Chapter 16 New World Production
"Ironing clothes, pressing pants."
The next morning, Ronald got up and ironed his shirt and pants. He recited the ironing formula he learned from Aunt Karen. To iron a shirt, you need to drag the iron back and forth; to iron pants, you cannot drag them back and forth, but press them in one place.
He put the iron aside, picked up the pants and put them on. He looked in front of the dressing mirror by the living room door and saw that the trouser line was neat. Ronald put away the iron and the movable ironing board fixed on the wall. The ironing board bounced back into the closet and became part of the wall.
This apartment is designed mainly for young couples who have just started a family, and it has complete living facilities. However, in America, this kind of ironing is usually done by housewives, and it is still a bit strange for a grown man to do it. Aunt Karen has to go to work every day, and Donna is still very young, so she taught Ronald to do housework.
After getting up early and exercising, he took a hot shower, shaved, and took sliced bread from the refrigerator and threw it into the toaster. Now the bread was ready and popped out. Ronald added chopped tomatoes and a few slices of pickles, squeezed some salad dressing on it, and cut the bread into two triangles.
Touching his smooth chin, Ronald tucked his shirt into his belt. Ronald still hoped that there would be a gentle and beautiful woman to make these for him in the future.
The taste was not as good as Aunt Karen's, but it was freshly made, and paired with black tea, it was not worse than McDonald's $1.5 breakfast. After eating two sandwiches he made himself, he tidied up his appearance and set off to New World Productions to watch the sample film.
The office of New World Productions was in North Hollywood, not far from the Avenue of Stars. Ronald drove into the company.
The office was a two-story building. The exterior walls on the left and right sides of the gate were painted brick red and ivory white respectively, which was very elegant. On the gate were four metal numbers 1607, which was the company's house number.
Perhaps the boss wanted to save money, there was no company logo or name, indicating that this was a strange company that produced 15 low-cost exploitation films a year and made money on every film.
After greeting the beautiful lady at the front desk, Ronald went to find Gail, the president's assistant. He knocked on the door of the best office on the corner of the second floor. Gail, who was sitting in the outer secretary's seat, was chatting with Jim. When he looked up and saw that it was Ronald, Gail happily came out from behind the desk: "Ronnie, you seem a little different today. You look a bit like Superman in the movie. Very handsome. Roger will be late. I will watch the sample film you shot with Jim later."
Jim winked at him.
"No, I came early." Maybe it's because of shaving that he looks more handsome? Ronald thought.
Ronald signaled Gail and Jim to continue, and there was no need to greet him. He went around the company. He went out and looked around along the corridor. This was the first time he came to the office since the filming started. Before, Ronald worked in the screenwriter's room on the first floor and rarely went to the second floor.
The walls of the second floor were covered with posters of various movies directed or produced by Roger Corman. Ronald quickly found the "Intruder" that Roger mentioned yesterday, the only movie he lost money on. A white man with a big head and thick neck was looking at himself in the mirror in front of a cigarette vending machine. Ronald looked familiar and found William Shatner in the starring column below the poster. Captain Kirk of the Enterprise spaceship in the popular science fiction TV series "Star Trek".
Walking forward, he saw another movie poster with a very shady name "Death Race 2000". The man with a crooked mouth and a machine gun killing people on the poster was Sylvester Stallone, the male lead of the phenomenal movie "Rocky" two years ago?
Ronald couldn't help laughing. This was obviously a low-cost exploitation film. It must have been made before Stallone became famous, otherwise Roger Corman couldn't afford it. But he was really good at discovering talents. If this movie was released now, it would make a lot of money just based on Stallone's fame.
Thedoors of the rooms on both sides were closed, and inside were the editing rooms. Ronald knew that the two editing rooms were staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With 15 films a year, the workload of editing was huge.
Turning the corner and about to go down the stairs, a strange voice came over.
"Roger, we have bought the remake rights of "Midnight" for $2,500, and we can start filming our airplane comedy."
"Wow, that's great. Once you finish the second set of filming for "Rock and Roll High School", you can go find investors."
This was Roger Corman's voice. Ronald stopped, it was a bit rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations. But the man really spoke fast and anxiously, as if he was going to quarrel with Roger. Ronald felt a little embarrassed to walk out now.
"Hey, Roger, you can find someone else to shoot for you. We have already got the investment, and we are going to Paramount, one of the eight major studios, to shoot a movie." The strange voice became excited, "Do you know who we met at Paramount yesterday? It was Michael Eisner. Michael Fxcking Eisner. And his general Jeff Katzenberg."
"Paramount will give us money, a big budget. Do you know how much it will be? Three hundred Fxcking five hundred thousand. More than New World's 12 movies in the whole year combined."
"There is no need to yell, Jerry. A contract is a contract. I don't understand why you are so anxious to go to Paramount. The preparation stage of a big studio will be very long. As long as you shoot for me for another five days, you can complete the second set of photography, and then you will never have to shoot a movie for me again."
"Okay, okay, Roger. You see, David, Jim, and I have been busy with this movie for five years. Now that Michael Eisner has nodded, we still need to work with their screenwriter to rewrite the script within two weeks until Katzenberg gives the green light."
"Can you imagine? David, Jim, and I, this is the moment when our dreams come true. You won't let us kiss goodbye to our five-year dream, right?"
"Who will complete your filming task? Jerry, this is a matter of principle. You should learn something from this. You should respect the spirit of the contract."
"Why not let Joe Dante do the filming? He is always with Allen. You can let him take over the filming of the second unit. Please."
"Okay, I'll think about it. Let's go and watch the sample film last week."
"OK, Roger, our second unit has filmed a lot, and there is only a little finishing touch at the end..."
Ronald heard Roger Corman and the man named Jerry walk away and go to the left, which should be the direction of the conference room on the first floor. So he slowly went downstairs.
After drinking a cup of instant coffee at the front desk, he finally saw Roger Corman and Jerry walking out together, preparing to go to the screening room on the other side.
"Good morning, Mr. Coleman."
"Ah, you're here, just in time, help me move the sample to the projection room." Then Roger picked up the phone at the front desk and called Gail, "Gail, come to the projection room, we're about to start."
Ronald and the projectionist took the sample to the projection room on the first floor. There was a narrow staircase leading to a small projection room. After watching the projectionist put the film on the projector, turned on the power, and the cooling fan hummed loudly, Ronald hurried downstairs.
When he came out, he saw Roger talking to a middle-aged beauty in a business suit.
"Ronnie, let me introduce, this is my wife Julie. Julie, this is the talented young man I told you about, Ronald Smith."
"Hello, Mrs. Coleman." Ronald hurried forward to greet him.
The boss's wife, Julie Coleman, is also a producer of New World. Like Roger, she is a very efficient producer. I heard that she manages 5 crews and has to take care of 3 children at home. She is a real iron lady.
The couple sat on the sofa in the middle of the screening room. Ronald chose a seat behind Roger.
Several people came in one after another, namely Gail and Jim. They found seats behind Ronald. Then came the producer of "Rock High School". He sat in front of Ronald and in the empty seat on the other side of Roger.
Roger Coleman leaned towards the producer and the two began to talk in a low voice. Ronald heard a little,
"...I didn't see Mr. Eisner at all...3.5 million is real."
Another short man came in and sat on the other side far away from Roger Coleman.
"Who is this?" Ronald asked Gail.
"Jerry Zucker, the second group director of Rock High School."
It turned out that he was Jerry Zucker, the Jerry who had just quarreled with Roger Coleman. He and the producer of "Rock N' Roll High School" went to meet with Paramount yesterday to discuss cooperation on a new film. He was not on the set, otherwise it would not have been Ronald's turn to film.
The last person to come in was Joe Dante, who closed the door.
Ronald greeted Joe, who smiled and nodded. He seemed to be in good spirits. The coffee in the police station was okay.
"Let's show yesterday's sample first." Roger Corman said.
Gail signaled the projectionist to start the projection.
The lights went out, and a strong light shone from the projection room in the back. Ronald couldn't help but sit up straight, feeling uneasy. This was the first time he saw a clip he shot on the screen.
(End of this chapter)