Long Island is too reserved and social. Ronald simply ended his vacation early and returned to Los Angeles.

   "I thought you were going to be in New York for a while?" Ronald asked Diane who was going back to Los Angeles with him. Now the strike of the screenwriters union is still going on, and the approval of new film projects has come to a standstill. The originally busy audition work is now very rare, and I don't know what Diane is going back to do.

  “Someone saw my performance growing up and called Paula specifically, saying they wanted me to audition, and Paula said it was very suitable for me.”

  Diane finally got the clothes to match the plane. Today she is wearing a Marilyn Monroe style. Maybe every actress has a dream of becoming Monroe.

   "What movie is it?" Ronald felt very strange. Now that the script can't be changed, what studio is willing to bet at this time? Will the betting strike be over soon? The news I heard from the Producers Union was not like this. This time I went to Los Angeles, and I had to attend a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

   "It's not a movie", Diane made a Monroe-style kiss.

   "Is that a TV show?" Ronald asked.

   "It's not a TV series either," Diane giggled, "It's the mini-series that CAA launched a few years ago."

  A mini-series is a TV series with about six episodes. Compared with normal TV series with more than ten or even dozens of episodes in a season, the difference between a mini-series is that the number of episodes and the direction of the plot are determined.

  And the length of each episode is relatively long, and the shooting techniques and budget are closer to movies than TV dramas. Ten years ago, CAA broke into the agent market with a mini-series called "The General" about the Warring States Period in Japan, and has become one of the largest companies in the agent industry today.

   "What subject matter?" Ronald thought to himself, no wonder Diane would pick it up. When she could choose, she always had requirements for the quality of the role.

   "Western"

  Ronald frowned. The market for western movies has shrunk dramatically. Not only are western movies not watched, but the ratings of western TV series are also very poor.

  But he quickly realized that this was not his own project, and Diane could shoot whatever he wanted. Anyway, Paula has a good eye and won't cheat her. Even in the declining genre, there will be some excellent works.

   "This is a script co-written by Peter Bogdanovich. It was prepared to be made into a movie nearly twenty years ago, and it was prepared to invite John Wayne, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda to cooperate.

  But after that, Wayne didn’t want to shoot it, so he put it on the shelf. This time it was changed to four episodes, a total of six hours of mini-series..."

   On the plane, Diane told Ronald a lot about the script called "Lone Pigeon Town". Ronald is actually not very interested in this old theme. The story of a group of Texas cowboys driving cattle to Montana, with three positive male protagonists, reminded him of the classic Hollywood business card "Red River".

  The structure of the story is similar, but the details are a little different, stretched to four episodes. But this cannot be said of Diane, who is now very interested.

  Ronald waited for Paula Wagner who came to pick up the plane, and only asked her, "How is the quality of Lone Pigeon Town?"

   "It's great, it suits Diane, and we expect it to be a hit TV series. The script shortage has been severe lately, and we are also lucky to get this old script."

   Ronald nodded, this is the key point.

   "Are you still not thinking about Rain Man?" Paula only asked Ronald.

   "I still answer that, unless Tom ( Cruise ) chooses to play the mentally handicapped." Ronald still felt that only by letting the beautiful Cruise play the mentally handicapped, would there be an effect beyond the audience's expectations. And Nisita warned herself that Dustin Hoffman, who was originally scheduled to play the mentally retarded brother, was difficult to deal with on the set.

   Having seen this kind of big star with a salary of 6 million yuan, Ronald felt that it would be better to find someone who is easy to work with. If it is discovered by myself and Tom Cruise, who I have worked with, is the leading actor, then I am still very interested in getting him an Oscar nomination.

  Now it’s like this, it’s more difficult to play a supporting role, but it’s not very good, why? Cruise may not have the confidence of his own acting, right?

  …

   The next day, Ronald went to the Producers Union meeting. Brian Walton, the negotiator of the Screenwriters Union, had softened his words in the media a week ago, saying that he would consider accepting the $50 million compensation proposed by the Producers Union, and would go to the union to persuade representatives of each branch .

   "The strike that has lasted for more than a month is expected to end, everyone hurry up and resume normal shooting." In the Producers Union, various important production factories gathered together and complained about the strike.

  Different from the accumulation of many scripts in large studios, the shortage of scripts in small and medium-sized studios is very serious. Moreover, their financial pressure is even greater. If the project is delayed, the bank's interest can crush people to death.

  The representatives of the big factory over there gathered in another group to chat. What they are more concerned about is how much they can control the share of the screenwriters in the agreement. These senior managers rely on this to write their year-end summary.

   "Gentlemen..." Nick Coonte, president of the league, came out more than ten minutes later than the scheduled time, "Bad news, the screenwriters union officially rejected our conditions."

   "Oh, Shxt..."

   "Didn't he let the wind go and plan to agree?"

   "What terms is he not happy with, we can both talk about it..."

   There was a burst of wailing from the small and medium-sized producers. They expected to get a new contract today, but they were all disappointed when they were about to resume work.

"They did not make new demands, and we did not amend the terms. They were carried out in full accordance with the arrangement of the negotiating envoy sent by the Grand Commander. The reason for the breakdown of the negotiations was that Brian Walton could not persuade the Committee of the Screenwriters Union to agree to accept This condition. They still insist on a compensation of 200 million U.S. dollars, as well as adding greater creative leadership to the screenwriter (they have greater say in deciding the director and actors).”

   “We cannot accept that…”

   "Who do they think they are?"

   Now it's the big studios' turn to complain.

  President of the Producers Union, Nick Counter, waved everyone to be quiet, and then introduced the progress of the negotiation and the details of the breakdown in detail, and answered everyone's questions.

   Ronald sat in the back and basically understood. Brian Walton, the writers union's negotiator, won election to the job by inciting low-level writers. The reason he convinced the Screenwriters Union Negotiation Committee was that three years ago, if he had listened to himself, he could have gotten 200 million yuan and regained the creative leadership from the greedy and amateurish producers.

  This kind of excessive condition, of course, hit the head and blood in the negotiation process, even if the general commander personally asked the federal government negotiating envoy sent by him, he could not let him succeed.

   Brian Walton had no choice but to go back and report the bad news. But those low-level screenwriters who were bewitched by him refused to agree, and the committee members representing them would never allow Brian Walton to agree.

  If you go back to the conditions proposed by the Producers Association in the past, it means that what Brian Walton said before is all deceptive nonsense. Then these committee members elected by trade union members will have a bad time in the next reelection.

  And in the early stage, they all believed in Brian Walton's confident appearance, and the propaganda of union members was too optimistic. It made them believe in nonsense, actively participated in the strike, and established a supervisory committee to prevent screenwriters who wanted to work.

  Such investment made them refuse to believe that Brian Walton could be an incompetent liar.

   Brian Walton had no choice but to pretend that this was just a temporary setback, as long as he continued to strike, he could get the promised conditions.

  So under this false confidence, the negotiation committee of the Screenwriters Union officially rejected the conditions of the management and announced that the strike would continue.

   "Hollywood is not under the greatest pressure now," President Nick concluded above, "Now the TV station's new autumn TV series is about to start production, and the screenwriters are also seeing this opportunity and want to force us to submit.

  Everyone agrees that Hollywood would not be Hollywood if creative decision-making power, even partly, were given over to screenwriters. We can only unite as one and continue to spend with them. The screenwriters who object to the agreement are mainly low-level screenwriters who have not independently written a blockbuster movie or TV series.

   But they occupy the majority of the union. Originally, they couldn't get much of the remaining dividends caused by the TV station's rebroadcast. These people are too idealistic, too simplistic, and sometimes naive, and easily exploited by the likes of Brian Walton.

   We have to let the facts soften them, no jobs no wages, now they are looking for star actors to raise money for the strike, to help screenwriters get through the strike time without wages.

  Everyone can use their own channels to explain the truth to friends from the actors' union. It will do no one any good if this farce continues.

  I will continue to keep in touch and negotiate with the screenwriters union, and try my best to help everyone get some exemption clauses. "

  Everyone was very disappointed, but the situation forced everyone to have no choice but to discuss how to apply for exemption clauses, what conditions need to be met to apply for exemption, and then fill out the opinion form and submit it to the president Nick for reference.

   Ronald filled in some casually, focusing on the conversations with the producers around him.

   "Is the situation on your TV station really that bad?"

   "Forget it, any of you watched David Letterman's show last night?"

   "I didn't watch it, I can only find screenwriters from Australia and Canada to change the script, what happened?"

   "He really had no choice but to install a fountain in the studio. When there was no topic, he would let the fountain spray water on himself."

   Ronald almost couldn't help laughing. It seems that the situation on TV is even more serious, especially this kind of talk show that is broadcast every night, which needs to constantly output jokes. Usually, there is a screenwriter team to serve the host.

  “I’m in the script warehouse every day, looking at the old scripts from decades ago, which ones can be changed.”

   "That's right, but many details of those scripts are outdated and inappropriate, and I can't find a good screenwriter to revise. Good screenwriters are all union members."

  “I think one day we will all be driven to places like Australia, Canada, where there is no union harassment and English-speaking screenwriters can be found.”

   Ronald looked at the big and small producers around him, always with a melancholy face. Fortunately, this strike has little impact on my business. If I shoot Dirty Dancing and invest money from myself, my friends, and my family, and encounter such a strike, then it will be...

  Ronald didn't dare to think about it anymore, at this moment, he heard a sigh...

"Why…"

   Ronald looked up, and it turned out to be Minahan Golan of the Cannonball.

   "When did you come, I didn't see you just now."

"I just came, Ronald... It really makes me happy to see you. I haven't had any happy things recently. I thought my big project would have a turnaround, but I had no choice but to go back to Tel Aviv to find a screenwriter to revise me. Forget about the script."

  Minahan looked normal, without the usual enthusiasm. The speed of speech has slowed down.

   "You're alright. There's a base in Israel, and the screenwriters there can speak good English." Ronald comforted his old friend, pointing his finger at another medium-sized producer on the opposite side.

   That's Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian producer. A Neapolitan who once had an old feud with Ronald because of the movie "Year of the Dragon".

   "Puchi...quack..." Minahan finally laughed. It caused the other party to look back.

   "Hey hey...", Ronald smiled unabashedly and looked back.

   "He is worse than me. I heard that the last production was halfway through filming, and the funds were withdrawn by the bank and had to be sold to other publishers."

   "What's going on? Tell me, I love hearing this." Ronald stared at Dino De Laurentiis and smirked.

   "Huh..." Dino muttered, turned and left. It's hard being laughed at in your face.

   "He approached Peter Bogdanovich, hoping to use his talents to promote another male star of the Brad gang, Rob Lowe. As a result...any purpose was not achieved anyway."

  Minahan also pursued Peter Bogdanovich for a period of time, wanting to sign him as the exclusive director of Cannon. But Bogdanovich looked down on him, and finally found Dino, who had produced many classic commercial films.

   As a result, a few days before the filming of "Illegitimate You", Dino informed Bogdanovich that the film's budget had been reduced and that the script had to be revised to adapt to a lower budget shooting.

   Bogdanovich, who was originally filming for money, didn't like it, so he immediately arranged for his confidante Colin Garp to play the leading role. Anyway, the two have worked together many times and know how to fool.

   Then all the high-cost scenes were deleted, and a supporting actress was added to fill in the deleted scenes. Just so happened to cast his dead girlfriend, Stratten's sister Louise, in the role. Earn all the money you can.

   "Hehehe...", Ronald and Minahan laughed for a while. Both of them were directors. Of course, they knew what kind of damage the director would cause to the film if they deliberately made money.

  Rob Lowe's idea of ​​taking this film to the next level was completely defeated. He had to be careful not to be caught by the film's bad reputation, and acted in a movie with a good reputation or box office as soon as possible to restore the influence.

It seems that the most severely affected by this strike in Hollywood is the medium-sized production company. No matter how small the production company is, such as Roger Corman's ultra-low-cost filming, it will not be affected much by this strike. .

  This script is not allowed to hire a screenwriter to modify certain scenes? Forget it, just tear up this scene to save money. And many of his screenwriters are talented people who have not joined the union.

  Maybe it was the untimely laughter of the two, which made the producers around look over.

   "Ronald, Minahan..." Finally, someone came up to greet the two producers who were not very gregarious.

   "Samuel?" Ronald recognized the person. It was Samuel Jr., the son of MGM founder Samuel Godwin, and the producer of this messy Oscars ceremony.

   "Are you here too?"

   "I actually have my own small production company..." Samuel Godwin Jr. laughed, his family has nothing to do with MGM except for a little accident in the name. "What are you talking about? Seems happy?"

   "We are laughing at ourselves, are we going to Israel to hire a screenwriter?" Ronald laughed.

   "I'm so worried, I have to find a Chinese screenwriter to revise my new film." Little Samuel said with a smile.

  Now the producer can find a film screenwriter who is not a screenwriter union but has a certain standard, which is something to be proud of.

   "Haha, what's his name? Is he from Xiangjiang?" Ronald thought for a while. Could it be Tsui Hark who can write scripts in English at Xiangjiang? Has he come to Hollywood yet?

   "The level is very good. He graduated from the film department of New York University. I heard that he has not found a job for many years. He is raising children at home. I found him by accident."