Movie Money: Understanding Hollywood's (Creative) Accounting Practices, 2nd ed.

The distribution of a motion picture's "profits" is, for most filmmakers, a murky, labyrinthine domain ruled by studio/distributor accountants and lawyers. Movie Money unravels and clearly explains the film industry's unique, arcane, "creative" accounting practices. This book presents numerous film-industry definitions of "gross" and "net" profits and the many ways in which these figures are calculated. The authors examine a film's various revenue-generating and revenue-consuming components. An in-depth discussion of the various aspects of profit participation -- terminology, deal practices and net versus gross -- is included, along with chapters on audits and claims and negotiating tips and tricks.