"Ronald Lee, in this year's new film 'Dirty Dancing', can be regarded as establishing his status as a musical revivalist. He was the king of musicals in the 1980s. He took over from Fred Asday.

Paul, Gene Kelly and others used the tradition of musical films, new era directorial techniques and smooth commercial film narrative rhythm to give this once glorious genre a new lease of life..."

Traveling by Gulfstream aircraft did not have any impact on his rest. Ronald was able to go to the office early the next morning.

The newspapers accumulated over the weekend were placed on the desk. Ronald picked them up and took a look. The assistants carefully labeled the reports about "Dirty Dancing". Basically, they were all about Ronald and

Praise for the two leading actors.

The weekend box office statistics are also out, showing almost no decrease compared to the first week. "Dirty Dancing" dominated the American film scene in August.

The Labor Day weekend in America is coming soon. If the box office can be at a high level for three consecutive weekends, it can dominate the box office for another two weeks. Until mid-September, there will be Michael Douglas' "Fatal Attraction" and other films.

Competitive new films are released.

Sometimes, when a movie is released during the traditional off-season at the box office, if the movie is of good quality, it has the advantage of being a big fish in a small pond.

Ronald finished flipping through the newspaper, wrote a note on it, and asked his assistant to help him cut out the reports and store them. He had fun at his desk for a long time before starting his day's work.

"Cassandra, I have read the script carefully. Let me confirm with you again. Can't your budget be lowered? I see that in your script, except for the fire burning down the old house, many scenes can actually be compared.

Deal with it in an economical way.”

Back in Los Angeles, Ronald received support from the dream on the plane, and his confidence in the "Ecstasy Master" began to rise. After being intoxicated by the praise in the newspapers, Ronald gave Ka, who was still in New York,

Sandra Peterson called to confirm her wishes.

"Of course, no theaters are willing to show those old-fashioned B-level movies now. I talked to several producers, and they all answered me this way. The audience's taste has been improved, and they must be given more in the movie.

A big scene.

Minahan Golan's confusing stuff has been abandoned by the market. Look at his Superman IV..."

"Okay, I understand what you mean. You want to make a theatrical movie, but you don't want to make the kind of B-level movie that can only be made directly into a video tape and end up in a video rental store."

Ronald touched his chin. He still considered the problem with his old thinking.

One of the reasons why Roger Corman was able to dominate Hollywood for decades with an ultra-low-budget (less than 500,000) budget is that there are no such impressive visual spectacle movies on the market. Now Lucas,

The movies made by Spielberg and Cameron have raised the quality of movies several notches.

Audiences will really laugh out loud when they go to the cinema to watch movies that are fake at first glance.

On the other hand, Cassandra Peterson filmed the "masterpiece" (more than $10 million budget) "The Lost City of Gold" for Minahan's Cannon. Although judging from the final film, it may be that they

It only cost three dollars and fifty-eight cents.

But Cassandra Peterson is, after all, the leading female villain in a "blockbuster" that occupies the theater market and has more than 1,500 theaters at the same time. She is promoting this movie so hard, and it is definitely impossible for her to accept the ending of being directly made into a video tape.

"Or can you get a movie with a production budget of less than $2 million into the distribution market? I heard that one of your movies, 'Love Is Not For Sale,' had a low budget." Cassandra Peterson misunderstood Luo

Nader's call means that if it can enter theaters, low cost is not a bad thing.

"No, that movie is to fill the gap in theaters. Obviously I can't find a blockbuster in the short term to occupy the schedule after the New Year next year. By the way, I will bring your movie with me." Ronald thought for a while.

, you still need to cooperate with others.

"Listen, Cassandra, I will find some other producers to discuss with you in the next two days. I like your movie script very much and have confidence in your performance in 'The Lost City of Gold'. So you

Don’t look for other producers for the time being, let me see...I will give you an answer by the end of this week."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you... I really don't know how to thank you..." Cassandra Peterson on the other end of the phone stomped her feet happily, "Should I go back right away? When you were talking to other people,

Don’t you also want me to be there?”

"Don't expect too much. There's still room for success or failure in this matter. It will be beneficial if you come back, but I want you to join me after I find the right person."

Obviously, Cassandra Peterson, who has already been fooled by Minahan Golan and even fell from a height into a pond without a stand-in and had to fight on her own, is impossible to work with Cannon Pictures

It's cooperative.

This also left Ronald with only one possible partner, his former boss and guide Roger Coleman.

After making an appointment with Roger's secretary to go to his Concord Company for an interview tomorrow, Ronald was stopped by script assistant David Simkins.

"Ronald, there is a script here that was given to you by name. I think what he said makes sense, so I jumped in line and showed it to you."

"Oh, why?" Ronald raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. He waved to his assistant to make David a cup of coffee.

"This letter was sent by the screenwriter and producer along with the script. The reasons listed in it made me unable to refuse."

"Really? Can't refuse?" Ronald took the script. The name of the script was written on the cardboard cover, "White Lipstick (White Lipstick)," and below it was the name of the screenwriter, John Waters.

"What does this mean? The name is poorly chosen and I can't understand the meaning." Ronald opened the cover and found an open letter inside.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Dear Ronald, my name is John Waters, I am the screenwriter of 'White Lipstick', I am writing to you because of you

He is the only person in this era who knows how to make musicals.

"White Lipstick" is also about dancers in 1962..."

"It's interesting..." Ronald looked at David Simkins. This movie and "Dirty Dancing" are basically written in the same time period.

"I checked the registration date of the Writers Guild. His script was written long before our movie was released." Simkins replied that this John Waters was not a follower.

Ronald nodded and continued reading.

"Tracy is a fat white girl who likes black singing and dancing shows. She overcame the discrimination against her body shape in a local youth dance talent show in Baltimore and won the championship.

And her friend also broke through racial discrimination and fell in love with a black young man..."

"Oh..." Ronald's interest greatly increased when he read this. In addition to the overall competition between the leadership of Kennedy and the alliance, another major event in the 1960s was the affirmative action launched by the progressive youth at that time.

The challenges posed by black segregation and unequal education.

This writing method of embedding the plot of the musical into the general background of the time is very similar to "Dirty Dancing" written by Eleanor. There is also discrimination against Jews and women's struggle for their own body freedom as the background.

Ronald said nothing and silently turned over the script. Similar to "Dirty Dancing", this movie script also hides the ups and downs of the times behind the plot. It does not deliberately highlight the plot that these older audiences miss.

, but cleverly presented through the story.

The climactic ending of the script. The protagonist Tracy was imprisoned in a detention center because she participated in the protest at the mixed school. Another mean girl won the TV talent show.

At the critical moment, the governor pardoned Tracy. She rushed to the TV station, and the host announced that for the first time in Baltimore's history, blacks and whites appeared on a program at the same time. It ended in a big dance.

"What do you think?" Ronald closed the script and said to David Simkins.

"I think it is very suitable for our company's next movie. I checked this John Waters. He has always been famous for shooting low-cost movies. Many of his previous movies were shot for tens of thousands of dollars. The quality is

It's pretty good among B-level movies, and the box office is also good.

It is very suitable for our current lack of production budget. The shooting cycle of this kind of film is very short, and it can be released to theaters during the off-season after the New Year holiday next year, so that our distribution business will not be idle."

"Your idea is very good!" Ronald admired Simkins's idea very much. This kind of employee who proactively stands on the company's level instead of only looking at the interests of his own department is very popular.

"Then I invite him for an interview?"

"As soon as possible, I'm going to talk to Roger Corman at Concord tomorrow about another movie, and preferably today I can talk to John Waters."

…

John Waters came to Ronald's office in West Hollywood in the afternoon. He was born in 1946, is very thin, has a mustache, and has a funny look.

Waters himself is a native of Baltimore. The film script of "White Lipstick" was adapted from his own experience. The TV dance talent show in the film was the first to break the ban on black and white students in the same school in Baltimore in 1963.

His feats in class all happened when he was in middle school.

This is also a script that he spent a long time and slowly polished.

"What's your budget requirement for the movie?" Ronald looked at the other person. In fact, the script didn't have much scenes, mainly indoor scenes and dance scenes.

"This is my labor of love, so I want to try to make him look the way I want him to look in my mind," John Waters said.

"Tell me about your plans." Ronald began to feel bad. Making it look the way you wanted it essentially depends on how much money you spend.

"I thought about shooting on location in Baltimore, including campus scenes and street scenes in Baltimore."

"It's cheaper to shoot on location," Ronald nodded. There was no Screen Actors Guild in Baltimore, so Waters could save money wherever he could.

"I want a little more budget. The movies I made before were all super low-budget movies with a budget of no more than 100,000 US dollars. This movie is my dream movie. I want to make it as good as possible. Ronald

, you will understand me, right?"

John Waters looked at Ronald pitifully. If Ronald didn't give the green light, he might have to use some unfinished second-hand recycled film from other crews to shoot ultra-low-cost movies released directly to videotape.

Already.

"Huh..." Ronald scratched his head. This promise was not easy to give. "How much funds do you estimate you will need?"

The cost of a musical is much higher than that of a romantic film like "Love Is Not For Sale." Ronald is already prepared for the other party to ask for more than 5 million. After all, it costs so much to film "Dirty Dancing" himself.

.

"two……"

"Twenty million? Are you fucking kidding me?" When Ronald heard the first two words, he immediately became popular. I haven't even exceeded 10 million when I made a musical.

"No, it's two million." Waters quickly clarified.

"Two million? Are you sure you can film it?" Ronald counted the big group dance scenes. The plot is a dance talent show. Each time, there are dozens of experienced dancers dancing in groups, and the dance is 60

The swing dance of the era is not like "break dancing" where you just grab a few street dancers to dance.

"There is no big problem. I have a group of actors who have worked with me for many years. We have worked together for more than ten years. We have a good understanding and their salaries are not expensive."
To be continued...