Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 413

"Darryl Vidal is no longer in Los Angeles. I checked the karate gym where he used to be, and it has closed down. His name is also not in the phone book of Los Angeles and surrounding counties. I'm trying to find a way to find it. The record of the last time he rented may have gone to other cities."

  Richard reports to Ronald in the office on the search for a karate coach.

   "Thank you, Richard, if I can't find it, I'll find another way." Ronald was very satisfied with Richard, he was always very attentive to what he had assigned.

"This is the karate you asked for, and the records of Japanese-Americans in California, and the records in various libraries in Los Angeles. I called and asked for you." Richard took out another piece of paper and recorded a few records on it. The home library has a relatively complete historical record of Ryukyu Karate.

  Because the Eastern Ying people were hostile to America in World War II, they did not have a complete cultural institution in Los Angeles like other ethnic groups to collect and preserve the historical records of their own nation. Many existing cultural institutions were built at the expense of Japanese-funded enterprises after the economy took off, and there is no history of local Japanese descent.

   For the next few weeks, Ronald spent the next few weeks in various libraries, searching for karate and American Japanese history. He brought classification cards, and when he saw interesting history, he recorded it.

  If the library can make copies, even better, spend some money to copy the contents of the old magazines and newspapers. Even more convenient are several university libraries in Los Angeles, which are equipped with a microphotography system, which can be checked on the computer, and then transferred to the microfilm, which can be browsed with a special microscope, and can be printed directly when the required materials are encountered.

   Ronald's investigation found that, in fact, before World War II, Japanese people settled in California on a large scale. It also introduced traditional martial arts such as karate and judo to the west coast.

   Before Bruce Lee was born, karate still paid attention to the inch-stop, that is, the point was reached, and the move stopped before the opponent's key point was hit, and it was not really hit. In this way, the American people who advocate blood are dissatisfied, and the karate competition held has never been supported by any audience.

  It wasn't until Bruce Lee demonstrated some of his unique tricks at a karate conference that the public had a strong interest in karate. Various competitions have been organized around the world.

  Under the influence of Bruce Lee's ideas, everyone began to formulate various karate rules for real hits. The common point is to hit the effective part of the opponent's body to score points. However, the rules of each tournament are different, and some only prohibit hitting the vital parts such as the eyes, throat, and lower gears. Others pursue safety and must wear a lot of protective gear, even kicking the head, hitting the back of the body, etc. are prohibited.

   In general, the karate competition in California is still in a state of confusion. There is no unified organization and association to formulate standards, and the level is also very different.

   On this day, Ronald walked out of the Albert Kinney Memorial Library next to Venice Beach, where there are some materials about the early Japanese in Los Angeles.

  Ronald lived here for a while while filming "High School of Rock", and also opened a portrait photography studio for a while to make a little money.

  Break dancing is becoming more and more popular in Venice, Los Angeles. The scene where the heroine and several Latinos and blacks learn to dance in "Lightning Dance" has become a new fashion trend. Ronald saw several lads also forming a circle around the terrazzo floor, imitating the dance moves from the movie.

  One of the young people on crutches is still correcting movements and teaching essentials to others, as if he is the boss of break dance in this place.

   Ronald felt curious, so he stopped and watched, why so many dancers are convinced of a disabled person.

   "Come on, come on, Handyman" The boys roared and asked the handicapped person to do a dance.

The original meaning of   Handyman is a repairman, but this nickname is a bit bizarre to describe the man on crutches. Not only were his feet stunted, but Ronald looked a little stunted, a typical symptom of polio, and he must have been a repairman who needed to climb up and down.

  Handyman did not refuse, he threw his crutches and fell on the terrazzo floor. Then, with both hands ready, Thomas, who started the gymnastics, took a full spin. His feet were weak, but it didn't hinder his wonderful movements at all, and he was about to play.

   Then he straightened up with a carp, and then began to pivot on the ground with his back and rotate. Although the legs and feet are disabled, the movements are smooth and smooth, which is very beautiful. A pair of disabled legs turned, and there was no problem at all. All supported by two hands.

   "No wonder he is nicknamed 'Handyman'", Ronald couldn't help clapping his hands beside him.

   "Ronald, is that you?" A middle-aged woman passed by with a cloth bag and couldn't help crying when she saw Ronald.

   "Ah, hello Mrs. Weber!" Ronald recognized as his neighbor who was renting a house in Venice at the time, and had hired her and her daughter when doing portrait photography.

   Ronald hugged her warmly, "I'm still working in the film industry, but I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you? How are you doing? How is your daughter?"

   "I'm fine, my daughter graduated from high school and works as a cashier in a supermarket. She works very hard, her boyfriend is a nice Latino boy, and she works in a law firm after college..."

   Mrs. Weber was of Irish descent, and actually had a feud with America's cousin, the British. They are also mainly Catholic, so they do not shy away from intermarrying with Latinos of the same Catholic faith. And Latinos can go to college and work in law firms, which is a very good marriage for Mrs. Weber's daughter.

  Invited Mrs. Weber to have a cup of coffee, and it was a pleasant surprise to meet the old neighbors. Ronald decided to set the background of the protagonist to Mrs. Weber's family. An Irish-born single mother, for a job opportunity, took her daughter, no, the son in the script, and drove all the way to Los Angeles to pursue her dream.

   And this Webber boy's dream lover is set up as an upper-middle-class family in the local area. He has an independent big house in the suburbs. His father works well and earns a lot of money. His mother is a full-time housewife.

  School Flower's boyfriend is a classmate of the same school and also belongs to the wealthy middle class. Because of his tendency to violence, he formed a bullying organization with a wave of little boys, bullying weak boys every day. When he beat the protagonist one day, his violent behavior was discovered by his girlfriend, so he proposed to break up on the spot.

  The school flower's boyfriend thinks that this is caused by the protagonist. He wants to get back with his girlfriend and fails, so he comes to bully the protagonist every day. The protagonist's face, which is often bullied by him, is covered in scars.

  The protagonist was unbearable, and found a karate training class. He learned from the Ryukyu karate master and learned the secrets of authentic Ryukyu karate. The protagonist shines in the tournament and wins the championship.

   But the heroine of the dream lover, seeing that the protagonist has also become learning martial arts, after winning the championship by violent means, remembered the violent ex-boyfriend, and was not salty or indifferent to the protagonist.

  Xiaohua's ex-boyfriend failed again to ask for reconciliation, and this time he came to beat the protagonist to vent his anger. After learning martial arts, the protagonist defeated the bullying villain and ordered him to stop harassing his ex-girlfriend, the school girl.

   In the end, when the protagonist was able to beat the bully boy with a heavy hand, he put down his fist again, because martial arts do not necessarily require the same violent means to bully back.

   The heroine who happened to see all this, and because of this incident, changed her view of the protagonist and kissed him.

  After writing the main story, Ronald began to add details and characters' stories every day with difficulty. Without the help of Dreamland, it is estimated that this movie may not be a good box office, and it has not been made into a video tape, and I have not seen it in my previous life.

   Just as Ronald is working hard every day, "Girls in the Valley" is in its fourth week, and next week his "Night of the Comet" will take over.

   came to the office of Atlantic Pictures again, and Martha Coolidge, the director of "Girls in the Valley", was there, and Ronald had a chat with her.

   In the first two weeks, the word-of-mouth of "Valley Girl" was quite good, and the average box office fell by 30% in the second week. The movie, which had been ready to go offline for a month, only dropped 5% at the box office in the third week.

  Atlantic thought that word of mouth was counterattack, and arranged 100 more theaters, hoping to harvest a Cinderella (Sleepinghit), but the box office in the fourth week was disappointing, down more than 40% from last week.

   Four weekends later, "Girls in the Valley" has dropped $1.5 million per week. The Atlantic's predictions were mostly accurate, and the audience for this urban wacky teen romantic comedy is very concentrated in big cities, and potential audiences are dwindling rapidly.

  Atlantic has focused more on those theaters that performed well in the early stage. The total number of theaters in theaters has fallen by more than 200. It is estimated that the decline will continue next week, and the weekly box office will drop below one million US dollars.

   "In any case, the total box office has been close to nine million dollars, and I finally succeeded." Martha Coolidge was also very emotional when chatting. This movie was also very difficult to shoot, but fortunately, the final result was good, and she was not afraid that she would not be able to stand in Hollywood in the future.

   "Yeah, congratulations, the first movie has received a box office of more than 10 million yuan, and it is estimated that it will exceed 15 million yuan if it turns to long-term screening."

   "Good luck to you too, Ronald, and I hope your movie will be a success too."

  Ronald knew in his heart that Martha Coolidge was still a little unconvinced. Her movie's weekend box office numbers were still good, around 2,000. If her "Night of the Comet" can't be greatly exceeded, the Atlantic Ocean will still plan more theaters for her "Valley Girl".

   (end of this chapter)