Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1622: Golden Laurel Award

In the end, the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture - Drama went to "Sense and Sensibility", while the Best Picture - Comedy or Musical went to "Baby Pig".

This is really unexpected. No one thought that a movie starring a pig would beat Michael Douglas, John Travolta, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks's cowboy Woody to become the best comedy movie.

The next day, the media was very happy, making fun of these celebrities for not competing for a Yorkshire white pig... er, actually 48...

Ronald looked at the box office statistics of this movie and found that it had earned $6300 million in the United States, which ranked second in the box office results of Australian movies, second only to the world-famous "Crocodile Dundee"...

Even Mel Gibson's famous works cannot be compared with several Mad Max movies. However, the producer of this piggyback movie is George Miller, the director of Mad Max. He really knows what kind of Australian movies Americans like to watch.

Ronald specially borrowed another copy and brought it home. While entertaining his son with the film, he secretly observed what his son enjoyed watching, in order to learn George Miller's production ideas.

His biggest discovery was that the little white pig was very cute. Little Roger was very happy when he saw the close-up of the pig.

As a director who has innovated the use of special effects in movies, Ronald can easily see that some shots have been enhanced with computer special effects. For example, the over-the-shoulder shots of the piglet talking face to face were lip-synced with special effects to prevent the picture from being exposed.

In the mid-shot, it may be an electronic mechanical pig being controlled. However, in the close-up shots, you can see that it is a real live pig. These shots are very realistic, and when children see such a cute pig, they really fall in love with it immediately.

As someone who also produced the movie "Panda Adventures" with animals as the main characters, Ronald is ashamed of himself. How did he shoot so many close-ups and even close-ups? Did he find a particularly smart pig?
Ronald asked someone to contact the producer, and through his connections with Australian filmmakers, he got a phone call with George Miller.

The result was quite unexpected. Since the crew had to use very cute white pigs for the filming, they chose the famous British pig breed, the Yorkshire White Pig.

This type of pig is purebred and has a very consistent appearance. Each pig has the signature feature of Yorkshire White pigs, two ears that point straight up. They are neither too big nor too small, and the direction of their growth will not block their faces, making them very suitable for photography.

However, another characteristic of this pig is that it grows very fast, so each white pig is only suitable for filming when it is 16-18 weeks old.

The animal trainer in the movie, Carl Lewis Miller, bought a special breeding stock to breed, giving birth to six pigs each time, and replacing them with new ones when they were too big. There were eight rounds of breeding in total, with a total of 48 pigs, all of which appeared in the movie.

After hanging up the phone, Ronald finally understood why his panda movie was not good. Although pandas are cuter than piglets, as world-renowned protected animals, you can't find so many of them to film slowly. You can only take a few close-up shots of pandas with the help of the nature reserve.

Although animals are cute, movies are an art that requires meticulous craftsmanship. If animals that can't perform are the protagonists, they can only be polished slowly over time until they happen to "perform" the effect the director wants.

Therefore, if you want to use pandas as the main characters and make a hit movie, unless there is a major breakthrough in panda breeding technology, you can only wait until computer special effects technology is mature enough...

……

A few days later, Ronald was invited to attend the "Golden Laurel Award" ceremony again.

This award is from the Producers Guild, and was established only two years ago.

The Producers Guild (PGA) is a guild organization that provides a communication opportunity for "producers" of movies and TV series. The producer here is a real job title in the film industry, that is, those who are marked with the title of producer at the beginning of the movie.

In Hollywood, the word "producer" also means the company that produces the film. The organization with companies as members is AMPTP (American Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), which is the organization that negotiates salaries with other industry unions, such as the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild, every few years.

Ronald's Daydream was a member of AMPTP earlier, and now New United Arts is also actively restoring its membership in AMPTP. However, since there are still some procedures to go through, it is not yet a formal member.

Ronald used to represent Daydream at AMPTP meetings, so he positioned himself as a company manager. He rarely attended PGA and other producer guild events. This year, he temporarily stepped down from his management position, and PGA came to the event early, hoping that Ronald could attend the awards ceremony.

This kind of award is obviously a good opportunity for the industry to exchange knowledge and socialize. The PGA also invites a big name to come every year to attract members to attend.

At the first awards ceremony, they even invited former President Ronald as a guest. In the next ceremony, they also invited Spielberg, so inviting Ronald as a guest this time can be regarded as a recognition of his status in the industry.

Ronald agreed and also wanted to get to know some independent producers, perhaps there were some good projects there.

"This year's PGA Gold Laurel Awards are presented to Apollo 13, Brian Grazer and Todd Hallowell..."

Ronald was at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and he sat in his seat as Ted Turner presented the Best Motion Picture Producer Award.

Sitting below, the nominees are all old friends, including Robert Renner, the producer of "American President", Clint Eastwood, the producer of "The Bridges of Madison County", Tim Robbins, the producer of "A Row", Lindsay Dolan, the producer of "Sense and Sensibility", and Leila and Annie, the two female producers of "Leaving Las Vegas".

Who would have thought that the PGA members would vote in favor of Apollo 13.

Since there is only one PGA Film Award, the rest are losers, and everyone uses smiles and drinking to ease the embarrassment. This newly created award has many imperfections.

For example, there are problems with the award rules. Many movies are included in one award. Whether the award is based on box office, return on investment, or artistic performance, there is no unified voting standard.

Apollo 13, as a commercial film, is not particularly successful. The production was strongly supported by NASA, but due to various delays and adjustments, there were long delays in the filming of the film. If it had not been for the unexpectedly good box office, this film might have become another production disaster.

The nominated films are all excellent, but the rest are clearly better films from a production perspective.

For example, Clint Eastwood's films have always been very good at controlling the shooting schedule and costs, and it is almost impossible for him to lose money. His films are all very artistic, but as a director, Eastwood almost never shoots more than three takes for a scene.

Another example is Lindsay Dolan, a female producer who has also worked hard in the male jungle for many years. She is particularly good at shooting some subjects that other male producers would not consider. If a different producer was used for this year's Sense and Sensibility, it would be impossible to invite Ang Lee to be the director, or even to get the project approved.

Ronald clinked glasses with the "losers" one by one, indicating that everyone was successful today.

Similar to the Golden Globe Awards, the PGA's Golden Laurel Awards were also held in a hotel. Everyone ate and drank, and when the awards were presented, everyone applauded and that was it. There was no live broadcast on TV. Only a videographer was hired to take some photos for the PGA's historical archive.

"Thank you, Mr. Mirisch. This is my first time attending a PGA event..."

Ronald raised his glass to an old man.

"How does it feel?" Walter Mirisch, president of the PGA, will step down as president and officially retire this year.

He was once an exceptional producer, and his film "In the Heat of the Night" won the Oscar for Best Picture.

"Ah, your food and wine are much better than those at the Golden Globe Awards." Ronald laughed. He was not in a position to comment, so he changed the subject to food.

"We chose the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to hold the awards ceremony, not just because of its food..." Walter Mirisch smiled and told Ronald, a rising star in the producer industry, about Gu.

This hotel was built in 1928 and was a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills at the time. It is well-known in Hollywood because it is often used as a filming location for movies or TV series.

For example, Ronald's "Pretty Woman" had some lobby and exterior shots shot here. Of course, most of the interior shots were shot at another cheaper hotel. The rent here is too expensive.

However, it is considered a luxury hotel in Hollywood because it is often visited by big names. For example, Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby" in his early years, had lunch here with Ginevra King, who is considered to be the prototype of Daisy Buchanan in the novel.

Later, Elvis Presley and Warren Beatty also lived here all year round and only moved out after ending their single lives.

The hotel became famous for hosting the black singer Paul Robeson. In the 1940s, most high-end hotels in Los Angeles did not accept black people.

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel was the only one that agreed to let him stay. Paul Robeson was very angry about this, so during the tour, he stood in the hotel lobby for two hours every day to let most of the guests know that a black person was staying.

When asked why he did this, the progressive singer said it was to ensure that the next time black people come, they have a place to stay.

This answer was published in the newspaper, and soon after, all hotels in Los Angeles lifted their restrictions on black people.

"Thank you PGA for inviting me to present this very memorable award..."

After presenting the Best TV Series Award to "Frasier" and the Special Producer Award to "Toy Story", Ronald also took the stage and served as the award presenter.

"PGA has decided to present this year's Gold Laurel Memorial Award to our president, Mr. Walter Mirisch. Before the award ceremony, the PGA asked me to say a few words to recognize Walter Mirisch's immortal contribution to Hollywood and PGA."

Ronald was talking on the stage, but most people below were still drinking and chatting.

"Walter Mirisch has won many commemorative awards, such as the Honorary Oscar and the Honorary Golden Globe. This time the PGA is here to recognize his filmmaking career, and I want to say something different..."

Ronald didn't just give a perfunctory speech, but really started to talk about some of Walter Mirisch's honorable deeds. The audience below gradually stopped talking and started to look at Ronald on the stage.

"Just now, Mr. Walter Mirisch told me the reason why he chose this hotel for the award ceremony... This is the first big hotel in Los Angeles to accommodate black people..."

Ronald began to bring up the topic of racial equality. Recently, the voices of black people at the Oscars have been growing louder and louder, with people complaining every year that there have been no black actors or actresses for many years...

"This reminds me of Walter Mirisch's immortal production work, In the Heat of the Night. This is also the first work that tells the story of systematic discrimination against black people. Hollywood is always ahead of public opinion, and all this is inseparable from the efforts of us producers. Without my invention, no matter how good the director and actors are, they would not have the money to shoot it..."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The audience laughed. Ronald was different from most of them. He was both a director and a producer. Speaking from the perspective of a producer, he still gave Walter Mirisch enough face. The two of them hugged each other warmly on the stage.

Walter Mirisch also pointed at Ronald and told everyone that this man was different from himself, he was a very rich man, and all the producers present could ask Ronald for money to make a movie.

For a time, Ronald was more popular than Ted Turner, the president of Turner Network, because his United Artists was very rich and willing to invest in artistic films. However, Turner's business performance was not good, and although his wife was Jane Fonda, he did not invest in films.

"Hahaha, I received a lot of project proposals..." Ronald smiled and gave all the business cards he got at the Golden Laurel Awards to David Simkins. These independent producers sent him their project proposals as quickly as possible.