I genuinely do not understand how it can be more profitable to make movies and just throw them away over and over. I keep hearing something something taxes but I don’t think that’s how taxes work!
Hollywood accounting exists but is not the reason this is happening.
Trump changed the way you can write down a loss in business. The issue is that movies cost at least 50% - 150% additional dollars to distribute and market.
So spending $80m + $40m ~ $120m is seen as a bigger risk when you can simply take a full loss on the $80m immediately by terminating the “useful life” of a project (ie hurling it into the sun never to be seen again), and offset profits you had somewhere else. Like all your reality shows about children having to work in the mines or whatever ghoulish thing Zaslav made money doing.
If the movie is already done and they have their own streaming service, shouldn't they be able to just slap it on there for very little cost and not bother marketing it other than automatic in app suggestions?
Yea I'm no economist but it seems like an economic system where it makes more sense to spend 80 million dollars making something and then setting it on fire is the smart business decision it seems like the system and those business decisions are fucking stupid as dogshit.
So I get if they think the bids they’re getting from the streaming services are too low to justify spending on the marketing, or if it’s unfinished and at this point it’s not worth completing. But if they’ve got a full movie in the can, why not just upload it to YouTube and be like “free movie y’all.” The PR off that move would at least be something.
That’s depressingly true. The tax structure is completely backwards when it comes to loss write-offs and depreciation, creates absolutely perverse incentives.
I think the problem is they aren't anymore. We need people who aren't sober deciding what movies get made, it'd absolutely essential to the art of cinema
I just found out this was made from this post and I genuinely would have seen it. Looney Tunes fucking rule and I always hold out some hope they'll get their shit together, they do very briefly at times and this seems like it could work.
It would be a damn shame if one of the hundreds of people with access to the final product accidentally leaked a copy to a torrent site, distributing it to the internet in a way that cannot be contained.
For real, I was genuinely excited by the prospect of this. I have no idea if the final product in this case was actually good or not but in theory I actually think a looney tunes parody of a court drama is a hilariously great concept. Just imagine all the twists and turns and star witnesses and exhibits A through Z. There's a lot you can do with the setup.
I’m less upset about the loss of a mixed animation/real life movie, and more upset at Zaslav for trailblazing a path that makes the industry even shittier.
I have 15 years experience in this industry and 10 vested in a union. This shit was the bees knees for labor based workers. I’m so worried it’s gonna vanish in the next 5-10. I literally have no skills outside union film production.
FUCK RIGHT OFF!!! This is an obvious fucking win. I'd see this in a heartbeat, my dad and uncles would too, my grandfather's ass would be there opening night if he hadn't died years ago. Like...I can see it in my head and it's honestly mid but thr idea has been joked about for almost a century now.
I wish there was a court case about piracy not being a crime in certain contexts when it actively improves society like keeping lost media around. Like, if they're not going to make money off of it, and IP would just be costly paperwork, why not just make it public domain?
When I dispose of my garbage, someone can use my newspaper as a cum rag for all I care.