Studios losing money

[kevlarus]

Looks like Warner Bros. were caught, or a light shone on, their "accounting" of how a movie raking in over $900 million, loses money in the end.

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

Basically, they create small companies for each movie, charge the companies huge amounts for advertising, file distribution fees etc. so that in the end, the movie lost money.

Apparently Disney also lost a case with regards to the "losses" for Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

[mlsstl]

Scam accounting has been going on in the movie and TV industry for years. There was a big suit years ago when James Garner filed suit against the studio for screwing him out of his share on the Rockford Files TV series.

One scam was every time a car was wrecked in filming, they'd fix it at the body shop and put it back in the next episode. However, they charged Garner's firm the full cost of a new car as if they'd gone to a dealer and bought one. I forget how many times he was charged the new full price for one car, but it was a bunch.

[kevlarus]

One scam was every time a car was wrecked in filming, they'd fix it at the body shop and put it back in the next episode. However, they charged Garner's firm the full cost of a new car as if they'd gone to a dealer and bought one. I forget how many times he was charged the new full price for one car, but it was a bunch.


Hadn't heard that one, about James Garner. Sounds typical though. Accounting is basically just moving numbers around... and it's all pretty much legal.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Your title is just a leading misleading. The studios are not losing money, they are making it hand over fist and not giving writers, production company's producers, and some actors their fare share of the profits. The music industry is guilty of this practice as well, as Prince, Elton John, En Vogue, and at least two dozen other artists that I cannot remember off the top of my head.

This has been going on for decades, its nothing new at all. The writers strike they had a few years ago was because of this practice.

There are some things I really hate about the industry that I love, and have spent my entire working life in. The practice of double dipping, and this practice are at the top of my list. The third would be the disproporationate amount of money flowing to the top of the heap, and not enough to the rest.

[kevlarus]

Your title is just a leading misleading. The studios are not losing money, they are making it hand over fist and not giving writers, production company's producers, and some actors their fare share of the profits. The music industry is guilty of this practice as well, as Prince, Elton John, En Vogue, and at least two dozen other artists that I cannot remember off the top of my head.



That was my point. They make contracts with people to produce the movie with percentages for "profit", but the "profit" is what the one-time LLC makes, not the studio itself.

[PeruvianSkies]

Warner should lose money when it's dumb enough to make movies like PLUTO NASH or BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER.