A top exec from Universal had some bad news for the talent attorneys sharing the dais.
"There was a time, maybe only five years ago, when there were a lot of stars who could open a big movie, but today you could count them on one hand," Universal Pictures co-president Jimmy Horowitz said Friday. "So we just can't afford to (pay talent) the way we once did."
Studio execs and talent reps jousted before a packed house at UCLA's McGowan Hall to open the 31st annual UCLA Law School Entertainment Symposium.
Sure, big-name talent still manages to wrangle megabucks deals, but the terms often are quite different than the recent past, Horowitz said. Studios are resisting giving backend compensation with first-dollar gross except for the most sought-after actors and directors, he said.
Such pullbacks follow repeated instances in which overly lucrative backend deals hurt studios, said moderator and former Paramount executive E. Barry Haldeman, currently of the law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.
"I saw at Paramount (that) very often the talent would make more money than the studio," Haldeman said.
Paramount Vantage executive vp Jeffrey Freedman, said the studio's specialty unit commonly uses backend terms to compensate marquee talent it wants to attract to its lower-budgeted pictures. But the unit almost never gives away lucrative terms like first-dollar gross, which could see talent getting paid a percentage of revenue even before the studio is assured of breaking even on a release, Freedman said.
"There was a time, maybe only five years ago, when there were a lot of stars who could open a big movie, but today you could count them on one hand," Universal Pictures co-president Jimmy Horowitz said Friday. "So we just can't afford to (pay talent) the way we once did."
Studio execs and talent reps jousted before a packed house at UCLA's McGowan Hall to open the 31st annual UCLA Law School Entertainment Symposium.
Sure, big-name talent still manages to wrangle megabucks deals, but the terms often are quite different than the recent past, Horowitz said. Studios are resisting giving backend compensation with first-dollar gross except for the most sought-after actors and directors, he said.
Such pullbacks follow repeated instances in which overly lucrative backend deals hurt studios, said moderator and former Paramount executive E. Barry Haldeman, currently of the law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.
"I saw at Paramount (that) very often the talent would make more money than the studio," Haldeman said.
Paramount Vantage executive vp Jeffrey Freedman, said the studio's specialty unit commonly uses backend terms to compensate marquee talent it wants to attract to its lower-budgeted pictures. But the unit almost never gives away lucrative terms like first-dollar gross, which could see talent getting paid a percentage of revenue even before the studio is assured of breaking even on a release, Freedman said.
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