Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   "So your opinion, we need a story to highlight Diet Pepsi's selling point? Right?" asked Ronald's longtime friend, creative director Darcy Maguire.

"Yes, I have seen all the recent advertisements of Diet Pepsi. You have invited a lot of Hollywood stars, but you always highlight the star of the star. The product of Diet Pepsi is actually not well understood by the public, so why not highlight the product itself , what about the traits that young people like?" Ronald replied.

  Nisita contacted Ronald's old partner. Darcy Maguire learned that Ronald was able to return to the arena and was very happy. He immediately contacted the Pepsi project and asked him to come out and direct a small TV commercial.

   Her current big client is Pepsi Cola. Recently, PepsiCo has fired the old marketing director and began to reorganize its advertising ideas and re-select advertising companies. She really wants to keep this big customer.

   "Which star do you think would be a better fit, Ronald? They were looking for Billy Crystal last year." Maguire asked.

   "I heard that Pepsi's advertising slogan is 'the choice of the new generation'? Why are you looking for a middle-aged comedian? Wait, there's a big budget for a star to star in the commercial?" Ronald suddenly found the problem.

"Hahaha, yes. Pepsi is playing Coca-Cola so hard right now, they want to increase their advertising budget and really be the winner of the Coke war. This is a good opportunity, Ronald, if you're willing to do it, I'll win the new season. The possibility of advertising contracts is very high.”

   "Of course, we've known each other for a long time, so I'll be frank. Now the release budget for the new movie is a bit tight, and I hope to be able to pay as soon as possible."

  It turns out that the new flavor of Coke launched by Coca-Cola last year began to decline as a whole after rising in sales in the first few months.

  The formula of new cola, the sweetness is softer and smoother, this new flavor is loved by consumers who often drink cola in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Market research shows that their willingness to buy new Cokes has not changed much from old Cokes.

   However, in the southern states, the sales of New Coke suffered from Waterloo, and Pepsi largely occupied the original stable market.

  The Chicago Tribune, where film critic Gene Sisko is based, also published a special report on the cultural resistance to the new flavor of Coke in the southern states.

  Those states belonged to the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Atlanta, has always been regarded by the Southerners as one of the few products that can conquer the Northern Yankees.

  The new flavor of Coke was regarded by the Southerners as a surrender move based on the taste of the Yankees. Many Southern consumers think Coca-Cola represents the South and New York-based PepsiCo represents the North.

  The new flavor has added sweetness. It is Pepsi learning from the Yankees, surrendering to the Yankees, and the Yankees have conquered the South again.

"This is too exaggerated, how can Coke be related to the Civil War?" Ronald actually didn't like New Coke, but he was just used to drinking the old taste, what conflicts between the North and the South, and what was the cultural heritage? relationship? …

   "And even more exaggerated, some southerners think it's a Cuban conspiracy."

   "Huh? What's going on?" Ronald was stunned.

   It turns out that the new flavor of Coke makes the residents living in small southern towns very dissatisfied. Unlike residents in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, they often drink other flavors of beverages and applaud their ability to bear innovative flavors.

  The carbonated beverages that town residents drink all their lives, that is, Coca-Cola.

   After the old taste that they had been drinking for half a lifetime was replaced, they felt wrong, so many conspiracy theories emerged.

  The Coca-Cola Company, who led the change in flavor, was the company's chairman and CEO, Roberto Guzueta, who is the descendant of Cuban immigrants. His father escaped Fidel and smuggled his family to Florida. .

  So the residents of the states close to the Caribbean Sea began to spread that this was a conspiracy by the Cuban leader Fidel to destroy the capitalist tradition of America.

   The Coca-Cola Company has a hotline to handle orders and complaints. After the new flavor was launched, the number of complaints per day increased from 400 to 1,500.

   It is said that some people are emotional, as if a loved one at home has died, betraying the American tradition of New Coke, and weep bitterly.

   "Those people really like conspiracy theories," Ronald shook his head. Conservative evangelical religious power is growing rapidly in the Deep South, and many farmers and small-town residents, derided by big cities as "red necks," don't have cable TV or the popular magazines that are common in big cities.

  The information is blocked, and many things they cannot understand are often attributed to the conspiracy of the anti-Christians.

"It's ridiculous, in fact, Fidel of Cuba has also made a public statement, expressing his dislike of the taste of New Coke. He called New Coke a sign of America's degeneration, and Coca-Cola was originally one of the few people who liked it in this imperialist country. things were destroyed."

   "Isn't Pepsi making a lot of money?"

   "Of course, otherwise how could they put out a front-page full-page ad in the New York Times saying Pepsi won the decades-long Coke war."

  Darcy Maguire gave Ronald a newspaper, and Ronald laughed.

   Above is Roger Enrico, head of PepsiCo's North American operations, announcing a company-wide holiday to celebrate winning the Coke Wars.

   "Pepsi's sales have increased by 14% year-on-year, so they want to increase investment in one fell swoop to defeat Coca-Cola.

   What they are focusing on this year is the sugar-free dietpepsi, which is a new trend in big cities in the past two years. Start with diet and solve weight problems. "

"Pepsi's slogan is the choice of the new generation. In short, Billy Crystal can't be used anymore. We have to find a star who can represent the image of young people to do this advertisement. Your advertising company should have survey data. Is he the most influential star in the eyes of young people?"

   "Of course it's Michael J. Fox, but he's a movie star now, and movie stars don't advertise."

   Maguire replied that some advertising companies had contacted Fox and wanted to borrow his influence among teenagers, but without exception, they were all rejected by his agent. …

   "Wait a minute, don't say no so quickly, I'll call him."

   "Hi Ronald, how are you? I heard you've finished editing your new film?"

  Michael J. Fox and Ronald have a very good relationship. His famous work "Back to the Future" is Ronald's proposal to change roles and give him a chance. After he received the call, he deliberately found a time to meet and chat with Ronald.

"good…"

   Ronald greeted him with a few words, "I'm here this time to convince you to participate in a Pepsi commercial."

"Hey, I don't really care about these. The price that PepsiCo offered is very good, but my agent said that the advertisement will affect my personal image and it will be bad for my future movies. So my attitude towards TV commercials is to shirk. of."

   "Why? Although others say so", Ronald knew that this time he had to challenge this old Hollywood law, otherwise Michael J. Fox would not agree.

   "Isn't that the same? The image of a movie actor should be used in movies. If there are too many appearances on TV, the audience will know too much about the actor's image, which will have a negative effect on playing a movie role."

   "Michael, this reason might hold true for others, but not at all for you."

   "Why?" Now it was Fox's turn to ask.

   "You're a TV actor, have you forgotten? God. The audience watches you every day on TV, and your image has long been fixed on an independent, smart, and street-smart young man who went to a big city to work hard."

   "Haha, yes." Michael J. Fox laughed. He first became famous by acting in the TV series "Family Bonds", and "Back to the Future" came later.

   "There is also a legend in Hollywood that you can't act in a TV series when you act in a movie, and vice versa. The two ways of acting are very different, and the actors can't take care of it, etc. But, haven't you achieved great success across movies and TV?"

"You're quite right," Michael J. Fox took out a new cigarette and lit it with the old one, "I can promise, Ronald. But you have to make sure that you are instructing yourself, I don't want to. Doing that kind of simple, repetitive commercial, I hope it's an ad with a story, the kind that resembles my on-screen persona, Marty in 'Back to the Future'."

  Fox pinched the old cigarette that was about to burn out on the sole of Ronald's raised leg. He smoked fiercely, one after another, a sequela left by rushing to film a TV series.

   "I'm all ready, this is the script, you can take a look." Ronald looked down at the sole of his shoe and saw a scar from a cigarette butt, but fortunately no one saw it.

   "Ah, hahaha..." Michael J. Fox was very happy after reading the short three-page script. Ronald wrote this script according to his star image, which is in line with the concept of Pepsi's younger generation.

"I took it, this script is very interesting, it's like a remake of the 'Secret of Success' story. No problem." Fox took another breath, "By the way, who are you going to play the heroine? Are you looking for you? girlfriend Helen? That's not bad, it's like a pre-roll commercial for our movie."…

"This...?" Ronald didn't expect Fox to mention Helen, and he couldn't deny that he wanted to find her every time. After all, he asked Helen Slater to replace the heroine at that time, just in the name of his girlfriend, and asked Michael J. Fox helped to cooperate, "I'll call Helen."

  …

"Ronald, why did you think of asking me to play this commercial?" Helen received a call from Ronald and rushed to Ronald's apartment at night. With big blue eyes, she looked at Ronald in a trance. .

"Don't you know that movie actors don't take TV commercials?" Helen pointed at Ronald, "I see, hee hee. Do you regret not directing me to make a movie and want to use this commercial to Make up for your regrets a little bit?"

   "Ah..." Ronald had no choice but to touch his beard, which certainly cannot be denied.

"You're so romantic, Ronald." Helen happily wrapped her hands around Ronald's neck, "I know you're really sorry that you didn't direct 'The Secret of Success', right? Although I'm a movie actor... but you said Yes, I would like to go."

   "Uh..." Ronald looked at Helen. Anyway, Helen's acting potential is limited. After several movies, Ronald has basically confirmed that she can only play roles that match her true nature.

  Although she is full of Broadway, acting theories, and she has set up an experimental troupe with her best friend Helen Hunt, her real acting skills are far from these familiar theories.

   "Well, anyway, this character is similar to your screen image." Ronald replied.

"Well, I still want to try some different roles. My acting skills have improved a lot. But the character in this ad is similar to the 'Secret of Success', so I'm going to warm up for the movie's release. ' replied Helen.

"it is good…"

   Ronald swallowed the words he was about to say. Helen herself is still very ambitious.

   But it doesn't matter, Helen's acting will always work in a one-and-a-half minute commercial. And the heroine I wrote is actually more like a vase.

   As for the height difference between Helen and Michael J. Fox, I have also considered that Fox is always shorter than the actress, so I tried my best not to let him and the heroine appear in the same shot when they were filming.

"Ronald, in your script, Fox and I don't have the same frame. When you wrote the script, did you write it according to my image, so as to prevent me from bending over and stepping in the ditch again, in order to be as tall as him? Equivalent, right?"

   "This...probably, maybe, is the case."

"I never thought someone would treat me so romantically," Helen closed her eyes, intoxicated by her own imagination, and then she approached Ronald, imitating the dance in "The Hot Body Dance", using her crotch to move Ronald rubbed against his waist, "This is your reward, dear."

"Oh…"

  Ronald also imitated the horn, and after a minute, he couldn't stand the teasing any more, he picked up Helen and went into the bedroom.

   "By the way, that actress at the end, who are you going to use?" Helen lay on her side and asked Ronald with a blushing face, and was a little short of breath.

  Ronald lay beside him very leisurely, "Let caa audition. Many actors and models who have just debuted will be willing."…

   Soon, Pepsi looked for a weekend and started shooting commercials.

  Michael J. Fox is only free on weekends, no TV series, Ronald has everything else ready in advance, there is only one day on weekends to shoot all the shots.

   "This is Christy, this is Director Ronald Lee", Nisita led a tall beauty to Ronald.

   Ronald stepped forward and shook hands with the second female in the advertisement. This is the advertising agency, Pepsi, and caa three-way audition, and the final candidate, Kristy Turrington, who has just signed with New York's Elite Model Economy.

   "Very well, is your hair originally dark brown?" Ronald lifted her hair and looked at it, under the light, it was a little golden red.

   "Yes, I've dyed blonde before. I can dye it back on request." Christie Turrington replied quickly, she didn't want to lose this opportunity because of the details of her hair color.

   "Just check with the stylist and the director of photography, if there's no golden red in the film, that's fine."

  There are two heroines in the whole advertisement. Helen has been blonde (blonde) since she played "Supergirl". So the second beauty, to have brown hair (brue) to balance it out.

   "Hi, honey!" Ronald dismissed Kristy Turrington and turned to greet Helen Slater, who was wearing makeup.

   "In the morning, we mainly shoot indoor shots. Your dress and makeup are all close to the "secret of success", and you also look for the feeling in the movie when you act."

   “ok!”

  “a!”

"Tuk Tuk..." There was a knock on the wooden door in the studio, and Michael J. Fox was wearing a white shirt and gray wool vest, jeans and running shoes, very similar to the one in the movie "The Secret of Success". ruffian style.

  The door was opened a crack by Fox, and the beautiful face of a blonde poked in from outside the door.

  The camera moves backwards along the pre-paved track, all the while taking a close-up of Helen's face, who comes in through the crack of the door.

   "Hi, I'm the new next door neighbor and I was thinking, can you lend me a can of Diet Pepsi?"

   Helen's voice was very nice, and the recording rod on the scene recorded all her dialogues.

   "cut!"

   Ronald stopped, stepped forward and whispered into Helen's ear, "You made a mistake, talk to Fox, not the camera."

   "Oh, I thought it was a close-up of the front." Helen knew Ronald was trying to defend herself.

   "It's okay, let's do it again."

   After shooting several scenes of Helen indoors, Ronald asked Michael J. Fox to go to the dressing room to touch up the makeup.

   "Christie?" Ronald called Kristy Turrington. "Wait a while for Michael to say that 'Danny?' line before you come in behind the door."

  Christie Turrington looked a little nervous, but nodded in agreement.

"Pay attention to your appearance. You treat the camera as the designer of your favorite fashion. You want to show him your model catwalk skills, understand? Try it." Ronald saw that she was a little nervous, and hurried forward to her Talk about the distribution method of attention. …

   As long as this young beauty model has enough imagination, she can perform a good visual effect. Anyway, she is a long-term vision, and more advanced acting skills are not used.

  “a!”

  Michael J. Fox's head was sprayed with water from the dressing room, making it wet, as if it was raining.

   He took a can of Diet Pepsi, panted heavily, appeared in front of Helen, and handed it over, "Your Diet Pepsi!"

   "Tuk Tuk..." There was another knock on the door.

   "That must be my roommate, Danny." Helen gently took Diet Pepsi and said to Fox.

   "Danny?" An embarrassed look appeared on Michael J Fox's face. Could it be that she has worked so hard to find Pepsi for her beautiful neighbor, but is she living with her boyfriend Danny?

  "Hi, my name is Danielle", Kristy Turrington walked into the door with a catwalk, one hand on her waist, a standard appearance for a model on the catwalk.

   "Do you still have Diet Pepsi?"

   "Of course", Michael J. Fox's expression immediately changed to happy.

   "cut!"

   Ronald stopped, "Very good, let's do it again."

   Soon, all the scenes of the two actresses were filmed in the morning. Helen came over to say goodbye while Ronald was discussing the next filming session with Michael J. Fox.

   "Dear, I'll go first, there is an acting training class in the afternoon."

   "Okay, I'll send you off." Ronald greeted Fox and sent Helen outside the set.

  "Um..." The two kissed goodbye, and Helen got into Bud's car and left. Ronald looked back just in time to see Christy Turrington standing beside him.

  Christie Turrington smiled when Ronald looked over. She is different from other models, and appears to be well educated in temperament.

   "Are you waiting for the bus?" Ronald smiled when he saw her, and responded with a smile.

   "Yes, I called a taxi."

   "Taxis in Los Angeles are quite expensive. I'll ask the crew's assistant to take you there." Ronald turned around and entered the studio, and continued to film the action scenes of Michael J Fox.

  The crew moved to another studio next to it. The entire studio was covered with black cloth to cover the windows and ceiling. Here, the street scene at night was simulated.

  Michael J. Fox had only a large bottle of Diet Pepsi in the refrigerator at home. In order not to lose face in front of his female neighbor, he had to open the window and climb down from the fire escape.

  “a!”

  In dim lighting, the set simulates the street, and the camera shoots from behind Michael J. Fox, across the street from a Pepsi-Cola vending machine.

   Then Fox overcame the traffic on the road, jumping off the roof and crawling across the road.

After    jumped off the roof of the car, another dog stuck its head out of the window of a car and barked at him.

   "cut!"

   Ronald raised his hand, indicating that the tamer was doing well.

  The set crew began to leave the cars on the road, and the motorcyclists began to prepare.

   A time machine in "Back to the Future", the DeLorean sports car was pushed down and used as the background, which is a small easter egg. …

   Afterwards, Fox came across a group of gangsters in leather jackets and people dressed as Taimei, who emerged from the steam on motorcycles. It's full of noir street movie vibes like "Rage Streets".

  Michael J. Fox brushed his hair, and though he was scared, he walked past them, walked to the vending machine, dropped a coin, and bought a can of Diet Pepsi.

   "cut!"

   Within a day, with good preparation, Ronald shot all the segments of the commercial.

   "I'm waiting to see your finished film, it seems like a lot of fun." Michael J. Fox said goodbye and left.

   The next day, I developed a copy of the negative and entered the editing room again.

   Ronald and a few assistants cut a Pepsi commercial together.

   Here, Fox has a feeling of pride in his heart, and he wants to buy Diet Pepsi for his beautiful neighbor, which seems to be a bit like the mood of "Top Gun".

   Ronald picked up the phone and contacted composer Kenny Loggins.

   "I have a Pepsi ad and I want to use your 'danger zone', are you okay? Well, I'll ask them to contact your agent and buy the right to use it."

   “Boom…boom…boom…”

  The familiar "Top Gun" opening scene When the f-14a fighter took off from the aircraft carrier, the background music was used again in the scene where Fox went to buy Pepsi. Great sense of humor.

  …

   "This is the 90 second version, this is the 60 second version, this is the 30 second version..."

  Ronald took the cut and transcribed it into a videotape and showed it to creative director Darcy Maguire.

   "Oh, you made it, it's like a trailer for a movie."

  Maguire is very satisfied with Ronald's performance.

   "I think so too, so I tried to absorb some elements of popular movies. Fortunately, Michael J. Fox himself is the star of 'Back to the Future' and 'The Secret of Success', so there is no problem with borrowing elements."

   "And you are also the director of 'Top Gun'. Pepsi's money is really worth it. I'll show it to the marketing director of Pepsi."

   "Okay, I'll wait for your transfer check, hahaha."

   Soon, news came from Pepsi's headquarters. Ronald's ad, which was met with rave reviews. They all felt that finding Ronald and persuading two well-known movie actors to agree to condescend to shoot commercials was a huge bargain.

   So payment is very fast. The next day, Ronald got a transfer check, which was a good supplement to the lost advertising and solved most of the problems.

   "Fox and Helen have also been paid, and Pepsi is very happy. This 90-second commercial will premiere at this year's Super Bowl. Then the 60-second and 30-second versions will start rolling on major public television stations."

   "Very good, and I'm very satisfied. Michael J. Fox, and his good friend John Candy, are fans of the Super Bowl, you can make some arrangements."

After receiving a hint from Ronald, Darcy Maguire immediately went to discuss with Pepsi and presented the two Canadian actors with a good spot for the Super Bowl scene. At halftime, after the commercial was released, the camera just cut to Fox. , come to a linkage. …

   "Very good cooperation, Ronald, do you want to shoot other commercials? I have McDonald's, Burger King, Green Arrow, Unilever, Procter & Gamble..."

  "Except P&G", Ronald interrupted. I need cash now, and I have a quick and easy project, so why not make some money?

  "Ronald", Nisita knocked on the door and walked in, interrupting Ronald and Darcy Maguire's plan to make a fortune.

   "What's the matter?" Ronald frowned when he saw him.

   "There is a problem with the rating, Eddie has already dealt with it, you have to prepare", Nisita attached to Ronald's ear and said softly.

   Ronald also frowned, and he turned back and asked in Nisita's ear, "Is that the old stubborn Jew?"

   "I'll go first. When you are free, we are talking about further cooperation." Darcy Maguire looked at the faces of the two and knew that there was a big thing to deal with, so he asked to leave first.

   "Okay, thank you, I'll contact you when I have news."

   Ronald, who sent Maguire away, came back and closed the door, and immediately asked, "What's going on? Who's making trouble? Is there any news from Michael Douglas?"

   "Don't worry, I got on the phone with Michael Douglas and he said his father Kirk didn't move. It doesn't have to be Jewish. It's common for mpaa to bully small producers, small distribution companies.

   It’s just that you were so careful this time, that you didn’t have any frontal exposure shots, and it was rated R, which is a bit unexpected, and we still have the opportunity to appeal for revisions. "

   "Fuck, why are our independent producers and independent distribution companies being bullied like this? It's also difficult to determine whether it's Jewish influence."

   In the evening, Ronald called Daydream's general manager Eddie, distribution manager Michelle Cannold and others to have a meeting to discuss countermeasures. "

   "What if we cut out a little more revealing **** scenes?" Michelle Cannold asked.

   "Don't be naive..." Eddie replied.

   "Yeah, I have participated in a movie "Endless Love" before, and I was the heroine when Brooke Shields was popular. Just because the distributor was a newcomer in the industry at the beginning, I was called back five times in a row."

   "Have you ever thought that if the rating is r, it may be a gimmick to attract audiences?" Michelle Cannold spoke again.

   Everyone looked at Ronald together.

"Well...it's not right," Ronald thought for a while before rejecting the opinion. "It's feasible to use the R-rating to attract audiences to those movies that are originally aimed at adult audiences. But our ' Spicy body dance' is aimed at teenage female audiences aged 14-18. If you don't do pg-13, it won't work."

  If a movie aimed at teenagers is rated as R, it almost certainly means that the box office will be cut in half. Many movie theaters in big cities require the company of adults to accompany R-rated movies, and many teenagers will not watch them if they are too annoying.

"Why is this happening? I watched Spielberg's Indiana Jones, and there were also a lot of unsuitable shots in it. Wasn't it also rated pg in the end? Later, a pg-13 rating was added to give these hints. , films that do not expose."

   Michelle Cannold's assistant, Dolly Burnsteen chimes in.

"That's not the same, Universal and Columbia, they have someone in mpaa..." Nisita opened his mouth and explained that these distribution teams from Weston are used to the distribution of video tapes in the market, and these regular theatrical distribution operations , still learning to explore, often speaking in layman.

   "So, do we have anyone there?" Dolly Burnsteen asked Ronald.

   "Yes, I have someone too..."

   Ronald suddenly realized, why didn't he use these relationships in advance? It seems that the operation of releasing movies is still too unfamiliar.

   "Let me make a few calls."