Chapter 16: New World Production

"Press the clothes, press the pants."

Early the next morning, Ronald got up and ironed his shirt and pants, reciting the ironing trick he learned from Aunt Karen. When ironing shirts, you need to drag them back and forth with the iron; when ironing pants, you can't drag them but must press them in place.

Putting the iron aside, he picked up his pants and put them on. He looked at himself in the full-length mirror by the living room door and saw the crease lines were neat. Ronald stored the iron and the mobile ironing board, which was fixed to the wall on one end and folded back into the closet, becoming part of the wall.

The design of this apartment is primarily for young couples starting a family, with fully equipped living facilities. However, ironing clothes like this is usually done by housewives in the U.S., so it's a bit strange for a grown man to do it. Aunt Karen had to work every day, and Donna was still very young, so she taught Ronald how to do housework.

After getting up early to exercise, I took a hot shower, shaved, and pulled some sandwich bread from the fridge to pop into the toaster. Once the bread was done, Ronald topped it with sliced tomatoes, a few pickles, added salad dressing, and cut the sandwich into two triangles.

Ronald touched his smooth chin and tucked his shirt into his belt. He still hoped that, in the future, a gentle and beautiful woman would do these things for him.

The taste wasn't as good as Aunt Karen's but better than freshly made, and paired with black tea, it wasn't worse than a $1.50 McDonald's breakfast. After finishing two homemade sandwiches, he got ready and headed to New World Production Company to review the footage.

The New World Productions offices were in North Hollywood, not far from the Walk of Fame. Ronald entered the building.

The office was a two-story building. The outer walls to the left and right of the entrance were painted in brick red and ivory white, giving it a stylish look. The metal numbers 1607 marked the company's address by the door.

Perhaps to save money, the boss had no logo or company name displayed, suggesting this was a quirky company producing 15 low-budget exploitation films annually, each making a profit.

After greeting the receptionist, Ronald went to find Gale, the president's assistant. He knocked on the door of the best office at the corner of the second floor.

Gale, sitting at the secretary's desk outside, was chatting with Jim. She looked up and saw Ronald coming happily from behind the desk.

"Ronnie, you look a bit different today. A little like Superman, very handsome. Roger will be here later. Jim and I will review the footage you shot."

Jim winked at Ronald from the side.

"No, it's just because I arrived early." Maybe it was because he had shaved, making him look better, Ronald thought.

He motioned to Gale and Jim to continue chatting and walked further into the company. He left through the door and glanced around the hall. Since filming began, this was the first time Ronald had come to the office. He usually worked in the writers' room on the first floor and rarely came upstairs.

The second-floor walls were lined with posters of various films directed or produced by Roger Corman. Ronald quickly spotted The Intruder, the film Roger had mentioned the previous day as his only financial failure. On the poster, a white man with a big head and thick neck was looking at himself in a mirror next to a cigarette vending machine. Ronald found him familiar, so he checked the cast list at the bottom of the poster and discovered it was William Shatner—Captain Kirk from the popular sci-fi TV series Star Trek.

Continuing down the hallway, he saw another movie poster with a funny title: Death Race 2000. The poster showed a sneering character holding a machine gun and killing people. Wasn't this the phenomenal film from the previous year? And wasn't the actor Stallone, from Rocky?

Ronald couldn't help but laugh. This kind of low-budget exploitation film must have been made before Stallone became famous; otherwise, Roger Corman wouldn't have afforded him. But Corman's eye for talent was remarkable—if the movie were released now, Stallone's fame alone would make a fortune.

The doors to the rooms on either side of the hall were shut, and inside were editing suites. Ronald knew that two editing rooms operated 24/7, nearly 365 days a year. With 15 films annually, the workload was immense.

As Ronald turned the corner, about to head downstairs, he overheard a strange conversation.

"Roger, we've bought the rights to remake Midnight for $2,500, and we can start filming our airplane comedy."

"Wow, that's great. Once you wrap the second Rock of Ages movie, you can start looking for investors."

This was Roger Corman's voice. Ronald paused, thinking it would be rude to eavesdrop. But the man was speaking urgently, almost angrily, and it felt awkward to leave just then.

"Hey, Roger, find someone else to shoot for you. We've secured investment and are making a movie at Paramount, one of the big eight studios." The strange voice grew more excited. "Do you know who Paramount brought in? Michael f***ing Eisner and his guy, Jeff Katzenberg."

"Paramount is giving us money—a huge budget. You know how much? Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars—more than New World's 12 films combined."

"There's no need to shout, Jerry. A contract is a contract. I don't get why you're so eager to jump to Paramount. Big studio deals take time. Just film for five more days, wrap the second unit, and you'll never need to shoot for me again."

"All right, all right, Roger. Look, David, Jim, and I have been working on this movie for five years, and now that Eisner has approved it, we still need their writers to rewrite the script until Katzenberg gives the green light."

"Do you realize? For David, Jim, and me, this is our dream come true. You're not going to make us give up a five-year dream, are you?"

"Who will finish your shoots, then? Jerry, this is a matter of principle. You need to learn from this and respect the contract spirit."

"Why don't you let Joe Dante shoot? He's always working with Allen, and he can take over the second unit. Please."

"Fine, I'll think about it. Let's first review last week's footage."

"All right, Roger. Our second unit filmed a lot—there's only some final polishing left..."

Ronald overheard Roger Corman and the man called Jerry head toward the conference room on the first floor. He slowly made his way downstairs.

At the reception, Ronald grabbed a cup of instant coffee. Soon, Roger Corman appeared with Jerry, ready to head to the screening room across the way.

"Good morning, Mr. Corman."

"Ah, you're here just in time. Help me move the reels to the screening room," Roger said, picking up the phone at reception to call Gale. "Gale, come to the screening room. We're about to start."

Ronald and the projectionist carried the film reels to the screening room. Inside, a narrow staircase led to a small projection booth. As the projectionist set up the film and turned on the power, the fan hummed loudly. Ronald quickly went back downstairs.

End of chapter