Chapter 241 Are you ready?

   "Are you ready?" Richard, the manager, picked up Ronald at the boarding gate at Los Angeles Airport and asked him with a smile.

   "What are you preparing for?" Ronald was wearing a dark blue blouse, gray pants, and polished brown-red leather shoes. He was carrying a suitcase, and waved goodbye to several beautiful blond-haired stewardesses in uniform.

  A person depends on clothes. Ronald's body shape that he has exercised all year round, coupled with the handmade suits made by the red gang tailors, made the flight attendants of Pan Am Airlines take the initiative to talk to him.

   But after learning that he claimed to be a film director, the beautiful stewardesses who often fly the Los Angeles-New York line thought that such a young Ronald was trying to catch them as a joke, so they said goodbye to him happily without leaving a note.

   "Are you ready to compete for a 'fast-paced' director?" Richard took Ronald's luggage with a smile and put it in the trunk of his car.

   "Do you need to ask? Otherwise, what am I doing in Hollywood?" Ronald sat in the co-pilot and fastened his seat belt. Richard's new car is a white Corolla from Japan, and he bought it with the commission he received from serving Ronald. It looks small on the outside, but it has a lot of space inside.

Richard put on the gear, "The director is the most critical position in a movie, which is related to the success or failure of the movie's box office. It is also related to my income and my future in CAA. This is the first time you are competing for the director's position, I think Ask about your state of mind, it seems that your state of mind is good."

   "I've been preparing for this day, don't make me nervous, Richard." Ronald joked.

Richard turned the steering wheel and got onto the road, saying: "It's an interesting situation, David Lynch has dragged Tom Mount for a long time and tricked us CAA, and now he has taken over the Italian producer Rafaela De Laurentiis' project—

   Frank Herbert's film adaptation of the classic science fiction novel "Dune", responsible for the screenplay and direction. "

   "Isn't he not interested in sci-fi movies?" Ronald still remembered Lynch's reasons for spreading everywhere after he turned down the director job of the next Star Wars.

   "Lynch said that wasn't his exact words. He said his exact words were, 'I'm not interested in any sci-fi movie unless it incorporates other, deeper human elements.'"

   "Ahem", Ronald choked himself from laughing, didn't this make George Lucas even more uncomfortable? An allusion to Star Wars that there is no deep human element.

"It's his choice anyway. And he said something similar when he turned down Universal president Tom Mount's offer to direct 'fast-paced Richmond High.' I heard Nisita say that he said ..."

   "What he said is that the script is quite interesting, but it's not my style." Richard drove the car directly to the CAA office, and Nisita asked Ronald to come to the office for an interview first.

   "Then Lynch wished good luck to everyone present, didn't say anything else, and didn't give Tom Mount a chance to stay, and drove away in his own Volkswagen Beetle."

  Nisita shook her head. This kind of maverick artist demeanor is really annoying sometimes. And the Hollywood star's tactful and flattering way of rejecting each other's words is the most normal practice in the film industry.

   "I still don't quite understand what's going on. Didn't Lynch express a lot of interest? Why did he suddenly refuse?"

   "Producer Rafaela De Laurentiis gave his 'Dune' movie a production budget of more than $30 million, and the writing and directing rights belonged to Lynch."

   "Oh", that's right, Ronald understood. "Fast-paced Richmond High" is just a teen comedy with a $3 million budget, one-tenth of the previous one. Moreover, for this kind of studio project, the power of the director is not so great, and he will be restricted by the producer.

   "This Italian, Laurentiis, is very courageous." Ronald envied Lynch for such a big production.

   "That's not true, he also has a last resort." Nisita shook his head and explained to Ronald.

   It turned out that Laurentiis had bought the rights to adapt Dune from another producer. At the end of this year, the right to adapt will expire, and if it is not filmed, it will automatically return to the author Frank Herbert.

   Laurentiis originally found Ridley Scott to direct the film in 1979, but such a large sci-fi film requires complicated production and takes a long time to prepare. In addition, the funds are not in place, so there has been no bidding.

  Scott wasted two years on this project after he sold the blockbuster "Alien" and ended up with nothing.

  The schedule for his next project "Blade Runner" is approaching, but he has no choice but to give up the director of Dune.

   In order to prevent the adaptation rights from being automatically transferred back to the author at $0, Laurentiis had to negotiate with him to extend the adaptation contract. The author Frank Herbert asked for more filming budget before he was willing to sign the contract. In the end, Laurentiis had to pay a high price to renew the contract. By the way, he also signed the adaptation contract of the two sequels of Dune.

  This David Lynch project is actually a trilogy.

   "Lynch calls this an adult version of 'Star Wars.'"

   Okay, now I offended Lucas again. Fortunately, he is open-minded and not as knowledgeable as you. thought Ronald.

   "So who are my competitors?" Ronald asked.

  "Tom Mount seems to have a candidate he likes, and we are still inquiring about it." Nisita tapped his finger on the table, "However, this is not the biggest reason why I invited you here today."

  Ronald leaned back to make himself more comfortable, and raised his hand to signal Nisita to continue.

   "This year's major studios have begun to realize the importance of youth films, and many studios' youth-themed films will start shooting together in the second half of this year."

  Nisita put a chart drawn by the secretary on the table, and turned it over to show Ronald.

   "Disney's 'Texas' is an adaptation of SE Hinton's novel."

  Ronald nodded, and found this movie that had already been approved and started on the chart. Produced by Kinneman, it tells the story of small-town Oklahoma high school students. The male and female stars are people he knows, Matt Dillon, and Meg Tilly.

   "20th Century Fox's 'Lights Out,'" Nisita continued.

   Ronald's finger slides down. Fox President Shirley Lansing personally gave the green light to the cadet movie, which is a story of a cadet resisting the developer's demolition of the military academy. Timothy Hutton, and Tom Cruise both star.

   "And Grease 2" Nisita continued.

   "What, is Grease 2 activated again?" Ronald asked, sliding his hand down.

   "Yes, after Universal gave up, the owner of RKO Records, Sterwood, decided to invest 6 million US dollars himself, found Paramount to invest 6 million, and started this project again."

   This is another high school movie about high school students in the 1950s and 1960s, a sequel to a blockbuster movie.

   "Why are there so many themes for high school students?" Ronald swipe his finger down, and the next one he wants to fight for is "fast-paced Richmond High School."

   "Not counting a bunch of other teen movies that aren't about high school, next year is going to be the year of the high school movie, Ronald."

   "So?" Ronald is not afraid of competition. From a certain point of view, this gathering phenomenon shows that major studios are beginning to pay attention to this theme, and it is predicted that this theme will explode in the market next year. If it can be directed well, the market prospect is very good.

Nisita smiled. He likes Ronald's attitude of not being afraid of competition. He has a nomination for the best screenplay in his hand. Ronald is also barely qualified. He is looking for a director candidate in the eight major studios. .

   No, there are only seven majors now.

   "I have no doubts about your ability. I, Paula, Richard, and all colleagues in CAA have confidence in you. Except maybe a few Axxholes." Nisita said.

   "I mean, we are willing to do our best to help you get this director position, but this year's situation is indeed a bit special. You may not know that United Artists will soon be acquired by MGM."

"What? Why?" Ronald was quite surprised. United Artists is a studio founded by comedy master Chaplin. It is known for giving the director the greatest artistic decision-making power. is dying, why is it going to annex United Arts now?

   "This has a lot to do with director Michael Cimino." Nisita handed him a newspaper.

   Ronald took a look, it was the Hollywood Reporter. There was a column on it that Nisita had purposely highlighted with a red pencil so that Ronald could see it.

   "This week's box office?" Ronald looked at it suspiciously.

   "Look at this year's box office results. This is the first time in American history that the weekly movie box office is published in newspapers."

   Ronald lowered his head and looked carefully. This year is almost the summer holiday season, and there is no movie with a total box office of more than 35 million US dollars. That Western with Diane Lane was among them, and it was a disastrous box office failure, with just over $500,000.

   "Heaven's Gate" is slightly better, already has $3 million. But considering its 44 million production budget...

"Michael Cimino's demand to take back the re-edited Heaven's Gate lost again at the box office. Now with this kind of weekly box office reveal, audiences go to the charts to pick movies, so no one goes to see it .

  United Artists' parent company, Pan Am, has decided to sell the studio that made the company a laughingstock, just as MGM is looking at its distribution network. "

   "Cimino has brought down a film studio by himself?" Ronald shook his head, which is considered powerful.

  Nisita looked very serious, "The bad things this fat man did not only sentenced him to death in Hollywood, but also had a great impact on the entire film industry.

  On the one hand, this year's movie box office is very bad, on the other hand, newspapers publish weekly box office results to fuel the flames. Cinema chains are getting more picky about studio films.

  If last weekend’s box office performance is not good, this week will immediately reduce the release of films, and fewer theaters will be released.

  They are still announcing the box office results on TV. Many American families watch the box office rankings on TV to decide whether to drive to the cinema to watch a movie. "

  Speaking, Nisita turned on the TV, pressed the play button of the video recorder, and a box office form popped up, with the host beside him briefly commenting on each movie.

   "I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked.

"Because the film market is shrinking rapidly, the box office this year has dropped by more than 40% compared to the same period last year. This method of announcing box office figures has put more pressure on the studio. harsh.

  Especially if you are a new director, if the box office of your debut work is not good, it may be difficult to have the opportunity to direct a movie in the future. "

   "I don't understand, so?" Ronald asked again.

"There are several reasons. The first is because ticket prices have risen, and there are no big-selling movies this year, and the economy is not good enough to watch movies. In fact, there are more movies released this year than in the same period last year. This is That is to say, the market has more stringent requirements on the quality of movies.

   And your worst case scenario is that of the four high school movies made this year, fast-paced Richmond High has the smallest budget.

  Grease 2’s 12 million budget may increase, and the 14 million with the lights out, even the Texan who has the least money invested by Disney, has 6 million, which is twice as much as yours. "

   "I may not have expressed clearly, Mr. Nisita." Ronald said.

  "I understand the 'fast pace' of my screenwriting, and the budget is at a disadvantage in several films with similar themes, and I also know that if the box office is not good, it will be very difficult for my future director career.

  But which year is it not difficult for a director? No matter who it is, even in the golden age of Hollywood, if the film does not sell, there will be no film.

   All these difficulties will not dampen my enthusiasm for directing a film.

   So, so what? Ronald spread his hands, expressing that he is not afraid of challenges.

   "Very good!" Nisita stopped being wordy, clasped his hands together and placed them on the table, "So you are ready, Ronald."

   "I'm already ready, how about you?"

  (end of this chapter)