Posted on 03/18/2023 8:36:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Writer Rosalind Wiseman has watched as “Mean Girls” became a global cultural phenomenon.
She should be thrilled that her book, “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” was turned into a hit movie, then a Broadway musical — and now the musical is to be turned into a movie too.
But while writer and producer Tina Fey and Paramount Pictures have made millions out of the franchise, Wiseman has made just over $400,000 after signing a deal to sell her film rights back in 2002, and not a cent since. Now, she is speaking out against a real-life Mean Girls culture and the “painful experience” that has stopped her from getting her alleged dues — revealing Paramount has even told her the studio has not made any profit from the franchise.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
She should probably blame her agent, not Fey.
The studios use “creative accounting” to try to say that they’ve not made money on films. They’ve been doing it forever.
CC
Tina Fey is a tw@t. Don’t whitewash it.
The “net” is never positive. Should have asked for a cut of the gross. Standard hollywood accounting.
She didn’t sell for a share of the profit. She sold it straight-up and it became an unexpected hit.
That’s just how the ball bounces sometimes.
As I read once, “You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”
She was a nobody back in 2002. You have to establish yourself as a star before you can ask for more money.
Same deal as music labels. When an artist signs for a percentage of profit, somehow those releases never seem to make any money. Weird.
That’s because Mrs. Fey is a flaming lefty, just like all the other Harveywood miscreants.
What a bunch of con artists and chumps.
The author of the book that became the movie “Sideways” was griping a week or two ago about the pittance that he’s made off that film. Same situation. At some point, a deal is a deal. No one has a crystal ball about whether a movie will even be made, let alone become a hit. At the time this woman sold the movie rights to her book for $400k, she undoubtedly thought it was a good deal. And if the movie had never been made or it turned into a flop, her $400k would look pretty good. If you want to avoid having to watch your work turn into a blockbuster you’re not profiting from, then ask for the Alec Guinness deal (i.e., a percentage of the gross rather than a lump sum).
Also, if Tina Fey did not own the name Mean Girls, she would have done the same thing under a different name that she did own and told a slightly different story. Mean Girls the musical exists because Fey owns the rights. Not because anyone read this ladies book.
She sold it for $400K. Seller’s remorse.
The only way a movie and the studio directly make a profit is if the movie is a complete surprise blockbuster. Otherwise the studio piles up expenses on the movie for catering, production costs, film distribution, advertising expenses, etc., etc., etc. which are then routed back into the studio but no longer officially as profits for the movie. Few things in the world are more crooked than Hollywood accounting. Even the Treasury takes lessons from them.
First rule of Hollywood is take money as cash up front or (as a second choice) as a percentage of the gross. Never, ever, ever, ever take a percentage of the net. You're better off getting two movie posters and a voucher for a box of popcorn.
George Lucas claim that Return of the Jedi never turned a profit.
AMC had to pay Frank Darabont a lot of money over this issue.
All of real life is graded on a curve. Only about 10% of movies ever make a profit, and that general rule applies to areas of endeavor where conscious beings make an evaluation. Only about 10% of businesses, restaurants, books, shows, websites, video loggers, beauty contestants, college students, etc., find enough success to make their work efforts worth it. However, the winner-take-all profits from that 10% success rate make trying worth it. It's not possible to predict ahead of time which of the 10% will be winners. All players must try their hardest, and only 10% will be happy with their results.
Leftism is motivated by a desire to spread out life's winnings evenly, minus the government bureaucracy's 50% redistribution fee. But it never works out in reality. The only way to successfully distribute all the winnings evenly is to make sure there are no winnings to redistribute.
Tina Fey received at 13th Annual Kennedy Center the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on November 9, 2010
Carol Burnett did not get the award till the 16th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and only after people made lots of comments about how unfunny Tina Fey is and that Carol Burnett is funny.
Tina is just snarky.
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