ALL NOVEL Exploiting Hollywood 1980.
Chapter 202 Writing Inspiration
Chapter 202 Writing Inspiration
The story happened in the summer of 1963, and a new group of students was ushered in at Ryder High School.The boss of the girls' gang "Pink Girls" has become Stephanie, and the new transfer student Michael has joined the boys' tough guy gang with his father, an officer who served in the army, returning from South Vietnam.
They were rivals at the beginning, and they didn't like each other.But after witnessing black leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech together, and the shock of President Kennedy's assassination, the two eventually discovered that they had a lot in common.
The couple who overcame various difficulties and fell in love finally parted ways because of their different prospects after graduation.
Michael was finally admitted to Cambridge University in Britain, and Stephanie became a flight attendant for Pan Am, and the two met on the plane to London...
Katzenberg, the head of production at Paramount, quickly read the synopsis provided by Ronald.
There are several deliberately set singing and dancing times marked inside.
The song and dance of the pink girl at the beginning of school inherited the style of the previous episode, and the pink girl in bright clothes should be very eye-catching.
Michael's experience in the army made him feel like a duck to water in the gang of tough guys. He danced with the motorcycle that the tough guy comes with, which fits the car dance in the last episode.
Finally, on the plane, the singing and dancing of the reunion of the male and female protagonists was the highlight, leaving enough room for the choreography to develop.The scale of the airport, passengers, stewardess uniforms, and the group show can be compared to the graduation song and dance in the first episode.
The structure of the script is very good, leaving space for the beginning, the end, and the middle and last three major song and dance dramas, which is convenient for those in charge of song and dance creation.
"It's rare for a young man to understand the writing structure of a musical..." Katzenberg put away the paper in his hand, and then began to ask Ronald, "Why did you arrange for the leading actor to go abroad to study in university?"
"The Vietnam War is coming soon. If you don't go abroad, you may be drafted." Ronald replied.
"The reason for the arrangement of the officer's family background?"
"Officers are often deployed to different places, so it is more convenient for the male protagonist to be a transfer student, and he is also in touch with machinery. He is a Harley enthusiast, so it is convenient for him to be involved in the motorcycle plot of the tough guy gang."
Katzenberg asked a few more questions, and Ronald answered them fluently, seeming to have thought about the script as a whole.
"I just said that Ronald is the most suitable person." Robert Sterwood is also very happy that the "Grease" sequel that has brought him huge money and prestige income is finally about to begin.
"Paramount hired Ronald in principle to write the script for Grease's sequel 'Son of Grease' (tentative name), with a creation period of 2 months. Before the deadline, Ronald must provide script content other than the singing and dancing part... …Ronald has the preferred right to refuse to modify the script, and only if Ronald refuses to modify the script, Paramount can choose other screenwriters to modify…The fee for each modification is agreed to be…”
The legal lawyer began to discuss the details of the contract with Ronald's agent, and Ronald signed his name after asking Lindsay Dole's lawyer to confirm.
The owner of RSO Records, the film producer Robert Sterwood, sent a bottle of champagne in advance. Seeing the signing of the two parties, he opened the champagne and poured it into a vertical champagne glass. Everyone toasted to congratulate the start of the sequel.
Ronald got a script option of $1, and the right to reject the preferred modification.From now on, whether it is Sterwood or Paramount, if he is not satisfied with the script, he can only find someone else if he is unwilling.
Walking out of Katzenberg's office, someone was carrying furniture in and out of an office opposite Ronald's, as if there was a change in high-level personnel and it was necessary to rearrange.
This trip to Los Angeles went well. Even the Israeli brothers of Cannon Pictures successfully signed a contract with MGM. Since then, the films they produced have entered the distribution market of mainstream theaters in America.
A commission check was written to CAA, and Ronald flew back to New York.
The writing time for two months was very tight, and Ronald who returned home had to immediately devote himself to script writing.Entering September, Ronald still had to go to university to attend classes, forcing him to secretly think about ideas during class time, and was busy writing and revising at night, making him very busy.
New York University Tisch College, it is time for the new school year to start again.A group of Chinese graduate students came to the Classic Movie Appreciation Class.Ronald knew that they were not local Chinese because their English was not very good. They often avoided greeting their classmates and sat together in class.
Ronald still has a sense of intimacy with the Chinese students. After class, he went to greet three foreign students, a man and two women, "Hi, How are you doing?"
"Fine, thank you. And you?"
"I'm fine too."
Um?Ronald didn't know why he said this.
The other party stopped talking, as if no other conversation would be said.Ronald felt a little embarrassed, so he laughed and went home to write.
"Really nirvana? It turns out that foreigners really can speak according to the dialogues taught in English textbooks."
"Stupid, you're the foreigner in New York."
"You're stupid, aren't they foreigners compared to us?"
"Miss Zhu, Miss Wang, please stop arguing, we'd better go back early and review the books." A male student ended the argument and walked out of the classroom with his notebook in his arms.
In the second year of university, many elective courses are opened. New York University can take courses across departments, and there are also requirements.Most of the students took acting classes. No matter how busy Ronald was with scripts, he had no time for acting classes.Find two Chinese courses on the course list and enroll in both.
One is Chinese, and the other is the study of ancient Chinese poetry. Ronald took two courses, which were easy for him and met the credit requirements, so he could spend more time writing.After receiving the newly purchased textbooks, Ronald went to the library to find the books on the reference reading list given by the teacher.
"Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty", "Enlightenment of Rhythm", ... Well, they are all in traditional Chinese.
"Do you speak Chinese?" The Chinese male student in the appreciation class asked in Chinese when he saw Ronald holding Tang poems.
"I can say, but I can't write this kind of..." Ronald pointed to the traditional characters.
"Chinese is difficult to write. I think your pronunciation is very standard. Where did you learn it?"
"Uh... high school, high school. I remember you have a simpler way to write it."
"Yes, that is the way of writing on the other side, and we still use this traditional way of writing."
"Do you want to join the role of a foreign student?" Ronald returned home, remembering the encounter with a foreign student, and began to think. In 1963, the situation in South Vietnam was turbulent, and some wealthy Vietnamese students began to immigrate to America.
Cindy, the heroine of the original work of "Grease", is a foreign student, and a Vietnamese female student is also added here, telling what happened in Vietnam, creating conditions for the hero and heroine, breaking the inherent impression, and starting to develop mutual affection.
Ronald began to fill in plot details on the skeleton of the script.
"The strike by the Screen Actors Union caused the starlight of the 9nd Primetime Emmy Awards to be dimmed on September 7. Almost no actors went to the scene to receive the awards for the performance awards on the spot.
Only one Powers Booth came to the stage to accept the award. In his acceptance speech, Booth said that this may be the bravest or stupidest move he has ever made in his career.
The Screen Actors Union stated that Booth will not be punished for accepting the award. Receiving the Emmy award on the spot is not within the scope of the actor union's strike. "
Ronald, who was walking around the room, thinking about the details of the script, heard the NBC entertainment news report from the TV.
strike?Do you want the hero and heroine to go on strike too?Let high school students go on strike to protest against the support of the unjust government by the US military in Vietnam.
Ronald sat down, scratched out the original plot on the draft, then loaded new paper on the typewriter, and started typing
"The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Television Actors Guild (AFTRA) held a rally yesterday (September 9) at the Hollywood Bowl Stadium in Hollywood in support of the strike.
Many stars came to support, and thousands of spectators came to the scene.The event, called "Night of the Stars," raised $30 for the strike funds of the two major labor unions, which will be used to pay basic living expenses for low-level actors who are on strike and have no means of livelihood.
ABC reports for you in Los Angeles"
Parade?good!Add the hero and heroine to a rally in support of the affirmative-rights movement.In this way, there are many backgrounds and group performances, and a party dance can be designed.Looks like ABC news is also good and inspiring.
It's also possible to have a character recite the famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Ronald took inspiration from the entertainment news again, and quickly typed these details before he forgot.
"Because of the fundraising, the strike continued. The Producers Guild announced on the same day that it would continue negotiations, and the two sides sat at the negotiating table for the first time since the July strike began. Union negotiator Ed Asner said that the two sides Reach an agreement on the share of home entertainment media such as video tapes.
After the number of videotapes sold by actors on home entertainment media exceeds 10, they can start to share a maximum of 4.5% of the sales.
However, the two sides did not reach an agreement on the conditions for the union to raise the minimum wage by 35%.
Ed Asner said the two sides will continue to negotiate.The trade union vows to protect the rights and interests of the actors, and will not stop until it achieves its goals. "
When will this damn strike end?If you go on, all your businesses will be affected.Ronald watched the news and yelled at greedy capitalists and union negotiators who took the opportunity to benefit themselves.
"On September 9st, the first televised debate of the general election will be held at the Baltimore Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The current President Jimmy, because of the participation of independent candidate Anderson, refused to attend. The Elephant Party candidate in the debate, former California The governor's performance was well received.
Independent candidate Anderson, whose polls fell sharply after the debate, told reporters that he would not participate in the second debate next month to give the incumbent a rally to express his views.And said he would not withdraw from the election. "
Ronald was scratching his head on how to write a scene where the hero and heroine began to get to know each other, breaking the original bad impression, changing from a hostile relationship to ease, and finally to mutual affection.
"Debate? How about a high school debate? Should we support the Vietnam War?"
In this way, the debaters on both sides of the pros and cons can speak one by one, which is convenient for composing music and writing lyrics to write arias for male and female duets.Other debaters and the audience can act as harmony voices, and a mezzo-soprano is played by the teacher.
Ronald feels that only CBS current affairs news is the biggest source of inspiration for his writing.
(End of this chapter)
The story happened in the summer of 1963, and a new group of students was ushered in at Ryder High School.The boss of the girls' gang "Pink Girls" has become Stephanie, and the new transfer student Michael has joined the boys' tough guy gang with his father, an officer who served in the army, returning from South Vietnam.
They were rivals at the beginning, and they didn't like each other.But after witnessing black leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech together, and the shock of President Kennedy's assassination, the two eventually discovered that they had a lot in common.
The couple who overcame various difficulties and fell in love finally parted ways because of their different prospects after graduation.
Michael was finally admitted to Cambridge University in Britain, and Stephanie became a flight attendant for Pan Am, and the two met on the plane to London...
Katzenberg, the head of production at Paramount, quickly read the synopsis provided by Ronald.
There are several deliberately set singing and dancing times marked inside.
The song and dance of the pink girl at the beginning of school inherited the style of the previous episode, and the pink girl in bright clothes should be very eye-catching.
Michael's experience in the army made him feel like a duck to water in the gang of tough guys. He danced with the motorcycle that the tough guy comes with, which fits the car dance in the last episode.
Finally, on the plane, the singing and dancing of the reunion of the male and female protagonists was the highlight, leaving enough room for the choreography to develop.The scale of the airport, passengers, stewardess uniforms, and the group show can be compared to the graduation song and dance in the first episode.
The structure of the script is very good, leaving space for the beginning, the end, and the middle and last three major song and dance dramas, which is convenient for those in charge of song and dance creation.
"It's rare for a young man to understand the writing structure of a musical..." Katzenberg put away the paper in his hand, and then began to ask Ronald, "Why did you arrange for the leading actor to go abroad to study in university?"
"The Vietnam War is coming soon. If you don't go abroad, you may be drafted." Ronald replied.
"The reason for the arrangement of the officer's family background?"
"Officers are often deployed to different places, so it is more convenient for the male protagonist to be a transfer student, and he is also in touch with machinery. He is a Harley enthusiast, so it is convenient for him to be involved in the motorcycle plot of the tough guy gang."
Katzenberg asked a few more questions, and Ronald answered them fluently, seeming to have thought about the script as a whole.
"I just said that Ronald is the most suitable person." Robert Sterwood is also very happy that the "Grease" sequel that has brought him huge money and prestige income is finally about to begin.
"Paramount hired Ronald in principle to write the script for Grease's sequel 'Son of Grease' (tentative name), with a creation period of 2 months. Before the deadline, Ronald must provide script content other than the singing and dancing part... …Ronald has the preferred right to refuse to modify the script, and only if Ronald refuses to modify the script, Paramount can choose other screenwriters to modify…The fee for each modification is agreed to be…”
The legal lawyer began to discuss the details of the contract with Ronald's agent, and Ronald signed his name after asking Lindsay Dole's lawyer to confirm.
The owner of RSO Records, the film producer Robert Sterwood, sent a bottle of champagne in advance. Seeing the signing of the two parties, he opened the champagne and poured it into a vertical champagne glass. Everyone toasted to congratulate the start of the sequel.
Ronald got a script option of $1, and the right to reject the preferred modification.From now on, whether it is Sterwood or Paramount, if he is not satisfied with the script, he can only find someone else if he is unwilling.
Walking out of Katzenberg's office, someone was carrying furniture in and out of an office opposite Ronald's, as if there was a change in high-level personnel and it was necessary to rearrange.
This trip to Los Angeles went well. Even the Israeli brothers of Cannon Pictures successfully signed a contract with MGM. Since then, the films they produced have entered the distribution market of mainstream theaters in America.
A commission check was written to CAA, and Ronald flew back to New York.
The writing time for two months was very tight, and Ronald who returned home had to immediately devote himself to script writing.Entering September, Ronald still had to go to university to attend classes, forcing him to secretly think about ideas during class time, and was busy writing and revising at night, making him very busy.
New York University Tisch College, it is time for the new school year to start again.A group of Chinese graduate students came to the Classic Movie Appreciation Class.Ronald knew that they were not local Chinese because their English was not very good. They often avoided greeting their classmates and sat together in class.
Ronald still has a sense of intimacy with the Chinese students. After class, he went to greet three foreign students, a man and two women, "Hi, How are you doing?"
"Fine, thank you. And you?"
"I'm fine too."
Um?Ronald didn't know why he said this.
The other party stopped talking, as if no other conversation would be said.Ronald felt a little embarrassed, so he laughed and went home to write.
"Really nirvana? It turns out that foreigners really can speak according to the dialogues taught in English textbooks."
"Stupid, you're the foreigner in New York."
"You're stupid, aren't they foreigners compared to us?"
"Miss Zhu, Miss Wang, please stop arguing, we'd better go back early and review the books." A male student ended the argument and walked out of the classroom with his notebook in his arms.
In the second year of university, many elective courses are opened. New York University can take courses across departments, and there are also requirements.Most of the students took acting classes. No matter how busy Ronald was with scripts, he had no time for acting classes.Find two Chinese courses on the course list and enroll in both.
One is Chinese, and the other is the study of ancient Chinese poetry. Ronald took two courses, which were easy for him and met the credit requirements, so he could spend more time writing.After receiving the newly purchased textbooks, Ronald went to the library to find the books on the reference reading list given by the teacher.
"Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty", "Enlightenment of Rhythm", ... Well, they are all in traditional Chinese.
"Do you speak Chinese?" The Chinese male student in the appreciation class asked in Chinese when he saw Ronald holding Tang poems.
"I can say, but I can't write this kind of..." Ronald pointed to the traditional characters.
"Chinese is difficult to write. I think your pronunciation is very standard. Where did you learn it?"
"Uh... high school, high school. I remember you have a simpler way to write it."
"Yes, that is the way of writing on the other side, and we still use this traditional way of writing."
"Do you want to join the role of a foreign student?" Ronald returned home, remembering the encounter with a foreign student, and began to think. In 1963, the situation in South Vietnam was turbulent, and some wealthy Vietnamese students began to immigrate to America.
Cindy, the heroine of the original work of "Grease", is a foreign student, and a Vietnamese female student is also added here, telling what happened in Vietnam, creating conditions for the hero and heroine, breaking the inherent impression, and starting to develop mutual affection.
Ronald began to fill in plot details on the skeleton of the script.
"The strike by the Screen Actors Union caused the starlight of the 9nd Primetime Emmy Awards to be dimmed on September 7. Almost no actors went to the scene to receive the awards for the performance awards on the spot.
Only one Powers Booth came to the stage to accept the award. In his acceptance speech, Booth said that this may be the bravest or stupidest move he has ever made in his career.
The Screen Actors Union stated that Booth will not be punished for accepting the award. Receiving the Emmy award on the spot is not within the scope of the actor union's strike. "
Ronald, who was walking around the room, thinking about the details of the script, heard the NBC entertainment news report from the TV.
strike?Do you want the hero and heroine to go on strike too?Let high school students go on strike to protest against the support of the unjust government by the US military in Vietnam.
Ronald sat down, scratched out the original plot on the draft, then loaded new paper on the typewriter, and started typing
"The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Television Actors Guild (AFTRA) held a rally yesterday (September 9) at the Hollywood Bowl Stadium in Hollywood in support of the strike.
Many stars came to support, and thousands of spectators came to the scene.The event, called "Night of the Stars," raised $30 for the strike funds of the two major labor unions, which will be used to pay basic living expenses for low-level actors who are on strike and have no means of livelihood.
ABC reports for you in Los Angeles"
Parade?good!Add the hero and heroine to a rally in support of the affirmative-rights movement.In this way, there are many backgrounds and group performances, and a party dance can be designed.Looks like ABC news is also good and inspiring.
It's also possible to have a character recite the famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Ronald took inspiration from the entertainment news again, and quickly typed these details before he forgot.
"Because of the fundraising, the strike continued. The Producers Guild announced on the same day that it would continue negotiations, and the two sides sat at the negotiating table for the first time since the July strike began. Union negotiator Ed Asner said that the two sides Reach an agreement on the share of home entertainment media such as video tapes.
After the number of videotapes sold by actors on home entertainment media exceeds 10, they can start to share a maximum of 4.5% of the sales.
However, the two sides did not reach an agreement on the conditions for the union to raise the minimum wage by 35%.
Ed Asner said the two sides will continue to negotiate.The trade union vows to protect the rights and interests of the actors, and will not stop until it achieves its goals. "
When will this damn strike end?If you go on, all your businesses will be affected.Ronald watched the news and yelled at greedy capitalists and union negotiators who took the opportunity to benefit themselves.
"On September 9st, the first televised debate of the general election will be held at the Baltimore Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The current President Jimmy, because of the participation of independent candidate Anderson, refused to attend. The Elephant Party candidate in the debate, former California The governor's performance was well received.
Independent candidate Anderson, whose polls fell sharply after the debate, told reporters that he would not participate in the second debate next month to give the incumbent a rally to express his views.And said he would not withdraw from the election. "
Ronald was scratching his head on how to write a scene where the hero and heroine began to get to know each other, breaking the original bad impression, changing from a hostile relationship to ease, and finally to mutual affection.
"Debate? How about a high school debate? Should we support the Vietnam War?"
In this way, the debaters on both sides of the pros and cons can speak one by one, which is convenient for composing music and writing lyrics to write arias for male and female duets.Other debaters and the audience can act as harmony voices, and a mezzo-soprano is played by the teacher.
Ronald feels that only CBS current affairs news is the biggest source of inspiration for his writing.
(End of this chapter)
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