Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/18

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: The anybody could do it cheaper thread
From: Johnny Deadman <john@pinkheadedbug.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 20:30:22 -0400

on 10/18/01 6:09 PM, Feliciano di Giorgio at feli@d2.com wrote:

> Hmmm, the camera business sounds exactly like Hollywood.
> "Titanic made 2 gazillion dollars, but we can't pay you,
> because unfortunatly we have yet to see a penny from it."
> 
> feli
> 
> 
>> Nikon just built a copy of their old S4, which was one the cheapest models
>> available from them in the fifties, with a 50/1.4. They still had the old
>> tooling so there was very little in the way of development costs. It sells
>> for $6000US and Nikon says they are LOSING MONEY ON EVERY ONE!

exactly

'we lose money on every one but make it up because of the volume'

I am in awe of Hollywood accounting. Almost no films ever go into profit,
yet everyone gets incredibly rich. Except me. Yet.

The best account of Hollywood accounting is in William Goldman's ADVENTURES
IN THE SCREEN TRADE.

The best account of Hollywood accounting gone bad in is in Steven Bach's
toe-curling FINAL CUT, about the making of HEAVEN'S GATE

But the best account of the end results of Hollywood accounting are in
Charles Flemings simply unbelievable HIGH CONCEPT about Hollywood mogul Don
Simpson, who died on the toilet of an overdose of, well, everything.

Speaking of Don Simpson, his erstwhile producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer
has an, ahem, 'fan' site. This is odd because (a) producers don't have any
fans and (b) even if they did, Jerry Bruckheimer still wouldn't have any.
Okay that's unfair, but it read well.

The fan site is at http://www.bruckheimer.com and is worth checking out just
to gawp at the astonishing degree to which Hollywood feeds the ego, and
leaves it hungry. Boldly announcing JB as 'the greatest film-maker ever!'
(move over Scorsese, Spielberg...) it purports to be a fan site but kind of
gives the game away by referring to JB throughout as 'Mr Bruckheimer' (movie
moguls insist their inferiors call them Mr).

My absolute favourite bit is on one of the interview pages where Jerry  sits
down with a journalist to give a full and frank account of himself. You kind
of know it's all going to wrong when it begins like this:

Andrew Park: Which film of yours would you say is the most perfect so far?


- -- 
John Brownlow

http://www.pinkheadedbug.com

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