Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 416 Celebration Party

  The box office numbers continued to be good Tuesday night, with The Atlantic throwing a party for "Night of the Comet."

  Atlantic is very expensive, booked a large room at the Hilton Hotel, and there are champagne, oysters, and a variety of dim sum delicacies on the buffet-style party. People associated with the film were on hand to congratulate, Ronald dressed in a gown and bow tie, saying hello to people he knew and didn't know.

   In the first week of box office, there is no suspense to see the trend of breaking through 5 million. The investment can be recovered in the first week of release, and the leaders of Atlantic Pictures are full of pride and ambition.

"Ronald, why don't you sign a long-term film contract with us, and then we will invest in your script, so you don't have to worry about financing, and we can focus on developing distribution channels, which is a win-win situation. "

   President Tom Coleman personally brought Ronald a glass of champagne and persuaded Ronald to sign at least three or more film contracts with them.

   "What type of movie do you want to make? How much can you invest?" Of course Ronald knew that Atlantic couldn't invest in every script, or conditions.

"Certainly movies like 'Night of the Comet', we predict, teen-related movies, will be the next direction, and your movies with Martha Coolidge prove that, we just follow the proven formula Going forward, you can reap more success.”

   "Proven formula?"

"Yeah, teen audiences, plus all kinds of genres. Or teenizing genres, teen horror, teen romance, teen sci-fi, teen family relationships, we can make as many genres as we have successful genres. The teen version of success."

   "It's a good idea, and I'll discuss it with my agent." Ronald clinked his glasses, reluctant to talk about it right away. Atlantic seems to have tasted the sweetness, and wants to continue to play small and big in teen low-budget exploits.

   But Ronald has doubts about Atlantic Pictures. In this film release, Atlantic is not very strong. The release schedule is stuck before the release of several blockbusters in the summer, and there is no financial strength to engage in marketing. In terms of contacts and experience, it is all from scratch. It's not so much that their distribution business is off to a good start, it's better to say that they have turned to two good movies.

   It's better to wait and see their next release performance and their ability to collect money from the theater.

   "That's a good idea, I'll let my agent continue the chat with you." Ronald pushed his agent, smiling and toasting Tom Coleman.

"Very good, if there is such a thing in the future, you can push it to me." Nisita in the corner, after Tom left, quickly leaned up. He has been staring at Ronald not far from the side, like Like wild animals staring at their own territory, staring at every move of those who want to come and try to match Ronald. This will not prevent Ronald from socializing, and he can stare at people who come to poach at any time.

   "Night of the Comet" cast and crew basically came to the party, with the exception of Kelly Maloney, who played sister Samantha. After the film's release, Maroney landed his coveted TV resident role and has returned to New York to shoot.

  The TV series that Katherine Mary Stewart originally filmed also called her to go back to filming. The screenwriter brought her character back to life, and ran back to continue rowing with the other protagonists in the daytime soap opera.

   This is also one of the reasons why Ronald likes to make his own movies. The executive producers who are high on the list in Hollywood have no ability to distinguish between good and bad actors. The set of theories they talk about is nothing more than an afterthought after the success of actors and directors.

   If the movie is successful, all the actors will rise to the sky. At least when other crews are looking for them, they will remember their success in "Night of the Comet" and will charge a higher price.

   The same goes for the staff. Art director John Mutto has a wide range of interests. He has been asked to be the visual director for one animation, and he continues to be the art director for several live-action films.

  Director of Photography Arthur Albert is even more popular. Many TV series, music TV, and commercials are all lining up to invite him to shoot.

   After all, the film's shabby budget produced such a good apocalyptic effect, and both of them became treasures. It is generally believed in the industry that the success of "Night of the Comet" should be given a large part of the credit for the two of them.

The special effects director James Cameron made the two investors in "Terminator", Orion and Heimdale, completely assured of him. Gale said that the producers sent by the producer had a good attitude towards them. a lot.

  The two have to leave early, and then go home to write "First Blood" and the sequel script of "Alien". After watching "Night of the Comet", the two producers happily gave Gale an advance check. With such special effects skills, they are very confident in writing scripts that require various special-shaped and explosive special effects, and they all think that they have taken advantage of signing Cameron in advance before the movie is released.

  Ed Limato, the Italian agent of William Morris, also joined up, "Ronald, you are a good guy, my two clients, after this, are considered to be on the stairs, cheers!"

"Don't be like this, I'm just here to thank Ronald on behalf of the client, who else could steal him from you?" Limato saw Nisita, who was always there from the moment he came over, and had a chat with fellow villagers. joke.

   After Kevin Costner made this movie, he had a little money and other commercials came to him to shoot. Instead of working as a carpenter on the Paramount set to earn a living, he could spend more time taking acting classes.

  Nicholas Cage was even happier. The connection sold two low-budget films, one leading role and one cameo, and his film contract went well under the auspices of Limato. If it weren't for his preference for works that could hone his acting skills, some commercial productions would also come to him to choose.

  Ronald is very happy that his film has increased the value and opportunities for those involved. Hollywood is like this, you can increase the value of others, and others will be willing to cooperate with you. If you can have such a good reputation, you will not have to worry about not having a famous actor to play your own movies in the future.

   "Hi Mary, thank you for your kind words over there in The Interview."

   Ronald saw Mary Voronoff approaching and went up to hug him and congratulate him.

   "Andy Warhol, that bastard, actually found a young guy who graduated from college to write a film review." Mary is still a straight person, what to say.

   "It turned out really well though, compliments your performance and the whole movie to the sky."

   "That kid can really write it." Mary downed the champagne.

   "Do you have a new movie deal?" Ronald asked. Mary Voronoff's participation in movies has been rocky since Roger Coleman sold New World.

   "I've received a lot of TV and movie offers, I'm not greedy."

   "Actually, your acting skills are still wasted." Ronald knew that TV movies were filmed on film, but the purpose was to show them on TV, not movies in theaters.

  This kind of film is generally a narrow screen, and the lens design and lighting also have strong TV marks. For Mary Voronoff, participating in TV movies is as easy as drinking water and eating.

"You also have to be careful, Ronald. The most important thing is to have a stable income. Now even the best-selling movies are released on videotapes, and the finely crafted acting skills in the future will be no different on the small TV screen. It’s better to shoot more and earn more money.”

   "Hey, too."

   Ronald also heard the news. Paramount's "Blitzkrieg" has just been out for five weeks and has been solidly standing above $5 million for the first four weeks of the weekly box office, only to drop to just over $4.8 million this week.

   With such box office results, in previous years, everyone had to celebrate and increase marketing investment, but this year, Paramount has already started recording and selling the "Lightning Dance" video tape.

  The Supreme Court's decision has been issued, and various videotapes are sold, and rented shops are more and more on the streets of Los Angeles every day.

  Paramount seems to be not optimistic about the box office in theaters. As soon as there is a downward trend, it will immediately start selling video tapes. I'm afraid that the phenomenon of "ET Alien" pirated copies sold all over the sky last year will reappear. The idea of ​​capital is simple and practical.

   Anyway, the verdict has been issued, and it is not against the law to rip videotapes. Rather than giving the money to pirates, or to viewers who rip it at home, I'd rather make it myself.

   At this moment, Richard hurried in, "Ronald, this is a record of sending flowers. Will it be weekly after that?"

   That is the receipt that Ronald ordered Richard to send flowers to Helen Slater in London. He took out the checkbook and opened another for Richard.

   "Yes, let's continue to send at this frequency." Since Ronald came back, he was a little concerned that Helen was alone in the crew and that he couldn't visit the class often. So I often send flowers to remind Helen, and also show my presence to the rest of the crew.

"In addition, there is news about the Daryl Vidal you asked me to find. He is currently learning Wing Chun at Zhenfan Martial Arts Hall in San Francisco. After hearing that, he wants to open a karate dojo by himself. Professor Bruce Lee A martial art that incorporates martial arts philosophy."

   "San Francisco? How is he now?"

   "Without the money, he has actually mastered Wing Chun, and he has also learned a lot of martial arts from other countries and schools, but he has no money to open a martial arts hall, so he can only earn money by working in the Zhenfan martial arts hall."

   "Then invite him to come to Los Angeles. I'll pay for it. I want to talk with him about karate-related things in the script of the new movie."

   "No problem, he can come over anytime, and I'll rent him a motel." Richard agreed.

   (end of this chapter)