Hollywood expects 70% of films to lose money - 10% to come out even, 10% to do okay and with the greatest of luck the final 10% will be so big that they pay for the rest. But they're not mad keen on these odds and you will only get backing if you can prove you're going to be a hit. And you can't.
You just have to look convincing and you've done that a lot just to get here into the suburbs of film-making. But you need money to get before the cameras.
A Hollywood studio can fund you completely but they're all getting edgy. "We're coming off - there's no point in hiding it - a pretty horrible year," said Rupert Murdoch as the flop "Titan AE" ended with the closure of makers Fox Animation Studios. "We expect better films... and we expect profitable films."
To protect themselves, studios can share costs - but it isn't always enough. "I don't think Paramount or Miramax realised how much this film would cost to make," says Anthony Minghella of "The Talented Mr Ripley". Paramount also shared in the deal with "Titanic", too, and ought to have been well used to films with bloating budgets: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" cost them $44m back in 1979.
It's harder to get UK funding, the National Lottery notwithstanding. Journalist Nick Pandya claims that in recent years no British film company "has operated on a sufficiently large scale to finance productions without outside money". Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Films has operated a ceiling on how much money it will invest in a movie and has generally looked for partners - which is one reason why "Billy Elliot" has three production companies listed in the opening credits.
Multiple companies mean more money for your film but they also mean more people to argue with. You simultaneously find it easier and harder to make your film. But at least you're making it and after perhaps years trying, you're about to go in front of the cameras.
Go to Factory Line - Part 3 sidebar: The Studio Cannae Make It, Captain.
Go to Factory Line - Part 4: We Were Going to Start Shooting Today.
Go to Factory Line - Part 2: I've Got This Great Story, George Clooney's Practically Signed
Factory Line Introduction
Factory Line Glossary
Sources:
"Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series", Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Pocket Books 1997, ISBN 0-671-5863-96
Birmingham Post "Star Trek" supplement, William Gallagher, 1997.
"Top of the Flops", Brian Pendreigh, Sunday Times, 1 February 1998.
"Titan Flop Pulls Fox Studio Down"", Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Ceefax, William Gallagher, July 2000.
"Murdoch Calls Fox's Results 'Pretty Horrible' ", James Bates, Los Angeles Times, 17 August 2000.
"The Talented Mr Ripley" DVD, (director's commentary), Buena Vista Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Entertainment, 2000.
