Heh. Yeah, when Roger met with me years ago to talk about my working as a writer for his company, he finally concluded, because I'd made headway professionally to that point, that he couldn't afford me. Scale, or under, basically.

My favorite story of studio bookkeeping trickery was with THE THING, which incurred significant "greenery" charges — you know...trees, plants, flowers, that sort of thing.

I agree. All of these shenanigans, and people get upset at Enron?

@MrGOODRHETORIC: hahaha Tyler Perry = Cheap production, Free advertising thanks to lots of word of mouth and thus BAM.... profit.

The first time I was exposed to Hollywood Accounting (I hope someone has rights to that phrase) was when the actor Fess Parker sued the folks who made his Daniel Boone TV show. Fess was smart enough to get some of the back end money built into his contract, but when the studio ran the numbers, suddenly Fess didn't…

@ProudGeek: What is the meaning of life if you can't buy backup yachts and snort premium cocaine off of high-class hookers' naked tits!?

@shan164: and i would imagine this contributes to why most people laugh hysterically whenever studios bitch about the "immorality of piracy".

Then there was this gem.

@Josh Garratt: I'm on the fence with this venture of his. I am a fan of his movies, although more so a fan of his. As in, his commentary tracks, his podcasts, his twitter feed.

@Ydnam: Well, in the case of something like Tron, you have toy sales and other merchandising factored in, as well. The reason Cars 2 was made was because the first generated a massive amount of merchandising money.

@Akitsu: During the depression, movies, in the theatre, were one of the very few options for entertainment. This is far from the case now.

@swampthing: Right, and that's the core concept of Hollywood Accounting - deduct "expenses" paid to other entities owned by the same studio from the film's P/L ledger, even though the money doesn't actually leave the studio's hands. Often these expenses are grossly inflated as well - an hour of an intern's time in…

@GreasyPig: During the great depression movie theaters were doing quite well. I think it has more to do with the decline in the economy than any real love of crap.

Well the company can still make money; just use the movie's A&P budget to buy advertising on the company's TV channels and other media. So the film could lose money but the company has just transfered the money from one pocket to another.

@metallicfire0: well, creative issues aside, you can just assume that they'll stop as soon as the last movie doesn't end up being profitable.

I find the concept of "maybe attendance and dvd sales wouldn't drop so much if hollywood stopped making crap."

@crosis101: Or do what MOST working people in Hollywood do, since you'd have to be A-list to even have the chance to ask for gross... get the money up front. You know, paychecks and money upon delivery.

I believe the answer is - no amount is a profit after the Hollywood accountants get done with it.

If you ask a studio accountant no movie ever made has been profitable.

Always ask for a cut of the gross, NEVER the Net. The Net is Fantasy.