"This is one of the three pairs of earrings worn by Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot'. They are made of rhinestones..."
Up for auction at a charity auction for screenwriters in Los Angeles is a pair of Marilyn Monroe earrings. Although it looks shiny and beautiful, it is not worth the money. This was donated by a collector named Kent Warner. He used to work in the prop department of MGM and had many "liberated" movie props on his hands.
"One thousand and fifty, are there any more bids? Two thousand? Two thousand five? Three thousand? Three thousand two times, three thousand three times. It belongs to No. 68 Ronald Lee. Thank him for his contribution to the screenwriters of the Writers Guild. contribute."
Ronald stood up and greeted everyone. On such occasions, they are all small items that everyone brings to make up the numbers. The commemorative value is higher than the real value.
Ronald handed the number plate to Helen Slater who was standing next to him. This pair of earrings has some commemorative meaning and is not expensive. It just suits Helen's personality of advocating environmental protection and recycling items. She was very happy to have the opportunity to wear Monroe's earrings.
"Next to be auctioned is Miss Marilyn Monroe's relics. A pair of Salvatore Ferragamo brand stiletto heels she wore. The starting bid is three thousand dollars."
Ronald will not sell this. Second-hand jewelry and earrings have the souvenir value of classic movies and are acceptable. These shoes are not the right size...
But these stiletto heels are really beautiful. The scarlet satin upper is inlaid with hundreds of artificial gemstones and rhinestones, which are sparkling. You can imagine how sexy Monroe looked wearing it.
"Five thousand dollars, okay, five thousand, six thousand, eight thousand..."
Ronald doesn’t want it, but there are still many people who want it. Soon the price was raised to 20,000, and it is still growing.
"Thirty-five thousand dollars...belonging to Mr. Hugh Hefner."
Ronald smiled, this was the action of the founder of Playboy. There were rumors in Hollywood that he was obsessed with Monroe, whose nude photo was used on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. Whenever there was an auction of Monroe's belongings, he was always there.
His needs are different from others. As long as they are clothes, shoes and items that were used personally by Monroe, he collects them all. But I didn’t buy any jewelry or other relics.
"Let us thank Mr. Hugh Hefner and Ms. Anna Strasbourg..." the auctioneer said, and both the buyer and the seller stood up to pay tribute. "Next up is Elizabeth Taylor's costume from the movie 'A Little Night Music'..."
Ronald felt sick. This Anna was the legacy of Lee Strasberg from the Actors Studio. Lee Strasberg was the executor of Monroe's will during his lifetime, but he kept all the things that Monroe left to relatives and friends in the will as his own. Now every time there is an auction of such Hollywood star items, They would take out a few pieces to earn money and favors.
Ronald thought about the past when Lee Strasberg held random training classes, taught emotional memory techniques, and made the actors cry. Perhaps Monroe, who pursued acting skills, also became depressed because of this unnatural method.
On the contrary, this couple, relying on Monroe's fame to make such bad money, really set a very bad example for future acting teachers.
"Ronnie, it's time for your painting..." Helen reminded Ronald, who was lost in thought.
"Oh..." Ronald put the eight Andy Warhol paintings he bought this time, including some that were not about Monroe, as auction items and submitted them to this auction. I bought a pair of them for 3,000 yuan at that time, so it would be best to repay the money this time.
"Three thousand dollars, do you want three thousand dollars..."
The auctioneer on the stage began to lengthen his tone, change various tricks, and sell to the people present. But everyone is not stupid. How can this kind of printed matter be compared with what other artists create with brushes?
"Okay, the gentleman behind you wants to bid three thousand, three thousand. Is there anything higher?"
When the auctioneer saw that the auction was about to fail, everyone looked unhappy, so he pointed back vaguely, as if there was really someone bidding there. This heated up the atmosphere at the scene and also sent a signal to other buyers that this thing was not junk.
"Three thousand, three thousand, is there anyone with a higher bid?" The auctioneer's face didn't look good. What kind of garbage is this? I made a virtual bid, but why are there no bidders? He looked at Ronald, you'd better buy it yourself.
Ronald didn't understand this and treated it as if he couldn't see it. Anyway, there was someone who had taken advantage of him and it was best if he paid it without losing money.
"Three thousand and five..." Helen had seen many charity auctions in New York and knew what was going on. She smiled and held up the sign, bought it and gave it to Ronald as a gift. Anyway, he also gave himself a pair of earrings of about the same price.
"Why did you buy it? If you want it, I'll give it to you." Ronald felt that this was not a waste of money. In addition to the auction price, there is also a handling fee.
"Hehe... you don't understand either..." Helen smiled and told Ronald the inside story.
"Hey, I really fell into David Geffen's trap."
"It's so beautiful..." Back at the hotel, Ronald put on the necklace that Monroe once wore on Helen. The most important thing about accessories like jewelry is not the material or the design, but that it should match the temperament of the owner.
Helen Slater has a rather indifferent temperament. When she wears these artificial ryndrite earrings, she feels like a girl who supports environmental protection. They look just as good as the original diamond earrings.
Perhaps Monroe's blessing also gave Ronald some psychological hints. He always felt that Helen was beautiful tonight.
"Thank you...Ronald." Helen closed her eyes and accepted Ronald's kiss.
"Thank you for sending that painting back to me." Ronald didn't want it, so he gave it to Helen as a gift. However, Helen didn't like to take advantage of others, so she sent it back to Ronald.
I thought that Helen couldn't sell it even if she took it, and it would still take up space. Ronald thought to himself that he should find other ways to compensate her.
"How are you doing with your filming preparations?" Ronald asked Helen. The movie "Love Is Deep" will be shot soon. As the heroine, although she is already a twenty-four-year-old woman, she remains in a very happy mood and is talented and harmonious. Playing a high school student is not very inconsistent.
After all, this kind of romantic comedy for middle school students relies on older actors to play it. The audience is also used to it.
"Let me show you my preparations..." Helen left Ronald's arms, put on her silk pajamas, and then cleared her throat, "I took some college courses this year, and I got a glimpse of the future. All I can say to you is, it’s better to go back now..."
"Haha..." Ronald laughed. The script written by Cameron Crowe is very interesting. It is a kind of dry humor, teasing that the challenges in the future will be too great, and everyone will still miss their high school days.
However, this kind of humor is difficult to understand for those who have experienced it, so after the heroine played by Helen in the script finished speaking, the whole audience was silent, and only the male protagonist understood and laughed.
"You are very well prepared." Ronald held Helen in his arms again, and the silk felt very good.
"Um...well...what do you think of my preparation?" Helen resisted Ronald with all her strength, and she insisted on an evaluation.
"You are indeed suitable for this kind of idol drama."
"Hmm... um... um." Helen refused and hit Ronald a few times in protest, but still did not resist the other's arms and stuck together tightly.
…
One million donations raised at the scene were sent to those members of the Writers Guild who launched a rebellion.
With money, these people have weapons. As long as they agree with their plan and reconcile with the Producers Alliance, relief funds will be provided. If you don't agree, but still support negotiator Walton and are at odds with the Producers Alliance, then go to him and ask for money.
Soon, the screenwriters who got the money had their first decent income in many months. After returning home, they saw the smiling faces of their families. The wife's frown began to ease, and the child's words that he could finally watch the TV series written by his father on TV still made many screenwriters feel relieved.
Wouldn’t you just share the profits from the scripts sold to overseas TV stations and theaters? I don’t know if I can write a TV program that lasts more than an hour and can be screened abroad now. The union has obtained the rights of writers to make suggestions to directors and actors, which already represents a victory for this strike.
Taking advantage of the exhausted screenwriter, Nick Kuant, the president of the Producers Alliance, immediately began shuttle diplomacy upon seeing this. First, we held a meeting with the film screenwriters from the Western Writers Guild and won the support of them, whose number was only half that of the Eastern Writers Guild.
Then he got on a chartered plane and flew to New York to negotiate with the Eastern Writers Guild. The special commissioner sent by the Grand Commander-in-Chief also served as a supervisor and attended the meeting between the two parties, supervising that both parties must negotiate in a "good faith and good" atmosphere.
The result was very smooth. The hard-liners led by negotiator Walton became the weak party within the union. The newly participating negotiating teams were represented by 20th Century Fox and Universal, and most of the producers were domestic screenwriting teams. The hidden stakes of a major studio.
After their efforts, a new negotiation plan was drawn up, and labor contract negotiations are scheduled to be held again in Los Angeles three days later.
In this way, only three wireless television stations and one Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., are left hoping that the strike will continue.
…
Ronald called the screenwriters he had worked with to help the final negotiations go smoothly. Nowadays, they are all wealthy people, and they all hope that the strike will end as soon as possible. The TV broadcasts Ronald's movies brought them, and the residual dividends from the video tapes, were not affected by the strike, so the strike could not hurt their quality of life.
These people do have some appeal in some circles, such as Shangli, the screenwriter of "Moonlight". After winning the Oscar, he became quite influential on Broadway. Under his instigation, more than 30 screenwriters came forward to support the conclusion of a labor agreement.
On August 2, negotiations finally took place. Walton, the negotiator of the Writers Guild, grimaced and finally shook hands with Nick Kuant of the Producers Guild. After a whole night of marathon talks between the two parties, Walton finally gave in and the new agreement was completed in most parts according to the Producers Alliance's proposal.
Dividends from overseas distribution are still only applicable to film and television projects that are longer than one hour. The screenwriter also received symbolic creative suggestions. In fact, these are all minor details. The most important item in this agreement is that the screenwriters can join the crew before the agreement has been voted on by members of both parties, and it will not be regarded as a strike that violates the union.
Under the American legal system, unions have strong powers to prohibit members who do not want to participate in union strikes from returning to work. In other words, strikes are not voluntary but mandatory. Anyone who wanted to go to work would be violently stopped by pickets.
With the release of temporary work agreements, the system that allows union members to supervise and report each other will immediately become ineffective. Everyone quickly goes back to make money, and anyone who comes to persuade you will be regarded as a fool. The drive to unite as one and fight capital to the end has also been discouraged.
Soon, Johnny Carson and David Letterman's talk show first welcomed the return of the writers. The quality of the program instantly improved, and the ratings were even higher than before the strike. Those screenwriters also secretly accumulated a lot of jokes during the strike.
Ronald also quickly seized the opportunity and asked the crew of Cameron Crowe's "Love Deeply" to start work immediately.
"It's time for you to give the orders, Cameron..."
After the brief opening ceremony of the crew, Ronald saw that Cameron Crowe did not move, so he had to whisper a reminder in his ear.
"Ah...yes...we'll start right away..." Cameron Crowe didn't seem to have recovered from the surprise of his wife coming to cheer him up. He had rarely seen the adoring look in the eyes of his wife Nancy, a rock star, recently.
"You have to tell the director of photography what pictures you need, and then he will help you get it." Ronald saw that Cameron was a little overjoyed and at a loss, so he had to continue directing.
"I want a shot of Helen (Slater) and John (Cusack) having a conversation at a 45-degree angle..." Crowe, who finally came to his senses, began to speak his mind.
"Huh..." Ronald let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he came to the scene today to defeat the enemy.
Unlike "Steel Magnolias" director Herbert Ross, who was overconfident and too forceful on set. Cameron Crowe's problem is lack of confidence. He has been working as a screenwriter for several years, and finally got the opportunity to direct his own work. Various challenges overwhelmed him, and he felt a little overwhelmed.
"a!"
Cameron Crowe's first command to start shooting finally came over the loudspeaker. The low sound of the video recorder's motor was heard witnessing the birth of a new Hollywood director.
Ronald watched the entire filming and found that Helen was really good at playing the role. She is very good at this kind of smart and beautiful character who has been well protected since she was a child. In other words, this is a lot of her true character, reacting to John Cusack.
John Cusack came from a theater background, and like his sister Joan, they are both veterans in acting. Coupled with Helen's characteristics, the two performed very smoothly.
"cut!"
Crowe looked at the director of photography, and producer Polly Platt. After getting the no-problem sign, he was finally relieved.
"Let's take a break and then shoot the scene of the hero and heroine at the school graduation ceremony."
No one listened to Crowe's order to dismantle the camera. They all looked at each other and didn't know what to say.
In the end, everyone's eyes were focused on Ronald.
"Hey, hey... Cameron, come here." Ronald almost laughed out loud. Cameron Crowe doesn't understand shooting. Does he think the movie is shot shot by shot from beginning to end?
"Do you know the Hollywood construction method, the rule of one master and two shoulders?"
"What?" Crowe looked confused, obviously not knowing.
"This is a working method passed down from the golden age of Hollywood. One main shot introduces the scene and characters, and then takes an over-the-shoulder shot. You have just finished shooting Helen's part, and you have to turn the camera to shoot Cusack talking to her. Over-the-shoulder shot. Then there is a close-up shot of the two people, also called a reaction shot, which is used to edit to hear the other person speaking and the character's reaction..."
Seeing this, Ronald had no choice but to teach Cameron Crowe the ten-minute crash course in directing that Roger Corman taught him.
"The most important rule of being a director is to find a place to sit and rest anytime and anywhere on the set. You will walk a lot and stand for a long time. Have you seen the stool with your name on it? Sit down and rest when you have time. .Directing is a very tiring job, you have to stick to it. Otherwise, you might as well go back to being a screenwriter."
"I understand." Cameron Crowe is very perceptive. After listening to Ronald's crash course, he immediately started shooting with style.
As Crowe was getting better, Ronald walked aside and told producer Polly Platt, "It's up to you. If he has any problems, you should help him more. If you can't solve it, Just call me.”
"You trust him so much that you become a director without even knowing how to shoot an over-the-shoulder shot."
"That's okay. Orson Welles didn't understand this when he was filming 'Citizen Kane', so he was able to create a special photography style." Ronald believes in people's talents more than those Hollywood dogmas. important.
However, it seems that Polly will be with the team for a long time, helping Crowe solve some technical problems that he cannot handle, and helping him establish his directorial authority. The original idea of transferring Polly Platt to the crew of "Steel Magnolias" and suppressing Herbert Ross after the filming started smoothly was abandoned.
This Herbert Ross, after he left, he started to be rude to Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton again.
Diane secretly called Ronald and expressed her concern. Several actresses felt uncomfortable. If things continued like this, there would be problems with the crew's performance, and Rona would have to solve them.
The job of a producer is like that of a principal of a public middle school. Not only must he provide a comfortable environment for students and teachers, but if someone is mischievous, they must be detained in school and given a lecture in the principal's office.
