Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"I don't have any experience, all I have are lessons..."

In the editing room in Los Angeles, Cameron Crowe shook his head and smiled bitterly when Ronald asked him about asking for advice on TV screenwriters.

Although he cooperated with CBS in 1986 to turn Ronald's directorial debut "Fast-paced Richmond High" into a TV series, it was canceled after only seven episodes were aired.

"Ha, is there anything I can learn about?"

Ronald still knows this old partner very well. Crowe's first movie has just been filmed, and he still has a lot to learn about post-production editing and sound design. Now Crowe is in awe of the film-making process. He will have to wait until his first film is completed and released before he can get used to the requirements for directors in this industry——

Even if you don't have confidence, act confident.

"Well, the biggest lesson is to put the most exciting content in the pilot episode. My two pilot episodes were too focused on the whole and did not show enough content to attract fans."

Crowe paused the music on the editing table and came over to chat with Ronald about his failed TV series experience.

TV series are different from movies in that they are usually filmed and broadcast at the same time. This kind of progress of one episode per week is completely impossible to achieve at the production speed of a movie. Therefore, each episode usually has a different director and is staggered so that there is enough preparation time for shooting and editing.

The screenwriters and directors of each episode are different, and the actors receive training from different scripts and directors. In order to produce a consistent style, someone must oversee the style of all episodes, so as to ensure the consistency of the quality of the TV series.

Cameron Crowe plays just such a character in the TV version of the fast-paced project. But he was inexperienced and didn't have much experience as a director, so he made many mistakes. As a result, the ratings dropped all the way from the high point at the beginning of the broadcast, and the show was cut in half after the seventh episode.

According to Crowe, the biggest mistake he made was not filling the first two pilot episodes with the most interesting content.

In this way, because of the movie version directed by Ronald, the audiences who came in droves found that the core of the character had changed and were very disappointed. Except for the surfer Spicoli played by Sean Penn in the original version, the other characters were not as distinctive as the movie version, and I abandoned the show after watching a few episodes.

But viewers of the TV series who have never watched the movie can still watch it. The TV series is more or less a gossip romance drama about high school students, with many interesting plots. But gradually after the fifth episode, the plot lacked many famous and exciting scenes in the movie version. The ratings plummeted and never rose again.

"It was only after I finished filming "Love in the Heart" that I realized that those actors were not bad at acting. For example, we played Linda with Claudia Wells, Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker in "Back to the Future"... However, several screenwriters and directors had conflicts over the design of her role, and the final performance was inconsistent. Separation..." After Crowe became a film director, looking back at his early work, he suddenly became much enlightened.

In short, when shooting a TV series, it is better to be mediocre than to polish certain moments like a movie. On the contrary, TV dramas should try to avoid arranging more difficult single scenes, because this will cause the actors to perform poorly due to troubles with their acting skills, thus affecting the already tense filming schedule.

It seems that the production process of TV series and movies determines that the filming of the two is not the same thing at all. Ronald felt that it was better to find professionals to do this.

"Ronald, let me show you something..."

After talking about the TV series, Cameron Crowe took a tape from the drawer, then rewinded a scene on the editing table and showed it to Ronald.

A particularly beautiful picture appeared on the monitor. The male protagonist played by John Cusack held up a Toshiba dual-card dual-speaker cassette recorder with both hands, playing it in the yard in front of the heroine played by Helen Slater. Singing songs, trying to win her heart back.

"That's great. You took it during the magic light moment before sunset, right? It's great." Ronald praised. Crowe has good artistic taste and knows when the decisive moment is when he should invest more to win the hearts of the audience.

"Ronald..."

Just when Ronald and Crowe were discussing, Helen Slater's head flashed in from the door, "I heard Richard said you were here, is it convenient for me to come?"

Ronald looked at Cameron Crowe. The editing room is the director's restricted area. Whether the protagonist can come in and watch his own scene mainly depends on the director's decision. Ronald would definitely not allow it, but every director has his own ideas and cannot be generalized.

"Helen, come in, I'm about to show Ronald one of your most exciting performances..."

It seems that Crowe doesn't mind this. He is still in the learning stage and does not find it offensive when people like Ronald and Helen give him any opinions after watching the clips. On the contrary, it can be very helpful feedback.

"Hee..." Helen walked quickly to Ronald's side and sat down close to him. As a woman's nature awakens, Helen begins to use her own advantages to compete.

"I was telling Cameron just now that this shot of holding the cassette recorder under the sunset was very beautiful..." Ronald put his arm around Helen's waist and pointed at the monitor and told her.

Then, Ronald seemed to remember something. He took a piece of paper from the table, tore it in half, and folded it into two sitting paper figures, one tall and one short. Put down on the table some distance away.

This is a method taught to him by Walter Murch. By stacking two paper figures representing the audience in proportion, he can better identify problems with the picture based on the appropriate proportions of the screen.

"What is this? These two people folded it very interestingly." Helen picked it up and looked at it. Ronald folded the paper figures very lightly, and they looked like a man and a woman. This is the paper folding method that Ronald learned from Xujiahui Studio.

"Can you give it to me?" Helen smiled and put the two paper figures away in her bag.

Cameron Crowe was watching from behind the paper man and wondering if there was any problem with his editing. He also felt that this method was very intuitive. The monitor was too small and he often forgot the screen size ratio when editing.

"Of course, I'll stack two myself..." Crowe didn't mind, "By the way, Ronald, what do you think of this soundtrack?"

"I think it's very good. The lyrics match the plot quite well." Ronald listened to this rock song and looked at the name on the editing notebook. He was from the band The Sthereens. "Girls like you ”.

"I just think it's too much of a match, it might be a spoiler, and in this scene, the song doesn't have the power to penetrate." Crowe said, taking out the tape just now, putting it into the tape recorder on the post stage, and then Aligning the time, another piece of music played.

"I love that sometimes I get lost

As the days pass, this emptiness fills my heart

When I want to escape, I drive away

But no matter where I go

I always come back to where you are."

"This one is indeed better. What's its name?" Ronald asked Crowe.

"Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes", Crowe's wife is a rock singer, he must have chosen these soundtracks well.

"Let's use this one." Rona stood up and hugged Helen to leave.

"Wait a minute, Ronald, this is what I'm discussing with you..." Crowe hesitated for a moment, then said the purpose, "Peter Gabriel is very concerned about the use of his songs in movies. He mentioned The price is too high, my budget for the soundtrack and interludes has been exhausted, and this song is more than the budget, but I really feel that this song will bring the movie to a higher level..."

"How much more do you need?" Ronald understood that he was running out of money and asked him to increase the budget. Crowe was a little more naive and found someone to write a specially written soundtrack in advance. The lyrics spoiled the plot and wanted to be a famous song by a famous singer. I was doing interludes, but I had no money again.

"One million dollars..."

"Hey..." Ronald almost laughed. For their own sake, 20th Century Fox invested in the film and acted as its distributor. It was Crowe's first time directing a large-scale commercial production, and he had the privilege of being a director with experience in several films.

budget of $15 million.

As a result, not a penny was spent, and the soundtrack cost a million dollars a song. Can you spend more money than me?

"Cameron, you may regard a movie as a work of art, but the movie itself is still a commodity. We also need to pay attention to the return on investment. It is not a good idea to invest more than 20% of the money in music for a movie."

Ronald tried his best to be tactful, but the star Crowe was still shocked. He regretfully took out the tape and locked it in the drawer. It was because of his inexperience. If he had not wasted so much time during the filming, he would have money now. Best song ever.

"I understand, I will find a cheap and good episode..." Crowe sent Ronald out the door.

…

"Ronald, why are you talking to Crowe like that..." Helen reached the Ferrari sports car and raised an objection to Ronald dissatisfied. "He's your friend, not your employee, Ronald."

"Why did I speak?" Ronald didn't understand.

"The way you spoke to him seemed like a senior was lecturing a junior. But a few years ago, you were both newcomers to the industry, and you were filming together. I heard him say that you were fighting side by side against a guy from Universal. Vice President, I thought you were good friends."

"We are good friends, but business has its own rules..."

"Ronald!" Helen suddenly raised her voice in protest, "But the way you speak is not how you treat a friend. You could have said this in the tone of a friend, and it would not have hurt Crowe. It will be much smaller."

"Gah..." Ronald stepped on the brakes and parked the Ferrari that had been driven out to charge the battery on the side of the road. "Did I really have a bad attitude towards him?" He had successfully gotten used to it during this period, maybe subconsciously. With an attitude that teaches Crowe.

"Movies are a commodity...not a good idea..." Helen Slater repeated what Ronald had just said.

"OK, thank you..." Ronald is also a director himself. When dealing with artists, respect is the most important, but also the most scarce. He accidentally adopted the tone of a businessman and unknowingly stabbed his old friend.

"What do you think of that piece?" Ronald restarted the car. He re-examined the expressiveness of this episode. Does it match the camera well?

"Of course, in this section, the heroine is angry with the hero and lies at home unwilling to communicate with him anymore. The hero doesn't know what to do, so he has to use all the methods he can think of to attract the other person's attention. What a romantic paragraph... "

"Yeah..." Ronald was reminded by Helen, and he felt that this episode was the ultimate romance in the eyes of high school students.

There is an unpolished innocence in Cameron Crowe's movies, but it is this innocence that gives people power.

This is a typical feeling of a talented director's first work. Although Crowe's grasp of the business aspect is not very smooth, some areas may require more experience and have not reached the ideal state.

However, Ronald is already very satisfied with this performance. This is more spiritual than Emile Adorino in The Beauty and John Waters in Hairspray. The talent is simply overflowing.

"Thank you, Helen..." Ronald stepped on the accelerator. His money was getting more and more, and his status in the industry was getting higher and higher. It was rare to have a friend who could communicate with him as frankly as before.

[In view of the general environment,

Moreover, Helen often has high vision but low power, but her own vision is not bad.

"Hehe, that's what I love about you, Ronald. You must not become a businessman like Mr. Goldberg, who only considers return on investment."

Ronald found the company's music director, Jimmy Lehner, and shared his ideas. Lena immediately went to discuss the matter with the singer Peter Gabriel.

I heard that Ronald asked for it and gave him the money readily. The singer, who was traveling in Europe, agreed to Ronald's request and officially authorized the song.

Song for the crew to use. However, he also asked the director to tell him the plot again to ensure that there was nothing inconsistent with his song.

"Cameron, I came back and thought about it again. You may be right. The addition of this song to this scene and even this movie is immeasurable by a million. You should call Gabriel quickly. Call me, and if his quotation is suitable, I will top up the budget."

"Great, Ronald, I'll contact you right now..." Crowe hung up the phone excitedly. He was really lucky to have such a good friend investing.

"Rick (Nisita), where are we talking?" Ronald put down the phone and said to Nisita and public relations consultant Michael Gray who came over to talk about the Golden Globe Awards.

"How do you bribe the judges of the Golden Autumn Awards..." Niceta grinned.

The judges of the Golden Globe Awards are nominally members of the Hollywood Correspondents Association of Foreign Media. Except for a few, less than ten, who are truly professional journalists, most of them are people who have taken up a quota and come to do an easy job to enhance their resumes, especially women.

These people may not particularly need money, but they particularly need respect. One of the privileges of the Golden Globe Awards judges is to have close contact with the stars. This is why the Golden Globe Awards are generally awarded to stars who agree to attend the awards ceremony.

"That's it. Then you can help me contact the working girl celebrities and see which one of them is willing to go over and chat with these reporters."

As a result, Harrison Ford has shifted his focus to the latest "Raiders of the Lost Ark" film, but Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffiths, and Joan Cusack (Sing) Even the sister of John Cusack who held up the tape recorder agreed to come over to participate in public relations.

After arranging the work of "Working Girl" to compete for the Golden Globe Awards and sending everyone away, Ronald had the opportunity to spend some time with Helen.

Helen, who has blond hair, is talking to two little paper figures in the bedroom, "This is Ronald, this is Helen...ah, Ronnie, are you here?"

Ronald took a quick step, threw himself on the bed, hugged Helen tightly and kissed her. He was very grateful to Helen. If there is any special advantage about Helen, it is that this woman is very innocent, adheres to principles in her views on things, and will not follow what he says just because of Ronald.

"Dududu..." The hotel phone rang again.

"Hey...who is it?" Ronald said angrily.

"It's me, Crow. Gabriel has already agreed. He said that he thought it was another movie and they wanted to use this song, but after hearing about the plot of my movie, he no longer hesitated. He gave us this song and gave it a 10% discount..."

"Congratulations... I'm waiting to see your finished film..." Ronald simply unplugged the phone line...

"I'm coming..." Ronald lay down on the bed again. The two little paper figures were bounced up by Simmons, and then fell on the bed again, falling together.