Chapter 3 Finalizing the First Choice
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The second day after returning home, Duke temporarily packed his luggage, went to his mother's advertising agency, fetched a typewriter from the office, and packed the empty room on the second floor with the balcony facing the sea as a temporary studio. After all this, he made a cup of black tea and sat on the rattan chair on the balcony, blowing the cool sea breeze, and began to think about what kind of movie to choose.
A long time has passed since the other world in his memory. He doesn't have a computer-like brain, and many things have already become blurred, even those Hollywood movies that he spent a lot of energy on researching, even if he still clearly remembers the main plot, many The details are almost forgotten.
Especially those movies that have only been seen once or twice, basically only have a very light impression, and if no one prompts, even can't remember at all.
This limits his options.
In addition, although the two worlds have accumulated more than 20 years of study and accumulation, and he has also filmed two experimental films in the past few years, he has to admit that he has not independently directed any formal film projects and lacks real experience. He is a complete novice. According to his and his mother's perception, the chances of getting a chance are very small, but to leave enough hope for himself, the type he has shot and is best at shooting is a must.
In this way, literary and artistic films must be excluded first. He has also studied films in this area, so he understands that he is not suitable for this type, otherwise even if he is lucky enough to get the opportunity to take charge of the director, he will would be totally screwed up.
There are also horror movies. This is a typical example of Xiaoboda that often appears in North America. Unfortunately, he is not a horror movie lover and has seen extremely limited ones.
Lightly clasping the armrest of the chair, Duke's thoughts gradually shifted to the present. Movies are deeply influenced by the social environment. Even if a successful movie was shot at its original level, it might hit the street in the early 1990s. He chose The film must be popular and acceptable to the majority of the audience.
What are the most popular movies in Hollywood today? Romantic romance and hot action movies!
The former can also be thrown away, while the latter... Duke's mind immediately thought of the names and general plots of several movies.
Considering the direction of the plot, the language of the shots, the acting skills of the actors, the lighting and scenery, post-editing, dubbing and soundtracking, these action films that he has carefully researched are the most suitable choices.
After drinking the black tea in the cup, Duke walked out of the makeshift studio, made a few appointment calls, went to the garage to drive his used Chevrolet, drove out of Santa Monica, and went straight to the Western Association branch of the Writers Guild in Los Angeles. After paying a fee, I checked the current screenplays of the Screenwriters Association. Fortunately, they are all archived on the computer, and the screenplay name and brief introduction are clear at a glance.
After spending an entire afternoon, Duke finally determined that the scripts of several films in his mind were not registered with the Writers Guild, so the possibility of a crash would be much smaller.
Of course, it is also possible that the script is being written or not filed with the Writers Guild, but even if it crashes in the future, it is just a 'coincidence'.
The rest of the work today is to choose the most suitable one from these films.
It wasn't difficult, and by the time we drove home, Duke had already made a decision because the one with the least investment was definitely the best fit.
Mother had a party at night, Duke had dinner alone, went back to the studio on the second floor, sat in front of the typewriter, tried hard to recall the film that he had studied as a model, and gradually sorted out his thoughts.
The structure of this film is very simple, the theme is also very simple, even the name has only one word - Speed!
In fact, it can also be called by another name. That name is more familiar to Duke, that is Speed of Life and Death!
This is one of the most classic Hollywood action films of the 1990s, and Duke is distressed that the investment in the film is definitely not low, even if it is the least invested action movie he is familiar with.
Fortunately, the Soviet Union has not disintegrated, Bill Clinton has not yet come to power, and even though the dollar has been depreciating, it is not as flat as a few years later.
Even so, this will be a movie with an investment of more than ten million dollars.
It looks like unless dollar bills drop from the sky, otherwise...
Shaking his head, Duke let out a long sigh and struck the first letter of the typewriter.
As he said, the hope is indeed slim, but if you work hard, there may be a little chance of success; if you don't do it, there is really no chance.
Only people with perseverance can create extraordinary achievements!
Duke thinks this statement makes perfect sense.
For more than a week, Duke put aside the financial burden he faced and his worries about the future, and devoted all his heart and energy to put together a detailed character setting and script outline.
In this way, Duke has a pre-made template. Next, he only needs to fill in the blanks of the template according to the three-stage structure of the script and the pipeline writing mode, and then a standard Hollywood-style commercial script can be obtained.
Even if there are many details that he has forgotten, in this streamlined script writing, suitable filling paragraphs can be found.
If the already slim chances are not to be reduced, the script must conform to Hollywood's operating mode and aesthetic standards. As a newcomer with no name and confidence, it is completely self-defeating to be innovative at this time.
Time gradually came to the middle of May in 1991, and Santa Monica was also shrouded in the scorching sun in the sky. Only at night, the cool wind from the sea could slightly dispel the heat and dryness of the day, making people feel a little more comfortable. Some.
On the balcony on the second floor of the villa, white lights flooded every corner, and a small round plastic table was placed in the center. Duke sat in the rattan chair beside the table, contemplating with brows, and he was engrossed in it. , completely ignoring the occasional blood-sucking mosquitoes, and when the cool sea breeze blew again from the west, the hands he placed in front of the typewriter slowly lifted and landed on the keys inscribed with letters.
With the click of the typewriter, the white paper with lines of letters printed on it was slowly transferred out of the machine.
The first scene, the first act.
The security door of the elevator room on the ground floor of the building was pushed open from the outside. A security guard with a walkie-talkie walked in. Following the vague figure and sound, he walked forward and found an elderly maintenance worker repairing something. .
Hey, it's forbidden to come and go here! He walked over and asked routinely.
I know. The elderly maintenance worker only showed half of his figure, I was called to repair the wiring.
Why didn't you notify me? The security guard asked in a curious manner, Show me your maintenance order.
Wait a minute. The maintenance worker bent over to look for the receipt in the bag. His left hand had no thumb and was obviously disabled. I found it.
He stood up slowly, and hid his right hand behind the document. When the security guard focused on the document, the knife in his right hand pierced the security guard's ear neatly.
This is not a personal grudge!
With the template, Duke's writing speed has improved a lot, the film is not complicated, and most of the scenes are also used by Hollywood, but they are re-interpreted with the close connection of time, speed and life and death, and even some of them For many things, Duke can find a model for reference from the videotapes he has watched in recent years.
Writing is not a smooth process. Even though he has long-term learning and accumulation, he also has things he is not good at, such as emotional dramas.
Fortunately, this film basically does not need to highlight emotional dramas, and the male and female protagonists are just going through hardships to get together.
For several weeks in a row, Duke basically stayed at home. He had no good friends at all. He was completely transformed into a nerd in the 1990s. Only when Mrs. Leah was not busy, he could occasionally spend time with his mother. Communicate.
You don't know how to write emotional dramas?
At the dinner table, Mrs. Leah narrowed her eyes and looked at Duke, I have the impression that you have had a lot of girlfriends since you were fifteen years old?
Mom, my time is precious, and my time and energy will not be wasted in love.
Probably because of the lack of communication with people during this time, Duke has been talking a lot recently, and with his mother in front of him, some words jumped out without much thought, I'm just having fun with them.
As soon as the words came out, Duke immediately noticed that his mother's eyes had changed, and quickly said, I'm full and I'm going to continue working.
Going back upstairs and reading the finished script, Duke began to wrap it up. Including the outline and character setting, he has spent six full weeks, and the script for Speed of Life is about to be completed.
The main plot of the script has not changed much, but he re-added most of the minor details. In addition, he also appends a rough estimate of his own estimated budget to the back of the script. Although he is not a professional, he I have been on many studios, and I am no stranger to today's Hollywood. Even if the estimated numbers are absolutely inaccurate, of course, they will not be much worse.
According to Duke's idea, a lot of unnecessary plots were removed, most of the props were rented, and some expensive plots were shot with reduced-scale models. In addition, he could shoot less scenes, which should be between 14 million and 15 million. Get everything done between $10,000.
But that's still a scary budget figure.
No studio would put such a large sum of money on a new director.
After the script was completed, Mrs. Leah naturally became the first reader. After reading the script, she first gave her opinion on the budget figures that followed, Even though Hollywood production companies have multiple financing channels, a lot of money lost is Investor's money, but...
She paused, as if she was thinking about something, but finally shook her head and sighed, A rational person wouldn't make such a big gamble.
Then... Sitting across from his mother, Duke asked earnestly, Mom, do you think any film company would adopt this script?
Except to limit the danger to enclosed spaces like elevators and buses, and let life race against time and speed is a bit creative. She shook her head directly, Frankly speaking, Duke, I have seen a lot of movies and commercial scripts. , which is at best a middling level.”