There is a larger, and more interesting, issue at stake here, though
creative Hollywood accounting is part of it.
I highly recommend the account available at this tweet by Matt Bellini,
former editor at The Hollywood Reporter and entertainment lawyer, who has
been all over this evolving story.
https://twitter.com/mattbelloni/status/1420802198724698119?s=21
Basically, the pandemic accelerated the transition of the finances of the
film industry from being based on ticket sales to streaming revenue. He
says film studios are now basically streamers. Problem is blockbusters
being released now had their deals with “talent” based on the old model,
but are being released in the new environment.
The main problem is not really creative accounting, though in a new way
that is part of it. The old style creative accounting was mostly about how
ro define net profits, but big stars these days structure deals based on
gross revenues, so that is less of an issue, as ticket sales are (kind of)
verifiable. But there is no way currently to independently access streaming
and subscription numbers. Bellini recommends that going forward talent
build in contract language giving them the right to independently audit
streaming and subscription data.
The real problem Bellini says is a new divergence between the financial
interest of Talent, whose deals are tied to box office, and studios, whose
profit is now tied primarily to streaming subscriptions. Studios have been
streaming blockbusters early, reducing ticket sales, but boosting streaming
subscribers.
Warner had a similar problem earlier in the year, and after initially
lowballing its talent, came up with significant additional payments. Disney
has been significantly more Dickish, even though stars’ contracts (as
ScarJo’s does) often specifically preclude quick release of films to
streaming.
So ScarJo’s suit is not about getting paid fir this film (though it is
about that of course) but also about trying to curtail attempts by big
studios to unilaterally grab a larger share of film revenues under the new
model.
On Thu, 29 Jul 2021 at 3:33 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> I worked in Hollywood for five years, and the single biggest lesson I
> learned is to always get paid in advance. I can’t believe she’s been in the
> business for over a quarter of a century without learning that lesson.
>
> On Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 3:20 PM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> “Disney chose to placate Wall Street investors and pad its bottom line,
>> rather than allow its subsidiary Marvel to comply with the agreement,”
>> attys argue in a breach-of-contract action filed today (7/29) in L.A....
>> WSJ, who first reported the suit, estimated about $50mil in lost bonuses...
>>
>>
>> https://variety.com/2021/film/news/scarlett-johansson-sues-disney-black-widow-1235030582/
>> (link)
>>
>> B
>>
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>>
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> Kevin M. (RPCV)
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