the audience, and it took dozens of seconds before they gave out roaring applause.

   They have never seen such a movie. The threat of the end of the world is very realistically presented to the audience through the Terminator. The ending is full of hope and dilutes the sadness of the hero's sacrifice.

   "You've made it, Jim, you can start preparing for the sequel." Ronald saw the audience's reaction and knew that Cameron's debut was sure to be a blockbuster movie. The production cost of six million will make Heimdell and Orion make money.

   "You can charge a high price at that time." Ronald knew that Cameron forfeited the script transfer fee in order to shoot this movie, and the director's salary was also very low. Now that he became famous in one fell swoop, he can finally make some money.

   "I don't know, the audience in New York likes it, but we released at the same time, there is also a "Killing Land" that reflects Cambodia. I heard that their film critics responded very well."

  Cameron began to worry about gains and losses again.

   "Do you want the Oscars, or the box office?" Ronald asked his old friend in the lounge, opening champagne.

   "Of course I have to get the box office before I can continue to be a director."

   "Isn't this over? In my experience, the audience's response to your movie will be very good." Ronald took out the Dafa of observing the bathroom again. In the middle of the movie screening, few people were willing to give up the plot and go to the toilet.

   And after the end, in the crowd lining up in the bathroom, many audience members imitated the phrase "I'llBeBack" played by Schwarzenegger's Terminator.

   These signals are very optimistic.

   "I hope you're right." Cameron picked up the glass and drank it.

"Let's make a bet that if your movie is number one at the weekend box office and you get back to Los Angeles, you and Gal will treat me to a big dinner. If you're number two, then I'll take you two to Hawaii for a vacation. No matter what the box office is, you can all be happy."

   "No problem, the restaurant is up to you." Gail came over to pick up the story, and the two were planning to get married next year, just in time for the honeymoon trip.

   "Hahaha, it really is the No. 1 at the box office. I want to eat Chinese food. There is a restaurant in Chinatown that is very good."

   When the weekend box office results came out, it turned out that "Terminator" won the first place with four million dollars.

   "Okay, no problem" has returned to Cameron and Gale in Los Angeles, and agreed on the phone.

   "Mr. Roger Coleman is also very happy, he invited us to dinner, will you come with me?" Gale asked on the phone.

"I'm going to be in New York for a while. It's his old tradition. Every director who graduates from Roger Coleman Film University, his first big hit, has to invite him to dinner. I've enjoyed it, Hahaha."

   "Well then, remember to call us when you come back."

   Ronald put down the phone and continued to chat with his agent Eddie about work arrangements. Daydream entered the corporate promotional video market, and sure enough, he found it right. Many small and medium-sized enterprises have come to invite them to shoot, and the business is good.

   "Okay, there are a lot of companies here, we don't worry about business, you can also go to New York University's Di Shi College to recruit some talents, just treat them as internships, and those graduate students can still get the basic skills." Ronald finished his instructions.

"Hasn't the shooting of your new film started yet?" Little Douglas also came to audit Daydream's business. He was specially invited by Ronald. In the future, when the business was busy, the landlord would also need to rent a piece of land to build a photo studio, which would be more convenient. Improve shooting efficiency.

"Hey, the bureaucracy in the Navy is very serious. Our first draft of the script was completed, and it was like a sinking after submitting it. I don't know when they will reply." Ronald also did not expect that the Navy's script review, and the studio The screenplay review is entirely two concepts.

   A studio may go through rounds of managers, directors, everyone with their own opinions. It's like playing a game, if you don't pass the boss of the first level, you won't be able to see the second level.

   And the Navy is like buying a lottery ticket. Before the lottery, you won't be able to hear whether you have won the lottery or not.

   "No news at all?"

"No, they have to go through several rounds of review. Some are responsible for technical review, and they can't reveal the secrets of the Navy. Some are responsible for plot review, and the protagonist can't do things that go against the Navy's values. But they like Tom Cruise as the male lead. , passed his review immediately."

   "Who doesn't want a handsome guy to play himself?" said Douglas Jr.

   "Yeah, when the script review is completed, the Navy has promised to let Tom Cruise go to the base to experience the flight of the F-14 Tomcat in advance. It gave him a lot of convenience, and now he has to vomit enough."

  "Hahaha" Little Douglas laughed happily, "How about you? Do you want to take a pilot's license test too?"

   "Wait when I'm free, I heard it's expensive."

   "It's not expensive, just a few hundred dollars for an elementary propeller plane piloting course. Even if you buy a small second-hand Cessna, it's tens of thousands of dollars, and it's not a problem for you."

   "Really?" Ronald did not expect civil propeller planes to be so cheap.

   "Wait for a license when I'm free."

   (end of this chapter)