just never, ever accept a "net profit percentage" deal.

"After costs are recouped" is another fine line that can mean many things depending on ethics of company.

** Every break was jam-packed with endless commercials telling me my penis is too soft and I need viagra, my gut is too big and I need a supplement, my kids are too dumb and they need scholastics, my wife is too ugly and needs a facial surgery or makeup, etc etc. It was a never-ending diarrhea-like stream of corporations telling me how to live, what to be afraid of, and what to buy to fix every problem in my life. **

Isn't this a line from that hacker kid in Die Hard 4.0? ;-)

Even when they do make money, there's no guarantee you'll get paid. Adam Carolla, Kevin Smith, and Broken Lizard all had small movies that made money, but they didn't see a dime of their percentage deals. Basically the studio's just Say they didn't make any money and won't show you any of the books. And if you sue/audit to see the books, that could hurt your future work with them.

Carolla just said, "Fuck it, I'll never work with the Weinstein's again." Smith was prepared to just go along with it, but he wanted to make Clerks 3 and his co-star never got any profit points off Clerks 2 so he wouldn't sign off on the next one until the audit is done. That cost them a year. Broken Lizard wants to make Super Troopers 2, but their primary investor on Part One also sued so that movie isn't going to happen any time soon.

Even when you have a "proper deal" they'll still screw you.

Artists have always had a bad deal. Michelangelo never got his share of the box office at the Sistine Chapel either. Geffen promised his artists: You'll make a lot of money, but I'll make a lot more!!" Let's see if artists make any money on the interweb...

Hyperbole Hyper"bole, n. [L., fr. Gr?, prop., an overshooting, excess, fr. Gr. ? to throw over or beyond; ... a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect. [1913 Webster]

Over 80% of Hollywood movies fail to turn a profit. (Alex Mayyasi, Priceonomics.com)

..mmm..

Yet the Article's title says:

Why Do All Hollywood Movies Lose Money?

Might you be from Marseille, Mr Mayyasi?

Before we drink another pastis, can you please tell us all: when did you stop beating your wife?

;-)

The question is unanswerable. It's the wrong question.

We could reasonably ask, "How do Movies ever get Made when 80% of Hollywood Movies Lose Money?"

-But then, I fear, we'd get an answer.

I think a lot of people would rather have a gripe instead of an answer. Which is quite OK. Everybody deserves to let off some steam.

It's called the Dream Factory. Everyone working there has to keep dreaming, while in the front office, like Las Vegas, the house always wins. VFX artists have to worry about getting paid , let alone getting a piece of the Pi.

http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/VFX_Crossroads-1/1

Although creative accounting plays a big part in hiding profits in Hollywood, other industries lose money as well. Sony lost $9 billion in their electronics division, and makes up for it by selling insurance!

Mike was one of the few art dealers who did his best to look after his artists. (a true story)

One day a painter, a shy woman named Sally, led him through his gallery to one of her own paintings on display with a price tag of $7,000.00. She plucked up the courage to ask him why she'd only got $700.00 for the painting.

Mike explained too Sally how he'd supplied the materials, the overheads, the framing, how the actual sale would more likely be about $5,900.00. Mike asked her, now that she had a better understanding, how much would she think would be a fair fee to her for the painting?

Sally, barely containing her outrage, blurted out that she wanted the full $7,000.00.

Still hoping to convince Sally, Mike took Sally to the third floor where he showed her a stack of canvases two-foot high. He flicked over a few until he found one of Sally's, then another and another. They were mostly works not commissioned by him; she'd presented them and, to keep her earning an income, he'd paid her varying amounts for her trouble. He explained how some of the earlier canvasses had been poorly prepared by someone. The colours were peeling off, the painting was unsellable but he'd paid her anyway. Other paintings were unfinished - just a few might one day become worth something if the artist's reputation were to grow.

Back on the ground floor, he explained that most of her better pieces that did get sold, ended up going in job-lots, at cost, to a travelling auctioneer who'd pass through from time to time with a keen eye and a cheque book. Mike told Sally that at $700.00 for a day's work she was really being paid a little more than the one third commission city galleries pay.

Sally was clearly disgusted. She wanted $7,000.00 for each one of those paintings in the heap.

The story has a happy ending: Sally was persuaded by another woman painter who'd seen and understood Mike's books that Mike had indeed been doing the right thing. Sally, while unconvinced and perplexed, agreed to forgive him.

Mike got out of the art business. He couldn't stand the stigma that went with the profession.