"Director, this is what I wrote in the past few days..."
After receiving the few clips written by Ronald in just a few days, Alan Parker opened it and read it suspiciously.
At lunchtime in the cafeteria, someone used drumsticks to beat the rhythm on the table, and then someone played the piano. Then, students spontaneously joined the ensemble with various instruments.
Then the students of the dance department joined in; ballet, jazz, and various dances were integrated into one, and they danced on the tables in the cafeteria.
Alan's eyes lit up. This was very suitable for the name of the film "Hot Lunch" and could be used as the theme song scene to point out the theme.
Then he read on...
Bruno was unwilling to publish the music he had produced. The father drove a taxi and played his son's creation with a loudspeaker, attracting all the students in the school to run to the street and dance to the music.
"They rushed down the stairs, rushed out of the school gate, stopped the car, climbed onto the roof of the car, and started dancing there..."
Another genius scene, allowing shy Bruno to change.
"Snap..." Alan closed the script and stopped reading.
It took only a few days to write a script outline of this level, which was beyond his expectations.
"Tell me, Ronald, how did you come up with these two scenes?"
It seems that the effect of plagiarizing the original version is very good. Ronald was secretly happy.
"When I came back from Los Angeles, I met a father who drove a taxi at the airport. He loved his daughter very much. He stopped running his business and waited for his daughter to return to New York at the airport."
Ronald began to make up stories.
"The shy Bruno in the play needs an opportunity to break through himself. I want to use fatherly love to help him break through. Taxis cannot drive into the school. I think it would be good to play the music that son is unwilling to perform on the street with a loudspeaker to let the students dance."
He became more and more proficient in making up stories.
"As for the hot lunch scene, I saw the school band and cheerleaders eating in the cafeteria when I was in high school. When they were interested, they practiced impromptu in the cafeteria. I was very envious. I think the audience should also like this kind of improvisation."
In order to find a suitable reason to plagiarize the plot in his dream, Ronald even exposed the fact that he secretly watched the beautiful cheerleaders in high school.
The plots were well-founded and had good writing ideas. Alan Parker no longer suspected that Ronald had plagiarized someone else's script.
"These two scenes are great. I can imagine the scenes after they are filmed. Teenagers will love them. Keep up this level and think more about the endings of each protagonist."
"I don't have any inspiration for this part. I was on the wrestling team in high school, and I'm not familiar with the literary club. Without details, it's hard for me to write anything."
"It doesn't matter. You can observe slowly. If necessary, you can also sneak into the performing arts college to observe undercover." Alan affirmed Ronald's script and asked him to continue writing.
Without the revelation in the dream, Ronald was just a novice who had just started to write scripts and was trying slowly. He looked for opportunities everywhere to observe some of the life details of art school students.
For example, Meg's sleeping position?
People who practice ballet all year round will involuntarily straighten their toes when lying down. This is a very different habit from ordinary people.
Ronald, who lacked experience, began to slow down his writing progress. For two weeks, he could only write one or two pages a day on the typewriter, then crumple it up and throw it away, and start over.
He worked as a driver and assistant for the director during the day. In contrast, writing every night became a distressing thing.
Fortunately, he was able to relieve some of his anxiety by meeting Meg every day. This made his writing progress slow, but it did not completely stagnate.
Meg's acting skills were very smooth.
According to Meg, Lee Strasberg was a Ukrainian acting master who first studied under Stanislavsky and learned a whole set of experiential acting skills for drama performance.
Later, he developed it and came up with method acting, which is suitable for movies. He also coached Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe.
On the first day of class, Lee Strasberg came to the classroom and told them the two magic weapons of the method: emotional memory and improvisation.
Meg was about to learn the emotional memory method.
"After learning it, I can mobilize my emotions instantly and cry in one second. It's amazing. Lee Strasberg even demonstrated it to us live." Meg said.
"Really? Then his acting skills must be amazing."
Alan Parker flew to Los Angeles for an audition, and Ronald simply stayed at home to write scripts full-time.
The apartment was full of artists. Ronald brought food and drinks and talked to almost everyone, hoping to learn more about the details of the lives of art students.
However, the results were not good. Most of the people living in his building are over 25 years old. Most of the memories of art school have been worn away by life, and they can no longer remember their dreams.
Or those who still have dreams have buried them deep in their hearts. They don't show them to others easily.
"You know, people who are engaged in art are very sensitive. If you tell others about your dreams, even family and friends, they will surely comment. When your dreams have not yet been realized, if they accidentally say one or two words, you will also feel that they are targeting you, and you will feel uncomfortable for two or three days."
"Thank you for talking to me about this. I know it is difficult. I will adapt some of your common experiences into a script. Of course, I will keep it anonymous."
Ronald stood up and shook hands, handed a bottle of red wine and a pack of sausages to the other party, and then sent the painter who was interviewed away. He typed out the summary of today's conversation on the typewriter, then tore off the typed letter paper, picked up the pencil, and made corrections on it.
In this way, he typed and revised, and then typed again, and the sky gradually darkened.
"Hey, why hasn't Meg come back yet?" Ronald called Meg's roommate and found that she had not returned to her apartment either.
He couldn't help but worry, so Ronald hurried downstairs and drove to the Lee Strasberg Theater Training School.
"Ah, ah, ah... ah, ah... ang ang ang..."
As soon as he entered the door, he heard a group of actors crying loudly in the teaching hall. Ronald thought something unfortunate had happened.
Some were crying loudly, tears streaming down their cheeks. Some were crying and comparing their misery to each other. Some were just lying on the ground, rolling around and crying freely.
What was going on? Were they all going insane?
Ronald looked around anxiously for Meg and finally found her in a corner.
Meg was crying miserably; her eyes were swollen, and her throat could no longer make any sound. She was just crying silently. She hugged her knees and hid in the corner, using the shadow of the wall to cover her figure.
No wonder it took so long to find her.
"Meg, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?" Ronald asked softly, taking out a handkerchief and carefully wiping away her tears. Just after wiping, Meg burst into tears again, and the handkerchief was soaked.
"Meg, Meg?" Ronald gently shook Meg's shoulders, but she seemed to be immersed in sadness and didn't respond.
"Hey, who are you? Please go away. Don't interfere with the students' emotional memory extraction." A man who looked like a teacher walked up with a shy step, raised a finger, pointed at Ronald, and accused him.
Ronald turned around impatiently, stretched out his hand and pushed the guy away, making him stagger: "F*ck you, don't f*cking get close to me, is this how you train actors?"
Ronald turned around and squatted down, whispering in Meg's ear:
"Meg, I'm Ronnie. Look at me, it's Ronnie. Do you recognize me?"
Meg seemed to have some reaction; her lifeless eyes found the focus, and she nodded gently.
"Can I take you home?"
Meg nodded again.
Ronald put Meg's hands around his neck, held Meg in his arms, and carried her to the entrance of the drama school.
The guy didn't dare to stop him but kept scolding Ronald for destroying the performing arts. Ronald glared at him and scared him so much that he stepped back with a roar.
He opened the back door of the car and let Meg lie on the back seat. Ronald began to think about who could help him. Find a psychologist? But Meg's condition was caused by learning acting, and ordinary psychologists may not know what's going on.
By the way, Julia Taylor from the casting studio mentioned last time that there is an acting coach at New York University, Stella Adler. Maybe she knows more about this situation.
Ronald found a pay phone and called Julia Taylor.
"Julia? This is Ronald. I have an urgent matter to ask for your help." He briefly explained the situation to Julia Taylor.
Julia was very surprised. "Didn't I ask you to go to Stella Adler? Why did this happen? Stella doesn't teach emotional memory, only Lee Strasberg, that old bastard..."
"What? Did your Meg went to his class? Why did she take his acting class?"
"It was Meg's own decision. She listened to her sister."
"Take Meg away from that place immediately and come to the casting studio first. I will ask someone for help." Julia hung up the phone after speaking.
Ronald carried Meg to the front seat and fastened her seat belt. He drove to the casting studio. Julia was already waiting for them at the door.
Ronald carried Meg to the sofa in the inner room. Julia hugged Meg and whispered comfort in her ear.
Soon, a middle-aged woman came to the studio. She was Stella's apprentice, named Irene. Stella was 78 years old, and it was inconvenient to trouble her.
Irene walked over and held Meg's hand and asked Julia to get a towel and gently wipe Meg's forehead.
Ronald also stepped forward and took the time to ask Irene, "Excuse me, is Meg okay?"
Irene stood up and glared at Ronald, "Why don't you go out? How can the girl be okay if you stay here?" After that, she pointed to the door and signaled him to get out quickly.
Ronald didn't understand and looked at Meg. He seemed to have regained some consciousness, so he walked out of the room and waited, looking back every few steps.
"Is it him?"
"No, it can't be him. Ronald is a good person, he won't treat women like this", Julia shook her head, denying Irene's guess.