ATTN JMS: Gross or net?
John & Linda VanSickle
Greetings JMS.
Let me be the next to congratulate you on your renewal.
Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a
cut of the gross this time or the net again?
Regards,
John
--
"The existential root of Libertarianism is the experience of being very
bad at taking orders from morons."--Leopold Leider.
John & Linda VanSickle vans...@erols.com
Jms at B5
"Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut
of the gross this time or the net again?"
No, the contract between me and WB for B5 is the same in that respect for
every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I
won't ever see a dime on this thing. For instance...we know, for
dead-certain, that this show has shown a profit for WB every year.
They've *said* as much to us, we know that the only reason the PTEN shows
were kept on was that they had to show a profit. Okay, now with that in
mind...here's my profit/loss statement on the show to date, and it shows
we're $42 million in the red.
C'mon...you believe that? For that to happen, not one single commercial
would have ever been sold, not one piece of merchandising, not one foreign
sale...nada. We both know that ain't possible. But that's the figure
they show. How? They charge one project against another; hide profit in
cross-collatoral books that are almost impossible to untangle...they
charge interest on overhead and overhead on interest (I'm not making that
up) so that it never ends. Because this was the first show I'd created, I
wasn't able to get a good definition of what "net" means, and so basically
I'm screwed ad infinitum.
The only area where I *do* have a piece of the gross is, ironically, in
the one area where I've dragged my feet from day one: merchandising. The
Writers Guild stipulates a 6% royalty on all merchandise (not counting
soundtracks, videotapes and other related areas). So by all rights I
should be out pushing every deal I can get...but instead I'm fighting WB
to keep the number of deals down so that we can control the quality.
Go figure.
But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money. For starters,
if that was the End All, I'd've stayed at CBS and Murder, She Wrote, where
my salary was almost double what it was to come and do B5. But I wanted
to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one
bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much
do you need? Yeah, in comparison with guys like Michael Eisner and other
folks who run studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the
people who do the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the
important work, the nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm
grossly *over*paid. So I'm not going to complain. Fact is, I'm being
given the capacity to tell this story, in front of millions of people, and
they're actually paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway.
What more can you ask for?
jms
Peter Lawler
Jms at B5 wrote:
> What more can you ask for?
>
> jms
I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought.
I was wondering if this percentage thing covers stuff outside the US? I
mean, I'm more than happy to fork out $50 bucks for some cutesy toy
locally that I don't really need, as long as you get @ least $10, of
which @ least half should go to your favorite charity (Bricklayers
anonymous?).
Pete.
Joel Mathis
Thought you might like to know, though, someone recently sued a major
studio because they gave him a piece of the net. Of course the highly
successful project showed up on the books in the red. He finally got his
approximate fair share. Of course, suing for your fair share might cause
some problems if you do it while still working with B5.
--
Joel Mathis
"Who controls the British Crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do! We do!"
Jms at B5
"I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought."
Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the
merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself). Ditto
with videotapes.
jms
Travers Naran
Jms at B5 (jms...@aol.com) pontificated:
>
> But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money. For starters,
> if that was the End All, I'd've stayed at CBS and Murder, She Wrote, where
> my salary was almost double what it was to come and do B5. But I wanted
> to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one
> bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much
> do you need? Yeah, in comparison with guys like Michael Eisner and other
> folks who run studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the
> people who do the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the
> important work, the nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm
> grossly *over*paid. So I'm not going to complain. Fact is, I'm being
> given the capacity to tell this story, in front of millions of people, and
> they're actually paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway.
>
More sleep, better scheduling, season renewals on a silver platter and
no Paramount-funded bashing/suppresion campaign. OK, so the last one
is paranoid speculation, but even paranoids have enemies... Or was it
enemas? ;-)
Charles J. Walther
God I hope they at least pay you as the writer and exec producer, or do
they give that in green stamps. :)
Bob Glickstein
Wow. What a wonderful statement.
John & Linda VanSickle
Jms at B5 wrote:
>
> "Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut
> of the gross this time or the net again?"
I've read your explanantion before, and I think I may have been imprecise
with my words.
I was wondering if the TNT deal was any different, now that the show has
had some success and you had a bit of pull.
> But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money.
"Better to write for youself and have no public than to write for the
public and have no self."
> Yeah, in comparison with guys like Michael Eisner and other folks who run
> studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the people who do
> the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the important work, the
> nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm grossly *over*paid.
I agree that Eisner is grossly overpaid. But you aren't. Your show is
a shovelful of coal in our boilers, helping uncounted numbers of people
get through another week of nursing, bricklaying, and teaching.
> So I'm not going to complain. Fact is, I'm being given the capacity to
> tell this story, in front of millions of people, and they're actually
> paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway.
>
> What more can you ask for?
Some good Chinese take-out, maybe.
Laura Appelbaum
Jms at B5 wrote:
>
> But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money. For starters,
> if that was the End All, I'd've stayed at CBS and Murder, She Wrote, where
> my salary was almost double what it was to come and do B5. But I wanted
> to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one
> bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much
> folks who run studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the
> people who do the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the
> important work, the nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm
> given the capacity to tell this story, in front of millions of people, and
> they're actually paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway.
>
> What more can you ask for?
>
The appropriate "huzzahs!" from fellow artists' everywhere? You KNOW
you've got mine! Thank you ONCE AGAIN for sharing your dream with us! I
know from personal experience that doesn't pay the bills at night, but
it sure gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling, don't it?
LMA
David Braverman
Jms at B5 <jms...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970629230...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
> "Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut
> of the gross this time or the net again?"
>
> every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I
> won't ever see a dime on this thing. For instance...we know, for
> dead-certain, that this show has shown a profit for WB every year.
> They've *said* as much to us, we know that the only reason the PTEN shows
> were kept on was that they had to show a profit. Okay, now with that in
> mind...here's my profit/loss statement on the show to date, and it shows
> we're $42 million in the red.
>
double-digit ratings, and despite a never-worse-than-second share of the
time slot, the series lost money. It happened this way:
Warner Bros. gave the series $1.4M in cash. Then it took $1.95M per episode
in rentals of things like sound stages, air conditioning, and lens caps.
(ABC kicked in the missing $450k. of that amount.) Salaries came from
somewhere, but WB somehow charged some salaries back to itself. More than
one budget line had direct funding from WB of exactly 95% of WB's charge
for the line.
On the other hand, the first rule of episodic TV is: No one makes more per
episode than the executive producer. Even if your budgeted salary is $80k
per episode--reasonable for season 4--you get fees and charge-backs
yourself that boost that $80k a trifle. If you have an actor making $90k,
those extra fees and charges will be at least $11k. My numbers may be off,
but my memory is sound.
Also, for a really scary description of studio finance, read (I think it's
called) "Indecent Exposure," about Art Buchwald's suit against Eddie Murphy
and Paramount Pictures over the story for "Coming to America." Buckwald won
the suit, but when it came time to fix damages, Paramount claimed to have
_lost_ $400 million on the top-grossing film of 1987. The judge ordered an
audit of Paramount's books that revealed to the world how the suits rob
from the creative people.
It didn't change anything, though.
to...@fred.net
Jms at B5 (jms...@aol.com) wrote:
: "Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut
: of the gross this time or the net again?"
:
: No, the contract between me and WB for B5 is the same in that respect for
: every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I
: won't ever see a dime on this thing.
Um... isn't it suppose to be to get a piece of the 'gross' BECAUSE 'net'
is nothing?
--
To...@Fred.Net
http://www.fred.net/tomr
"Boston is a great sports town. Shame it doesn't have any teams."
William Edward Woody
An audit?
Not to get more money out of WB, BTW; just to know how they
squirrled the money away.
- Bill
(Who works in the game industry, who takes their accounting cues from
the Hollywood producers. And after getting a headache one afternoon when
a lawyer tryed to explain "net gross profit on net sales" (which is
*not* net profit, or gross profit, or anything us mear mortals can
understand), started asking for my money up front, as a flat hourly fee.)
--
William Edward Woody | In Phase Consulting
wo...@alumni.caltech.edu | Macintosh & Microsoft Windows
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~woody | http://www.znd.net/inphase
J. Potts
In article <19970630050...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
Jms at B5 <jms...@aol.com> wrote:
>"I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought."
>
>Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the
>merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself).
Maybe because those are the things that make the most money? (just a guess)
--
JRP
"BLONDE? Blonde? You didn't TELL me you were a blonde....."
--Gharlane of Eddore
Chris Andersen
jms...@aol.com (Jms at B5) wrote:
>"I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought."
>
>Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the
>merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself). Ditto
>with videotapes.
>
>
> jms
Reminds me of how DC (another WB outfit) screwed Alan Moore after
Watchmen came out. He was supposed to get a percentage of the
merchandise sales, but DC, when it finally did produce Watchmen
merchandise, classified it as part of advertising and therefore said
he didn't get any share of the profits.
Tariq Moustapha
Jms at B5 wrote:
>
> "I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought."
>
> Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the
> merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself). Ditto
> with videotapes.
>
> jms
So, in other words, you're getting screwed. Maybe you should ask the WB
execs out to lunch. Perhaps a corned beef sandwich with that brown
mustard might change their attitude.
Tariq
Peter Lawler
Jms at B5 wrote:
>
> "I hope you got more than 6% of the CDs I've bought."
>
> Don't get a penny of those...those are soundtracks and not included in the
> merchandise area (don't ask why, I barely understand it myself). Ditto
> with videotapes.
>
> jms
about it, his creativity on the soundtrack/s depend heavily on your
input as a writer. It's like saying Handel would have written the
Fireworks suite if he was in Upper Volta exactly the same way and the
fact that he was in London and influenced by his surroundings is
coincidental.
There certainly is a fine line between intellectual creativity of two
individuals and collaboration between the same.
I s'pose it also comes down to how much of your scripts are influenced
by stuff Mr. Franke plays to you.
Regards,
Pete.
Peter_K...@mac.lover.org
Recently in rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated,
>every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I
>won't ever see a dime on this thing.
I'm confused. Doesn't the Writers Guild contract specify certain minimums
for writing an episodic script (several dozen for B5), and for each episode
as the creator of the series? Or is that nullified since you're the
producer, and you just draw a contracted salary?
It's a durn shame that the folks who do the most productive work rarely get
the best compensation, while the managers who rise to the level of their
incompetence rake in the big bucks.
--
"You are in a twisty little maze of URL's, all different."
http://www.servtech.com/public/petercat/maze/
Peter_K...@mac.lover.org
gsmavrik
Jms at B5 wrote:
>
> "Here's my question, if you don't mind my prying: Are you getting a cut
> of the gross this time or the net again?"
>
> No, the contract between me and WB for B5 is the same in that respect for
> every year of the series. I have a piece of the net...which means that I
> won't ever see a dime on this thing. For instance...we know, for
> dead-certain, that this show has shown a profit for WB every year.
> They've *said* as much to us, we know that the only reason the PTEN shows
> were kept on was that they had to show a profit. Okay, now with that in
> mind...here's my profit/loss statement on the show to date, and it shows
> we're $42 million in the red.
>
> C'mon...you believe that? For that to happen, not one single commercial
> would have ever been sold, not one piece of merchandising, not one foreign
> sale...nada. We both know that ain't possible. But that's the figure
> they show. How? They charge one project against another; hide profit in
> cross-collatoral books that are almost impossible to untangle...they
> charge interest on overhead and overhead on interest (I'm not making that
> up) so that it never ends. Because this was the first show I'd created, I
> wasn't able to get a good definition of what "net" means, and so basically
> I'm screwed ad infinitum.
>
> The only area where I *do* have a piece of the gross is, ironically, in
> the one area where I've dragged my feet from day one: merchandising. The
> Writers Guild stipulates a 6% royalty on all merchandise (not counting
> soundtracks, videotapes and other related areas). So by all rights I
> should be out pushing every deal I can get...but instead I'm fighting WB
> to keep the number of deals down so that we can control the quality.
>
> Go figure.
>
> But thing is, bottom line, I ain't in this for the money. For starters,
> if that was the End All, I'd've stayed at CBS and Murder, She Wrote, where
> my salary was almost double what it was to come and do B5. But I wanted
> to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one
> bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much
> do you need? Yeah, in comparison with guys like Michael Eisner and other
> folks who run studios, I'm grossly underpaid; but in comparison with the
> people who do the *real* work that keeps this country moving, the
> important work, the nurses and the bricklayers and the teachers, I'm
> grossly *over*paid. So I'm not going to complain. Fact is, I'm being
> given the capacity to tell this story, in front of millions of people, and
> they're actually paying me to do something that I'd do for free anyway.
>
> What more can you ask for?
>
> jms
Thank you very much for that statement Joe. You are truly an
inspiration. You have shown how great and committed you are to your
work, and I revere you to the highest degree after hearing this from
you.
As a teacher, my greatest joy was how I personally affected hundreds of
students each year, with my teaching. It would be great if I were to
get a lot of money for what I do, BUT my reward is being responsible for
molding the minds of our youth so as to create a great society.
By doing Babylon 5, you have given us a story that will live on in our
minds and hearts for years to come. I suspect that no amount of money
that you will receive in your projects will ever equal the reward of
creating a story that YOU wanted to tell. Whatever will happen in the
future remember this, as Lenier and Sebastian said:
"You are the right person, in the right place, at the right time."
Bravo Joe. Keep it up. And Thank you.
Michael Sandy
Jms at B5 <jms...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> But I wanted
> to tell this story, and the simple reality is, you can only sleep in one
> bed at a time, eat one meal at a time, drive one car at a time...how much
> do you need?
> What more can you ask for?
> jms
That sounds like a paraphrase of one of my favorite lines in Joel
Rosenberg's _The Silver Crown_ (pg 149) where Karl Cullinane says:
"You know something, Cthon? I just can't do it. I just
can't ride more than one horse at a time, or sleep in more
than one bed at oncem or eat more than my belly will hold."
Now while I commend both your motives and Karl Cullinane's, in
Hollywood, as elsewhere, money is power. More money means more
respect, more influence, and more ways of spreading your vision
and helping others acheive theirs.
What more could I ask for? A whole school of writers and directors
with the resources to bring their high quality visions to us as
you have done.
Michael Sandy