The next morning, Ronald got up and started ironing his shirts and pants, repeating the ironing formula he had learned from Aunt Karen. When ironing shirts, you should drag the iron back and forth; when ironing pants, you can't drag it back and forth, but fix it in one place and press it.
He put the iron aside, picked up his trousers, and put them on. He looked in front of the dressing mirror next to the living room door and saw that his trousers were neatly lined. Ronald put away the iron and the movable ironing board that was fixed to the wall. The ironing board bounced back into the closet and became part of the wall.
This apartment is designed mainly for newly married couples, and it has complete living facilities. However, ironing clothes is usually done by housewives in America, and it is 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 some housework.
After getting up early and exercising, he took a hot shower, shaved, and took the sliced bread from the refrigerator and threw it into the toaster. Now the bread was toasted and jumped out. Ronald paired it with chopped tomatoes, a few slices of pickles, and some salad dressing, 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 do this for him in the future.
The taste is not as good as Aunt Karen's, but it is freshly made, and paired with black tea, it is not worse than McDonald's $1.5 breakfast. After eating two sandwiches I made myself, I tidied my appearance and set off to New World Productions to watch the sample film.
Ronald drove into the New World Pictures office in North Hollywood, not far from the Walk of Fame.
The office is a two-story building. The exterior walls on the left and right sides of the main door are painted in brick red and ivory white, respectively, which is very elegant. On the main door are four metal numbers, 1607, which is the company's house number.
Perhaps the boss wanted to save money, so there is no company logo or name, indicating that this is a strange company that produces 15 low-cost exploitation films a year and makes money on each one.
After greeting the beautiful lady at the front desk, Ronald went to find Gale, the president's assistant, and knocked on the door of the best office on the corner of the second floor.
Gale, who was sitting in the outer secretary seat, was chatting with Jim. He looked up and saw that it was Ronald. Gail happily came out from behind the desk and said, "Ronnie, you seem a little different today. You look a bit like Christopher Reeves- Very handsome. Roger will be here later. Jim and I will watch the sample film you shot later."
Jim winked at him.
"No, I came too early." Maybe it's because he shaved his beard that he looks more handsome. Ronald thought.
Ronald motioned Gale and Jim to continue, not to call him, and went to walk around the company. He walked out the door and looked around along the corridor. This was his first time in the office since the filming started. Ronald used to work 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 movies directed or produced by Roger Corman. Ronald quickly found the movie "The Intruder" that Roger mentioned yesterday, the only movie that lost money. A white man with a big head and thick neck was looking 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".
Continuing to walk forward, I saw another movie poster with a tacky name, "Death Race 2000". The man in the poster with a crooked mouth, holding a machine gun and killing people, isn't that the leading actor Sylvester Stallone from the phenomenal movie "Rocky" from two years ago?
Ronald couldn't help but laugh. This was obviously a low-budget exploitation film. It must have been made before Stallone became famous, otherwise, Roger Corman couldn't have afforded it. But he was really good at discovering talent. If this movie were released now, it would make a lot of money just based on Stallone's fame.
The doors of the two rooms 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, and with 15 films a year, the workload of editing was huge.
As I turned the corner and was about to go down the stairs, a strange voice came over.
"Roger, we have purchased the remake rights to "Zero Hour" for $2,500, so we can start filming our airplane comedy."
"Wow, that's great. Once you finish the second set of filming for 'Rock n Roll High School, ' you can go look for investors."
This was Roger Corman's voice. Ronald stopped, and it was a bit rude to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation. But the man spoke quickly and anxiously, as if he was going to quarrel with Roger. Ronald felt a little embarrassed to walk out now.
"Hey, Roger, find someone else to shoot for you. We've already got the investment, and we're going to make a movie at Paramount, one of the eight major studios." The strange voice became excited. "Do you know who we met at Paramount yesterday? It was Michael Eisner. Michael F**king Eisner. And his number two, Jeff Katzenberg."
"Paramount will give us money, big budget. Do you know how much it will be? Three million·and·half a million. More than New World makes in 12 movies in a year."
"There's no need to yell, Jerry. A contract is a contract. I don't understand why you're so anxious to go to Paramount. The preparation period at a big studio is so long. If you just shoot for me for five more days, you can finish the second unit photography, and then you'll never have to shoot a movie for me again."
"Okay, okay, Roger. Look, David, Jim, and I have been busy with this movie for five years. Now that Michael Eisner has given the nod, we still need to work with their screenwriter to rewrite the script in two weeks until Katzenberg gives the green light."
"Can you imagine? David, Jim, and I, this is a dream come true for the three of us. You're not going to let us kiss five years of dreams goodbye, are you?"
"Then who will complete your filming tasks? Jerry, this is a matter of principle. You should learn something from this and respect the spirit of the contract."
"Why don't you let Joe Dante do it? He's always with Allan, you can just let him take over the second unit shooting. Please."
"Okay, I'll think about it. Let's go watch the sample clips from last week."
"OK, Roger, our second group has taken quite a lot of shots, and there's only a little finishing touch left..."
Ronald heard Roger Coleman and the man named Jerry walk away and head to the left, which should be the direction of the meeting room on the first floor. So he also slowly went downstairs.
After drinking a cup of instant coffee at the front desk, I finally saw Roger Corman and Jerry walking out together, preparing to go to the screening room on the other side.
"Good morning, Mr. Corman."
"Ah, you're here just in time. Help me move the sample film to the projection room." Then Roger picked up the phone at the front desk and called Gale, "Gale, come to the projection room, we're about to start."
Ronald and the projectionist took the sample film to the projection hall on the first floor. There was a narrow staircase leading to a small projection room. Ronald hurried downstairs after watching the projectionist put the film on the projector and turn on the power, and the cooling fan hummed loudly.
When I came out, I saw Roger talking to a middle-aged beauty in a business suit.
"Ronnie, let me introduce you. This is my wife Julie. Julie, this is the talented young man I told you about, Ronald Lee."
"Hello, Mrs. Corman." Ronald hurried forward to greet her.
The boss's wife, Julie Corman, is also a producer of New World. Like Roger, she is an extremely efficient producer. I heard that she is in charge of 5 crews alone and has to take care of 3 children at home. She is a real iron lady.
The couple sat down on the sofa in the middle of the theater. Ronald chose a seat behind Roger.
A few more people came in, Gale and Jim, who took seats behind Ronald, and then the producer of "Rock 'n' Roll High School", who sat in the empty seat just in front of Ronald and on the other side of Roger.
Roger Corman leaned over to the producer, and the two began to talk in a low voice. Ronald heard a little bit,
"...I didn't see Mr. Eisner at all...3.5 million is real"
Another small man came in and sat on the other side, far away from Roger Corman.
"Who is this?" Ronald asked Gale.
"Jerry Zucker, the second unit director of 'Rock n Roll High School'."
It turned out that he was Jerry Zucker, the Jerry who had just quarreled with Roger Corman. He and the producer of "Rock n Roll High School" went to meet with Paramount to discuss cooperation on a new film yesterday. He was not on the set, otherwise, it would not have been Ronald's turn to direct the movie.
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, and the coffee in the police station was okay.
"Let's show yesterday's sample first," said Roger Corman.
Gale signaled the projectionist to start the show.
The lights went out, and a strong light shone from the projection room at the back. Ronald couldn't help but sit up straight, feeling uneasy. This was the first time he saw a clip he had shot on the screen.
Note: In the previous chapters, I have not corrected the spelling of 'Gail' which should have been 'Gale'. Sorry about that. Now, can you guess who Gale and Jim are? Hint: Jim is not his full name.