Chapter 246 Contract director

  Ronald and his agent, Nisita, came to Universal Pictures to sign a director contract.

  Universal Studios was originally the studio of Universal Pictures and the location base built. It is now an amusement park. When Ronald was filming "High School of Rock," he had a date here with Marla, an extras student at Van Nuys High.

  Revisiting the old place, Ronald has become the director of a theatrical feature film, and the student girl with a good figure has gone to nowhere. Are you still hanging out in the film industry, or are you honestly married and become a housewife?

   Ronald cleared these nostalgic emotions from his head. Today is a landmark day in his life. It should be looking to the future, not looking back to the past.

  The director and the contract have been approved by CAA and Ronald's private lawyer, and after a few back and forth, the terms were finalized.

   Ronald signed a contract to hire a director. Universal hired him to shoot "fast-paced Richmond High," because he was a rookie and didn't get the sort of deals that established directors enjoy.

  It's like Amy Heklin, who lost in the "fast-paced" director competition, signed a director contract because of the appreciation of the president. It was only agreed that Heikelin would produce a film for Universal, without limiting the specific script, which would be negotiated between her and Universal.

  If the first film does well at the box office, you can automatically renew the contract for the other two films. Ronald was indeed a little envious when he heard about it. Why is it that Heikelin is also the first film work, and can get such good conditions?

   Ronald's contract terms are more stringent. Since the tragedy of "Heaven's Gate", Michael Cimino alone bankrupted United Artists, one of the eight major companies, and was acquired by MGM. All major studios have become more stringent on the terms of the director's contract.

  Ronald must comply with the agreement to complete the shooting within seven weeks after the start of the film. If the progress is significantly behind the plan, Universal's producers have the right to fire him. If the daily dailies he shoots fail to pass the review of the producer in a row, and he is asked to reshoot, he also has the right to fire him.

   Of course, judging from the level of Ronald's advanced studies at "Roger Coleman Film University", this possibility is close to zero.

   Those who have the power to fire people are the two producers who signed him today, Art Linson and Irving Azoff.

Among the two, Art Linson started out as a producer. He was the producer of the movie "Mevin and Howard" that beat Ronald's "Fame" and won the best original screenplay at the Oscars. .

But Lin Sen was unwilling to be a producer. His dream in life was to be a director. For this reason, he gave up and continued to make other popular movies. He picked up the director himself and directed a comedy movie "Freak Reporter" by Bill Murray. .

  The blockbuster flopped at the box office and was panned by film critics. He had to return to his career as a producer, overseeing a few small productions for Universal.

   Another producer, Owen Azoff, is actually not very interested in being a film producer. He is an executive at MCA Records and the manager of the popular band Eagles.

  But he is in the MCA group and belongs to Simberg's faction, so he was sent to balance the power of the crew. Moreover, youth films require a lot of rock music for the soundtrack, so it is most convenient for him to handle the copyright matters. So Azoff also came to be the producer.

  A low-cost youth comedy with a budget of 3 million is just for fun.

   "Ronald V. Lee", Ronald signed his signature on the dotted line at the bottom of the contract. This means that he has officially become a "fast-paced" director.

   "Congratulations." The two producers stood up and shook hands with him.

   "Our time is limited, we will be there when the film starts, and we don't have time to go to the crew every day after that. At that time, there will be an executive producer designated by Universal to represent our resident crew."

   "When can I see him?" Ronald asked, he wanted to communicate with the executive producer (LineProducer) earlier to reach a consensus.

   "Soon, she will intervene in the casting stage, and you will be able to meet in a few days."

Ronald and his agent Nisita walked out of the office. The two were on their way to the parking lot. Ronald said with emotion, "For me, this is the first big opportunity in my life. Small production. I thought Tom Mount, and Mr. Hinberg, at least one of them would be there to sign the contract."

   "Don't think so, Ronald. You will sign with them one day, and I am very optimistic about you." Nisita is now more and more satisfied with this client who signed without intention. Not only did he catch up with Simberg's line, but also met Spielberg.

   "Actually, it's not that Mr. Sinberg doesn't pay attention to you. He was involved in something today. Columbia proposed new terms for the transfer of Spielberg's ET."

  The original ET script was not completely abandoned by Columbia, but put into the warehouse of the Turnaround Deal.

  The script that was put into the circulation agreement stated that Columbia had no intention of producing the film in the near future. However, if other film studios want to shoot, they must obtain the consent of Columbia and purchase the shooting rights of the script from here.

  Originally, Nisita came forward to negotiate an agreement with Columbia to purchase the ET script for US$1 million, but for some reason, President Frank Price vetoed this price and insisted on asking for a higher price.

Ovitz quickly followed up the second round of negotiations. Price refused to lower the price anyway. Instead, because of Ovitz's intervention, he raised the price again, and proposed to add 10% of the final net profit of ET Film as part of the Columbia transfer agreement. condition.

   Ovitz didn't know for a moment whether Price was deliberately embarrassing Simberg, or smelled something wrong, so he had no choice but to start a difficult negotiation. Simberg also went to take care of the matter himself.

   "In the end, it will probably talk about a 5% net profit share. Columbia President Frank Price surprised us. He doesn't just read scripts." Nisita joked. "Not sure why Price saw potential in ET."

  In the evening, Ronald found Cameron and Gail, and the three celebrated Ronald in the restaurant. He was the first to realize his dream and become a film director.

"What else could be the reason? It's nothing more than that Price saw a few Jews together and suspected that they conspired to secretly steal away the script that could be sold." Hearing Ronald talking about ET, Cameron blurted out.

   "Don't say that, I remember Gail seems to be Jewish." Ronald said softly.

   "My father is Jewish, but my mother believes in Catholicism. I basically grew up according to Catholic customs." Gail didn't care about these and replied.

   "Do you still remember Jenny from 'High School of Rock'? I remember that her surname is Rosenberg. After filming High School of Rock, she seems to have a good future." Ronald remembered an acquaintance, Jenny started from a very high starting point.

   "Yes, in this industry, the Jewish people have a large network of connections, and it is indeed an advantage to enter the industry." Gail does not deny the status of Jews in the film and television industry.

   "Congratulations to Ronald for realizing his dream first." Gail and Cameron toasted, and the three drank it down.

   "Sinberg, Spielberg, Ovitz, they are all Jewish. And Frank Price is pure Anglo-Saxon descent, his ancestry can be traced back to the passengers on the Mayflower.

   So seeing that all three of them Jewish are involved in this project. It was only natural for Price to be suspicious. If he insisted on keeping ET's script, Spielberg might not start the project right away, but let him go to Universal, leaving a 5% net profit sharing agreement, so that he can earn money no matter what.

   It seems that Frank Price is still very old. "

   After hearing Ronald tell the whole story, Gail analyzed the ins and outs of the incident for the two men using the family wisdom of the Jewish investor's daughter. "

   "Rosenberg, Sinberg, Spielberg, Jewish names are very characteristic." Ronald said.

"Yes, many of the Jewish people in America are actually descendants of Slavs from Eastern Europe. They immigrated here before and after World War II. Of course, some of them changed their names to Anza. For example, my ancestors were originally named Hurwitz. After immigrating to America, it was changed to Hurd.

  Weitz is also a common Jewish surname ending, and Horowitz, for example, is changed to Holtz. Haeckelwitz changed his name to Heekleen. "

   Ronald's heart moved, it seems that Amy Heklin is also Jewish. After these people occupied high positions in the studio, they vigorously promoted Jewish directors and actors. As long as you are Jewish, you can get better opportunities or advance faster than your peers.

   "Ding ding ding...", James Cameron tapped his wine glass with a metal spoon, "I also have an announcement to make. I got the position of special effects director and started shooting immediately."

   "Congratulations!" Ronald came back to his thoughts, raised his wine glass and signaled to Cameron with Gail.

   "What movie?"

   "It is the sequel to "Piranha" directed by Joe Dante. The budget of this project is 500,000 US dollars. No TV station is willing to buy TV rights, and no distributor is willing to pay an advance payment. Roger Corman is unwilling to invest.

   It happened to be an Italian producer, Ovidio Asonitis. He wanted to enter the American film market and invested this money. My special effects work on Clash of the Stars caught his attention.

  I just signed and I'm off to Jamaica for location scouting.

  This script is very interesting, and there are shots of piranhas jumping out of the water and attacking humans. It is much more difficult than the "Piranha" copying "Great White Shark" to hide the danger at the bottom of the water, but it is also more visually impactful. "

   Cameron has also taken a big step forward in his career.

   "So what about you, Gail, any good news?" Ronald looked at Gail smiling, guessing that her career was going well.

   "Yes, Roger asked me to be the executive producer (LineProducer) of several films. After I accumulate some experience, I can become a producer myself."

"congratulate."

  Gail has been working as a production assistant on the crew before, and now he is an executive producer. In the film industry, to become a producer, you have to start as a production assistant, then an executive producer, responsible for the daily management of the set, and then it is your turn to be a producer.

   But no matter what, the word "person" is added after the producer, and the power and title are significantly different, marking the beginning of a career as an official producer.

  The trio who talked about their ideals on the set of "Rock High School" back then have initially realized their ideals. In less than three years, many things have happened, but they are all moving forward slowly but surely.

  Ronald mentioned that he talked about his ideals on the set back then, and the three toasted together to congratulate each other.

   There are only two updates today.

  

  (end of this chapter)