"Iron clothes, press pants."
Early the next morning, Ronald got up and ironed his shirt and trousers. Reciting the ironing trick I learned from Aunt Karen. When ironing shirts, you need to drag them back and forth with the iron; when ironing trousers, you cannot drag them back and forth, but they need to be fixed in one place and pressed.
Putting the iron aside, he picked up his pants and put them on. He looked in front of the full-length mirror by the door of the living room and saw that the lines of his pants were neat. Ronald put away the iron and the movable ironing board that was fixed to the wall at one end and bounced back into the closet, becoming part of the wall.
The design of this apartment is mainly for young couples who have just started a family, and it has complete living facilities. However, this kind of ironing is usually done by housewives in America, so it's a bit strange for a grown man to do it. Aunt Karen had to go to work every day, and Donna was still very young, so she taught Ronald to do chores around the house.
After getting up early to exercise, I took a hot shower, shaved, took the sliced bread from the refrigerator and threw it into the toaster. Now that the bread is baked and pops out, Ronald tops it with sliced tomatoes, a few slices of pickles, squeezes on the salad dressing, and cuts the bread into two triangles.
Touching his smooth chin, Ronald tucked his shirt into his belt. Ronald still hopes that a gentle and beautiful woman will do this for him in the future.
The taste is not as good as Aunt Karen's, but it is better than freshly made, and paired with black tea, it is not worse than the $1.50 breakfast at McDonald's. After eating two homemade sandwiches, I tidied myself up and headed to New Century Production Company to see the samples.
The New Age Productions office is in North Hollywood, not far from the Walk of Fame. Ronald drove into the company.
The office is a two-story building. The exterior walls on the left and right sides of the door are painted brick red and ivory white respectively, which is very elegant. On the door are four metal numbers 1607, which are the company's house number.
Perhaps in order to save money, the boss did not have any company logo or name, indicating that this is a strange company that produces 15 low-cost exploitation films a year and makes money with each film.
After saying hello to the beauty at the front desk, Ronald went to find Gail, the assistant to the president. Knocked on the door of the best office in the corner of the second floor.
Gale, who was sitting in the secretary's seat outside, was chatting with Jim. He looked up and saw Ronald. Gale walked out from behind the desk happily: "Ronnie, you seem a little different today. You look a bit like the one in the movie." Superman, very handsome. Roger will be here later, and Jim and I will watch the samples you took later."
Jim winked at him from the side.
"No, it's because I came early." Maybe it's because he shaved his beard that he became more handsome? Ronald thought.
Ronald motioned for Gale and Jim to continue without greeting him, and continued walking around the company. He walked out the door and looked around along the corridor. After the filming started, it was the first time for me to come to the office. Ronald used to work in the writers' room on the first floor and rarely went to the second floor.
The walls on the second floor are covered with posters of various movies directed or produced by Roger Corman. Ronald quickly found "The Intruder", which Roger had mentioned yesterday as his only money-losing film. A white man with a big head and a thick neck was looking in the mirror in front of a cigarette vending machine. Ronald looked familiar, so he looked in the starring column at the bottom of the poster and found that it was William Shatner. Captain Kirk of the spaceship Enterprise in the popular science fiction TV series "Star Trek".
Continuing to walk forward, I saw another movie poster with a very funny name, "Death Race 2000". The poster had a crooked mouth and was holding a machine gun and killing people. Isn't it the phenomenal movie from the year before last? " "Rocky" actor Stallone?
Ronald couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kind of low-cost exploitation film must have been made before Stallone became famous, otherwise Roger Corman couldn't afford it. But his ability to discover talents is really great. If this movie were released now, Stallone would be able to make a lot of money just based on Stallone's fame.
The doors to the rooms on both sides are closed, and inside is the editing room. Ronald knew that the two editing rooms had people working 24 hours a day, almost 365 days a year. With 15 films a year, the workload of editing was huge.
After turning the corner and about to go down the stairs, a strange voice came over.
"Roger, we have purchased the rights to remake "Midnight" for $2,500, and we can start filming our airplane comedy."
"Wow, that's cool. Once you finish filming the second set of 'Rock of Ages,' you can go find investors."
This is the voice of Roger Corman. Ronald paused, thinking it would be rude to eavesdrop. But the man spoke really fast and urgently, as if he was going to quarrel with Roger. Ronald was a little embarrassed to walk out now.
"Hey, Roger, you can find someone else to shoot for you. We have already received investment and are going to make a movie at Paramount, one of the eight major studios." The strange voice became excited, "You know we were there yesterday? Who did Paramount see? It was Michael Eisner. Michael Fxcking Eisner. And his guy, Jeff Katzenberg."
"Paramount will give us money, big budget. You know how much? Three hundred, Fxcking, half a million. That's more than New World's 12 movies combined for the entire year."
"There's absolutely no need to yell, Jerry. A contract is a contract. I don't understand why you're in such a rush to go to Paramount. The lead-up to the big studios will be long. As long as you shoot for me for five more days, you'll be fine." Get the second unit done and you'll never have to make a movie for me."
"Okay, okay, Roger. Look, David, Jim and I have been working on this movie for five years, and now that Michael Eisner has given the nod, we still need to work with their writers on The script was rewritten in two weeks until Katzenberg gave the green light."
"Can you imagine? David, Jim and I, this is the moment when all three of our dreams come true. You're not going to let us kiss goodbye to our five-year dream, are you?"
"Then who will complete your filming tasks? Jerry, this is a matter of principle. You should learn something from this and respect the spirit of the contract."
"Why don't you let Joe Dante do the filming? He's always with Allen, and you can let him take over the second unit. Please."
"Okay, I'll think about it. Let's go see last week's samples first."
"OK, Roger, our second team has shot a lot, and there is only a little finishing touch in the end..."
Ronald heard Roger Coleman and the man named Jerry leave and go to the left, which should be the direction of the conference room on the first floor. So he slowly went downstairs.
After drinking a cup of instant coffee at the front desk, I finally saw Roger Corman walking out with that Jerry, preparing to go to the screening room on the other side.
"Good morning, Mr. Coleman."
"Ah, you're already here, just in time, help me move the samples to the screening room." Then Roger picked up the phone at the front desk and called Gale, "Gale, come to the screening room, we're going to start."
Ronald and the projectionist took the samples into the screening room on the first floor. After entering, there was a narrow staircase leading to a small screening room. Watching the projectionist put the film on the projector and turned on the power, the cooling fan buzzed loudly, and Ronald hurried downstairs.
When I came out, I saw Roger talking to a middle-aged beauty wearing a business suit.
"Ronnie, let me introduce, this is my wife Julie. Julie, this is the talented young man I told you, Ronald Lee."
"Hello, Mrs. Coleman." Ronald hurried forward to say hello.
The proprietress Julie Coleman is also a producer of New World. Like Roger, she is an extremely efficient producer. I heard that she manages 5 crews and has to take care of 3 children at home. Really Iron lady.
The two couples sat down on the sofa in the middle of the screening room. Ronald chose a seat behind Roger and sat down.
Several more people came in one after another, including Gail and Jim. They found a seat behind Ronald and sat down. Then came the producer of "Rock of Ages," who took the empty seat directly in front of Ronald and on the other side of Roger.
Roger Corman leaned toward the producer and the two began talking in a low voice, and Ronald heard a little,
"...I haven't seen Mr. Eisner at all...3.5 million is real."
Another little man came in and sat on the other side, far away from Roger Coleman.
"Who is this?" Ronald asked Gail.
“Second-unit director of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Jerry Zucker.”
It turned out that he was Jerry Zucker, the same Jerry who had just argued with Roger Corman. He and the producer of "Rock of Ages" went to meet with people from Paramount yesterday to discuss cooperation on a new film. They were not on the set, otherwise it would not be Ronald's turn to film.
The last person to enter was Joe Dante, who closed the door behind him.
Ronald said hello to Joe, and Joe smiled and nodded. He seemed to be in good spirits, and the coffee at the police station was okay.
"Let's show yesterday's sample first," Roger Corman said.
Gale motioned to the projectionist to start the show.
The lights went out, and a bright light came from the projection room behind. Ronald couldn't help but sit up straight, feeling uneasy. This was the first time he saw footage of himself on screen.
