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Hollywood Accounting — How Harry Potter Loses Money
An anonymous reader writes "Techdirt has the details on how it was possible for the last Harry Potter movie to lose $167 million while taking in nearly $1 billion in revenue. If you ever wanted to see 'Hollywood Accounting' in action, take a look. The article also notes two recent court decisions that may raise questions about Hollywood's ability to continue with these kinds of tricks. For example, the producers of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' now have to pay $270 million for its attempt to get around paying a partner through similar tricks."
They very well could have - but thats not a director's fault.
I expect to be paid for writing an application or website if I'm contracted to do it, regardless if its used or not.
".....and not pay our actors, writers, staff their share of the profit-sharing contract, but if you are dishonest and download a DVD, then you'll get the equivalent of a life sentence in fines! Seems perfectly fair to us." - Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) aka megacorp tyrants
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I absolutely adore the world of film, but holy fuck do I hate Hollywood.
Living With a Nerd
That's because you contract doesn't say "will be paid X% of gross income", whereas Peter Jackson's did.
And of course he did get paid, he just got paid less than he should have because New Line sold the rights to sister companies for below market value.
Bubba knew all there was to know about the movie business...
"There's dumb fucks, stupid fucks, lying fucks, stealing fucks, lawyer fucks, producer fucks, and they're all trying to fuck you out of your ideas and passion. And that's... that's about it."
Oh, right. I'm taking money out of the hands of the starving artists. You know, the ones who aren't getting any money because their points were off the net and golly gee, the movie didn't make any money.
I love Disney strip-mining the world's fairy tales for ideas and then suing people for intellectual property infringements.
Fuck all the fucking fuckers.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
That post from JMS really bummed me out when I first read it since I bought all five seasons and all of the "made for TV movies" on DVD. Not a penny of my purchases went to anyone that poured their heart and soul into B5. Hollywood Accounting is one of the big reasons I don't have much sympathy for the studios crying that they're loosing trillions of dollars to piracy. If they can fudge the numbers so no one can get any residuals, they can fudge the numbers just as much to claim that rampant piracy is going to force them to close up shop and justify their lobbying for more ridiculous laws in their favor.