America: Child stars start with The Shining

Filming for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is progressing more smoothly than expected. If all goes well, filming will be completed in a few months and the movie will officially wrap up.

The real challenge of making this film was actually the preparation of props in the early stages and the post-production.

Whether it's the alien costumes and mechanical devices, the various set constructions, or the special effects that need to be added in post-production, each of these things takes more effort than the actual filming, while the actual filming part is actually very easy.

Spielberg's control over camera movement and emotional rhythm is very precise, and many scenes were filmed almost in one take.

For Ciel, this time the acting requirements were clearly different from those in "The Shining".

While the characters in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" have very subtle emotions—for example, the male lead he plays needs to show the dependence that develops from living with the alien day and night—it doesn't require very impactful emotional outbursts.

He only needs to steadily portray the surprise, dependence, panic, and longing that a child should have, and then use the language of the camera to highlight the character, and that will be enough.

Therefore, most of the shots and scenes were not difficult for him, and he could usually get them right in one take.

Besides, compared to his consistent performance, Jennifer's performance surprised him somewhat.

Although it was her first time officially participating in a film shoot, she showed no stage fright whatsoever when she stood in front of the camera.

Perhaps because Jennifer was already used to being in front of the camera when she was a children's clothing model, she adapted quickly once she joined the crew and her acting seemed exceptionally natural.

For a child star who is new to the film crew, this performance is already very commendable, so Ciel doesn't need to worry about him.

In fact, he had long intended to sign Jennifer through Ovitz, because her original life trajectory had already been derailed by his appearance.

Under normal circumstances, she might have had to wait a while longer until "Once Upon a Time in America" ​​was finished before truly entering the public eye, but things are different now.

If "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is released smoothly, and Jennifer's performance in the film is outstanding enough, she will likely become a star even earlier than originally planned.

Therefore, he had to hurry and find a way to persuade Jennifer's mother, Mrs. Erin, now, otherwise it would be much more difficult to sign her as an agent once she became famous.

However, it would be inappropriate for a child like him to handle such matters on his own, as he would lack any persuasiveness. But if Ovitz were to handle the matter, it would be more likely to succeed.

Charles still had great faith in Ovitz's ability to deceive people.

However, he was certainly not doing charity for CAA. The reason he was so actively connecting CAA with other organizations was ultimately because he wanted to use CAA's influence to pave the way for his own future.

At the same time, Charles had already used the money he had earned from videotapes, as well as his salary as the lead actor in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," to privately negotiate a deal with Ovitz.

The videotape project has now become a sure-fire way to make money. The revenue from drive-in theaters and small movie theaters in Los Angeles alone is enough to bring Shire a net profit of more than two thousand dollars a week.

As long as you choose the right location and the source material is attractive enough, sales will not be a problem at all, especially since the videotape market was not yet popular.

Based on this calculation, he earns about $10,000 a month, and this number is still rising, which is enough to cover his monthly loan expenses of $5,000.

In addition to the $50,000 salary for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," the initial $30,000 I received after joining the crew, and various other miscellaneous earnings I've received over the years...

After discussing it with Ovitz, Charles ultimately put up $50,000 in exchange for CAA's current 3% stake.

Of course, this equity stake will not bring him any benefits in the short term, but Charles is investing in advance to completely bind CAA, which is in a period of growth, to him.

After all, just signing Leonardo DiCaprio recently meant that he believed the investment was already guaranteed to be profitable.

If we wait until CAA grows into the Hollywood agency that will dominate Hollywood in the future, then trying to acquire so many shares with this amount of money will be nothing short of a pipe dream.

"Fuck, being an actor really does make money too slowly."

Charles shook his head helplessly.

He toiled away on set for months, only to earn less than what singers could make from a few commercial performances.

In this era, although the box office of commercial blockbusters has been rising steadily, the actors' salaries are incomparable to those of the traffic-driven era in later years.

Marlon Brando, for example, rose to fame with "The Godfather" and became one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood.

He played a supporting role in the movie "Superman" this year, and earned more than three million dollars for just over ten minutes of screen time.

This is already an extremely outrageous figure. Keep in mind that Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, only received a mere $250,000 in salary.

However, even top actors like Marlon Brando couldn't earn as much as singers.

Even before he became a superstar, Michael Jackson could have earned close to ten million dollars this year just from the album "Off the Wall" and various gigs.

This amount is almost three times the salary Marlon Brando received.

Not to mention a few years later, when the album "Thriller" was released in 1983, the revenue from that level of record sales would be enough to crush a bunch of top Hollywood stars.

"Looks like we still need to make money as soon as possible, get the record company up and running, and sign Madonna. Then..."

Charles sighed; the speed at which he was making money was still too slow.

Even if he knows many future trends, who will become popular, and which industries will boom, he has no chance to enter the market if he doesn't have enough funds.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered something else.

As for the videotape rights to "Friday the 13th," Ovitz didn't know how the negotiations were going, so he entrusted the other party to handle the matter.

He's now counting on this to further penetrate the videotape market and make a fortune.

So, Charles walked to the side of the film crew, asked a staff member, found a landline phone, and dialed the number.

As soon as the call connected, Ovitz sounded somewhat anxious:

"I just checked, and it seems there's a problem with your bank account..."

"What? It's frozen!?"