Hollywood Lives

Hollywood Lives Rulebook

Table of Contents

Your Player Envelope

Everything you need to play in Hollywood Lives is contained in your Player Envelope, which will be given to you as you arrive. Check this first, and see what's inside...

This rules leaflet
Name Badge
Star Card
Money ($10 million)
2 Academy Award Voting Slips

Name Badge

Your Name Badge is a very important item - it tells everyone else in the game which actor you are playing. Please attach this about your person, in a prominent place.

You may just have chosen your 'character' name (shown on your badge). Take a few moments to think about the sort of person you want to portray. Are you the typical product of the studio star machine, or the lone outsider come to buck the system? What is your catch phrase? What was the movie that shot you to stardom? Have you been involved in any scandals? Everyone in Hollywood Lives is already a celebrity - what is it about you that will make you stand out?

Star Card

Your Star Card tells everyone how famous you are, and what movie experience you have had. Please insert this into your Name Badge, so that it can clearly be seen. Everyone begins Hollywood Lives with the same five-star fame rating, but with a blank as far as experience goes. The better the movies in which you take part, the more stars will be added to your Card. For every movie you appear in, you receive a colour-coded Experience Dot. The more stars you earn, the more other people will want you in their movies!

Money

In Hollywood, money is just as important as fame and experience. You earn money by making successful movies. Most actors will be happy just to get an 'adequate' fee for taking part in a movie, but a few will want to take the risk and become the producer of a movie as well. Money lets producers pay their actors and, provided they have kept costs under control, allows them a 'modest' profit as well. One can never have too many Olympic size pools in the back yard, can one?

Academy Award Voting Slips

Use the Academy Award Voting Slips to cast votes for your favourite movies, actors and actresses. Write your own actor name at the top of each Slip, so that a record can be kept of who voted.

That's all you will usually find in your Player Envelope, although occasionally one or two other items may pop up. There are a few more things you need to know before the game can begin. The Game Director will open the game with a briefing, and explain how to play. It's not at all difficult, but you may enjoy the game more if you take the time to read these rules at least once, and refer to them during play.

Movie Envelopes

Each movie in Hollywood Lives starts as a Screenplay represented by a Movie Envelope. The Movie Envelope has two main functions: the outside is a simple way to track the various stages of the movie-making process; the inside is used by producers to collect actors' Star Cards. Each Screenplay has a number of attributes, so you can see how potentially valuable a movie it is.

Title and genre: for your inspiration.
Year and sequence number: the order in which completed movies will be presented.
Number of actors: how many players may participate in the movie.
Stars offered: the total number of stars that can be earned with the movie.
Producer line: records the name & current star rating of the movie's producer.
Actor lines: records the name & current star rating of actors in the movie. The indicated star rating shows how many stars they earn from their role. There is also space to make a note of agreed fees and shares of the movie's Earnings. Which role an actor takes and their fee are subject to negotiations.
Earnings line: shows the point at which the movie begins to earn a return for the producer. The net number of stars is multiplied by the promotion factor. In the second round, the Earnings are scaled down if a movie does not attract actors with all the available different colour Experience Dots.

Making Movies

Hollywood Lives is about making movies. Now that you know the main items used to play the game, the mysterious art of making movies is revealed. You get to make two movies over two rounds. Refer to the timetable to see what happens when.

Time	Min.	Phase
19:00	50	Setting the Scene
19:00	20	Arrival and Getting a Part
19:20	30	Game Director Briefing
19:50	85	First Round: 1951
19:50	5	Screenplay Announcement
19:55	5	Screenplay Auction
20:00	30	Enrolment & Preparing the Movie Trailer
20:30	20	Presenting the Movie Trailers

Screenplay Announcement

The Game Director displays the Movie Envelopes for the round. Examine the Screenplays to see how valuable each one is, in terms of potential profits to be made and stars to be earned.

Use this time to make arrangements with other players. Potential producers will want to get their hands on as much money as possible, to allow them the purchase of one of the Screenplays. Other players may decide to back the producers financially to gain a share of the potential Earnings, or to secure themselves a top role in the movie.

Screenplay Auction

When everyone has had time to check out the Screenplays and determine their strategy, it is time to auction them. This is done in the order of their sequence numbers.

The Game Director will award the Screenplay to the player who makes the highest bid and pays that amount immediately. In order to bid successfully, potential producers must have their financial arrangements in place. Whoever pays the highest bid becomes the producer of the movie. The corresponding Movie Envelope is handed over, and the producer's name is entered into the Producer line Each movie must have a single player as its producer. Producers have secured one of the Screenplays may not bid for another movie this round.

Producing Movies Can Seriously Damage Your Wealth

As a producer, you can make huge profits – if you get things right. Study the 'overheads' and promotion factors of the Screenplays and balance them against the number of possible roles and their advertised star earnings. What total of stars will you be able to attract? What Earnings can you expect? How much money will you need to enrol the desired actors? How much can you afford to bid to remain profitable? Yes, an Academy Award will bring you extra profits, but don't bet your life on it…

Enrolment

Once the auction is over, producers will begin to fill the roles in their movies. They are free to negotiate with any other player (who is not a producer). After the first round they will want to ensure all the available different coloured Experience Dots are included in the movie (to maximise Earnings).

Each player must take one and only one role each round. There are more roles available than there are actors to fill them, so sooner or later players will find a producer who is desperate to cast a part (or face making a loss). Actors who want fame more than anything will be aiming for three-star roles.

When a player agrees to take a role, the actor name and current star rating is entered in the appropriate Actor line on the Movie Envelope, and their Star Card enclosed. Actors may wish to be paid up front, or could take a risk and agree on a share of Earnings.

The Good Old Handshake

It is not necessary to employ high-powered lawyers to draft watertight agreements between players - a simple handshake is enough to seal the deal (and for it to be binding). For example, an actor agrees to financially back a potential producer in return for a top part in that movie. and a share of a movie's Earnings.

A player who cannot meet their agreed payment obligations must contact the Game Director and declare bankruptcy.

Completing the Movie Envelope

When a producer has filled all available roles or when they cannot find any more actors to enrol, they must complete the Movie Envelope and hand it to the Game Director with all Star Cards of all enrolled actors enclosed, including their own one.

Note: In the first round, the Diversity value is always 100% - therefore Earnings are not reduced. In the second round, for each colour Experience Dot not represented in the movie, Earnings are reduced by 25%.

Preparing the Movie Trailer

Once you have been enrolled by a producer, then it is time to begin devising your movie trailer. A harassed producer - who may still be filling those 'minor' parts - will be grateful for anyone taking on the movie-directing duties. All those signed up to one Screenplay take part in devising a three minute trailer describing the entire plot. If your producer has been slow in enrolling the team, you may not have much time left to complete filming.

What's this Movie About?

As we know the greatest movies are not afraid to reveal all their best features - including the denouement - in the actual trailer. Essential trailer ingredients include (but are not restricted to) the following:

Voice-over Introduction. Be loud, brash, excited, thrilling, compelling! There's no such thing as a subtle voice-over!
Sound effects. Background effects really add to the atmosphere: KERPOW!!
Musical score. Hummable tunes are vital in a good Musical... and popular beat-combos bring in the teens!
Special effects. Five-Dee, Quake-A-Rama, Smell-O-Vision... what's the next BIG THING in the movie production that will have them flocking into the cinemas?

Presenting the Movie Trailers

The shooting is over and an expectant hush settles over the audience. In sequence number order, each team performs their movie trailer to the other players. Everyone must participate, including the producer. Naturally, some actors will be taking the lead roles (obvious candidates for Academy Award nominations), but the rest of the team will also be 'on-screen' as extras and stuntmen (or for anything else that's needed).

Time is short - you only have three minutes to complete the whole thing, and with such an impact that you'll be high in people's minds when it comes to...

Voting for Academy Awards

While watching the other trailers, keep a note of the top performances, and decide which movie you like best. Cast your three votes using the Academy Award Voting Slips:

Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Movie

Put your actor name at the top of your Voting Slip. You cannot vote for yourself, nor for your own movie, but you may vote for the other actors in your movie.

Collecting Stars

When you vote, you also collect your updated Star Card. The Game Director will have added a number of stars (depending on your role), as well as a coloured Experience Dot. Remember to put your Card back into the Name Badge - you want to show people how well you have done.

Intermission

While the Game Director is busy counting up votes, here is your chance to take a short break from the hurly burly of the game. Chat to the others to find out how they are doing, start planning your campaign for the next round, or work on your acceptance speech...

Academy Awards Ceremony

The players gather once more, this time to find out who has won one of the coveted Academy Awards. Even gaining a nomination is valuable, but winning is the more lucrative. The Game Director will call up to the stage the nominees, and then the winner is announced. Remember to have your Star Card ready to collect your rewards:

Award	Reward
Best Actress/Actor nomination	1 star
Best Actress/Actor winner	2 stars
Best Movie nomination	$50 million for the producer
Best Movie winner	$100 million for the producer; 1 star for each actor

During the Academy Award ceremony, the producers receive their movie's Earnings from the Game Director, so that they can pay off their debts, and have enough cash to invest in a Screenplay for the next round...

Finalé

At the end of the second round, the Game Director will get everyone together for one last time. Here's your chance to find out how well you did compared with everybody else, and for everyone to say what they enjoyed.

Making Hollywood Lives Enjoyable

Costumes and Props. Bits and pieces borrowed from junk cupboards add a great deal to both the movies as well as the characters. Don't be afraid to experiment.
Talk to people! You won't land that juicy contract unless you get up and find that deal. Interact! Don't be afraid to throw yourself in - it is only a game!
Ham it up! Let everybody know how you are feeling. Curse aloud, sing a song, have a loud argument with a hated rival... do whatever it takes to make yourself noticed. There is no such thing as bad publicity...
One man's meat... Remember that different players may have other aims than you. Some will be trying to maximise their fame and/or money; others will just want to improvise and make movies. Don't be upset if other players react in ways you don't expect - it is just them being them!
Respect other players. Don't get so carried away in your role that you risk upsetting or injuring other players. Usually it is okay to lay a gentle hand on someone, but please respect other players' boundaries.
Keep to time. The game schedule is a tight one, and it is unfair to others if you overrun. The Game Director will be very strict with respect to movie trailers.
No long arguments. If the Game Director makes a decision please respect it. The Game Director's ruling is final.
If you have to leave the game (for longer than five minutes), let the Game Director know. The game-balance is a fine one, and the other players may be frustrated in their goals if you disappear.