Chapter 58 Script Controversy

  Alan Parker immediately stood up, "Please wait a moment, this movie will be very good, it will greatly increase the reputation of this school and attract more students to apply for the exam."

A school manager with steel-grey hair and wearing half-rim glasses immediately retorted: "Our school has been on the map for forty years, and every year there are hundreds of qualified applicants who are not admitted because they exceed the number of admissions. .Admissions promotion is the last thing we need."

  Producer Da Silva also stood up: "I assure you, this will be a film of very high quality and taste, and it is definitely not the kind of work that slanders and slanders the reputation of the school."

  The school manager who spoke also stood up, propped his hands on the table, and looked directly at the director and producer:

   "Gentlemen, I can't take this risk. Let you smear the reputation of our school like you slandered the reputation of a Turkish prison in the last movie "Midnight Express."

   "Why? When I contacted you last time, everything went well. Why did you suddenly make such a decision?" Producer Da Silva asked the principal.

  The headmaster raised his hand, motioning for the steel-grey-haired school manager to speak.

"Last time when you came to the Academy of Performing Arts, one of our teachers heard the content of the 'Hot Lunch' script that the crew members were discussing. There were female students who were pregnant, campus bullying, racial discrimination, etc., making it up. The plot of the."

"She reported the situation to me. I don't think these episodes, which will never appear in our school, cannot represent the image of the New York Performing Arts Specialized High School. After an emergency meeting of our school board, it was decided to suspend immediately and the production of the 'Hot Lunch' crew Full cooperation."

  The school manager raised his head high, and said contemptuously at the crew members with the whites of his eyes.

  The principal finally added a sentence:

   “This is a joint decision of the Board of Regents and the New York Board of Education.”

   "Crack!" Director Allen slapped the table angrily, and the school manager began to question his last movie, which was already a personal attack.

  Everyone had to get up and leave.

   "Destroy the reputation of Turkish prisons, does that place have a reputation? Or is your school's reputation the same as Turkish prisons? It's inexplicable!"

   "A group of garbage who don't understand art manages a school in the name of art, it's ridiculous!"

  The director was still angry along the way.

  Ronald followed him out of the principal's office. Opposite the playground outside the window was the auditorium, which could accommodate more than 2,000 people.

   It was originally planned to be used to organize this large-scale audition. The senior and graduating students of the whole school will come to participate in the audition. It's all gone now.

   "Crack, crack, crack..." came the sound of a baseball. Ronald saw that there were three young boys who looked like students playing on the playground.

   The catcher caught the pitcher three times, the swinging lad had poor technique, missed a hit and was struck out.

   A group of people walked out of the school gate, Ronald turned around and looked again.

   This is an old stone building built before World War I. The stone walls, with red doors and windows, give people the arrogance of old-fashioned capitalists.

  The Performing Arts High School is located on 46th Street in midtown Manhattan, not far from Times Square, right in the center of the capitalist world, and they do have the right to be arrogant now, and let the "Hot Lunch" crew out.

  …

   "Dxmnit, who leaked the script?" Producer David Da Silva cursed, "If I find out, I will... I will kill this bastard."

   "Don't do this, David. The high school of acting will always find out in the end. The focus now is not to pursue accountability, but to come up with a solution." Director Alan Parker said calmly and rationally, uncharacteristically.

   "Not necessarily, in fact, you can give them a fake script..." Ronald thought to himself.

   "Here comes the coffee." Margaret walked into the meeting room with a tray of coffee, and Ronald hurried forward to help.

   Everyone was in the performing arts high school, and was suddenly attacked by the school board. Now back to the casting studio, an emergency meeting was held to discuss countermeasures.

   "Ellen, you should consider going back to Christopher Gore's script. Let's go back to square one."

  Christopher Gore, this name is a bit familiar. Ronald turned over the script in his hand, and sure enough, "Christopher Gore" was written in the author column

   "No, Chris's version is still a Hollywood package. When I first agreed with the director, I agreed that you would let me write my own version of the script, and Chris only reserved the right of authorship."

"God, Ellen. Why are you so stubborn, the attitude of the showbiz is very clear today, they will not agree with the plots you write, poor black boys, impregnating rich white girls? What New York parents , will you send your daughter to perform high ballet?"

  Producer Da Silva jumped off the stool excitedly.

   "And they also refused us to borrow the shooting location. Where do we go to shoot? If we set up a scene, at least an additional budget of 5 million will be added. The original budget of 8.5 million is based on real-location shooting."

"That's your problem. If you only want Chris's script, why ask me to direct?" Alan Parker said bluntly, "David, you must have wanted to make a different movie. right?"

The director went on to say: "This is 1979, not 1959. The audience no longer buys those false stories. A blockbuster movie must make the audience feel authentic. Could it be that they have been baptized by the 'Godfather'? Can you watch 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

  Producer Da Silva is unwilling to take a step back:

   "Of course I know that audiences need to watch real stories, but truth does not mean copying news documentaries. Movies are a kind of entertainment, and audiences still have to get an upward ending in the end."

   "And we also have to take into account the school's attitude, an appropriate compromise is necessary."

   "Compromise? There is no compromise in art. A little compromise here, a little compromise there, and in the end you can only shoot a bunch of mediocre garbage."

  The producer and the director became more and more noisy, their heads were almost touching each other, and the saliva splashed on each other's face along with the angry words.

   Seeing that they were a little out of control, they were already blushing and had thick necks. Even Margaery couldn't persuade her.

  With an idea, Ronald sent the script forward on purpose. The script fell to the ground with a loud "snap", interrupting the dispute between the two.

   "Sorry." Ronald picked up the script and said.

   "Ronald", the two bosses turned their heads and called out his name at the same time.

   "You happen to be the same age as the story, tell me your opinion, do you like the real world or false stories." Director Allen took the lead in throwing a high-speed straight ball.

   "Yes, Ronald, as far as you are concerned, do you want them to end up in adult movies, can't find a job to serve dishes, or do you want them to realize their dreams when they end up."

  Producer Da Silva takes a swing from the perspective of the American Dream.

   Ronald is very regretful now, so what if these two old **** fight?

  Why do you want to be such a good old man, like a bad catcher, caught in the middle of the pitcher and the strong bat, what should I do?

   If you agree with the director, you will offend the producer, and your job opportunities will definitely go to waste in the next few months. Agree with the producers, that was worse, the director might have fired himself on the spot.

   "Er... er..." His heart turned rapidly, Ronald picked up the script as a cover, flipping left and right.

   What caught the eye was the plot of the singer character CoCo, who was tricked into making a film by a director who made adult films, and she cried very sadly.

   "Why don't we combine the two?" Ronald wondered.

   Combined? The director and producer went into a rage again, "If this can be combined, why are we arguing?"

   "For example, CoCo, she can be cheated, but why not let her get a small job in the end? In this way, her experience is not only in line with reality, but at the end, she also realized a small dream of her own." Ronald said in a low voice.

   "It makes sense, what do you think, Alan?" Producer da Silva asked the director.

  Director Parker stared at Ronald with piercing eyes: "This idea is very good. Ronald, you are the same age as the characters in the play, and your ideas are very valuable for reference."

   "Let's make revisions on this basis and contact the acting arts specialist again?" The director turned his chair to the producer and asked.

  Producer Da Silva replied: "That's it. Then we have to think about how to find alternative shooting locations and how to find other suitable people to audition."

  Hearing this, everyone was a little discouraged again, but the atmosphere was much better than when the swords were tense just now, and they began to actively think of ways to solve the problem.

  Margaery secretly gave Ronald a thumbs up.

   As a result of the discussion, the producers decided to use a three-pronged approach.

  The first is to continue to revise the script and try to negotiate with the New York Academy of Performing Arts again to make them change their minds.

  The second is to find other art high schools in the New York area, such as the New York School of Music and the Academy of American Ballet. Although the number of students in these schools is not as high as that of performing arts colleges, they can accumulate some suitable filming locations and audition students.

  The third is to expand the scope of the joint audition of the two casting companies, and send audition notices to Broadway, Hollywood, and even high school performing arts agencies. In New York, the crew held a sea audition with a scale of thousands of people, and selected eight protagonists.

   Those who cannot be selected as the leading role can also be released to play secondary roles and extras.

  Director Alan Parker came over and said to Ronald, "Take this script back, and when you audition with me these days, think about how to modify it."

  Ronald quickly nodded in agreement.

   "You are the same age, maybe there are some perspectives that we can't see. So don't read the content of the script, but learn its writing format. Then focus on writing two places."

   "The first is the ending of the eight protagonists. In the end, they achieved some small success. For example, when you say that CoCo finds a job, you have to think about what job she can find, earn money and support herself after graduation."

  Ronald quickly nodded in agreement.

   "Don't worry about incomplete thinking, as many protagonists as you can think of."

   "Then there are those life-like, real scenes. Which scenes in the art high school are attractive to you, what you and your high school classmates are willing to see on the movie screen."

   "Write well. If you write well, I will add your name to the list of screenwriters." Director Parker finally drew a big pie.

  …

   Everyone has already left, and the producer Da Silva personally sent the director Parker away, continuing to talk while walking.

   Ronald stayed at the end, packed up the coffee cups, and sat on the seat alone.

  I picked up the script and weighed it. To realize my dream of being a director, the screenwriter is an inevitable link.

  (end of this chapter)