The day after returning home, Duke temporarily organized his luggage, went to his mother's advertising agency, took a typewriter from the office, and cleaned up the empty room on the second floor balcony facing the sea as a temporary studio. After all this, he made a cup of black tea and sat on the wicker chair on the balcony, blowing the cool sea breeze, and began to consider what kind of movie he would choose.
It's been a long time since the other world in his memory. He doesn't have a normal brain for computer storage. Many things have become blurred, even those Hollywood movies that spent a lot of energy researching at the beginning, even if he still clearly remembers the main plot, many I almost forgot the details.
Especially those movies that have only been watched once or twice, basically only have a very weak impression. If there is no reminder, you can't even remember it.
This limits the scope of his choices.
In addition, although the two worlds have been learned and accumulated for more than 20 years, and two experimental films were shot in the past few years, I have 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 opportunities are minimal, but to leave enough hope for himself, the type of shooting he has been shooting and the type that he is best at shooting is a must.
In this way, literary and artistic movies must first be excluded. He has also studied movies in this area, so he understands that his current self is not suitable for this type, otherwise even if he gets the chance to direct the tube, he will be completely engaged. Smashed.
There are also horror movies. This is a typical example of a small and broad one that often appears in North America. Unfortunately, he is not a horror movie fan and has seen extremely limited.
Lightly buckling the armrest of the chair, Duke's thoughts have gradually shifted to the present. The film is deeply affected by the social environment. Once successful films, even if they were shot to the original level, they may be shot on the street in the early 1990s. He chose The film must be popular today and acceptable to most viewers.
What is the most popular movie in Hollywood today? Romantic romance and hot action movies!
The former can also be thrown away, while the latter... Duke's mind immediately remembered the names and general plots of several movies.
Considering the plot direction, lens language, actor's acting skills, lighting set, post-editing, dubbing and dubbing, etc., these action films that he has studied carefully are the most suitable choices.
After drinking the black tea in the cup, Duke walked out of the temporary studio, made a few appointment calls, went to the garage to drive his second-hand Chevrolet, drove out of Santa Monica, and headed straight to the Western Association branch of the Screenwriters Association in Los Angeles. After paying a fee, I checked the currently registered scripts of the Screenwriters Association. Fortunately, they are now archived on a computer. The script name and brief introduction are clear at a glance.
After spending an entire afternoon, Duke finally determined that the scripts of several films he had remembered had not been filed with the Screenwriters Association, so the possibility of crashes would be much smaller.
Of course, it is also possible that the script is being written or has not been filed with the Screenwriters Association, but even if it crashes in the future, it will be a 'coincidence'.
The remaining work today is to choose the most suitable one from these films.
This is not difficult. When driving back home, Duke has already made a decision, because the least investment is definitely the most suitable.
Mother had dinner at night, and Duke had dinner alone, and returned to the studio on the second floor, sitting in front of the typewriter, trying to remember the film that he had studied as a model, and gradually clarified his thoughts.
The structure of this film is very simple, the subject content is also very simple, even the name has only one word-"speed"!
In fact, you can also change the name, that name is more familiar to Duke, and that is "Life and Death"!
This is one of Hollywood's most classic action movies in the 1990s. Duke's distress is that the investment in the film is definitely not low, even if it is the least invested in action movies he is familiar with.
Fortunately, the Soviet Union has not yet disintegrated and Bill Clinton has not yet come to power. Even though the dollar has been depreciating, it has not been 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 US bills fall from the sky, otherwise..."
Shaking his head, Duke let out a long sigh, then typed the first letter of the typewriter.
As he said, hope is indeed slim, but if you work hard, there may be a little chance of success; if you don't do it, there really is no chance.
"Only a person with a strong character can create extraordinary achievements!"
Duke thinks this sentence is very reasonable.
Over the next week or so, Duke put aside the financial burden and worries about the future, put all his mind and energy into it, and compiled a detailed character setting and script outline.
In this way, Duke has a pre-made template, and then only needs to fill in the blanks of the template according to the three-stage structure of the script and the assembly line writing mode to get a standard Hollywood-style commercial script.
Even if there are many details forgotten by him, suitable filling paragraphs can be found in this kind of pipelined script writing.
If the already slim chances are not to be reduced, the script must conform to Hollywood's operating model and aesthetic standards. As a newcomer with no reputation and confidence, at this time, it is completely self-defeating to innovate.
Time gradually came to mid-May of 1991, Santa Monica was also enveloped by the scorching sun in the sky. Only at night, the cool breeze from the sea can slightly dissipate the heat and dryness during the day, which makes people feel a little comfortable. some.
On the balcony on the second floor of the villa, white lights flooded every corner. There was a small round plastic table in the center. Duke sat in a wicker chair by the table, concentrating on his eyebrows and concentrating on him. He completely ignored the mosquitoes that occasionally flew to **** blood. When the cool sea breeze blew again from the west, his hands placed in front of the typewriter slowly lifted and landed on the keys with letters.
As the typewriter sounded with "click, click, and click", white paper with lines of letters was slowly turned out of the machine.
The first scene, the first scene.
The security door of the elevator 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 noise, walking forward, and found an elderly maintenance worker who was repairing something .
"Hey, no entry and exit here!" He walked over and asked routinely.
"I know." The elderly maintenance worker showed only half of his figure, "Someone asked me to come over and repair the line."
"Why didn't you notify me?" The security guard was a little strange and asked vigilantly, "Show me your repair order."
"Wait a minute." The maintenance worker bent over to find the receipt in the bag. His left hand had no thumb and was obviously disabled. "Found it."
He slowly stood up, hiding his right hand behind the receipt. When the security guard focused on the receipt, the knife in his right hand pierced the security's ear cleanly.
"This is not a personal grudge!"
With templates, Duke's writing speed has increased a lot. This movie is not complicated. Most of the bridge segments are also Hollywood's usual methods, but they are re-interpreted with the close connection of time, speed, and life and death. For many things, Duke can find a model for reference from the video tapes he has watched in recent years.
Writing is not a smooth process. Even though he has long-term learning and accumulation, he still has things he is not good at, such as emotional drama.
Fortunately, this film basically does not need to highlight emotional drama, and the hero and the heroine are just going through hardships together. Most of the content in this area can be taken in one stroke.
For several weeks, Duke basically stayed at home. He did not make good friends at all. He was completely transformed into an otaku in the 1990s. Only when Mrs. Leah was not busy, he could occasionally be with his mother. Have a conversation.
"You don't know how to write emotional drama?"
At the dinner table, Mrs. Leah narrowed her eyes and looked at Duke, "I remember you have had many girlfriends after fifteen, right?"
"Mom, my time is precious, my time and energy will not be wasted talking about love."
Probably because of the lack of communication with people during this period, Duke has talked a lot recently, plus his mother in front of him, some words jumped out without much consideration, "I am just playing with them."
Speaking of it, Duke immediately noticed a change in his mother's vision and quickly said, "I'm full and I want to continue working."
Back upstairs, I read the finished script, Duke began to finish, including the outline and character settings, he has spent a full six weeks, and the script of "Life and Death" is about to be completed.
The main plot of the script has not changed much, but he added many of the minor details. In addition, he also appended a rough estimate of his own budget to the back of the script. Although he is not a professional, he I have been in many studios, and I am no stranger to Hollywood today. Even if the estimated numbers are absolutely inaccurate, of course they will not be much worse.
According to Duke's idea, many unnecessary plots were eliminated and most of the props were rented. Some costly plots were shot with reduced-scale models. In addition, he could take fewer shots, which should be between 14 million and 1500. Get all the production between ten thousand dollars.
But this is still a terrifying budget figure.
"No film company will put such a large sum of money on the new director."
After the script was completed, Mrs. Leah naturally became the first reader. After reading the script, she first put forward her views on the budget figures behind, "Even if Hollywood studios have multiple financing channels, a lot of the money they lose is Investor's money, but..."
She paused, seeming to be thinking about something, but finally shook her head and sighed lightly, "A reasonable person would not make such a big bet."
"Then..." Sitting across from his mother, Duke asked seriously, "Mom, do you think any movie company will adopt this script?"
"Except for confining danger to enclosed spaces such as elevators and buses, and letting life race against time and speed is a bit creative." She shook her head directly, "Frankly speaking, Duke, I have seen many movies and advertising scripts. , This can only be regarded as medium level at best.