"Movie love is a dividend that is not for sale. Why did you buy it out?" Steve Bannon, who often invests in Ronald's projects, brought some Japanese specialty semi-finished food to visit Ronald. He didn't know where he found out that Diane liked to cook for Ronald, so he gave him some food that could be cooked by just heating water to please Diane.
"If shareholders want to withdraw, let's just ask little Doug to give him a discount..." Ronald looked at Diane who was happily trying to make hot soup, and he was also very grateful to Bannon for his considerate behavior. If the newlywed wife is interested, let her enjoy it as long as she doesn't make food that offends her taste buds.
"The shareholder you are talking about doesn't happen to have something to do with the current first family of the White House, right?" Bannon took a sip of the coffee made by Diane, frowned, and said nothing.
"This shareholder did not want to disclose his identity, so he chose a company registered in Delaware..." Ronald was noncommittal. It was impossible to share such a strong relationship with Bannon casually.
"Oh, have you seen the new TV series I invested in? My pilot episode has been filmed, and I am now negotiating pilot agreements with many TV stations. Let me tell you, the guy who came up with the theme of this TV series must be a genius. "
Bannon failed to test and immediately changed the topic.
"What TV series? What is the theme?" Ronald asked him. Although he has never filmed a TV series, he also knows that the production methods of TV series and movies are very different. TV series will be more loose and need a theme for the audience to remember so that Watch every week.
"It's called The Seinfeld Chronicles, and it's a sitcom." Bannon proudly showed Ronald the promotional stills made for the pilot. Above is a man with a very low growth line and a somewhat Jewish appearance.
"Sitcom? I thought it was a historical drama when I heard the name." Ronald looked at a few stills and didn't understand what this sitcom was about. Today's TV dramas are more popular with families as the background, with detectives, courts, and wealthy families fighting for power. I can't tell what this Seinfeld is about.
"That's the genius of this guy, the theme of this show is that it's about nothing..."
Bannon explained his thinking. The so-called "nothing about anything" is because current TV dramas try to add too many themes to comedies, such as family ties to promote the neoliberal values of the Elephant Party, and Growing Pains, in turn, try to promote the traditional values of the Donkey Party.
Therefore, the main creator of this TV series, Jerry Seinfeld, designed this comedy. It is just for laughter, without any preaching or any profound meaning. It is just a New York Jew and a group of idle friends. daily life.
"I don't understand..." Ronald was confused. Does anyone watch such a comedy? There is also Jerry Seinfeld, who uses his name as the name of the male protagonist in the TV series. It is doubtful whether this approach of retro TV series in the 1970s is still effective today.
"Production company, Castle Rock?" Ronald flipped through the promotional materials and unexpectedly discovered at the end that the production company of this TV series was Bob Reiner's Castle Rock.
"Ask him for advice then." Ronald thought about it.
"What, you also have the idea of producing a TV series? How about you concentrate on the production and leave it to me to promote it to the TV station? I have been meeting with creative geniuses from Hollywood every day in my office in Los Angeles recently. I just need to tell them that Rona and I Director De. collaborated with Love is Not For Sale, and everyone would exclaim in exclamation, and then everything would be easy to talk about." Bannon saw that Ronald had an idea and immediately seized the opportunity...
"I do have an idea. My Daydream Company needs some continuous shooting projects such as TV series to maintain the director and technical team... In addition, I have a lot of film copyrights and have been contacted by several TV stations. I want to Let me adapt the TV series based on the plot of the movie."
"Very good, you are absolutely right not to sell the adaptation rights to them. After all, who can understand the connotation of those movies more deeply than you? Let's work together again. You will produce, and I will negotiate terms with the TV station. I will definitely To be able to copy the success of Love Is Not for Sale..."
After saying that, Bannon rubbed his hands and looked at Ronald, wondering which movie he would adapt? Is it the "Love Is Not for Sale" thing that I and him often did, or the "Top Gun" that was so successful that year...
"I'm considering turning Working Girl into a TV series." Ronald had done some homework to some extent. This kind of story with workplace plot, romantic love between men and women, and power struggle in the office will have a much higher chance of success if it is adapted into a TV series than a movie adaptation with only one theme.
Bannon grinned happily. He has established a Bannon Company this year and began to serve as a bridge between Hollywood and Wall Street full-time. It not only helps Wall Street acquire Hollywood companies, but also helps Hollywood obtain Wall Street financing.
Ronald's name is very valuable in both Wall Street and Hollywood. Being able to bear the name of this project will make his company more popular on both sides.
Of course, this advantage did not come in vain. I used real money to raise an additional investment of 10 million for "Dances with Wolves", which is currently being filmed in South Dakota. Speaking of which, the investment in that movie has been greatly expanded. Could it be...
It's okay, Bannon comforted himself, Ronald hasn't missed many mistakes in Hollywood.
"Ronald, let's go to South Dakota to see the progress of the filming. Costner is also a new director after all. Sometimes he doesn't know how to shoot and has to figure it out on his own. If you go, you can help him with a few words of guidance. It saves a lot of shooting time and budget.”
After thinking about it, Bannon was still worried and wanted to take Ronald with him to supervise the work.
A bowl of hot soup came out over there, and Diane, who wanted Ronald to have a taste, had already pricked up his ears. Hubby is going to South Dakota? Do you want to go along yourself? Heck, I still have the audition for "3000" to do...
"I'm not going. I'm still on my honeymoon. I want to accompany my Wifey. I just want to be a nine-to-five worker and see Diane every night when I go home..."
"Hahaha, okay, I'll go there myself and report back to you." Bannon laughed and said goodbye.
Ronald's sweet words made Diane's face turn red. She smiled and brought the hot soup to Ronald. Brother Ronnie hadn't spoken so sweetly before, hadn't he?
Ronald took the hot soup. Well, it tasted better than the coffee Diane made herself. Looking at Diane's red face, Ronald hugged her and sat on his lap, and the two drank a bowl of soup.
…
"Bob, so you're not particularly optimistic about this Seinfeld Chronicles?"
In the afternoon, Ronald hung up with his "When Harry Met Sally" co-star Bob Reiner and asked him about Seinfeld.
This Jerry Seinfeld has been working hard in New York, doing a lot of stand-up comedy, and also appeared on Letterman and Johnny Carson's show as a parody show. This TV series is his first attempt at a TV series.
Reiner's Castle Rock Company has invested a lot in TV series like this. Because these series are subject to the challenge of pilot episodes, the production cost is actually not high, as long as one or two episodes are covered.
Bob Reiner is actually more optimistic about another TV series they invested in, The Angeline Show, created by actress Angelion.
"I just gave it a try. NBC currently lacks programs in its evening prime time slot. I recommended several pilots to them. Anyway, it's not a hassle."
"Oh, thank you, I understand." Ronald put down the phone and was almost deceived by Bannon. These bankers from Wall Street have really good sales skills and have never told a lie, but the story changes completely when they come out of their mouths.
Sometimes Ronald suspects that this kind of person can also be a good person when he comes to Hollywood to develop, starring as a villain in a movie, or hosting a talk show, and Bannon will say that there is no problem in not being the same for an hour.
In the afternoon, Diane took Bud's car to continue talking about the movie script with director Penny Marshall.
Ronald stayed alone in the hotel and made some food using Japanese ingredients brought by Bannon. This kind of semi-finished food will taste good if you have some cooking skills. In the evening, Diane still hadn't come back, and Ronald suddenly felt as if he had become a stay-at-home husband, looking forward to the return of his wife who was working full time.
If this happened, Ronald immediately called Richard and his personal accountant Lawrence and asked them to recommend some chefs and maids... During the trial period, they felt good. After the new house is completed, they can be hired full-time.
After getting married, everything becomes a long-term consideration, and Ronald begins to get used to everything.
…
Diane stayed with Penny Marshall all afternoon, and when she returned to the hotel, Ronald was still on the phone in the back room. She quietly watched Ronnie working and felt very handsome. But she was suddenly startled by Ronald's rising voice.
"What the hell is going on? Joel? I didn't care about any special effects in the first Die Hard movie. Why is the new director so much worse than John McTiernan? What's the deal? Difficult? If the airport explodes, put more explosives and more gasoline. If the new director doesn't know how to do it, just change it."
"I have asked all the famous special effects experts in Hollywood. This shot is indeed impossible to shoot. It is not a technical problem. Is it better to find a real airport to shoot it?"
"Do you know how much it will cost to shoot the actual shot? Where can I find an airport that can park a Boeing 757 to shoot the explosion scene? Will there be no need to take off and land the plane during the shooting? Or do you want us to go to the wilds of Minnesota and build one ourselves?" Ronald was a little dissatisfied with Joel Silver's approach. You can't make a movie by piling up money for everything. All these scenes were shot in real life, and even a budget of 100 million couldn't afford it.
"Then let's see if there is any way to solve it. This airport explosion scene is the most important climax scene in the sequel, so we can't save it..."
"Honey, who are you talking to on the phone?" Seeing Ronald's unhappy face, Diane knocked on the door and came in.
"Honey, you're back. I'm on the phone with Joel Silver, the producer of Streets of Rage. This guy has a huge appetite for money. But the difficulty he said is not unreasonable. I'll go see it tomorrow. one time."
When Ronald saw Diane, he felt that all his worries were gone. The two sat down to eat happily. Today Ronald ordered takeout, and tomorrow the chef recommended by Lawrence will come to try out the work.
If I had known that getting married was so fun, I should have gotten married earlier...
…
When we arrived at the scene the next day, Ronald and Renny Harlin, the confirmed director of the Die Hard sequel, the director who made A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, had a good level of special effects scenes and atmosphere.
Joel Silver selected him, and he was confirmed by Fox. His directorial skills are on the level. It was difficult to shoot the finale scene of the sequel to Die Hard, but it wasn’t because he was not good at it.
But in the script, in order to surpass the rooftop explosion in the first film, this plot was made too huge by the screenwriter. At the airport in Washington, D.C., McClain, played by Bruce Willis, had to hold on to a large plane with both hands so as not to fall off, and open the plane's mailbox to let aviation kerosene pour on the runway along with the plane. All over the place.
Then on the wing, he had a fierce battle with the villain boss, and was finally knocked off the wing. Just when the villain thought he could fly away with the Nicaraguan villain leader, Mike Company used a lighter to ignite the fuel on the runway, and the fire was faster than the plane took off. At a faster speed, it caught up with the plane, and finally exploded into a ball before taking off.
The flames on the runway were seen by the passenger plane on which his wife Holly had run out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing, landing successfully.
The entire scene is impeccable from a dramatic perspective, but the scene is too large. The plane had to run thousands of meters on the runway to film the fight scene between the two on the wing. To shoot such a long shot, any traditional special effects method would not be able to do it.
If you shoot indoors, there is no way to find such a large studio. This scene would have been too expensive to shoot on location.
Ronald stared at the scenes. The live-action shooting would definitely not be approved by Fox. The effect of the indoor shooting would definitely be poor. The sequel would not have more exciting scenes than the first one, and the audience's reputation would definitely not be good.
Joel Silver, this guy, definitely wants to ask Fox for a higher budget, and Fox will definitely have to invest an equal proportion of it. He is not willing to pay for the filming of this kind of scene. "Tomorrow, I will ask the best actors in Hollywood." Good special effects guy.”
…
"Jim, do you think this scene can use computer-generated special effects?" No way, Ronald found Cameron who was helping Bigelow film the scene.
"No, this shot is too long, the scene is huge, and it is difficult for computers to process this kind of explosion scene. It looks fake to the audience." Cameron is the best special effects expert in Hollywood. He shook his head after watching it.
"What about using front-end projection in the studio?" Ronald asked again.
Front-end projection is Cameron's specialty. In the old Hollywood movies, when Grace Kelly and Cary Grant were racing, they would have people put cameras on the cars to shoot the exterior shots, and then let the stars sit in the cars in the studio with a screen behind them. There are pictures that have been taken and taken twice.
This method of projecting behind the actors is called back-end projection, and the perspective imbalance looks fake. Cameron himself replicated Kubrick's technique for the ape shot at the beginning of "2001: A Space Odyssey", projecting the image from the front of the actor and then shooting it again so that the perspective ratio is correct and the audience looks shocked.
Ronald actually came to ask Cameron for help with this front-end projection in mind.
"No, your scene is too huge and involves the sky. I don't know how much it costs to do a front-end projection of this scale. Moreover, your scene has a shot of a plane flying wildly, such a long sports shot, and it is at night. The front-end projection is difficult to handle low-light scenes..."
Cameron shook his head at this.
Ronald also sighed, could he just cancel this scene? Change the ending? Anyway, I definitely can't be taken advantage of and I'm not a fool who doesn't care about the return on investment just for the sake of filming.
"Well, but maybe you can try a special effects technology that is older than projection shooting." Cameron is a Hollywood special effects master after all, and he still came up with an idea.
"What technology? Older than Grace Kelly's time?"
"Projection is the second projection of film into the scene. Without this technology, how did Hollywood's special effects experts use to simulate the actual background in the studio?"
"What solution?", Ronald couldn't think of anything.
"painting……"
(End of chapter)
