Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 50 The young man who broke into the casting studio

"East 31st Street, Audition Studio."

Ronald took out a small book, and it was correct with the address that the taxi driver told him at the airport.

"It's here."

Ronald and Meg found the address of the audition studio. It was a small three-story building. The rough exterior walls were uniformly painted white, and the entrance steps were black iron handrails. The simple decoration revealed extraordinary.

However, a big black security guard in front of the steps spoiled the elegant atmosphere.

"Hi, hi... Self-recommendations from actors are not welcome here. If you want to audition, please ask your agent to send you audition photos."

The big black man completely covered the entrance steps behind him, blocking a group of boys and girls who wanted to rush in.A few male actors who didn't believe in evil tried to push the big black man's waist, only to be bounced back like hitting a wall.

"Do not accept the self-recommendation of actors?"

Ronald touched his ears, it was the old question of union qualifications again.

The regular production crew in Hollywood will not contact the actor himself, but will notify the audition through the agent.

However, the projects registered by the actor union give priority to union members. If you want to join the actor union, you must get a short-term contract in the registered film.And the agent will generally not sign a white man without a union card.

The door for newcomers to enter Hollywood is almost blocked, leaving only a tiny crack.Of course, those young actors with connections are not included. Someone will open the door and pull them in.

It seems that the only way is to help Meg find an agent first, pass in the audition photos and resumes, and then try to influence the casting director.

As soon as he turned his head, Ronald saw Meg hugging his arm, looking at him expectantly.

Ronald's heart was softly pinched by this look, and he suddenly became passionate.I can't just give up so easily today, I have to think of other ways to try.

If Meg can't audition for the film, it's Meg's loss, and even more so, the film's loss.

At this time, the white door of the small building opened, and a FedEx deliveryman in a purple uniform and a baseball cap hurried out.A bold idea came to Ronald's mind.

"Give me your baseball cap," Ronald said to Meg, "you wait here for me, and I'll try it out."

Meg took off the New York Yankees baseball cap and handed it to Ronald with a puzzled look.

Ronald took off his sunglasses and put them in his pocket, took the file bag containing the audition photos of Meg and the other two beauties, whistled, and walked forward quickly.

"I'm here to deliver the audition photo." Ronald opened the file bag, took out the audition photo and showed it to the big black security guard.

"Which company do you belong to?" The big black man still stopped him.

"I'm running errands, and the Actors Studio asked me to send three more audition photos and resumes."

Ronald pretended to be a courier boy, and waved the file bag impatiently.

"Go in." The big black man put Ronald in, and then blocked the rest of the boys and girls again.

When you enter the door, you will see the front desk of the studio.

"Send audition materials." Ronald repeated his old trick, raising the file bag in his hand.

"The 'Hot Lunch' crew?"

"Uh...", Ronald didn't know the name of the movie, he pretended to look at the contents of the file bag, "It's the crew with many boys and girls."

"That's right." The front desk did not doubt that he was there, "Enter the meeting room on the right." He opened another wooden door for him.

This studio is actually remodeled from an old house, and the rooms are all wooden doors.

Ronald walked forward alone, and before he reached the meeting room, he heard someone talking.

"We have looked at the photos archived in the studio, all over New York and even Hollywood, all suitable young film actors, as well as dramas, musicals, and even TV dramas. Don't you have any extras?"

A woman's voice is speaking.

"No, this is not the actor I need. I need...I need an actor with a different temperament, the kind of actor that is very common in our English, I don't know if New York doesn't have it, or you haven't found the right place." A Chinese The young man's voice retorted.

Seeing this, Ronald flashed into the room lightly, and closed the door behind him.

There were two women and one man in the room, and the younger woman was about to quarrel with the man angrily.

At this moment, another older lady stopped her colleague, "Wait, Margery."

After a pause, she said:

"Director Alan Parker, our casting studio, has always prided itself on being able to find the diverse range of actors the director wants.

This time, we spent several hours and still haven't found a satisfactory actor to invite to audition.I thought, this is not normal.Is there some misunderstanding in communication?We haven't understood what kind of actors you need. "

"What I want is a real actor, do you understand? Not that kind of American Hollywood star." The middle-aged man waved his hands excitedly, while expressing his grand theory.

Ronald looked at the director, and saw that he had long hair with a shawl, but his huge face and stubby fingers betrayed the middle-aged man's attempt to bring an artist's temperament with long hair.

More like a carpenter, Ronald commented mentally.

"You have to know that in the real world, everyone doesn't know whether they can succeed. What I need is not the kind of natural winner, Winner, do you understand?"

"In our England, every actor has received Shakespeare's drama training, and they know how to represent a hapless person, an unfortunate person.

The photos of the actors you found are all natural winners.Their faces, the audience can see that they will win at the end of the movie. "

"And this destroys the tone of the whole movie. I don't allow the audience to guess their ending at the beginning. I want the audience to experience those misfortunes and dangers with them... worry about the characters and cry for the characters."

The director continued to talk.

The two ladies in the casting studio also frowned more and more. They looked at each other and then communicated in a low voice.

"Margery, is the script you got like this? How do I remember the script I read at the beginning, the tone is very bright and uplifting?"

"I'm pretty sure our Mr. Director took another script. His one had a darker tone, I don't know why he did it, we'll have to reorient the audition anyway..."

The director turned his head and continued to growl.

"In the film and television industry, no one can guarantee your success. In the film and television industry, the only guarantee is that you will have a hot bento for lunch. This is what the name of the movie means. The people you choose are too long and confident gone."

The director picked up the audition photos spread out on the table in the casting studio:
"Look at these faces, look, do they look like a loser? Everyone has the word winner etched on their foreheads."

"Do you think he could play a part in my movie? Her? And him?"

The director picked up the photos and distributed them to the people present one by one, and also handed one to Ronald.

Ronald glanced at the director, and found that this director Alan Parker not only had a big face, but also had a nose that took up a third of the face.So that the eyes and mouth seem to be squeezed to the edge.

"What I need is a real actor, give me an actor that I need, not these people who are full of confidence, I need the kind of... you understand?"

"A real actor?" the older lady tried.

The director shook his head and asked Ronald again, "Do you know? What kind of actor do I need? You can explain it to your colleagues."

It's over, it's over now.

The two female employees of the casting studio also cast suspicious eyes. They thought Ronald was from the director's side, but now it seems...

"Tell me, what kind of actor do I need?"

The director was still asking Ronald.

"Um, I think what you want is Loser."

Don't hesitate at the critical moment, just say what comes to mind, Ronald said the answer he understood in his heart.

"Loser?" The two female employees looked at each other, and they both read a little bit of understanding from each other's eyes.

"To be more precise, you need a group of hard-working losers. In the end, they may succeed or fail. But in the process of struggle, you need the audience to empathize with them and experience their joys, sorrows and joys."

Ronald simply said more, maybe it can impress the director?
"Ah, finally someone understands what I mean, God bless." Mr. Director heaved a sigh of relief.

"If you ask me, although you, America, and we, English, speak the same language, sometimes it is difficult for us to understand each other, our culture is completely different."

The two female employees of the casting studio gave Ronald a deep look: "Mr. Director, we now understand what you mean. The script we saw seems to be quite different from your current script. Why don't we have a few copies of the current script and then we can talk about casting?"

"Okay, okay." Mr. Director handed over the script in his hand, "But this script can only be copied twice, and it is not to be made public. It is only circulated to those present."

"By the way, what's your name?" The director turned his head and asked Ronald.

"My name is Ronald, Ronald Lee."

I can't play dumb anymore.

"I apologize to everyone. I am not an employee of the casting studio. I am an audition portrait photographer. I came here to seek cooperation. I came here unintentionally and disturbed your work. I am very sorry."

Speaking of which, Ronald took out three audition photos.They were handed out to those present.

"Did you take the photo of Natasha Kinski's new audition?" The ladies who got two copies of the photo asked Ronald first.

"Yes, this one is mine, and this one, for a rom-com."

"It turned out to be you. You didn't know that the photos you took made many actresses jealous. We have been looking for you for a long time." The employee named Margaery said.

"We contacted Natasha, she said you were producing in New World, and then we found Roger Coleman's assistant, she said you came to New York University, we thought we would not find you until the semester started."

Another female employee also smiled and said, "So you are that Ronald Lee. Sleepy?"

"Um, that's me." Ronald was annoyed, why did this nickname come over.

"Oh, my God. This is the kind of face I hope to find." Mr. Director got the photo of Meg Tilly that Ronald deliberately handed him.

He showed the photo to the two women, "That's what I want."

"Mr. Director, Miss Meg is right outside the door. If you need it, why don't you let her in. You can observe her on the spot to see if she is suitable for this movie?"

Ronald looked at the two female employees of the casting studio, and they did not object.

"Your guard? You need to find someone to inform him." Ronald thought of the dutiful black man.

"I'll go with you" The employee named Margaery, who had started arguing with the director, volunteered to go out with Ronald.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," Ronald apologized again.

"It's okay, we happened to be looking for you too." Margery blinked, "It's not easy to fool the doorman, Sean."

Ronald knew they had seen through his attempts to break into the casting studio and apologized to her again.

"Did you know Director Parker before?" Margery asked.

"No, I saw him for the first time today," said Ronald.

"Go and call your girlfriend," Margery said.

"Meg, Meg, come here," Ronald desperately waved to Meg Tilly in the distance.

Meg rushed to the door, and Margery ordered the big black man to let her in, which caused another commotion among the boys and girls gathered at the door.

"The director of the Hot Lunch crew wanted to meet you. He saw your photo and thought he could give you an audition." Ronald said to Meg who was looking forward to it.

"This is Meg Tilly, and this is Margery, um... Miss."

"Just call me Margaery, your girlfriend?"

"Um", just as Ronald was about to answer, Meg had already pounced on Ronald's neck with both hands, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Ronald. Thank you."

As Meg Tilly said, thinking of the previous days when she ran into walls everywhere, she buried her head in Ronald's chest and shed tears silently for a while.

"Don't be like this, good girl, today is your lucky day. The director is still waiting, let's go in." Ronald comforted.

"This is Meg Tilly in the photo." Ronald introduced to Mr. Director.

Meg Tilly waited nervously...

(End of this chapter)