NOVEL NEXT Exploiting Hollywood 1980.
Chapter 212 Inspiration from the General Election
Chapter 212 Inspiration from the General Election
After a night of thinking and a long-distance phone call with the main agent Richard, Ronald finally agreed to give up the screenwriting job of the "Grease" sequel and adapt the screenplay for "fast-paced Richmond High School".
The reality of Hollywood is the main reason for objectivity.But after being kicked out of the crew twice, Ronald knows more about the importance of participating in filming power.If your dream is only to write a few movie scripts, then of course you have to hold on to the sequels of big productions and big stars.
But my dream is to make a classic, and even leave a name in film history.So the real participation in the shooting from beginning to end, and post-editing, is the most necessary way at present.
However, he kept an eye out and asked CAA to specify in the new contract that the plots in the two Grease sequels written by him must not be used in the final revised version requested by Timothy Hutton.
If the upper limit of "reference" for the plot stipulated by the screenwriters union is exceeded, Ronald has the right to pursue responsibility and ask for a signature.
A few days later, the contract reviewed by Lindsay Dole's lawyer was sent back, and Ronald and Cameron Crowe spoke on the phone to officially start the script revision work.
The first job is to cut the character.
In Cameron Crowe's original novel, there are many characters.But the movie cannot accommodate so many people.As a typical youth exploitation film, Ronald asked Universal's top management, knowing that the studio would only give a 90-minute movie.
This kind of exploitation film does not have much marketing investment. When young audiences go to the cinema, they see the poster and decide to watch it temporarily, which is the main source of audience for exploitation films.So compressing the length of the film so that the cinema can line up one more show every day is a more beneficial way for box office growth.
This is different from the kind of blockbuster movies with big stars and big productions, or sequel movies.For those movies, the audience will go to the cinema specially to watch the blockbuster movies. Such movies are usually 120 minutes long, which is too short for the audience to enjoy.
Based on experience, Ronald calculated that each character needs at least 20 minutes to have a complete story.Coupled with the fact that the scenes between different characters have the same frame, then the movie can only accommodate up to 6 main characters.
Ronald started with the two central figures.
Brad and his sister Stacy are the characters at the beginning and end of the novel.The roles of many other characters are all linked together by him, and they are characters that cannot be omitted.
Brad Hamilton, 12, is a 18th grade student at Richmond Middle School in Southern California.He usually works in a Burger King fast food restaurant, and because he is serious and responsible as a foreman, he earns a good salary.
He used the mortgage to buy a 1958 Buick Saber.This kind of old-fashioned car has very soft shock absorption, with a full-size car length and a high-horsepower engine, it attracts girls' attention when driving.
He has a girlfriend Lisa, but he wants to break up with Lisa, enjoy the "freedom" of the last year of high school, and try life with different girls.
Unexpectedly, because an annoying customer thought the hamburger for breakfast was not delicious, but refused to fill in the form and asked for a refund, he had a conflict and was finally fired by the boss.
In order to guarantee the last few installments of the car mortgage, Brad had to join the "Captain Hook" fried fish fast food, and put on a ridiculous pirate costume hat to deliver food...
...Eventually, Brad found a job as a cashier in a convenience store, and during a robbery on the night shift, he cleverly picked up hot coffee and poured the robber all over himself, subduing him.Therefore, he appeared in the newspaper, was appreciated by the boss and was promoted to store manager.
Ronald began writing Brad's character outline on the typewriter.A short summary, put in the finished film, is a 2-3 minute long picture.Ronald wrote more than 30 paragraphs in one go, and the plot was greatly overrun.
Not knowing which plots should be cut, Ronald simply went to CAA's New York office, faxed these pages of Brad's plot to Los Angeles, and asked the author of the novel, Cameron Crowe, for reference.
Along the way, various cheering signs for the upcoming general election came into view. Ronald watched the video of the debate and decided to support the former governor of California. He calculated that according to the governor’s tax reduction method, he could pay about half of the tax. .
"Please cast...a vote, let's make America great again, Let's MAGA!"
Along the way, there are still many canvassing volunteers who are taking advantage of the last few days of canvassing opportunities to win a few more voters.In addition to making door-to-door phone calls and door-to-door visits, in some lively neighborhoods, there are also volunteers canvassing votes on the street.
Ronald took a look. In addition to the volunteers for the general election, there were also some volunteers for the New York State Senate election, and some representative election volunteers.This year happens to be a year when a New York state senator needs to be reelected.The veteran senator refuses to embrace the values of California's governor, while his challenger insists on calling him governor.
"If you don't support tax cuts, I won't vote for you," Ronald thought to himself.
Cameron Crowe called quickly, and the two argued on the phone for a long time, and the author of the novel was even more unwilling to delete his beloved characters.I also don't want to delete any part of the plot of the characters.
"Cameron, the length of the film is only 90 minutes. This will not be deleted, and that will not be deleted. We can only make TV series. That can accommodate all the plots in your novel." Ronald said jokingly.
"Ronald, you know, this novel was written after I went undercover for a whole year. All the prototypes of the characters are friends in my life. I don't know how to delete them. It's up to you to decide."
Well, Cameron Crowe threw the tough job back at Ronald.
Ronald's adaptation work has encountered a bottleneck. The characters and the plot are not a single unit drama, but an organically linked group.The reduction of this character's plot will affect the growth of that character.
If more time is spent on this character, the character of his counterpart will be underdeveloped, which is not right.
This kind of group portrait drama is adapted on the basis of other people's novels.Ronald felt that he was tied up everywhere, and he didn't have the fun of his own creation at all.It was the first time that he wrote this kind of group drama, and it was more difficult than Ronald imagined.
Strictly speaking, "Fame" is also a group drama.But at that time, Ronald only focused on the improvement of certain lines and making the plot of a certain character more reasonable, which was based on the structure of the original screenwriter.
But this time, it is necessary to coordinate and plan the development of the stories of the six protagonists at the height of the overall situation.Building the skeleton is not the same thing as developing the details.
Not only must everyone have a beginning, middle, and end, but also the other six or seven supporting characters in the original work must be inserted in a timely manner.
Ronald wrote many times next to the typewriter, and each time he wrote a large part of the character's plot time beyond the standard.
Early this morning, Ronald had to interrupt the slow-moving script adaptation, because it was already November 11th, the day of the four-year presidential election in America.
Because voters were registered on Staten Island, Ronald picked up Aunt Karen and went out early in the morning to vote in Totville, Staten Island.In addition to the Grand Commander, there is also a New York State Senator, and representatives of the constituency need to be elected.
His aunt taught him how to check the candidates, and after the two had marked their votes, they lined up and put the votes into the box.
"Aren't you really going to ask who I chose?" Ronald asked Aunt Karen.
"Citizens should have the right to choose, unless you want to tell me."
"I chose the former actor from Xiangdang."
"Me too. The Elephant Party advocated ending the Vietnam War. If the impeached liar had come to power earlier, maybe there would not have been that war." Aunt Karen said.
The two returned to their apartment in Manhattan and started watching NBC live, which usually didn't come out until late in the evening, and Aunt Karen made some steaks for Donna to eat together when she came back.
"Oh my God, even Massachusetts is turning red," Aunt Karen exclaimed, and the states of Northeast New England started announcing the results first.
Massachusetts has always been the bastion of the Donkey Party, but it turned out to be a red state this time.
"There are only more than 3000 votes short, and a recount is needed." Ronald pointed to the subtitles and said, but this may have nothing to do with the overall situation. Estimated to lose the election.
In New York State where they are located, the Elephant Party candidate won 2.67%, more than 16 votes.
On the map of the NBC studio, the grids are filled in red one by one. In the final 538 electoral votes, the governor of California is estimated to be more than half.
At 69 o'clock in the evening, NBC took the lead in using exit poll data to announce that the Elephant Party candidate, the [-]-year-old former governor of California, had won.
Aunt Karen has switched to CBS and ABC, and there is still waiting for official data, there is no announcement.But their hosts also knew about the exit poll data used by NBC, and began to follow up and talk about the upcoming new leader.
Ronald looked at the map, America is not a direct election.The winning candidate for each state will get all the electoral votes that state is awarded based on its population.The candidate then wins with more than half of the 538 total electoral votes.
Ronald's heart moved, as if he had found some inspiration that could solve the problem of too many characters and plots.
If I have no way to cut from the plot, it is better to start with the total length, like an election, the plot that can fill the total duration wins and stays.
Ronald took out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing.
Just before 10 p.m., the incumbent declared defeat and congratulated his rival for winning the election.He only got 5 states, including the hometown of himself and the deputy commander, and the DC Capital District.Never before has the current Grand Commander lost so badly.
"Is there a big stationery store here?" Ronald asked his aunt suddenly.
"It's near our school." Donna didn't sleep, she watched TV and answered Ronald's question.
I checked my phone number and asked them to deliver the goods to my door tomorrow.Ronald thought to himself.
The next day, Ronald wrote all the characters in the novel on classification cards one by one.Then for each plot, also write the outline on the card.
"Ring ring ring ring..."
The doorbell rang, Ronald took off the communicator, and there were two delivery workers at the door of the apartment downstairs, and the secret weapon he ordered had arrived.
Two workmen lifted up a huge pine board.After paying the money, Ronald found the location, nailed the nails on the wall, and installed the large pine boards on the wall.
Then he took out a box of thumbtacks and pressed the character cards of Brad Hamilton and others on the top of the pine board.
Then he took out a ruler and with a pencil drew four horizontal lines across the pine board.Place the plot card in the space marked out by the four horizontal lines.
The cards are like a racing car, and the horizontal lines on the pine board are like a race track.Each track can hold 10-12 cards.
The scenes and plots of each card are about 2-3 minutes after being filmed and edited.So to fill the 90 minutes, Ronald can only fill in about 40 plot cards at most.
In this way, the plot and characters can be adjusted.
With an intuitive feeling, Ronald really felt that the job of cutting characters became easier.
That slogan, 2016 is actually copied from 1980.
(End of this chapter)
After a night of thinking and a long-distance phone call with the main agent Richard, Ronald finally agreed to give up the screenwriting job of the "Grease" sequel and adapt the screenplay for "fast-paced Richmond High School".
The reality of Hollywood is the main reason for objectivity.But after being kicked out of the crew twice, Ronald knows more about the importance of participating in filming power.If your dream is only to write a few movie scripts, then of course you have to hold on to the sequels of big productions and big stars.
But my dream is to make a classic, and even leave a name in film history.So the real participation in the shooting from beginning to end, and post-editing, is the most necessary way at present.
However, he kept an eye out and asked CAA to specify in the new contract that the plots in the two Grease sequels written by him must not be used in the final revised version requested by Timothy Hutton.
If the upper limit of "reference" for the plot stipulated by the screenwriters union is exceeded, Ronald has the right to pursue responsibility and ask for a signature.
A few days later, the contract reviewed by Lindsay Dole's lawyer was sent back, and Ronald and Cameron Crowe spoke on the phone to officially start the script revision work.
The first job is to cut the character.
In Cameron Crowe's original novel, there are many characters.But the movie cannot accommodate so many people.As a typical youth exploitation film, Ronald asked Universal's top management, knowing that the studio would only give a 90-minute movie.
This kind of exploitation film does not have much marketing investment. When young audiences go to the cinema, they see the poster and decide to watch it temporarily, which is the main source of audience for exploitation films.So compressing the length of the film so that the cinema can line up one more show every day is a more beneficial way for box office growth.
This is different from the kind of blockbuster movies with big stars and big productions, or sequel movies.For those movies, the audience will go to the cinema specially to watch the blockbuster movies. Such movies are usually 120 minutes long, which is too short for the audience to enjoy.
Based on experience, Ronald calculated that each character needs at least 20 minutes to have a complete story.Coupled with the fact that the scenes between different characters have the same frame, then the movie can only accommodate up to 6 main characters.
Ronald started with the two central figures.
Brad and his sister Stacy are the characters at the beginning and end of the novel.The roles of many other characters are all linked together by him, and they are characters that cannot be omitted.
Brad Hamilton, 12, is a 18th grade student at Richmond Middle School in Southern California.He usually works in a Burger King fast food restaurant, and because he is serious and responsible as a foreman, he earns a good salary.
He used the mortgage to buy a 1958 Buick Saber.This kind of old-fashioned car has very soft shock absorption, with a full-size car length and a high-horsepower engine, it attracts girls' attention when driving.
He has a girlfriend Lisa, but he wants to break up with Lisa, enjoy the "freedom" of the last year of high school, and try life with different girls.
Unexpectedly, because an annoying customer thought the hamburger for breakfast was not delicious, but refused to fill in the form and asked for a refund, he had a conflict and was finally fired by the boss.
In order to guarantee the last few installments of the car mortgage, Brad had to join the "Captain Hook" fried fish fast food, and put on a ridiculous pirate costume hat to deliver food...
...Eventually, Brad found a job as a cashier in a convenience store, and during a robbery on the night shift, he cleverly picked up hot coffee and poured the robber all over himself, subduing him.Therefore, he appeared in the newspaper, was appreciated by the boss and was promoted to store manager.
Ronald began writing Brad's character outline on the typewriter.A short summary, put in the finished film, is a 2-3 minute long picture.Ronald wrote more than 30 paragraphs in one go, and the plot was greatly overrun.
Not knowing which plots should be cut, Ronald simply went to CAA's New York office, faxed these pages of Brad's plot to Los Angeles, and asked the author of the novel, Cameron Crowe, for reference.
Along the way, various cheering signs for the upcoming general election came into view. Ronald watched the video of the debate and decided to support the former governor of California. He calculated that according to the governor’s tax reduction method, he could pay about half of the tax. .
"Please cast...a vote, let's make America great again, Let's MAGA!"
Along the way, there are still many canvassing volunteers who are taking advantage of the last few days of canvassing opportunities to win a few more voters.In addition to making door-to-door phone calls and door-to-door visits, in some lively neighborhoods, there are also volunteers canvassing votes on the street.
Ronald took a look. In addition to the volunteers for the general election, there were also some volunteers for the New York State Senate election, and some representative election volunteers.This year happens to be a year when a New York state senator needs to be reelected.The veteran senator refuses to embrace the values of California's governor, while his challenger insists on calling him governor.
"If you don't support tax cuts, I won't vote for you," Ronald thought to himself.
Cameron Crowe called quickly, and the two argued on the phone for a long time, and the author of the novel was even more unwilling to delete his beloved characters.I also don't want to delete any part of the plot of the characters.
"Cameron, the length of the film is only 90 minutes. This will not be deleted, and that will not be deleted. We can only make TV series. That can accommodate all the plots in your novel." Ronald said jokingly.
"Ronald, you know, this novel was written after I went undercover for a whole year. All the prototypes of the characters are friends in my life. I don't know how to delete them. It's up to you to decide."
Well, Cameron Crowe threw the tough job back at Ronald.
Ronald's adaptation work has encountered a bottleneck. The characters and the plot are not a single unit drama, but an organically linked group.The reduction of this character's plot will affect the growth of that character.
If more time is spent on this character, the character of his counterpart will be underdeveloped, which is not right.
This kind of group portrait drama is adapted on the basis of other people's novels.Ronald felt that he was tied up everywhere, and he didn't have the fun of his own creation at all.It was the first time that he wrote this kind of group drama, and it was more difficult than Ronald imagined.
Strictly speaking, "Fame" is also a group drama.But at that time, Ronald only focused on the improvement of certain lines and making the plot of a certain character more reasonable, which was based on the structure of the original screenwriter.
But this time, it is necessary to coordinate and plan the development of the stories of the six protagonists at the height of the overall situation.Building the skeleton is not the same thing as developing the details.
Not only must everyone have a beginning, middle, and end, but also the other six or seven supporting characters in the original work must be inserted in a timely manner.
Ronald wrote many times next to the typewriter, and each time he wrote a large part of the character's plot time beyond the standard.
Early this morning, Ronald had to interrupt the slow-moving script adaptation, because it was already November 11th, the day of the four-year presidential election in America.
Because voters were registered on Staten Island, Ronald picked up Aunt Karen and went out early in the morning to vote in Totville, Staten Island.In addition to the Grand Commander, there is also a New York State Senator, and representatives of the constituency need to be elected.
His aunt taught him how to check the candidates, and after the two had marked their votes, they lined up and put the votes into the box.
"Aren't you really going to ask who I chose?" Ronald asked Aunt Karen.
"Citizens should have the right to choose, unless you want to tell me."
"I chose the former actor from Xiangdang."
"Me too. The Elephant Party advocated ending the Vietnam War. If the impeached liar had come to power earlier, maybe there would not have been that war." Aunt Karen said.
The two returned to their apartment in Manhattan and started watching NBC live, which usually didn't come out until late in the evening, and Aunt Karen made some steaks for Donna to eat together when she came back.
"Oh my God, even Massachusetts is turning red," Aunt Karen exclaimed, and the states of Northeast New England started announcing the results first.
Massachusetts has always been the bastion of the Donkey Party, but it turned out to be a red state this time.
"There are only more than 3000 votes short, and a recount is needed." Ronald pointed to the subtitles and said, but this may have nothing to do with the overall situation. Estimated to lose the election.
In New York State where they are located, the Elephant Party candidate won 2.67%, more than 16 votes.
On the map of the NBC studio, the grids are filled in red one by one. In the final 538 electoral votes, the governor of California is estimated to be more than half.
At 69 o'clock in the evening, NBC took the lead in using exit poll data to announce that the Elephant Party candidate, the [-]-year-old former governor of California, had won.
Aunt Karen has switched to CBS and ABC, and there is still waiting for official data, there is no announcement.But their hosts also knew about the exit poll data used by NBC, and began to follow up and talk about the upcoming new leader.
Ronald looked at the map, America is not a direct election.The winning candidate for each state will get all the electoral votes that state is awarded based on its population.The candidate then wins with more than half of the 538 total electoral votes.
Ronald's heart moved, as if he had found some inspiration that could solve the problem of too many characters and plots.
If I have no way to cut from the plot, it is better to start with the total length, like an election, the plot that can fill the total duration wins and stays.
Ronald took out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing.
Just before 10 p.m., the incumbent declared defeat and congratulated his rival for winning the election.He only got 5 states, including the hometown of himself and the deputy commander, and the DC Capital District.Never before has the current Grand Commander lost so badly.
"Is there a big stationery store here?" Ronald asked his aunt suddenly.
"It's near our school." Donna didn't sleep, she watched TV and answered Ronald's question.
I checked my phone number and asked them to deliver the goods to my door tomorrow.Ronald thought to himself.
The next day, Ronald wrote all the characters in the novel on classification cards one by one.Then for each plot, also write the outline on the card.
"Ring ring ring ring..."
The doorbell rang, Ronald took off the communicator, and there were two delivery workers at the door of the apartment downstairs, and the secret weapon he ordered had arrived.
Two workmen lifted up a huge pine board.After paying the money, Ronald found the location, nailed the nails on the wall, and installed the large pine boards on the wall.
Then he took out a box of thumbtacks and pressed the character cards of Brad Hamilton and others on the top of the pine board.
Then he took out a ruler and with a pencil drew four horizontal lines across the pine board.Place the plot card in the space marked out by the four horizontal lines.
The cards are like a racing car, and the horizontal lines on the pine board are like a race track.Each track can hold 10-12 cards.
The scenes and plots of each card are about 2-3 minutes after being filmed and edited.So to fill the 90 minutes, Ronald can only fill in about 40 plot cards at most.
In this way, the plot and characters can be adjusted.
With an intuitive feeling, Ronald really felt that the job of cutting characters became easier.
That slogan, 2016 is actually copied from 1980.
(End of this chapter)
Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.