Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1625: Outrageous Oscar PR
"…Thank you for the kindness of the Directors Guild…"

Unlike other awards, the Directors Guild Awards have a narrow scope, with only Best Director and Best Documentary Director awards. And directors don’t have the opportunity to appear on various TV reports during the award season like stars do.

Therefore, one of the traditions of the Directors Guild Awards is very strange, that is, all nominees have the opportunity to give a speech, instead of only the winner.

Ang Lee had just finished giving his speech. His English was not good, so he had written a script in advance and read it aloud.

As Sense and Sensibility itself was of very good quality, the directors present also responded with warm applause.

"I would like to thank the Directors Guild for giving me this nomination opportunity...My first directorial work in the industry was given to me by Roger Corman. He told me that as long as I starred in one of his films, he would give me a chance to direct. Of course, I did not miss it..."

The next person to go up and give a speech was Ron Howard of Apollo 13.

Ronald looked at his red hair, which was already bald in the middle, and then looked at Bryce Dallas Howard beside him. This family's red hair was inherited very well, red and bright, and her face also clearly showed Ron Howard's genes...

The little girl was very happy. When her father's speech was wonderful, she took the lead in clapping, her hands turned red from clapping, as if she was treating this as an Oscar. After all, her father did not get an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and the little girl was feeling sorry for him.

"Thank you all..."

Ron Howard spoke on the stage for more than five minutes, which was really enough to make people yawn, but considering that he was not nominated for an Oscar, everyone still politely applauded him.

"The winner of the 48th Directors Guild Award for Best Director is... Ron Howard, Apollo 13..."

Unexpectedly, the winner announced by veteran comedian Carl Reiner was another upset: Ron Howard, who was not nominated for an Oscar, won the DGA Best Director Award.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they started applauding after a second.

"Oh, my dad won a prize..." The little fat girl next to Ronald was extremely happy, then stretched out her hand to Ronald...waiting for his response.

"Snapped……"

Ronald immediately felt that his daughter was thoughtful and gave her a high five to celebrate. Ron Howard, who happened to be on the stage again, turned around and looked at his daughter, and noticed Ronald's celebration...

Ron Howard's face immediately became sunny and he smiled at Ronald to show his goodwill. Ronald smiled back. He had filmed a movie with his brother in Roger Corman's company.

"I know you can understand me. I just regret not asking Universal for more PR. Do you know that some people's PR budget is more than five times higher than Universal's?"

Ron Howard received a large medal with an eagle embossed on it, and everyone's interest was diverted to the New York venue by the live satellite broadcast. Ron Howard happened to come down and chat with Ronald, which was a kind response to his kindness.

Ronald was a little confused. Why did Ron Howard talk to him like that? Was he complaining that he didn't get support from Universal and an Oscar nomination? Or was he complaining that his PR was too much? Or was he reminding himself of something?
The awards for this year's Directors Guild Los Angeles section were concluded with the Best Documentary Director Award going to Terry Zwigoff, director of "Kluber," a documentary about underground cartoonist Kluber.

After socializing with his fellow directors for a while, Ronald went back to the car. He always felt that Ron Howard's words had some deeper meaning.

He picked up the phone, called his assistants, and asked them to find out how much Universal had spent on the Oscars publicity for "Apollo 13."

Soon, the assistant found the public relations budget for Apollo 13, which was $200 million. This figure was similar to the budget Ronald paid for Leaving Las Vegas. It seemed that Ron Howard really wanted to remind himself of something.

Which other company has spent nearly tens of millions of dollars on its public relations budget?

This is difficult to estimate. Generally speaking, the budget preparation of a large company like Universal is relatively transparent, and it is not a big deal to ask if there is a middle-level manager who knows Universal. However, for a company willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on awards, these must be carefully planned, so it may not be possible to find out.

However, Ronald still had a guess in his mind...

After hanging up the phone, Ronald pressed a button and lowered the partition between him and the driver in the front seat, Bud. "Bud, find some local radio station to listen to. Are there any talk shows talking about the Oscars?" Ronald didn't listen to the radio much. Except for the traffic station, he didn't know which radio stations there were.

"Okay..." Little Bud quickly tuned to several local FM and AM radio stations...

"Ok?"

After listening to several radio stations, Ronald couldn't help but be surprised.

The hosts of several channels were talking about Oscar predictions, but they all had one thing in common: they were all focused on Miramax's film projects.

For example, there is a story that after the death of the lead actor, screenwriter, and producer, Weinstein "saved" the movie The Postman and released it worldwide.

How the lead actor postponed treatment for a heart attack for the sake of art. How he had a heart attack the day after filming all the scenes. How the producer discovered the film but never saw the first cut of the film...

Others talk about Woody Allen's "non-powerful aphrodisiac", how supporting actress Mira Sorvino has been improving her acting skills since entering Hollywood, and how her acting skills have improved by leaps and bounds since she started dating her new boyfriend Quentin Tarantino. How much of her acting improvement is due to Quentin...

The signal was obvious. Ron Howard was hinting that it was Harvey Weinstein's Miramax that successfully squeezed out several strong competitors during the nomination stage...

"Please help me get all the Variety Shows and Hollywood Reports from the past three months..."

When he got home, Ronald asked Wang Ma to have the maids go to the storage room and find two of the most important Hollywood media. He told them to mark any advertisements for Miramax movies they found and send them to Ronald's study at once.

In addition to The Postman and Non-Strong Aphrodisiac, Miramax had three other films enter the Oscar season competition this year and were successfully nominated.

They are "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", starring Robert Downey Jr., which was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costume. The historical drama "Georgia", in which Mae Winningham was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. And "A Star Is Born", directed by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film...

Advertisements saying “Please consider such and such a film for the Academy Award for such and such a film…” have been running non-stop in these two most important media outlets since three months ago.

The cleverness of Miramax lies in the fact that their advertising intensity is not very high, but it lasts for a long time. They start advertising long before other movies start competing for awards and public relations.

"Give me the ones from two months ago... and the ones from two months ago, forget it, just give me all the ones from this year..."

Ronald was completely surprised. Among these films, The Postman, which received the most nominations, was actually released in Italy at the end of 1994. Last year, Miramax had been doing PR advertising non-stop, constantly hyping up the two crew members who unfortunately passed away...

This kind of tragic way of playing makes people feel as if not voting for them would be a shame to those who unfortunately passed away...

The final result was also very surprising. This foreign language film actually received five nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay...

This is a rare achievement, as it is not easy for a foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture instead of competing for Best Foreign Language Film.

"Non-Strong Aphrodisiac" and "Love in Troubled Times" also set single but accurate hot spots for stir-frying according to their situations.

"The Legend of Charlie Chaplin" is another starring work of Robert Downey Jr. after the failed "The Chaplin Story". Meg Ryan also returned to work after giving birth, and she and Robert Downey Jr. performed a story of a prodigal son.

Since before the release, people have been talking about how well-matched the two are as a screen couple, that this movie is the "Sleepless in Seattle" of old, that Meg Ryan once again gives a wonderful romantic love scene, etc...

If the movie had not been a box office failure after its release and the two leading actors had not had no chemistry, many people might have believed it.

"Not a Strong Aphrodisiac" repeatedly emphasized that this was a victory for independent films. Hollywood is full of cheesy movies from big studios. Only independent films can save Hollywood and are real movies. Last year, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction did not win the award. This year, it should be the turn of an independent film to win the award...

Finally, there is a movie called Dead Man Walking that was not produced by Miramax and distributed by PolyGram. The actual American distributor of this movie was Miramax, but Weinstein’s company name was not deliberately highlighted during the distribution.

The hype for this movie is about how unfortunate the heroine Susan Sarandon is. She has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress four times before, namely:

Atlantic City in 1982, losing to Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond.

In 1992's "Thelma and Louise," he lost to Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs."

"Lorenzo's Oil" in 1993, losing to Emma Thompson in "Howards End."

and "The Client" in 1994, losing to Jessica Lange for "Blue Sky."

For this "Death Row Walking", Weinstein did not use the title "Miramax invites you to consider Susan Sarandon for a Lead Actress nomination...", but used a more sensational and direct one:
"The Oscars owe her a Best Actress award..."

As soon as Ronald saw the title, he knew it was a good one. He picked up the advertisement and read it slowly.

"Susan Sarandon has missed out on awards for many years, but this time she finally has a chance to win..."

This three-quarter-page advertisement was disguised as an interview with a reporter, which reviewed Susan Sarandon's tragic fate of being nominated four times but not winning the award. The article also hinted that Susan Sarandon's previous failures were not always uncontroversial...

The Oscars have always had a tradition of awarding consolation prizes. Some actors who lost out in certain years of fierce competition often win the coveted award with a very ordinary work in a later year when the competition is not so fierce. Everyone understands that this is a debt of gratitude...

This ad is very precisely aimed at the Oscars judges. You have failed Susan Sarandon in the past, and you should repay your debt this year!

"Hey, Richard, please help me make appointments with Mel Gibson, Lindsay Dolan, and Bryan Singer..."

Ronald wants to communicate with these three producers, Braveheart, Sense and Sensibility, and The Usual Suspects, to reveal Miramax's competitive moves and, if they are willing, to discuss countermeasures.

Some have already started a war, so they will have to see how much ammunition they can muster to fight it.

Braveheart also received multiple nominations, but thanks to Miramax's many tricks, it didn't win Best Actor. Sense and Sensibility was nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, and The Usual Suspects was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. There wasn't much direct competition, and they could still coordinate their positions.

After arranging everything, Ronald felt that some of his actions in winning awards in the past few years seemed to have inspired the Weinstein brothers. They have now intensified their public relations methods to the point of violating professional ethics and industry unwritten rules.

Shaking his head and sighing, Ronald felt that if they continued to act like this, who knows what kind of scandal would arise.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

While he was thinking, the phone at home rang. Ronald thought it was his assistant, so he picked up the phone and asked, "It's Mel Gibson..."

"Sir, is this Diane Lane's home?" A magnetic male voice sounded.

"Yes, this is Diane's home, I am her husband, who are you?" Ronald thought he was from the crew of Diane's new film.

"Sir, is your wife home? I can talk to her directly. This is a professional matter in the acting industry. If you don't understand, please let her answer the phone and I will talk to her directly..."

"Um, she's busy right now, you can tell me if you have anything..." Ronald replied.

"Sir, I am representing some people in Hollywood who have a sense of justice. I would like to ask your wife to consider voting for The Postman for Best Picture and Susan Sarandon for Best Actress..."

"what?"

Ronald was stunned. Is this telemarketing? Using telemarketing to canvass for votes?
"who are you?"

"Sir, please consider this. The real fighters in Hollywood are on our side. Don't surrender to the Big Seven studios. No, it's the Big Eight now. United Artists has been resurrected. This is definitely the best choice for voting at this year's Oscars. You don't want your wife to continue to be exploited by the big studios. Do you want her to have to go through multiple rounds of casting interviews for a single role?"

"Ha..." Ronald was so angry at these low-level telemarketers that he laughed, "Don't you know who I am?"

"Aren't you Diane Lane's husband? Or are you just claiming to be? It doesn't matter, please tell Diane for me. It doesn't matter if you don't want to, we will call you again... By the way, as long as Miss Diane Lane is willing to vote for the person we recommend, we will send you a big gift package..."