If I had to sum up what I learned in this book in a sentence I would say, never invest in a movie.According to veteran journalist Edward Jay Epstein, the studios stack the deck so that only a very few of the most successful movies actual make money for anyone other than the studios and the actors who get their money up front. If you liked the best selling economics book Freakonomics and you are interested in how Hollywood works, this is the perfect book for you. Epstein pulls back the curtain on a lot of Hollywood myths and amazingly answers the difficult question: How do the studios make their money?
He also answers some other interesting Hollywood questions like:
What does it costs to insure Nicole Kidman’s right knee? Nicole Kidman had become so unreliable (not showing up on time and leaving movies after production has begun) that after an on-set injury her knee was basically un-insurable.
How and why the studios harvest silver from old film prints? The studios have 1000's of old film reels lying around that have a small silver content. Instead of preserving these for history they mined them for the silver when prices shot up in the 90's.
Do stars do their own stunts? If you think actors do their own stunts you are sadly mistaken. Given the amount of insurance it takes to get an actor signed, it is amazing they are allowed to walk around without a protective suit on. They lie about doing their own stunts on Entertainment Tonight to look cool.
Why is Arnold Schwarzenegger considered a contract genius? He gets all his money up front and he (or his agent) understands the difference between net and gross.
Why is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider considered a “masterpiece” of financing? Due to tax breaks and incentives from several states and countries to make their movie there, the studio was able to make this $100 million movie for less than $15 million of their own money.
This is a small taste of the interesting facts you'll enjoy in The Hollywood Economist.
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