Death Star wiring diagram

[Nate North]

I brought up an interesting topic in another thread, but it was just a couple sentences amongst a dozen pages of text. It's probably of huge improtance to those that hope to one day make a studio picture though, so I thought I'd make a seperate thread.

So you go to hollywood, and you've made the greatest movie of your life. You spent 100 million dollars and it's a hit. The movie makes 900 million dollars. The accounting department totals up the net and gross profits, and sends you a check for 110 million dollars. "What's all this then" you say. They show you the accounting records and lo and behold, there it is in black and white. They made their best effort and spent the whole 790 million dollars on getting you 110. But then something wierd happens. Your buddy, who is also a filmmaker makes another huge movie for 100 million dollars, it makes 400 million back. Then afterwards, he gets a check for 110 million. Wait a second. This math makes no sense. It seems like they are robbing you blind, but when you look at the accounting records They clearly did spend all that money making your film sucessful.

What's going on? Introducing Vertical integration. I'll describe it on a simple level. The company HAS paid the missing 790 million dollars to other companies for costs involved in the production and marketing of your film. What they failed to mention is, that they own all these other companies. So basically it's like if you loaned a guy a 100 dollar bill to bet on cards, then he wins 900 in the bet, then "looses" a bet to his brother for 790 by intentionally folding. He shrugs gives you the 110. Then once you're gone the two brothers meet up and split the money.

Sound like a crazy conspiricy theory? It's been around since before most of us were born, and is accepted as a solid business practice, and even tought at some schools.

So I thought it would be interesting to explain this as it's as damaging and one sided a process as creating a monopoly, just not illegal.

You can see in the Wiki article that vertical integration actually turned into a monopoly at one point, and the studios lost a court case and were forced to sell off the nations theaters.

Here's an article that actually shows a Warner Brothers accounting writeup of how "Harry Potter and the order of the Pheonix" made over 938 million dollars, and the studio declared it a complete loss.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100708/02510310122.shtml

The great news for independent filmmakers is that the more investors know about the studios, the better we look to them.

 

[SinEater]

Don't you just love Hollywood accounting?

 

[Nate North]

I like how every time they get taken to court they just automatically loose. Their shell game is so transparent.

I like the, "why i never" look that appears on the faces of the super rich when they are told they don't deserve to vaccuum up everyones money for no work. I'm really glad that's starting to happen once in a while.

Don Jonson kicked their ass, hilarious.

 

[rayw]

Thanks Nate for initiating this thread and providing that link.

This is kinduva sore subject that likely goes on all the time.

I imagine the attorneys representing writers like to spend hours and hours haggling over adjectives and adverbs in contract clauses before any contract is signed by all the parties, but I think some consideration of what you think is justly due and what shenanigans a studio has a history of performing (and your own attorney should and likely knows without disclosing to you unless you grill him/her on it) is prudent.

It's the old magic trick of misdirection: Waste your time looking at details for an outcome that's never going to happen. You get so fatigued over haggling for one thing you give up on examining the greater issue you're not even aware of.

 

[Nate North]

So true Ray, they are tricky bastards. Some literary liscensing agents just wore me down in this fashion. It's hard to bargain effectively when they have all the power. They jokingly pretended to negotioate with me for a couple of months, and then charged me list. There was a 5 grand fee for their work returning a few of my emails.

When they sent me the contract to sign, it had the name of their former clients still written into the first paragraph. They lauged at my poverty, then charged me a months wages, and didn't even bother to copy paste my name over a 3 month period.

Spoiler

I do not like stupid lazy rich people with a dozen times my income.

 

[knightly]

The part that I think is missing in this interpretation is that the card players brother owns the place and pays staff and licensing to make it legal to gamble... so it's not necessarily a bad thing as without the deal, you'd have to go without playing... and you made $10 without having to play cards or pay any staff/ arrange the licensing yourself.

 

[Nate North]

The part that I think is missing in this interpretation is that the card players brother owns the place and pays staff and licensing to make it legal to gamble... so it's not necessarily a bad thing as without the deal, you'd have to go without playing... and you made $10 without having to play cards or pay any staff/ arrange the licensing yourself.

I've never seen a corporate a%^hole steal my money without having a weak excuse for why it was the right thing to do.

For 900 million dollars, each filmmaker this happened to could have built their own production studio, so this is an invalid point. Also, Have you ever seen "my super sweet sixteen"? I was unfortunately subjected to this terror while in a waiting room with a TV. In this episode, an entertainment executive that was clearly retarded, had spent some 1.6 million dollars on a one night party for some unapreciative punk kid that thought it was fun to be cruel to the less fortunate kids at their school.

That's where my F$%king money goes when they steal it. Not to making the world better. No offense Knightly but if you think republicans in california are looking out for everyones best interest, you need to get out more. I deal with these people all day at my job, and they are selfish stupid cowards that feel entitled to take what isn't theirs because they feel superior to anyone who doesn't get paid 400 an hour for drunken rounds of golf. And that's not internet rhetoric, I've seen it with my physical eyes.

And in general, anyone who lies to get take your money away does not deserve to survive. Nothing personal Knightly, you seem like a cool guy, but I'm almost shocked to hear you defend these clearly criminal people.

I mean, is it ok for me to pull a fast one on my crew? by your logic if I built a new studio for them by welching on their paychecks, I'd be doing them a favor.

If I was the only one that felt this way, then jury after jury wouldn't be finding in favor of the plantiffs.