"Before the National Congress of the Donkey Party: the leader in 1996; after: he was finished"
"Hahaha..." Ronald was reading the newspapers and magazines delivered by the public housekeeper while having breakfast the next day. The headline of the political watch column in Newsweek had pronounced the Arkansas governor a political death sentence.
"What a pity, he is a handsome man, smart and motivated." While drinking milk, Donna saw that the New York Times even wrote a classic lawyer joke about the governor.
There are some folk jokes in America that are actually not very friendly to certain groups of people. For example, there is a joke called "It takes a few so-and-so people to...".
For example, how many Poles does it take to change a light bulb?
Three of them, one aligned, and the two people below carried him around.
In the New York Times political column, a reporter wrote a variation of this joke about the governor of Arkansas, "How many lawyers would it take for someone in a room to tell the governor that he has the right to remain silent?"
Ronald walked over and took a look. The governor was actually right about balancing the budget. However, after being ridiculed by the media, he probably wouldn't be able to continue working in politics, because no matter where he went, the joke would be gone. Will follow him like a shadow. Just like Mondale, the current leader, made a joke in the TV debate, no voters took him seriously.
Called a car for Donna and took her to work. Ronald was lounging in his two-story city apartment to deliver work documents to be signed by Ricky Lake, the assistant in the New York office who played the lead role of the fat girl in "Hairspray."
Laike is still thinking about returning to the film and television industry. After becoming an actor, doing other jobs makes people feel uninterested. My conditions are not good, I am too fat, and I have not received any invitations to audition for other roles.
But Laike is actually very competent as an assistant. The fat girl works hard and tries her best to satisfy Ronald. In addition, she has lost ten pounds, so it is normal to give her a role when the time comes.
"Call the people on the list and ask them to come to see me. Set up a good time and don't let them do it." Ronald was wearing a Hawaiian floral shirt and looking casual on vacation. He decided to meet at home. For those who work for him, he can now enjoy the privilege of a successful man like Weintraub when he met him at home to talk about work.
"Okay, I'll make a call." Ricky Lake went to the telephone in the outside living room and made a call. Ronald looked at her back and didn't know what the fat girl was thinking. It was just that the fat girl had some potential in comedy, but he didn't know how to do comedy. Besides, Laike is still too fat, so I need to lose another ten pounds to be successful.
The first person to come was Ang Lee. He now has his own office. While helping Ronald read the script and getting a salary, he is also revising his own script. The best thing is that he started to bring money home to his wife, and because he no longer hangs around the house, his wife does not look at him all day long, and the family relationship has improved.
The two talked a lot about script selection, and Ronald was very satisfied. Ang Lee's talk session ended early, and there was still some time to catch up on old times and talk about some news in the industry.
"Are there any movies worth watching in your hometown now?" Ronald remembered that he would choose to send movies to the Palm Springs Film Festival early next year. He planned to focus on Chinese-language movies, so he asked Ang Lee what movies were available in his hometown. It's a good movie, you can buy it and show it in America.
"I haven't been back for a long time because I have to wait for the green card. This time I can go back with my wife to celebrate the Spring Festival." Ang Lee is very grateful to Ronald. The green card guaranteed by his company will be obtained soon. With a serious job, my father can be a little less harsh on himself.
"Then you go back and help the company take a look. There are many Chinese Americans in America and there are many audiences who like Chinese entertainment kung fu movies. Our company must seize this market segment."
"I will, but in recent years, there haven't been many commercial films at home. Chief Song, who is in charge of culture and entertainment, feels that Director Zhang over there won the Golden Bear in West Berlin, so the government supports literary and artistic films, aiming at the European Three It’s for the big movie awards.”
It turns out that Ang Lee's hometown imposes heavy taxes on film screenings. It is a difficult place to make good films. In the past few years, there have been movies that did well at the box office thanks to the romantic dramas of a certain female writer. Now, Chief Song has given strong support to movies with high chances of winning awards, with subsidies of hundreds of thousands per movie and tax exemptions. Many people in the film industry who make commercial films have no choice but to go to TV stations to make a living.
As for the two directors who have won awards in Europe, Director Hou won the West Berlin International Film Critics Special Award for "Once Upon a Time in Childhood" in 1985 (he is not as good as Yimou, and this award is a minor award that ranks very low). Director Yang, who had been childhood sweethearts since 1986 (the film starred Director Hou, and the two had a falling out) and who also won the International Film Critics Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, received strong support.
As long as they can win gold medals at the three major European film festivals and outperform their opponents, they will have continuous financial and resource support.
"This is not a good strategy." When Ronald heard this strategy, he felt it was wrong. This kind of unique niche film should originally exist in places where the film market is developed so that enough specific groups of people can watch it.
Blindly making movies that conform to European aesthetics will inevitably shrink the market for basic commercial films and fall into a vicious cycle. Commercial films will be less and less popular, and those who do will be despised. If this continues, Ronald is not optimistic about the development of movies in Ang Lee's hometown.
"So, are there any good movies in the past that are worthy of me buying the distribution rights in America?" Ronald felt that since it could nurture award-winning directors in Europe, the film market there should be okay in the past few decades. Accumulate, there will always be some good movies.
"Do you still remember our club activities at that time? I went to the Cultural Office to borrow Mr. Hu Jinquan's movie." Ang Lee replied, after so many years in my hometown, there are only movies by Li Hanxiang and Hu Jinquan that some people like overseas, maybe Ronald Will you also consider purchasing?
Later, Li Hanxiang's Guolian company went bankrupt and he went back to Xiangjiang to make romantic movies to pay off his debts. Only Hu Jinquan still insisted on his own ideas.
"Okay, if you have copies or video tapes there, you can borrow them for me. I want to see their works in the next few days." When Ronald heard that one of them was proficient in photography and the other was proficient in photography, they were both. People who are very proficient in traditional culture are interested in it and it is good to satisfy their own hobbies.
…
Next up was Daydream's head of distribution, Dolly Bernstine, who had done a great job acquiring theaters; Ronald already owned three of the Manhattan Grindhouse theaters.
It’s funny to say that although the Paramount law that did not allow studios to acquire theater chains was overturned, the movie theater business has long since lost its former glory. Ronald made a price, and the original boss couldn’t wait Sold and left.
Bernstine is a passionate workhorse who now oversees Daydream's video distribution operations.
"We are doing very well in the videotape market this year and can even be said to be one of the five best videotape manufacturers. There are few companies that can get good reviews for every videotape like us."
Bernstine admired Ronald's vision for film selection. "Hairspray" was the best-selling video tape market. It is especially popular among black people and fat people. The protagonist in this movie, Fat Girl, likes black culture, which is rare among black audiences.
The white people in Eddie Murphy's movies respect him at most because of the role he plays, and few white people like black culture.
However, black people have limited spending power, and many do not have video recorders. The video of buying "Hairspray" brings the main customers, who are fat people. There are very few movies that take care of the mentality of fat people. Generally speaking, they mainly laugh at them. Many comedy movies or comedy characters in movies are fat people. For example, John Candy, a good friend of Ronald's, is .
The audience likes to see people who are not as good as themselves suffer. They can use sympathy. They can also watch people who are higher than themselves fall down and get extra pleasure.
There is also a video sales winner produced by Daydream, the romance film "Love Is Not For Sale" co-invested by Ronald and Bannon, which is also well received in the video market. Many of the people who buy this video are obedient "geek" readers.
These nerds, who are naturally socially awkward, may not want to go to the cinema with their classmates and friends and be laughed at and ignored by the social savvy people, but this does not prevent them from enjoying a romantic comedy at home in which a nerd turns over and falls in love with the most beautiful cheerleader. Who doesn’t have such a dream? What's more, when science geeks study, they are usually children from upper-middle-class families, so buying a video recorder is not a problem.
"In addition to these films shot by Daydream, there are also video rights that you buy for films produced by other companies. The top two are 'Streets of Rage' and 'The Legend of Billy King,' both of which are selling very well. Boss, You should find us more movies like this in the future." Bernstine said half-flatteringly, usually with a bit of admiration.
"You can't all rely on me, and you don't all have to make money. Now that the video tape market is so good, big studios will soon realize this market and taste. Unlike theater movies, we are afraid that we won't be able to buy them at such good prices. It’s Lian’s movie.”
Ronald was also a little surprised. The movies he bought to please his two female friends were "Streets of Rage" starring Diane as a rock star, and "Billy..." a modern Joan of Arc movie based on MJ's song starring Helen. "Golden Legend" unexpectedly received very good recognition in the video tape market.
So good that NBC and ABC's late-night theater programs came specifically to buy the TV broadcast rights from Ronald to fill the empty program list due to the writers' strike. With a revenue of hundreds of thousands, Ronald carefully studied the reasons for the success of these two cult movies.
In fact, they all have the characteristics of the B-level movies shot by Roger Corman and exclusively for drive-in theaters. They are suitable for teenagers and overall exciting, but they are not suitable for the mainstream market.
If we use poetry as an analogy, this kind of movie has only one sentence but no words. On certain occasions, it is particularly hot and beautiful, and has touching emotions. But it does not meet the taste of the mainstream market and is only suitable for some people. Audiences who like it will like it very much and must buy a video cassette for their collection.
For example, "Streets of Rage" is particularly suitable for young male audiences who like The Godfather. They have no idea about the rules of the adult world. This movie with a somewhat childish plot just fits their mentality.
The "Billy King Legend" is the girl version, a beauty who was wronged, relying on the power of friends and public opinion in society, defeated the authority, cleared the wrong, and gained love. Young girls also like it very much, it is their dream plot.
The sales of both films far exceeded Ronald's own expectations. The original intention was to please the two of them, so I prepared to give them the copyright of the video tape as a gift.
If you want to transfer it now, it will be particularly troublesome and you will have to pay an expensive tax. Diane and Helen probably don't have enough cash to pay next year's federal taxes.
Although it was a gift to the other party, Ronald had to pay an expensive federal gift tax. If the lifetime gift limit that a person can receive is exceeded (usually several million dollars), in order to make up for the legal loopholes, the two beauties have to wait to pay inheritance tax (looking at this year's income, the capital value of the two movies has exceeded the limit) .
In addition, if the two beauties want to transfer the ownership of the movie in the future, they will have to pay capital gains tax. If George Sr. fails to run for the leadership and does not continue to enjoy the tax extension benefits.
Ronald consulted lawyer Lindsay Dole. In this case, it was best to set up a trust and put the property rights of the two movies into it, with Diane and Helen as the beneficiaries respectively, so that they could receive a steady stream of money. The assets in the trust generate an annuity every year. You can enjoy the benefits without any worries.
Ronald felt that it was not a good idea to set up a trust for just one movie because the value of the two cult movies was still rising.
The video tape market is filled with young people, lower-level blue-collar workers, and some white-collar movie lovers. It is a combination of many mutually exclusive market segments. This is very different from the film market, which is a unified market dominated by young male and female teenagers.
The more niche you are, the easier it is to pay for what you like. Both movies have high potential for sequels, licensed comics, licensed toys, dolls, and video games, among other things.
So the final solution was not to transfer the copyright directly, but to transfer the annual income rights of the video tapes to the two people as income. In the future, when Ronald has more assets, he can arrange a unified trust and list both of them as beneficiaries. In the future, Aunt Karen and Cousin Donna can also deal with this problem.
In this way, they can get the peripheral income of their works every year without having to raise funds. They can handle the production of sequels and derivatives by themselves. They only need to collect checks at home four times a year.
…
The third person who came to see Ronald was Ed Bastian of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"In addition to the second quarter revenue from these tapes, the overseas copies of your box-office sales also made you a lot of money, as much as a domestic box office success movie. And the most profitable 'Dirty Dancing' , the income from the video tape is very stable, and another 20 million has been recorded, as well as two original soundtrack albums. The original version is still very strong, and the more Dirty Dancing one, maybe because many of the songs are not from the movie, sales have begun to grow rapidly. Decreased."
"Hey, I don't know how to invest now, why should I still buy Coca-Cola?" Ronald had worries about happiness. Hollywood is such a magical place. After a movie becomes a hit, it can continuously bring huge income to the main creator.
Patrick Schwytz, the actor of "Dirty Dancing", has evolved from buying a small ranch to a large ranch, buying some Arabian horses to participate in horse racing, and then starting a breeding business.
Screenwriter Linda Gottlieb talks about her successful experience in the New York Jewish community every day, and has no intention of writing any more scripts.
"If you want to invest in the securities market, I suggest you transfer this part of your income to a corporate entity in Los Angeles." Ed Bastian gave Ronald an idea.
"Why?" Ronald was puzzled. Aren't they all my company?
"To avoid taxes?" Ed Bastian took out a document, which was a professional plan he had prepared before arriving.
It turns out that in America, in addition to paying personal and corporate federal income tax, you also have to pay state income tax. Ronald's resident status registration and his eligibility to vote fell in New York State. His California income is subject to separate state income taxes from his New York State income.
Moreover, state income taxes in both states are progressive. In other words, if the annual income limit is exceeded, the state tax rate Ronald has to pay will increase from the low 2%, to 4%, 7%, and finally to 9%.
But if the income is included in the two states separately, Ronald can deduct the taxes of other non-resident states. This can save millions of dollars in additional tax of 4%.
"My income for the first half of today was all in New York State, right?" Ronald asked the other party.
"Except for the tens of thousands of dollars in residual dividends from your previous directorial works, yes." Ed Bastian looked at the information and confirmed it.
"Well, let's join the company in California in the second half of the year." Ronald made a note in his notebook that he would soon open a new company in California and register a new identity. Such a technical adjustment saved millions of dollars in taxes.
This Puhua partner will not lose money by paying his consulting fee.
"If your income is to be attributed to a California company, then it is best to open an account with a California brokerage for your stock investment, otherwise your California income declaration may be flawed."
"Okay, you recommend a few reliable ones, and I'll let Lawrence do it." Ronald agreed, so let's just buy Coca-Cola.
…
After a busy day, the video tapes promised by Ang Lee have also been delivered, including several of Hu Jinquan's movies.
"Do you feel a little boring?" Ronald sat on the sofa and slowly watched his "heroine". The pace of this movie is not suitable for modern Hollywood, and the story is boring, but the aesthetics and temperament are still outstanding.
Ronald was very happy to see it. This pure Mingfeng costume and way of speaking allowed him to see what the director wanted to express.
However, for a Chinese-language film that is very old, The Beauty in His Arms Christie Turlington is very boring. Turlington didn't watch movies, only watched Ronald. Sitting in his arms, looking at the strong facial lines, she admired him a little.
Cindy Crawford didn't come today. Her relationship with another Hollywood movie star was going well, and she might be able to win him over. So she made excuses not to come to such an event. They are all people in the Hollywood circle. It would be bad if the agent spread the news.
"I won't watch that anymore." Ronald turned off the video recorder and focused on looking at Christy Turlington. As an outstanding model, her facial lines must be very elegant. Because of Ronald's help, Turlington is now Yves Saint Laurent's chief model.
"Bo..." After looking at each other for a long time, Christie took the initiative to kiss Ronald on the lips. Then their lips met passionately.
A warm feeling came from his chest, and it was Christie who hugged Ronald tightly.
"The FDA just approved it," the governor of Arkansas, who spoke at the Donkey Party convention, as an over-the-counter sleeping pill that surgeons across the country can prescribe to treat insomnia."
On the TV came Johnny Carson, the host of NBC's Late Show, making fun of the unlucky guy. Now that the writers are on strike, all the talk show hosts are trying to come up with their own jokes. Finally, they have become the laughing stock of the whole country. If they catch him, they will be punished.
"Ah..." Turlington and Ronald were as comfortable together as if they had eaten the ice cream that models should not eat. They were placed on the sofa uncontrollably, and their back touched the remote control.
"Zi..." the TV station changed the channel, "He may be the most boring speaker at the Donkey Party convention." ABC is also desperately trying to discredit him to save the leadership candidate Dukakis.
"Ah... Zi...", CBS was also teasing, "For the audience, the favorite word to hear in this speech is 'finally...', and they can't wait for it to end.
"Ah... Zi..." "This is Kansas, not Tennessee, nor..." The host of the local black channel pretended not to know that the governor was from that small southern state, "By the way, he's from Little Rock, Arkansas." A young man, by the time he finished speaking, the audience all had beards..."
"Pah..." Ronald pulled out the remote control from under Turlington's body and turned off the TV viciously. Without any interference, he began to look at Turlington's pretty face carefully again... and then kissed her.
