Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1519 Attacking Top Gun?

"Any good news over there?"

A day later, Ronald met Xiao Yan, who had just returned from China, in the office. He coordinated the cooperation between the head office and the Xujiahui Dubbing Studio. Liu Guangning and other old masters who had retired to Hong Kong to accompany his studies were also invited back by Xiao Yan to form the strongest team.

These veteran dubbing actors also went to the tomb of the old factory director Chen Xuyi to pay their respects and told him that the dubbing method he pioneered during his lifetime was appreciated by big Hollywood directors and has been restored.

"The dubbing of Forrest Gump has already begun, and everyone is very happy. The money given by the head office was too little before, with a total budget of only 50,000 yuan for a movie. After deducting the cost of equipment, the entire team worked for several months and only received less than 30,000 yuan in total. Now that we have the budget from the producer, everyone is very excited."

"Okay, is there anything else?" Ronald actually just wanted to hear some good news. The Harvey Weinstein incident made him uncomfortable. Such a lucky guy was buzzing nonsense in front of him, and he really wanted to kill this fly with a chopstick.

"By the way, there was another joke at the head office."

Xiao Yan also saw what Ronald was thinking. After thinking about it, he told Ronald about something that happened in the capital.

The head office had already issued instructions to local branches, especially those in the six pilot cities that screened "The Fugitive," to take responsibility. However, there were still too many stubborn bureaucrats in the capital's branches.

These people pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed the orders. Although they got the distribution tasks, they still secretly prevented theaters from showing Hollywood movies.

But the managers of the cinemas below do not buy their story. The revenue and expenditure of cinemas in big cities are also very bad. Cinemas in small and medium-sized cities can set aside some space to show videotapes or open billiard halls.

However, cinemas in big cities still have the task of state distribution, and some national-level theater performances are held in these comprehensive cinemas. This also limits the channels for generating income.

Therefore, they are full of expectations for Hollywood movies. After watching the preview arranged by the head office, these people are very familiar with the audience's preferences. This kind of movie is something that mainland audiences have never seen before. They watched the dubbing version of the Shanghai Film Translation Studio and liked it very much. It can turn losses into profits.

So even though the people at the city branch had ordered that the film not be shown, they still secretly took copies from the head office, and like underground workers making contact, they packed them tightly and transported them back to the cinemas for screening.

Who knew that the people in the city branch also relied on the fact that the leaders would not take such detailed measures and still had to hand over all the copies to the branch. Then they planned to use the excuse of technical problems to reduce the screening of the film, or even not show it at all.

The managers of these cinemas were also very shrewd. After they found out about the incident, they had people drive Jinbei vans and load the copies onto the vans as soon as the film was finished showing in one cinema. They would then drive around the roads in the city and deliver them to the next cinema at the right time. As a result, the people in the branch offices found nothing in the warehouse.

The film was also well received in five other cities, with lines at the cinemas not seen for years reappearing. With just a few copies, it generated nearly 10 million RMB in box office revenue in just one week of screening.

This also aroused the dissatisfaction of conservatives, and many calls were made to various gods. However, with the support of the audience who paid for their own tickets and the support of the leaders, these were not a problem.

After the first round of screenings, the opinions of both sides will be summarized and then discussed in a meeting. In short, at the end of the year, it can be expected that the side that supports the screening will win. This is of course related to the story of the Fugitive. The corrupt system in America allowed the good heart surgeon to expose the quality defects of the manufacturer, and the wine glass manufacturer arranged for someone to murder his wife and frame him... Such capital diseases are also in line with... direction.

"Where's your old man?"

Ronald's mouth widened a little more. He liked the good news brought by the correct way of doing things. Slowly opening up a market would benefit all the participants, and when the time came, the market would be extremely stable and no one could close it.

"My dad said he wanted to learn English. He wanted to give his acceptance speech in English. But I think he is not used to the United States, so he made an excuse to stay at home for a while longer." Xiao Yan laughed. Old Yan's lightning lamp was recommended to the Academy by Ronald, Spielberg and Coppola, two great directors, this time, and it was almost certain to win the technical award.

"Hey, kid, your white girlfriend must have made your dad unhappy." Ronald knew that Xiao Yan had a white girlfriend, which might make Old Yan a little unsure about how to treat her.

"Mr. Luo, is there anything else you would like to know?" Seeing that Ronald didn't say anything, Xiao Yan stood up and said goodbye.

"Okay, take good care of it for your father." Ronald said this in Chinese, and waved Xiao Yan away. He picked up the phone and called David Simkins, asking him to come to the office.

"David, is everything arranged?"

"No problem. Their treatment of the screenwriter was terrible. Even if we don't go to him, he will stand up and fight for his deserved interests." David Simkins did something after Ronald gave his instructions...

The screenwriters of "Pulp Fiction" in the version screened at the Cannes Film Festival are Quentin Tarantino and a man named Roger Avery.

But in the version screened in America, the credits were changed to Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Story: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery.

This screenwriter named Roger Avery went from being a co-author to the person who provided the story prototype, and this story prototype was completed in collaboration with Quentin Tarantino.

Generally speaking, the screenwriter's credit is decided before filming begins. Changes in the credit after the film is released often indicate some internal disputes.

This also attracted the attention of the investigators arranged by Ronald at the time. After some investigation, it was found that this was a hype operation conspired by Harvey Weinstein and Quentin Tarantino.

Miramax Films is eager to promote Quentin as the next talent in Hollywood.

If he is just a director, then the opportunities he may get are mainly those of a mercenary. A production studio wants to make a movie, has a script, and finally waits for a big star to participate. At this time, based on the temperament of the movie and the opinions of the star, many directors will come into view.

However, such directors generally have to shoot a lot of conventional works and do not have much control over their own films. However, if a Palme d'Or winner who becomes famous overnight not only has the title of director but is also the only major screenwriter, then the industry will undoubtedly position him as an "author director."

If Quentin Tarantino can be nominated for both the Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscars for Pulp Fiction, then Harvey Weinstein, who is deeply tied to him, will have more financing opportunities. Is there anything more eye-catching in Hollywood than an "authorial" genius?

With this introduction, Ronald's people found him indirectly through the Writers Guild and the agent of the screenwriter named Roger Avery.

The person in charge of handling this matter did not reveal any relationship with Daydream or Ronald himself. He just pretended to be a small independent producer who wanted to buy the script and contacted him in advance.

After discussing some of Roger Avery's works and expressing his intention to buy his other script "Mr. Stitch", he raised objections to his signature in "Pulp Fiction", saying that because he was removed from the screenwriter's signature, the investors who had read the script began to doubt Roger Avery's ability and were ready to withdraw their investment.

Furthermore, Roger Avery should be held accountable for falsely promoting his contribution to "Pulp Fiction."

This series of combined punches completely ignited Roger Avery's anger. He found the producer and angrily criticized Quentin Tarantino for two hours.

The recorded content is very interesting. Roger Avery was actually a co-worker of Quentin Tarantino who worked in a video rental store called "Video Archives".

In this chain store, they are the only two true movie lovers, everyone else is just doing a job.

The two got along very well, often watching movie tapes together over and over again, and analyzing the director's and screenwriter's techniques together. Later, they wrote their own scripts, reviewed each other's scripts, and exchanged them to continue the discussion.

It can be said that the script of Pulp Fiction is an upgraded version of the close cooperation between the two. Not only did they have very close cooperation in the story outline stage, but also in the script writing stage, Roger Avery actually wrote quite a lot of character dialogues and scene descriptions, the total number of which added up to more than Quentin.

Moreover, although Quentin was responsible for writing the main story, the story was repeatedly rewritten and rewritten many times. In the end, not much of Quentin's own version remained in the final version.

Both of them have made great contributions to the story, and it is difficult to tell who contributed what. It is hard to say which scene, which character, or which dialogue was written by whom.

Generally speaking, if two screenwriters collaborate like this, it is basically impossible for one to be credited and the other not. At most, they will argue over whose name comes first...

There are also some unspoken rules in the Hollywood industry. Generally speaking, a successful director will not compete for the screenwriter's credit. This is because the director will receive the most praise after the movie is successful. It is generally difficult for screenwriters to get a sudden increase in income by relying on their success and fame.

A well-known person in the industry who likes to modify scripts and even rewrite parts of them is Francis Ford Coppola, but he rarely steals other people's credits, let alone deletes other people's names.

Therefore, Quentin's behavior is very unprofessional in the industry. After Roger Avery learned about this matter (he was still kept in the dark), he prepared two options: one was to complain to the Writers Guild, and the other was to sue the court.

Of course, the people Ronald sent stopped him because even though the signature was changed on the public copy, the producers could easily cover it up with an excuse of a work error and give Roger Avery some money to get him out of the way.

We must wait until Harvey Weinstein makes a bigger mistake before taking any action.

Now, the time has finally arrived.

Now is the stage for application for the Golden Globe Awards, and the awards from major film critics associations and major trade unions will be announced one after another.

As long as Miramax has clearly deprived Roger Avery of his authorship rights in these awards, the lawsuit can prove that the plaintiff has suffered damages, and result in higher liquidated damages, as well as big news that the news media will not be able to miss.

"Well, let's not give him any evidence that could be traced back to us..."

After Ronald finished speaking, he was also a little depressed. If he could, he didn't want to use such a destructive trick. The industry's code of conduct must be followed by everyone. If there are too many such things, will the public relations of the future award season be full of smears and rumors?

"Forget it. I haven't done anything wrong anyway. I'll take care of the future."

……

"Twelve jurors have been selected for the Simpson trial, as well as twelve reserve jurors to prevent unexpected withdrawal during the trial. Reserve jurors will have the same rights as regular jurors...

Hollywood's rising star, Quentin Tarantino, has recently been caught up in a scandal over his credits. It is reported that his co-worker at a video rental store, Roger Avery, who was also his early collaborator, sued him and Miramax for removing his name from the screenwriter column of the official screening copy, and for not listing him as a co-author of the script in all the screenwriting awards submitted, but only as a co-author of the original story.

The President expressed concern about the upcoming midterm elections, saying our society needs a more accountable government..."

Ronald saw the news on TV at home that Quentin had cheated his partner Roger Avery's signature. Today, after get off work, he received many calls from colleagues in the industry, asking him if this was true.

As we all know, because Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction are the two most popular movies in the award season, it is assumed that if something happens, the people who know the inside story best are probably Quentin, Harvey and Ronald.

Today, Harvey Weinstein was furious. As soon as he received the call, he shouted that this was a rumor and smear campaign. Quentin followed his advice and responded to all interview requests with "no comment".

Ronald's status was different, and reporters couldn't interview him directly, so for a while no one had many sources of information.

However, the award committees of several local film critics associations that have announced the shortlist have called Harvey Weinstein to clarify the news. Otherwise, they will withdraw their nominations...

Only a few insiders who had contacted Roger Avery knew that it was Ronald who had facilitated it. David Simkins also called Ronald.

"Hey, David, good job, now they don't have time to attack us..." Ronald praised with a smile.

"Ronald, that's not what I'm talking about. Quentin, in a cameo in a movie called Sleep With Me, attacked your directorial work through his character's mouth... I just went to the cinema to watch it."

"What? He made a cameo appearance in a movie, how can he attack me? The movie that's being released now was finished at the beginning of the year at the latest. Could he have known at that time that my Forrest Gump was competing with his?"

"No, he was attacking your Top Gun..."

"Top Gun, what did he say?" Ronald didn't understand. How could he attack an air combat film? Was he attacking me for not opposing the war?

"He, he said it was a... uh... a male-oriented relationship movie. Maverick and Ice are a couple."