NOVEL NEXT Exploiting Hollywood 1980.
Chapter 199
Chapter 199
"one two Three……"
Ronald took the script of "Grease", and under the illumination of the bedside lamp, marked the right margin of some passages that were obviously libretto.
"Grease" is adapted from a Broadway musical, and there are large sections of singing passages copied from the musical in the script.The lines in these parts are two lines of lyrics and one paragraph, and then change the character and add two lines of lyrics.
This amounts to artificially stretching the length of the script, making the rule of thumb for finished scripts about 1 minute per page no longer accurate.
Then there are some dance passages without any description, only the words "dancing (dancing)", how to dance and how long to dance, generally refer to the original version of the Broadway musical.
Such a dance scene contains a lot of missing information, the word "dance", can be a few seconds of dance, or a few minutes of dance.This is equivalent to shortening the length of the script.
The two phases are offset, the script is 121 pages, and the final film length is 110 minutes.That is to say, the singing passages account for a very high percentage of the entire script. Ronald counted, and singing can account for 40% of the lines in the film.
Well, except for a few changes in the lyrics due to the change of the heroine's nationality, and the addition of a few small supporting roles that were not in the original musical, the original screenwriter Bronte Woodard actually only made some sets for the musical. , changed to a live action movie.And the work of changing the expression method of musicals into audio-visual language.
This conclusion was quite beyond Ronald's expectations.
"Sons of Grease" is equivalent to writing a musical script from scratch, and Ronald can't compose music and lyrics...
Well, Ronald copied the words for two episodes from the dream movie.But in the 110-minute song and dance film, the 45-minute singing segment does not have the inspiration in the dream. It is necessary to work closely with the songwriter to write this script.
Ronald has no experience at all. After all, he should write the lyrics and music first, and then match the plot.Or do you write the plot first, leaving some holes for the songwriters to fill in?
After thinking about it all night, Ronald didn't sleep well, and when Richard came to pick him up the next day, he also found that Ronald was depressed.
"What's wrong with you? Didn't sleep well at night? Do you need to change the room?"
"No, I read the Grease script you gave me in the middle of the night and found a big problem." Ronald told Richard about his discovery, "The difficulty of adapting the original work is very low, and the sequel is by no means my own. One person can write it, and I regret agreeing to producer Sterwood."
Richard bowed his head and thought for a while, "We still go to see Ms. Patricia Birch, the choreographer of the original work, to understand the situation first. Then we will discuss it with Mr. Nisita. I think that since Mr. Sternwood has succeeded He's made so many movies, he'll definitely think about it."
"Sterwood doesn't think about it so much. He just wants to make his signing singer Andy Gibb popular and make his album sell through the movie." Choreographer Patricia Birch told the visiting Ronald said.
"It was the same with the original film. Let me tell you, Grease was originally a Chicago story, and Sterwood, in order to hype the heroine Olivia Newton-John, intervened forcefully in the script, and finally had to change the background of the heroine. , become an exchange student from Britain."
Patricia Birch, a lean woman approaching 50, was the choreographer of the original Broadway musical "Grease," with a deep affection for the original.In her opinion, the changes made for the film version are deviant heresy.
It turned out that she was not very friendly to Ronald, and felt that it was a completely irresponsible choice for a film screenwriter to write "Son of Grease" from scratch.But after learning that Ronald was the lyricist of the two episodes of "Fame", he changed his attitude obviously.
"I entered the industry in the late 50s, and I knew the behind-the-scenes stories of some classic song and dance movies from my predecessors. Before the 50s, Hollywood was a big studio system.
Whether it's screenwriters, choreographers, or songwriters, they are all hired by big studios and get salary and bonuses.In this way, everyone can work together every day to write the script of the musical.
In today's Hollywood, all types of work are freelancers, and everyone changes a group of professionals for each film, and joins the team at different time periods of filming.
Screenwriters and lyricists, choreographers and composers do not have a tacit understanding of cooperation for a long time, and it is impossible to work together for several months to complete the singing and dancing links of musical films.
Therefore, after the disintegration of the Hollywood studio system, musicals, which required the highest degree of cooperation from behind-the-scenes creators, were one of the first genres to die out. "
After receiving the black tea from Patricia Birch, Ronald took a sip after thanking him, "Then how did the oil get so perfect? Ms. Birch, you also won the Broadway Tony Award for Best Editing dance."
"Because we are a stage play," Patricia Birch showed nostalgia, "You haven't participated in the production of a stage play, Ronald?"
"No."
"Stage play and film are two completely different arts. 'Grease' was not performed on Broadway in the first place. We performed many shows in Chicago, and each show can be adjusted according to the audience's reaction. The structure of the play is not appropriate, the lyrics Not perfect, wait for flaws."
"Then Off-Broadway in New York, continued to improve. Then it went Off-Broadway, and finally the audience and the reviews, boom! We're on Broadway."
"But the film only has one chance, and it cannot be adjusted according to the audience's feedback during filming. When the trial screening is finished, if the audience's response is not good, there is no chance to make major changes. At most, we can only do some small reshoots and Modify." Ronald continued.
Patricia Birch glanced at Ronald appreciatively, "Yes. That's why I prefer to work on Broadway, an art form without instant feedback, it's too difficult."
When Ronald heard this, he also understood.The creation method of musicals is very different from other types of films. Unless "Sons of Grease" can be made into a musical first and polished on Broadway for a year or two, otherwise, if you want to make a film comparable to the original, you must Almost impossible.
"When you were filming 'Grease,' did you just copy the Broadway song and dance sequence?" Ronald asked.
"Basically copied, with subtle differences of course," Patricia Birch said.
"For example, in the selection of actors, John Travolta participated in the Broadway version of 'Grease', but he could only play a supporting role because his dancing was not good enough. The protagonist of the Broadway version cannot play the protagonist of the movie version, Because he is not handsome enough. The grammar of film shots is different from stage play after all.”
Ronald nodded, he understood the difference in priorities in casting.On the Broadway stage, what the audience sees is the actor's body and dance.And movies can use close-up shots to explain the appearance of actors.
“When we were shooting the original film, we were looking for elite dancers, and many of the supporting characters danced better than the two main characters. I still remember a girl in New York who lied about her age to participate in the group dance in the background.
I think she dances really well, and I persuaded the director to give her a lot of shots.But then she did not continue to work hard in Hollywood, but went back to continue her ballet studies.Otherwise, with her quality...hey, there are no more musicals in Hollywood for her to play. "
Ronald's recording hand stopped for a moment. He had heard this story once before.
"You mean Antonia Franceschi?"
"Yes, how do you know her? Is she okay now?"
"She later took part in 'Fame' as one of the leading roles. But she still didn't go to Hollywood, and now she goes to the New York City Ballet."
"You?" Patricia Birch saw the tenderness in Ronald's eyes.
"Yes, once..."
"Ballet girls are like this. If you want to start a family, you have to give up your career like me." Patricia Birch patted Ronald's hand to comfort him.
"Tell me, Ms. Birch. If I were to start writing a script from scratch, what should I pay attention to? Should I write the plot first and leave a few holes for song and dance, or wait until you have mature song and dance , and then write the plot around these passages?"
Ronald put the past back into the depths of his memory.
Although "Son of Grease" is facing unexpected difficulties, he still has to do his best to do what he has promised.Ronald asks Patricia Birch for advice on writing musicals.
"Mature musical films have their own rhythm and structure. Generally speaking, there will be a song and dance at the beginning of the plot to set the tone for the film, and then when the plot enters the second act, the character development needs a song and dance to help him complete , and the reversal of the third act, and the final climax..."
Patricia Birch was quite satisfied with Ronald, who was humbly asking for advice, and gave Ronald several large fixed passages of the musical, "These places need to be reserved in the script in advance, and other small song and dance, It is mainly an emotional boost, and you can wait for the script to be roughly completed before adding it.”
Ronald was jotting down choreographic suggestions in quick shorthand, frowning now and then.Musical and musical films are different from other film genres from the beginning of script creation, and they are in their own category.
No wonder after the disbandment of the blockbuster system, several successful musicals, such as "West Side Story", "Grease", "My Fair Lady", are all successful Broadway adaptations.
And those large-scale productions of musicals on the street, such as "New York, New York" by Ronald teacher Martin Scorsese, are all original stories that the director admires the ancient musical theater form and insists on going his own way.
This self-contained working method, which is slowly polished in the interaction with the audience in advance, is very similar to comedy.Comedians and comedy directors need to prepare for several years before they can accumulate enough jokes that have been polished in live performances before they can shoot a successful work.
And unlike ordinary movies, which can use classic plots, the jokes of comedy and the singing and dancing scenes of musical films are all one-off.After using it this time, it cannot be repeated in the next movie.
No wonder producer Sterwood wanted to find comedy director Jerry Zucker, it seems that the two do have similarities.
"It seems that this time it will take a lot of thinking." Ronald couldn't help but smiled wryly.
Patricia Birch looked at Ronald a little distressed, and couldn't help but speak up, "Actually, there are tricks, as long as you can do either of these two points, 'Son of Grease' will not be a big problem to maintain a qualified sequel. If you can do both, it’s bound to be a blast.”
(End of this chapter)
"one two Three……"
Ronald took the script of "Grease", and under the illumination of the bedside lamp, marked the right margin of some passages that were obviously libretto.
"Grease" is adapted from a Broadway musical, and there are large sections of singing passages copied from the musical in the script.The lines in these parts are two lines of lyrics and one paragraph, and then change the character and add two lines of lyrics.
This amounts to artificially stretching the length of the script, making the rule of thumb for finished scripts about 1 minute per page no longer accurate.
Then there are some dance passages without any description, only the words "dancing (dancing)", how to dance and how long to dance, generally refer to the original version of the Broadway musical.
Such a dance scene contains a lot of missing information, the word "dance", can be a few seconds of dance, or a few minutes of dance.This is equivalent to shortening the length of the script.
The two phases are offset, the script is 121 pages, and the final film length is 110 minutes.That is to say, the singing passages account for a very high percentage of the entire script. Ronald counted, and singing can account for 40% of the lines in the film.
Well, except for a few changes in the lyrics due to the change of the heroine's nationality, and the addition of a few small supporting roles that were not in the original musical, the original screenwriter Bronte Woodard actually only made some sets for the musical. , changed to a live action movie.And the work of changing the expression method of musicals into audio-visual language.
This conclusion was quite beyond Ronald's expectations.
"Sons of Grease" is equivalent to writing a musical script from scratch, and Ronald can't compose music and lyrics...
Well, Ronald copied the words for two episodes from the dream movie.But in the 110-minute song and dance film, the 45-minute singing segment does not have the inspiration in the dream. It is necessary to work closely with the songwriter to write this script.
Ronald has no experience at all. After all, he should write the lyrics and music first, and then match the plot.Or do you write the plot first, leaving some holes for the songwriters to fill in?
After thinking about it all night, Ronald didn't sleep well, and when Richard came to pick him up the next day, he also found that Ronald was depressed.
"What's wrong with you? Didn't sleep well at night? Do you need to change the room?"
"No, I read the Grease script you gave me in the middle of the night and found a big problem." Ronald told Richard about his discovery, "The difficulty of adapting the original work is very low, and the sequel is by no means my own. One person can write it, and I regret agreeing to producer Sterwood."
Richard bowed his head and thought for a while, "We still go to see Ms. Patricia Birch, the choreographer of the original work, to understand the situation first. Then we will discuss it with Mr. Nisita. I think that since Mr. Sternwood has succeeded He's made so many movies, he'll definitely think about it."
"Sterwood doesn't think about it so much. He just wants to make his signing singer Andy Gibb popular and make his album sell through the movie." Choreographer Patricia Birch told the visiting Ronald said.
"It was the same with the original film. Let me tell you, Grease was originally a Chicago story, and Sterwood, in order to hype the heroine Olivia Newton-John, intervened forcefully in the script, and finally had to change the background of the heroine. , become an exchange student from Britain."
Patricia Birch, a lean woman approaching 50, was the choreographer of the original Broadway musical "Grease," with a deep affection for the original.In her opinion, the changes made for the film version are deviant heresy.
It turned out that she was not very friendly to Ronald, and felt that it was a completely irresponsible choice for a film screenwriter to write "Son of Grease" from scratch.But after learning that Ronald was the lyricist of the two episodes of "Fame", he changed his attitude obviously.
"I entered the industry in the late 50s, and I knew the behind-the-scenes stories of some classic song and dance movies from my predecessors. Before the 50s, Hollywood was a big studio system.
Whether it's screenwriters, choreographers, or songwriters, they are all hired by big studios and get salary and bonuses.In this way, everyone can work together every day to write the script of the musical.
In today's Hollywood, all types of work are freelancers, and everyone changes a group of professionals for each film, and joins the team at different time periods of filming.
Screenwriters and lyricists, choreographers and composers do not have a tacit understanding of cooperation for a long time, and it is impossible to work together for several months to complete the singing and dancing links of musical films.
Therefore, after the disintegration of the Hollywood studio system, musicals, which required the highest degree of cooperation from behind-the-scenes creators, were one of the first genres to die out. "
After receiving the black tea from Patricia Birch, Ronald took a sip after thanking him, "Then how did the oil get so perfect? Ms. Birch, you also won the Broadway Tony Award for Best Editing dance."
"Because we are a stage play," Patricia Birch showed nostalgia, "You haven't participated in the production of a stage play, Ronald?"
"No."
"Stage play and film are two completely different arts. 'Grease' was not performed on Broadway in the first place. We performed many shows in Chicago, and each show can be adjusted according to the audience's reaction. The structure of the play is not appropriate, the lyrics Not perfect, wait for flaws."
"Then Off-Broadway in New York, continued to improve. Then it went Off-Broadway, and finally the audience and the reviews, boom! We're on Broadway."
"But the film only has one chance, and it cannot be adjusted according to the audience's feedback during filming. When the trial screening is finished, if the audience's response is not good, there is no chance to make major changes. At most, we can only do some small reshoots and Modify." Ronald continued.
Patricia Birch glanced at Ronald appreciatively, "Yes. That's why I prefer to work on Broadway, an art form without instant feedback, it's too difficult."
When Ronald heard this, he also understood.The creation method of musicals is very different from other types of films. Unless "Sons of Grease" can be made into a musical first and polished on Broadway for a year or two, otherwise, if you want to make a film comparable to the original, you must Almost impossible.
"When you were filming 'Grease,' did you just copy the Broadway song and dance sequence?" Ronald asked.
"Basically copied, with subtle differences of course," Patricia Birch said.
"For example, in the selection of actors, John Travolta participated in the Broadway version of 'Grease', but he could only play a supporting role because his dancing was not good enough. The protagonist of the Broadway version cannot play the protagonist of the movie version, Because he is not handsome enough. The grammar of film shots is different from stage play after all.”
Ronald nodded, he understood the difference in priorities in casting.On the Broadway stage, what the audience sees is the actor's body and dance.And movies can use close-up shots to explain the appearance of actors.
“When we were shooting the original film, we were looking for elite dancers, and many of the supporting characters danced better than the two main characters. I still remember a girl in New York who lied about her age to participate in the group dance in the background.
I think she dances really well, and I persuaded the director to give her a lot of shots.But then she did not continue to work hard in Hollywood, but went back to continue her ballet studies.Otherwise, with her quality...hey, there are no more musicals in Hollywood for her to play. "
Ronald's recording hand stopped for a moment. He had heard this story once before.
"You mean Antonia Franceschi?"
"Yes, how do you know her? Is she okay now?"
"She later took part in 'Fame' as one of the leading roles. But she still didn't go to Hollywood, and now she goes to the New York City Ballet."
"You?" Patricia Birch saw the tenderness in Ronald's eyes.
"Yes, once..."
"Ballet girls are like this. If you want to start a family, you have to give up your career like me." Patricia Birch patted Ronald's hand to comfort him.
"Tell me, Ms. Birch. If I were to start writing a script from scratch, what should I pay attention to? Should I write the plot first and leave a few holes for song and dance, or wait until you have mature song and dance , and then write the plot around these passages?"
Ronald put the past back into the depths of his memory.
Although "Son of Grease" is facing unexpected difficulties, he still has to do his best to do what he has promised.Ronald asks Patricia Birch for advice on writing musicals.
"Mature musical films have their own rhythm and structure. Generally speaking, there will be a song and dance at the beginning of the plot to set the tone for the film, and then when the plot enters the second act, the character development needs a song and dance to help him complete , and the reversal of the third act, and the final climax..."
Patricia Birch was quite satisfied with Ronald, who was humbly asking for advice, and gave Ronald several large fixed passages of the musical, "These places need to be reserved in the script in advance, and other small song and dance, It is mainly an emotional boost, and you can wait for the script to be roughly completed before adding it.”
Ronald was jotting down choreographic suggestions in quick shorthand, frowning now and then.Musical and musical films are different from other film genres from the beginning of script creation, and they are in their own category.
No wonder after the disbandment of the blockbuster system, several successful musicals, such as "West Side Story", "Grease", "My Fair Lady", are all successful Broadway adaptations.
And those large-scale productions of musicals on the street, such as "New York, New York" by Ronald teacher Martin Scorsese, are all original stories that the director admires the ancient musical theater form and insists on going his own way.
This self-contained working method, which is slowly polished in the interaction with the audience in advance, is very similar to comedy.Comedians and comedy directors need to prepare for several years before they can accumulate enough jokes that have been polished in live performances before they can shoot a successful work.
And unlike ordinary movies, which can use classic plots, the jokes of comedy and the singing and dancing scenes of musical films are all one-off.After using it this time, it cannot be repeated in the next movie.
No wonder producer Sterwood wanted to find comedy director Jerry Zucker, it seems that the two do have similarities.
"It seems that this time it will take a lot of thinking." Ronald couldn't help but smiled wryly.
Patricia Birch looked at Ronald a little distressed, and couldn't help but speak up, "Actually, there are tricks, as long as you can do either of these two points, 'Son of Grease' will not be a big problem to maintain a qualified sequel. If you can do both, it’s bound to be a blast.”
(End of this chapter)
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