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LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

slashfilm.com

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Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#31

Post by socratic »

Bud wrote: post #16

Geez, Lucas. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? I mean, really. I can see being a greedy fuck for a couple decades, while you're still unsure if you are, in fact, going to become and remain wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. But once you have the fuck-you money put away for you, your entire family and everyone you've ever met who was halfway interesting, can't you t…

I hate citing Reddit, but this un-sourced imgur link makes it seem like he's not such a bad guy, no?

http://i.imgur.com/lTvOg.jpg

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#32

Post by chc »

socratic wrote: post #31
Bud wrote: post #16

Geez, Lucas. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? I mean, really. I can see being a greedy fuck for a couple decades, while you're still unsure if you are, in fact, going to become and remain wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. But once you have the fuck-you money put away for you, your entire family and everyone you've ever met who was halfway interesting, can't you t…

I hate citing Reddit, but this un-sourced imgur link makes it seem like he's not such a bad guy, no? http://i.imgur.com/lTvOg.jpg

Donating 5% of your net worth to charity is praiseworthy, but it's not really anything special, particularly for people in that range of disposable income. He could probably release another boxed set of the original trilogy and make the entire amount back. Every active Mormon donates twice that much to their church.

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#33

Post by Bud »

socratic wrote: post #31
Bud wrote: post #16

Geez, Lucas. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? I mean, really. I can see being a greedy fuck for a couple decades, while you're still unsure if you are, in fact, going to become and remain wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. But once you have the fuck-you money put away for you, your entire family and everyone you've ever met who was halfway interesting, can't you t…

I hate citing Reddit, but this un-sourced imgur link makes it seem like he's not such a bad guy, no? http://i.imgur.com/lTvOg.jpg

You are right, his philanthropy is very impressive.

I still think he ought to give Darth more money.

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#34

Post by wheels »

rdl wrote: post #3

I never cease to be amazed at how honest and forthright everyone in the (top tier) of the startup industry is, vs. the entertainment, government contracting, small business, etc. space. To say nothing of finance or politics. That silicon valley and tech is taking over the world might be a result of this, but in any case, it's better for humanity.

Are you really suggesting that it's rare for employees to get hosed on options because they don't understand the terms in their contract? Because that's about the closest parallel I can think of. Net points sound like the showbiz equivalent of liquidation preferences. "Oh, no, you don't actually get a percentage of the $50 million sale because there are these investors that have a different kind of stock that says that they get at least a 5x return before you get anything..."

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#35

Post by wyclif »

veyron wrote: post #9

I remember reading something similar in the music industry, written by courtney love. Anyone have a link?

The Problem With Music by Steve Albini (the original article Courtney Love was inspired by in her attack on the RIAA): http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#36

Post by rdl »

wheels wrote: post #34
rdl wrote: post #3

I never cease to be amazed at how honest and forthright everyone in the (top tier) of the startup industry is, vs. the entertainment, government contracting, small business, etc. space. To say nothing of finance or politics. That silicon valley and tech is taking over the world might be a result of this, but in any case, it's better for humanity.

Are you really suggesting that it's rare for employees to get hosed on options because they don't understand the terms in their contract? Because that's about the closest parallel I can think of. Net points sound like the showbiz equivalent of liquidation preferences. "Oh, no, you don't actually get a percentage of the $50 million sale because there are these investors that have a different kind of stock that says th…

Tech contracts are pretty transparent by comparison.

Aside from value of options (which most people consider to be $0-$20k for the average $100-150k/yr job), all the other benefits of working in tech are straightforward and employee-favorable.

In an early stage startup, you're not likely to see worse than 2x participating, and 1x non is the standard for Series A financings now.

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#37

Post by noonespecial »

I'm always fascinated by the way institutionalized dishonesty creeps into entire industries. From used car salesmen to film moguls, once a certain practice has ossified over the years into "everyone in the biz does it", practices that would result in jail time in other industries are simply accepted as business as usual. Even more curious, everyone to the man knows its wrong, but no one moves to change it. The emperor has no clothes and we just like him better naked.

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#38

Post by ahlatimer »

ZachPruckowski wrote: post #29
patio11 wrote: post #4

Why isn't there an enterprising law firm going through the credits of all the Star Wars (and similar-vintage films with ongoing commercial potential), contacting every person on the list, and telling all the retired ones "There is a pot o' money with your name on it if you sign these papers which let us sue them for residuals on your behalf."? I have to imagine that the legal strategy required there is a for loop wit…

Look at how hard it is to get traction on investigations into the current foreclosure/securitization boondoggle - it's taken 3 years for judges to actually start looking, the federal regulators are completely uninterested, and maybe 4 state AGs out of 50 have even started looking. And these are obvious and clearcut violations of pretty straightforward laws. Their reputations and legal teams have been a buffer against…

Except that it isn't the government suing these companies, it's the people named in the credits.

Re: LucasFilm Tells Darth Vader that Return of the Jedi Hasn’t Made a Profit

#40

Post by philwelch »

kprobst wrote: post #22

I seem to remember Alec Guinness hit the jackpot on the SW franchise by demanding a % of the profit (gross?), so I assume this guy had a different contract. I suppose Guinness had a lot more pull and negotiating leverage than a dude whose primary contribution to the films was to be tall.

Alec Guinness was a Serious Actor with plenty of impressive film appearances under his belt. Of course he had more pull.
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