Hollywood Production - Chapter 33: The Greatest Passion

“Hi, Duke. Long time no see.”

The petite blonde girl held her hand out to him, and Duke lightly shook it. “Naomi, you look really beautiful today.”

This is an independent cinema near 20th Century Fox, and the test screening of “Speed” was held here. Duke walked into the waiting room prepared for the crew, where Naomi Watts was present.

Besides movie fans and film critics, there will also be reporters from the entertainment media attending the preview screening. There will definitely be a media event afterwards, and actors like Naomi Watts, who are not main cast members of the production, can appear here. I believe her agent must have gone through a lot of trouble.

“Fox is really frugal.”

Natalie Watts said to Duke, who was sitting in the chair next to her, “They actually arranged the media and fan screening together.”

“It’s still unknown whether the film will be profitable.”

This is a very normal practice in Hollywood, and Duke is not dissatisfied. “Twentieth Century Fox will definitely be cautious.”

“Have you heard, Duke?” She suddenly changed to a mysterious tone, and approached a little. “Nancy said… oh, Nancy is my agent. “Speed” impressed 20th Century Fox, and the head of the distribution department, Tom Rosenthal, thought it had a lot of potential.

“I hope so,” Duke said with a slight shrug.

After a few brief exchanges, Uma Thurman, Keanu Reeves, and Dennis Hopper, among others, came in. They were much less familiar with Duke and exchanged simple greetings before taking their seats and waiting for the screening to begin.

Not long after, Robin Glendale came in person to notify Duke and others to enter the screening room together.

The cinema isn’t big, with only three hundred or so seats, and the first few rows are mostly entertainment media reporters and film critics. They’re mostly from small and local media, like reporters and top film critics from the major newspapers, and a few major magazines wouldn’t attend the screening of an unknown film.

In simple terms, the level of media and film critics who attend screenings is often closely related to the film’s investment and notoriety. Fox would not rashly budget for and invite those top industry insiders; even if they were invited, they might not come. The peanuts Fox offered for “Speed” also failed to attract them.

The film needs the media and film critics to wave flags and shout, and Fox also has a series of related arrangements, but public relations work is mainly done after the screening, and during the screening period, Fox pays more attention to the reaction of the audience behind.

Fox invited over 250 ordinary fans to participate, ranging from seventeen to forty-five years old, which is also the potential target consumer group of “Speed.” they will directly reflect the market acceptance of the film.

Harry Dunn was a twentieth-century Fox observer, and along with a dozen or so colleagues scattered among the fans, they will use their own eyes and the pen in hand to record the audience’s reaction during the screening.

“Excuse me, is there anyone sitting here?”

Two white young men in their early twenties walked over and pointed to the seat next to Harry Dunn, asking, “Can we sit here?”

Harry Dunn put his feet up and looked at the two of them as they walked by. They were holding Cokes and popcorn, obviously treating the screening as an ordinary leisure activity. They sat down and chatted idly without paying attention to anyone else.

“Jones …” The guy with short, tanned hair sitting to the left, Alan, said, “Have you heard of this movie? Have you heard of the director or the actor?”

“I only know of Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman, the director and movie title are both new to me.”

The blonde young man said, “I’ve always been interested in Hollywood news, and I’ve never seen a work by this director called Duke Rosenberg.”

“It might be a bad movie; I regret it now, Jones.”

“Hey, this is a free movie that only requires filling out a questionnaire.”

The person called Jones deliberately emphasized the word ‘free’, and then passed the popcorn over, saying, “Just kill time.”

Harry Dunn smiled upon hearing this. Nowadays, the average viewer is like this. It’s difficult to take an interest in a movie without big-name stars and acclaimed directors.

More and more moviegoers are entering the back rows, and from the noisy sounds around him, Dunn can tell that there are almost no moviegoers who are really interested in the film. If this is still the case after the screening, “Speed” is simply not worth it for 20th Century Fox to invest in.

“It started!”

The lights came on in the big screen, I don’t know who said it, but the noise around quieted down considerably. However, the sound of drinking Coca-Cola, eating popcorn, and whispering could still be clearly heard; the audience’s attention was not on the screen.

“My Coke has ice in it.”

Jones who was obviously only interested in his food and drink. asked Allen, “What about yours?”

“I don’t have any, so I’ll give it to you.”

Alan took a big gulp of his large Coke that he had swapped Jones for, then grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it into his mouth. “This cinema’s popcorn is really good…”

He shut up halfway through his sentence, his eyes glued to the big screen…

If you find any Mistakes or Poorly Written Paragraphs in this chapter, pleas tell me in the comments below so I can fix them.