Six Hundred and Ten - The Exploitation of Women in Hollywood
Tom Cruise doesn't have many friends in the circle. This is related to his self-centered and sensitive personality, his inhumane quirks, and his extreme arrogance. In short, if you look around the entire circle, you can be... There are only a handful of people he has taken a liking to and become friends with.
Will Smith is about the same status as him. As a new box office guarantee that has risen rapidly in recent years, the two quickly became friends because of their status in the industry and similar interests and hobbies.
Wayne is a little different. Although Tom Cruise is usually not clear-headed, he has always remained clear-headed enough when it comes to handling his relationships. Just like when the cooperation on "Iron Man" was canceled this time, he immediately invited the other party to come and tell the reasons personally.
There are countless projects being negotiated every day in Hollywood. This is a business society with a well-established system. The two parties cannot reach an agreement due to differences or accidents. Similar situations can be said to be very common.
The reason why Tom did this was to show enough respect and avoid some speculations and misunderstandings from affecting the relationship between the two parties.
He knows better than anyone else that Wayne has never been just a simple director. If you look deeper, the other party itself represents one of the largest capitals in the industry. Although his low profile over the years has caused many people to overlook his status as the major shareholder of Warner Bros., he has not forgotten at all how much media power he can unleash as long as the other party thinks about it.
Yes, even though Wayne holds a large number of shares in Warner Bros., he has never participated in the management and operation of the company over the years. He has always given people the image of being obsessed with directing work, but as long as the shares in his hands are still there, he will not say no in the future. There must be a situation that requires his help.
For example, Wayne's promise on the yacht today, don't look at it as just a light sentence: "If you need help, please call me at any time." These two light sentences were the biggest gain from Tom Cruise’s yacht party today.
At midnight, on the sea near Malibu, the yacht was floating with the undulating waves. In addition to the staff on the yacht who were still on duty, Tom Cruise was also sitting on the deck looking at the night sky with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
"Why did they come out? Huh?"
Suddenly, a burst of low laughter from a girl came. Tom Cruise looked serious, turned to look at the other girl on the deck, and ordered unceremoniously: "Go and ask what happened, I don't want to ..."
"Mr. Cruise, I'm going now."
Jennifer Seth, the director of the public relations company who stayed on the yacht, also felt a headache after seeing Tom Cruise's serious expression. She was now afraid that these girls had offended the big shot in the guest room for some reason. You know, none of the three industry bosses on this ship can be offended by their company.
Seeing the woman walking towards the three models, Tom Cruise took a sip from his wine glass and shook his head helplessly.
It's best if the carefully selected model girls are not kicked out by Wayne for reasons such as willfulness. Otherwise, he will definitely let this company, which specializes in organizing parties in the name of a public relations company, know what the rules of Hollywood are.
"It seems that you have studied Wayne's taste carefully, huh?"
Will Smith, wearing a pair of big beach shorts, swayed over and sat down next to him, pulling out a bottle of beer from the ice bucket while shaking his head and teasing. "Wow, look at them, they are astonishingly tall, long legs, delicate face, model-like figure, and the white color seems to be shining. Tsk, tsk, bro, these three hot girls with almost the same figure, what on earth do you think? Where did you find it?"
"This is Los Angeles, Will."
As if he didn't hear his friend's ridicule, Tom Cruise picked up his glass and clinked it with him, shrugged and whispered: "Just make your request and pay."
"Well, I love yacht bikini parties, I fucking love parties like this."
He raised his head and downed a bottle of beer, and Will Smith sighed. Tom saw that he was a little lost in the lake, and he shook his head helplessly. Obviously, this guy may have been addicted to the lake because of alcohol and leaf cigarettes, and the energy of the lake has not completely subsided.
"Mr. Cruise."
Jennifer Seth, the director of the public relations company, ran back quickly, took a cautious look at Will Smith, squatted on the deck and whispered: "The three of them said it was the female assistant. The female assistant who drove them out said that Mr. Greenberg needed jet lag and a rest."
Speaking of this, she pondered for a moment, and when she saw Tom Cruise's eyes, she immediately added: "I asked carefully, and Mr. Greenberg was very satisfied with the service of the three of them and was not unhappy at all. Emotions......"
"Warn them to watch their mouths!"
Nodding with satisfaction, Tom Cruise stretched out a finger, pointed at the woman squatting on the ground, and said in a low tone: "If I heard that some gossip media reported this... "
"Of course, I mean that would never happen."
Jennifer Seth nodded crazily like a chicken pecking at rice, with a ferocious expression on her face. "I promise, unless these b***hs want to spend the rest of their lives selling themselves off to pay off their debts!"
At this time, in the large and luxurious bedroom of the yacht, Wayne was not sleepy at all, although his head was still groggy. He glanced at the assistant lady helplessly, picked up the water glass beside the bed, raised his head and drank a few sips to moisten his throat which was a little dry after drinking.
"Nina, now I seriously doubt whether you have been squatting at the bedroom door and eavesdropping!" Putting down the water glass, he teased the assistant: "Dear Ms. Klein, if you are so free, maybe you should go and talk to the assistant. If you chat with the handsome sailors on the boat, you might get something unexpected."
"The three women screamed like crazy, as if someone wanted their lives."
The assistant lady curled her lips, raised her head to face her boss, and rolled her eyes without any scruples. "You don't have to squat at the bedroom door to hear it."
Looking at the indifferent assistant, Wayne felt a headache. As soon as the battle on his side ended, she opened the door and drove away all the girls in the name of needing a rest. Nina was the only one around him to do such an operation. out.
This woman has brains and ability, but I still have absolute trust in her. When she expresses with a cold expression that she is doing this for your own good, it is undoubtedly a very troublesome thing.
"Do you need me to turn off the lights for you? Boss?"
Picking up the kettle and filling the water glass on Wayne's bedside silently, Nina raised her head and asked.
"Shit, I can't sleep at all right now!"
Wayne shook his head. The big yacht looked like a hill on the sea, but in fact it was still swaying with the waves. It didn't mean that it couldn't feel the waves just because of its size. It was the first time he slept on a boat. The big bed swayed slightly back and forth, which made it very difficult for him to adapt.
After waving to the assistant lady, he took a deep breath and reached out to touch the Marlboro on the bedside. "Let's talk about whatever you want. It seems like you won't have a good rest tonight."
Nina pushed up the glasses on her face, and her first thought was to go back to the room to get her briefcase. Since she couldn't sleep for the time being, let's just talk about serious work matters.
The moment she stood up, she looked at the tiredness on Wayne's face and hesitated for a moment, sighed inwardly, and gave up the plan. "Even Tom Cruise is not optimistic about the prospects of "Charlie's Angels". Boss, I have never believed that you would spend 65 million US dollars to please a woman."
Nina has been with him for nearly eight years from 1990 to now, and she thinks she has a fairly thorough understanding of his conduct and principles. After being in this industry for so many years, the assistant lady thinks she knows a lot about things. In her impression, there really haven't been any popular female-perspective movies in Hollywood.
In fact, she was a little confused about this issue. With her boss's personality, it was absolutely useless to do so early. If you don't see enough benefits, you will definitely not invest tens of millions of dollars. But she doesn't believe those speculations about spending money on women, because the two are contradictory in themselves.
Although no one would be stupid enough to say it out loud, sexism was everywhere in the industry, and his boss was an out-and-out tyrant full of machismo.
Nina knew that, perhaps except for Naomi Watts, the other women were more like toys in the eyes of her boss. Although it was cruel to say this, the reality was like this. They were basically the same as the three women who had just been kicked out by her. There won't be much difference.
"Nina, "Charlie's Angels" will make a lot of profits for us, and movies with similar perspectives will continue to appear in the future." Wayne shrugged, took a deep breath from the cigarette in his hand, and the expression on his face was like a The fox who stole the chick. "Compared to normal film projects, Greenberg Studio can make more money by investing in films from a female perspective."
"Because of the pay?!"
This was Nina's subconscious idea, and based on her understanding of her boss, it was also the most likely reason.
"That's right." Wayne nodded, not feeling ashamed at all for taking advantage of a vulnerable group like women. "It's just because of the salary. Compared with those male stars of the same position, the salary of female stars is too cheap, isn't it?"
Perhaps already famous actresses like Naomi Watts, Charlize Theron, and even Nicole Kidman will always be the center of the media lens and the highlight in the public eye, but compared to For male actors of similar fame, female stars like them are actually subject to invisible gender discrimination all the time.
For example, if they are both second-tier stars and star in a movie together, it can be said that the treatment between male and female stars is not even the slightest bit different. Putting aside the daily treatment of the crew, in terms of salary alone, female stars are more than half less than male stars. The salary is only one-third or even less than that of male stars, which is the most common sight in the industry.
"I know that female stars are cheap, but..." As a woman who flaunts her independence and advocates independent women, Nina naturally felt unfair. But similar injustices to women permeate the entire Hollywood industry chain, and it is impossible to change because of the efforts of one person.
"Just, boss, why is this the case now? I mean, why are women in the industry subject to discrimination in all aspects? Why do almost everyone in the industry think that projects with a female perspective are impossible to succeed? "
Regarding these common phenomena that everyone seemed to recognize, the assistant lady had some doubts since she entered Hollywood. You know, discrimination against women has always been common not only in the actor industry, but also in behind-the-scenes workers and even film companies.
"There are probably two reasons."
Wayne leaned on the bedside with a cigarette in his mouth. He thought for a moment and explained: "First of all, the first aspect is because of traditional concepts. In the hearts of most practitioners in Hollywood, they stubbornly believe that women as Leading projects are unlikely to succeed.
The reason for this universal concept is that in the past few decades, including what the media calls the Golden Age of Hollywood, there has never been a movie in which a woman took the leading role and became a big success. Of course, many film companies and film investors have tried this path before, but the final result is without exception a bloodbath. "
When she heard that projects with women taking leading roles had never been successful, Nina immediately asked: "What about Julia Roberts..."
"Julia Roberts, it can be said that she is very close to taking the lead, but it is a pity." Speaking of this woman, Wayne smiled and shook his head, but still gave a negative answer.
"If you think about it carefully, you will find that the successful movies of Julia Roberts are all about the silly big sister image that is most popular among male audiences, and the route is also to find love. In fact, she is still trying her best to please men. "
There was one thing he didn't say, but Nina could think of it herself. How many actresses like Julia Roberts are there in the entire industry who can represent an era in Hollywood?
Indeed, it seems that in every era, representative actresses appear in Hollywood, but these actresses who can single-handedly command the box office are still rare. Big Mouth Zhu has almost reached the top of his career, and his salary is only briefly comparable to that of his male counterparts.
The path taken by this kind of actress who can represent an era is basically impossible to copy. This is why Wayne originally suggested to Naomi Watts to start with commercial vases. In today's general environment, the best way to improve an actress's status is to continue to star in big-selling commercial films, even if she appears as a vase.
"The second point is also the most important point." Wayne glanced at the assistant lady, shrugged, and continued: "Because from the beginning to now, there are fewer female characters in Hollywood movies than men. There are too many.”
It's very simple. It seems that in people's minds, Hollywood has never lacked female stars, and the number of female stars is even no less than that of male stars. However, the fact is exactly the opposite. There are far fewer female characters with enough roles in movies than normal male characters, and the ratio is very different.
For example, in "The Dark Knight", how many female characters are there that are important enough? Similar situations can be found if you think carefully.
The competition between female practitioners, who account for 50% of the industry, is more than ten times more fierce than that of the male actors who account for 50% of the industry. The reason is simple, because their employment opportunities are not even as good as those of men. One tenth of an actor.
Therefore, there is no shortage of beautiful girls with pleasing looks in the industry, and film companies have a lot of room to choose. This resulted in a vase-type role with dozens or hundreds of beautiful girls of all kinds competing. No matter how low the salary was, there would never be a shortage of beautiful girls nodding.
"Then you still invest 65 million US dollars to let Nami and the others..." Nina raised her eyebrows and looked at the man on the bed with bright eyes, her tone filled with disbelief.
"Pay attention, the social situation is also changing little by little."
Wayne smiled and explained: "In North American society, there are many concepts that have gradually become more and more open in the past two years. For example, people are paying more and more attention to racial issues, such as various voices for vulnerable groups, such as... ....."
"Women's rights!"
Although the voice for women's rights has not become a mainstream voice in society now, Nina can also feel that related voices are appearing more and more frequently, and there are more and more various women's rights organizations.
"Capital is all about profit, including me."
Wayne nodded and put out the cigarette butt into the ashtray. "If you have read the script of "Charlie's Angels", you should know that the three "angels" in this movie are not stupid at heart. Each of them has special skills to form a group. They may not be suitable to fight alone, but each Everyone has their own life.
This means that a beautiful face and sexy body can not only attract male viewers, but also make women feel comfortable to a certain extent. Taken together, the success rate of the film is not low at all, and once the film is initially successful. "
"Then next, projects such as "Tomb Raider", "Resident Evil", and even "Black Widow" for which we have the copyright can be put on the agenda in a short time!"
Nina's eyes narrowed and she looked at her boss full of admiration. She continued what Wayne said: "If we follow Warner Bros.'s usual style, we can even directly start making a sequel to "Charlie's Angels" until the audience has a clear understanding of the genre. Until I get tired of movie aesthetics!
And whether it's "Tomb Raider" or "Resident Evil", they are both projects that can be serialized. As long as they make money, they can be produced alternately! Although the production costs of these movies are not low, since the leading actors are women, a lot of production funds can be left from the salary! "
After saying that, the assistant lady relaxed her upper body and stared at Wayne leaning on the sofa in the bedroom. The corners of her mouth slowly turned up, and she put on a very high-pitched voice and said: "Boss, you are worthy of your capitalist blood. You are satisfied at the same time." My perverted stamp collecting habit makes those women try their best to please you, and at the same time, they even use their relatively cheap labor force to continuously make money for you..."
“F**k, you don’t have to say it so directly!”
Wayne laughed and swore. If all his plans were broken into pieces, the truth would be exactly as Nina said. But he wasn't embarrassed at all, and even from the bottom of his heart, he felt at ease that he had provided the woman with an opportunity.
This is far from exploitation. Even if the two-year plan is implemented smoothly, it will be a win-win situation. Both parties are completely equal transactions.
Some women use this to become completely famous and gain the fame and fortune they dream of. Isn’t it a win-win for Greenberg Studios to make a huge profit while also increasing the value of the studio itself?
Wayne is really not afraid of women other than Naomi Watts making trouble. As he said, there is no shortage of beautiful and sexy dream-chasing girls in this industry. There are also young actors who are always ready to become famous and are willing to do it for Fame and fortune come at any price.
"Turn off the lights for me and go back to sleep."
He waved to the assistant lady, with a smile on his lips, got into the bed that was shaking slightly, and closed his eyes.
As the lights went out, he was actually thinking about his plans for Greenberg Studio in the past two years. For women with relatively low salaries, filming several series projects is only one aspect. Including the long-term plan "Lord of the Rings", the studio has several other projects on the agenda.
There were also "Shakespeare in Love" which was only an investment but not involved in the production and distribution, "Iron Man" to be decided, etc. Various plans were all going back and forth in his mind, causing him to fall asleep without even realizing it.
On the third day after the yacht party, all staff related to the "Flash" crew began to assemble at Warner Studios early in the morning.
Since the morning, the studio has been buzzing with excitement. Gilmore’s loud commanding and coordinating voice keeps ringing. The photography team led by Robert is immersed in debugging all the camera equipment for the last time before shooting. The props team, set team, lighting team, etc. , stunt and other teams are also making preparations in an orderly manner.
The joy of the first day of work can be seen on every staff member's face, and the entire crew is full of energy. But in the dressing room of the studio, the atmosphere was particularly depressing.
"James, get ready." The agent looked at the client who had put on makeup, and deliberately lowered his voice while they were alone in the dressing room. "Before the crew officially shoots the first scene, take the initiative to talk to Wayne."
"I apologize proactively and sincerely. I understand." James Frank's face was also quite ugly. Now none of them knew whether Wayne Greenberg, the absolute controller of the crew, would be affected by the broken things that happened to him a few days ago. things, thus creating a prejudice against him.
There have been various rumors circulating in the industry, and there is even news that Wayne will find a reason to replace the leading actor of "The Flash" before filming has begun. Similar rumors have kept James Franco from sleeping well these days.
Looking at the clients who were silently lost in thought as they lit up their cigarettes, the agent felt helpless. He knows better than anyone what kind of character his client is. If he loses the leading actor of "The Flash" because of the bad things that happened to him, he can guess the consequences in the future.
A young actor who has not yet become famous was kicked out by Wayne Greenberg's crew before filming started. I am afraid that more than 90% of the projects in the industry will not use this actor again.
"Dang Dang Dang"
There were several knocks on the door. The agent glanced at the stunned client, sighed and opened the dressing room door.
The person who came in was Sofia Coppola, assistant to the director of the production. Of course the agent knew her, but who didn’t know that Francis Coppola’s daughter was. But as soon as the director's assistant spoke, the hearts of the two people in the dressing room were lifted. "Mr. Franco, Director Greenberg has invited you to come to his office. I have something to talk to you about!"