The night was deep.
In an apartment in North Hollywood, the lights were blazing.
Ronan sat in front of a laptop, his ten fingers typing continuously on the keyboard.
“In the year 2029, America is thriving, the people live and work in peace and contentment, the crime rate continues to decline, and freedom and democracy have reached an unprecedented peak.”
“However, all of this is just a beautiful soap bubble.”
Ronan typed out the background setting for the script.
“To maintain this wonderful state, the American government has launched a program called ‘the purge’ to allow people to vent their negative emotions.”
“The specific implementation of this plan is: from 7:00 PM on March 21, 2029, to 7:00 AM on March 22, 2029, during these 12 hours, all crimes—including murder—are legal. And during these 12 hours, emergency services like fire alarms, ambulances, and firefighting will also be shut down. Therefore, during these twelve hours, all human activities must rely on oneself.”
By Hollywood standards, a film that doesn’t appropriately bash the American government is definitely not a good film.
This routine of superficial prosperity concealing dirty secrets is also a true reflection of the American nation.
Most importantly, this suits the tastes of those who don’t like the Americans.
For example, the Arabs.
Although some countries in the Arab world are very close to the Americans, Arabs generally do not like the Americans; after all, the Americans are the godfathers of their mortal enemies.
To put it bluntly, choosing this horror film is for financing needs.
For money, Ronan had absolutely no psychological burden about bashing the Americans, though he would control the degree of it.
The American government has always been one of the main villains in Hollywood films.
Ronan had read quite a few research articles on this; American audiences also like to see films bash their own government.
This mentality is actually universal; audiences love it when domestic films bash their own government.
The horror film he was writing had settings and themes roughly the same as “the purge” from his past life, but to get financing from the Arabs, there must be important characters who are Arabs, or of Arab descent.
A family of four as the protagonists?
Ronan stopped to think; this was clearly inappropriate.
Although this project was mainly used to scam money…
no, to raise funds, he also wanted to try to produce it.
If four Arabs were the protagonists, let alone getting into theaters, the distribution companies probably wouldn’t even touch it.
This wasn’t twenty years later, when having the identity of an ethnic minority transgender person, combined with being gay, bisexual, and a supporter of the feminist movement, could allow one to walk sideways in the entertainment industry.
Besides, making Arabs the protagonists would be too fake.
If he happened to meet someone who knew even a little bit about Hollywood, and they saw four Arabs as the protagonists, the ruse would be exposed immediately.
Even if the main purpose of this project was financing, the initial operations had to aim for the most authentic direction possible.
Ronan quickly had an idea: how about having an Arab-descendant character appear as a savior?
The family’s neighbor is of Arab descent, and the male host is not very friendly to the neighbor.
When this family is about to be finished on the night of the slaughter, the Arab neighbor saves the Americans.
Arabs saving the Americans.
Ronan determined the basic settings for the Arab character, which would be expanded upon in the script writing.
In his past life, he had been a producer for some small projects and was no stranger to scriptwriting.
Anderson had outstanding abilities in this area, but what he lacked most was experience.
Initially, Ronan wrote very slowly.
After finishing the outline and setting up the skeleton, it was much faster to add things to the template.
This film had very few characters and limited scenes, making it a relatively simple type of scriptwriting.
However, even sleeping only six hours a day, it still took him a week to finish the eighty-page first draft.
The first draft was a bit rough.
After Ronan did a simple revision, he didn’t plan to do any more detailed processing.
Time did not allow him to drag it out.
The most recent bank loan was about to expire.
If he couldn’t repay it on time, he would face huge trouble.
Judith from the bank called every week, which was extremely annoying.
The bank might even withdraw the funds early, which would be even more troublesome.
Although the distributor of “dead end life”, New Line Cinema, was not pressing for the copyright share, it couldn’t be delayed too long.
The NASDAQ stock market was still rising all the way.
He had to get some money as soon as possible.
A new week arrived.
Ronan signed a copyright transfer agreement with Blockbuster and received $150,000, then convened an all-staff meeting in the office again.
“Let’s start with some good news.”
Ronan first reassured everyone, “You might already know, the $150,000 transfer fee for “dead end life” arrived this morning. Before the bank loan expires, there will be no problems with salaries.”
Hearing this, George Clint immediately said, “We will get through this difficulty together; we will definitely make it!”
Marie and Robert Lee didn’t speak, but they both looked much more relaxed.
At their age, salary meant too much, such as repaying loans, supporting the family, etc.
Simply giving pep talks and chicken soup was basically useless for people in this age group.
Ronan turned to the main topic and asked, “George, have you contacted your friends in the media industry?”
“I have.” George’s face was full of wrinkles.
“I met with more than a dozen friends this week, including three entertainment reporters from “Variety”, “Los Angeles Times”, and “The Hollywood Reporter”. As long as we can afford the space fee, most of them are willing to help us publish relevant news, but the space…”
“The space doesn’t matter; the third or even the fourth page is acceptable.” What Ronan wanted was media coverage for the new project.
The “Los Angeles Times” is one of the top three newspapers in the United States, and “Variety” and “The Hollywood Reporter” are the two major publications in the entertainment industry.
For ordinary small film projects, even paying for space is difficult.
Ronan pondered for a moment and then said to George, “Keep in touch with them, especially “Variety”, “Los Angeles Times”, and “The Hollywood Reporter”. I will hold a press conference for the new project soon.”
“The new project…” George was about to ask, but Ronan raised his hand to interrupt, “We’ll talk about the new project later.”
He looked at Robert Lee: “Have you made contact with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority?”
Robert Lee placed a file bag on Ronan’s desk and said, “My friend has been in contact with a director at the office. He is mainly responsible for examining the investment feasibility of the cultural and entertainment industry… Well, how should I put it, he has a very bad impression of Hollywood and a bit of hatred for Hollywood, saying that Hollywood is an accomplice of the jewish people in smearing the Arab world.”
“Examining the cultural and entertainment industry?” Ronan caught the key point.
“Yes, including movies,” Robert said.
“However, that person’s progress is not going well. You know, the industry has never welcomed Arabs.”
Ronan nodded lightly.
This situation was not surprising.
Saying Hollywood is controlled by the jewish people is an exaggeration, but the influence of Jewish forces on Hollywood is indeed great.
The image of Arabs in Hollywood films is imaginable.
For example, “true lies” directed by James Cameron once triggered collective protests in the Arab world, and almost no Arab country imported this film.
But what about Hollywood and the American media?
No one cares; they bash them however they want.
Of course, the scandalous materials about Arabs are indeed a bit too much.
Ronan quickly flipped through the materials on Abu Dhabi that Robert Lee had collected through various channels.
The UAE is relatively more open compared to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia prohibits public film screenings, so ordinary Saudis who want to watch movies in theaters fly to the UAE.
This ensures that Emiratis have a certain understanding of films.
However, limited by distance and information dissemination, Emiratis are relatively familiar with Hollywood films but very unfamiliar with how Hollywood operates.
It’s not just the UAE; in the nineties, Hollywood was veiled to most countries.
Ronan put down the materials and said, “Robert, can your friend arrange a meeting with that person in charge?”
Robert Lee thought for a moment and said, “He mentioned that the person will attend the 20th Century Fox appreciation party this weekend.”
“Is it easy to get an invitation?” Ronan asked.
“Leave it to me,” Robert said.
Ronan took out three copies of the script titled “the purge” and pushed them to the front of the desk, saying, “This is the script for the new project. You all take a look.”
After the three picked up the scripts, he scratched his messy hair and added, “Our next job is to build momentum for this new project. I will register it with the Producers Alliance according to standard procedures. Marie…”
Ronan looked at the middle-aged woman: “Hold a press conference next week. You go contact the venue; place it at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. George, you are responsible for contacting media reporters. I will prepare PR fees and a batch of gifts for you. Regardless of whether it’s a big newspaper or a small tabloid, even if you have to pay to hire paparazzi, you must ensure that fifty reporters are present!”
With money and gifts, things are easy to handle.
George Clint immediately said, “No problem.”
Ronan said to Robert again, “Represent Sand Sea Entertainment and send invitations to Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Leak this to tabloid reporters and try to ride the coattails of “Titanic” as much as possible.”
George Clint shook the script and suggested, “Also send some invitations to stars who might act in horror films; this will make it easier to create buzz.”
Ronan agreed, and as he thought, said, “Send invitations to Jamie Lee Curtis, Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp, and George Clooney.”
“Their Agents won’t even pay attention,” Robert Lee, who could be considered an old-timer in the film circle, said.
“They won’t even bother to refuse.”
Ronan pinched his chin: “Ignoring us is even better. Robert, remember to send formal public invitations.”
Robert replied, “I know.” He closed the script and said, “Is this script appropriate? The setting is indeed interesting, but the Arabs…”
Marie and George also had similar thoughts and looked at Ronan at the same time.
The script was questioned rather than being raved about as brilliant, but Ronan didn’t care.
He said directly, “Don’t forget, we need to get financing from the Arabs. Once we get the money…”
Robert immediately understood: “As long as the investment is in hand, we decide how to change the script.”
“Hurry up and do it.” Ronan called out to Marie, “Hire a small team and have them make posters and storyboards based on the script. Make them as exquisite and beautiful as possible.”
Marie nodded: “I’ll go contact them right now.”
Ronan pointed to his messy hair: “Help me recommend a stylist.”
The age of twenty was too unconvincing, and Little Anderson had made himself look too haggard.
He had to make himself look like a successful and mature producer.