Rebirth In Hollywood

After completing the routine exercise every morning, Natalie went back to her room to take a shower, put on her formal clothes and walked down the stairs. As soon as she approached the restaurant, she smelled a strange but familiar smell. It was the smell of breakfast made by her mother. Moving to Los Angeles, she had almost forgotten the smell.

Thinking of the phone call last night, she frowned slightly, shook her head and smiled again, and sat at the dining table, like a child who has not grown up, waiting for her mother to bring her breakfast.

"Honey." Mrs. Shelley walked into the dining room from the kitchen and placed a tray in front of Natalie, "I hope you like it."

"Mother."

After serving the steaming porridge, Natalie looked at her mother, "Thank you, I haven't felt this way for a long time."

Picking up the spoon and stirring the bowl a few times, Natalie heard her mother say again, "As long as you like, I can come over anytime."

The movement of stirring the porridge paused for a moment, and Natalie blinked, "Of course, Mom."

As in the past, Natalie didn't eat much. After drinking the small bowl of porridge, she put down the spoon, and after her mother finished eating, she took the initiative to clear the table.

After finishing all this, under Mrs. Shelley's suggestion, Natalie walked out of the villa with her and walked slowly along the path in the garden. There is no important work today, so you can stay at home.

In December, Los Angeles did not feel cold at all. The bright sunshine fell on the garden, reflecting the figures of the mother and daughter, which looked extremely warm.

Gently holding her curved arms, Natalie is like a teenager, following in her mother's footsteps. In Hollywood, which is full of disputes, it is difficult to have such a peaceful moment, especially recently. Gradually kicking off the awards season, her life is full of hustle and bustle.

Although I understand that the best actress in the Oscar is very likely to be held in my hands. But Natalie didn't relax at all. She didn't want any accidents at the critical moment. In addition to participating in various public relations activities that Ryan prepared for her these days, she also took advantage of her status to get in touch with her mother's connections. .

The vast majority of people are extremely polite to her, and she has not seen the dark side of the rumors. She understands the reason for all this. This is an extremely realistic circle. Even if the judges do not choose her, they will not take the risk of offending Rui. kindness.

Thinking of Ryan. Natalie has a headache, her mother's attitude towards Ryan...

"Nate..."

Her mother's words interrupted her train of thought,

Natalie looked over, "What? Mom?"

"According to the analysis, how likely are you to win the Best Actress?"

Hearing the concerned questions, Natalie said seriously, "According to the analysis of the public relations team, my chances are over 70% now, and my biggest competitor is Australian actor Cate Blanchett. But now situation……"

She made a gesture that you understand.

"If you get the Oscar for Best Actress." Mrs. Shelley pulled Natalie and sat on a bench in the garden, "How about moving back to New York? It doesn't have to be Long Island, it can be on the Upper East Side or the Upper West Side, This way your dad and I can visit you anytime."

"Mom..." Natalie hesitated a little. Still, "I love the weather in Los Angeles."

"Nate!" Mrs. Shelley raised her voice, "Why do you have to stay with him? Next year you will be the Oscar queen, and we are Jewish. We can get the best resources, and others have to pay for it It doesn't take much effort for you to grab something..."

"Mom!" Natalie interrupted her mother. "Please don't say it."

"Do you think I'm wrong?"

Natalie didn't answer. It's no secret that a lot of privilege in Hollywood belongs only to Jews.

"Sorry, Mom." She stood up and walked towards the villa, "I won't be moving back to New York, I'm going to read the script."

"Nate..." Mrs. Shelley also stood up, "Do you know that many people are talking about you?"

"I..." Natalie's figure paused briefly, "I don't care, this is Hollywood!"

Really don't care? How is that possible.

Back in the study, Natalie forced herself not to think about it, and focused on this script that reflected the experience of the US military in Iraq.

Downstairs in the living room, Mrs. Shelly was flipping through the newspaper. The focus of her attention was naturally on the entertainment page. The Oscars in February next year were still far away, and even the nomination list hadn't come out, but according to the media's predictions, Natalie is without a doubt the biggest hit.

In some recent small awards, she completely overwhelmed Cate Blanchett, sweeping a series of best actress awards.

Gradually, Mrs. Shelly turned her attention to the relevant information about Disney. Although she was very unwilling in her heart, she even hated the thin boy back then, so much so that she once had the idea of ​​revealing news about Sandy Jenkins to the media. , but in the end I endured it, it would not do my daughter any good.

As always, there was almost all good news about Disney, Pixar's Ratatouille was a hit, National Treasure 2 was a hit at the box office, and the Harry Potter franchise was another hit...

Even she, who is hostile to the other party, has to admit that the thin boy at the beginning has become a famous figure in the United States and one of the top giants in Hollywood. Stand completely against Disney.

How can Nat leave him?

This is a question Mrs. Shelley has been thinking about, after all, they only have this one daughter.

Meanwhile, Ryan sits in the Pixar studios conference room with John Lasseter and Ed Kammle, attending a Pixar executive meeting.

Although "Ratatouille" released on Thanksgiving Day earned more than 150 million U.S. dollars in North American box office in 20 days, it fell below Disney's and Pixar's from the opening results to the first week's box office to the weekly decline. It is estimated that the box office trend in North America will be lower than that of "Cars".

In particular, as a competitor in the same period, 20th Century Fox's "Alwin and Chipmunk" has always overwhelmed "Ratatouille" in the North American market. There has been an uproar inside Pixar.

Even so, Pixar Studios is also really feeling the pressure of competition for the first time since "Toy Story".

"I don't know if everyone has noticed."

In fact, there are some problems that Ryan has long been aware of, but speaking out against the background of Pixar's continuous success will only backfire, "Pixar has always emphasized that the audience is first, but now it is losing this concept. Everyone here is Pixar. Elder, remember when we made Toy Story?"

Without waiting for Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton and others to answer, Ryan continued, "While telling a good story, we also did a lot of research on the market. In the future, "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story" 2" and "Finding Nemo."

"But now?" He shook his head. "Pixar is just sticking to the tradition of good storytelling."

"We're not ignoring market research."

The cold reception of "Ratatouille" in North America also made the proud Pixar executives wake up a lot, "Instead of paying attention to the results of market research, everyone focused on telling a good story , but forget what kind of story the audience needs.”

Pixar in the previous life encountered such a problem. How about the stories of "Wall-E" and "Brave"? It must be excellent, but they have encountered cold reception in the market one after another. Compared with the early works of Pixar Studios, their ability to attract money has been greatly reduced.

"Then "Wall-E"..." Andrew Stanton hesitated.

The film has already been completed, and it would be more risky to modify it.

Ryan also understands this. He didn't object at the beginning, but he wanted to remind Pixar Studios through the cold reception from the market that we are not invincible. success.

"I will remind the publicity and distribution department." Ryan rubbed his forehead, "think of ways around it."

The production cost of "Wall-E" is as high as 180 million US dollars, and the publicity cost is also 120 million US dollars. What was the global box office in the previous life? It seems to be only around $520 million.

If this is not an animated film that relies more on peripherals for profit, it will really make Pixar and Disney cry.

This also illustrates another problem from the side, there is no necessary connection between imdb and professional ratings and the market.

With the nature of commercial groups pursuing profits, the sequel animations of Pixar Studios in the previous life continued to come out, but Disney has not put the sequel of this series on the agenda for a long time, which also shows that the profit is not optimistic.

He is not a pure actor, nor a pure producer. Sitting in his current position, the first thing he must consider is the profit prospect of the film. Otherwise, no matter how high the professional rating is, no matter how classic the film is, it will be useless to him.

Pixar’s management is all smart people, but the continuous cycle of success has made them gradually improve their stature and break away from market thinking. Ryan does not need them to change too much, as long as they insist on telling good stories and continue to be like Century As in the beginning, it is enough to pay a little attention to the demand of the market.

Of course, Ryan will also take practical measures to remind them that Disney is not the only successful animated feature film produced by Pixar Studios.

Several inspection teams from the Disney animation department returned to Los Angeles from Norway and Greenland. The project officially named "Frozen Adventure" has completed the script writing and will soon enter the actual operation stage. For the saliva song, he also wrote some tunes and lyrics that he still remembers, and left the rest to Taylor to complete. (To be continued..)

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