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The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

nytimes.com

71–80 of 366 posts

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#72
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly unrelated, but there is a 19 hour fan-edit of the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings -- i.e someone glued all 3 Hobbit movies and all 3 LotR movies into a 19 hour video.

Hopefully that's 19 hours of LOTR with the 2-3 hours of the hobbit which was good.

In the "2-3 hours of the hobbit which was good" are you including the animated versions as well? I'd be hard pressed to find 2-3 hours from the travesty that Jackson made

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#73
post #64

I wish they'd make another Altered Carbon season. And bring back Joel Kinnaman. The first season was amazing.

I rewatch it once a year or so. I haven't caved yet and read the books. But I still hope for a 3rd season even though it is probably never going to happen

Yeah, Netflix said it was too expensive to make, and yet they shelve $55M worth of a show ...

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#74
post #9

So many stories like this recently. Coyote vs Acme drama is so interesting as well. I bet the movie industry will become as crazy as the world of casinos

Very different situation. For Coyote vs Acme, the movie was finished properly and the only issue was WB projected it would make more money as a tax write-off. There was no malfeasance from the director/producer/etc. For this one... well, read the article. The director/producer did some crazy stuff with the money.

It is not possible to make more money as a tax write-off. That's not how corporate income taxes work. The expense of making a movie can always be written off regardless of whether it is released or. If the studio decided not to release it then that was done for other reasons.

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#75
post #9

So many stories like this recently. Coyote vs Acme drama is so interesting as well. I bet the movie industry will become as crazy as the world of casinos

Very different situation. For Coyote vs Acme, the movie was finished properly and the only issue was WB projected it would make more money as a tax write-off. There was no malfeasance from the director/producer/etc. For this one... well, read the article. The director/producer did some crazy stuff with the money.

The real crime in the whole Coyote vs Acme situation is that the tax code makes it more profitable to write off a completed movie than sell it.

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#76
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very different situation. For Coyote vs Acme, the movie was finished properly and the only issue was WB projected it would make more money as a tax write-off. There was no malfeasance from the director/producer/etc. For this one... well, read the article. The director/producer did some crazy stuff with the money.

It is not possible to make more money as a tax write-off. That's not how corporate income taxes work. The expense of making a movie can always be written off regardless of whether it is released or. If the studio decided not to release it then that was done for other reasons.

https://deadline.com/2023/11/coyote-vs-acme-shelved-warner-b...

tl;dr: If they never release it they can write off the "lost profits" which they can't do if they release or sell it.

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#77
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certain expenses will be capitalized while the film is available for release/streaming. Depreciation/amortization will be years for the life of the film. But if you scrap it right away, you can deduct those expenses immediately.

Yes, but the reason to do this is that the film is ultimately going to cost more money than it is worth, or the gross represents a rounding error on the studio's balance sheet. You wouldn't capitalize the expenses of a film that was expected to recoup any meaningful amount of money on release. Either the thing is already costing you more money than it is worth or is a brand risk, thus you look for a way to get out as…

They need the money now, they can't wait to depreciate it over time.

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't how tax write-offs work. The expenditures in the production of a film or TV series are always deducted from taxable net income regardless of whether the final product is released or not. There are a plethora of reasons not to release a creative work. For example, you don't want to spend any more money on music licensing, editing, marketing, etc, that is unlikely to be recouped. "Tax write-offs" simply isn'…

There have been multiple completed works that have been canceled for tax reasons. https://deadline.com/2023/01/as-tv-turns-to-tax-write-offs-t...

You really shouldn't take fake news organizations like CNN seriously on issues like this. They obviously didn't do even basic fact checking with a real tax accountant or lawyer.

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#79
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, you don't want to spend any more money on music licensing, editing, marketing, etc, that is unlikely to be recouped. I have no idea what "Max" is in the GP, but another big reason to not release a creative work is if audience feedback was negative enough that even releasing it for free would hit the value of your brand.

HBOmax - removed a ton of shows (some well regarded) for the tax write offs

Followed by the corporate rebrand from HBOMax to Max

Re: The $55M saga of a Netflix series nobody will ever see

#80
post #41
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see how insane a 10-14 hour Dune movie would be. No intermission I'm sure.

Slightly unrelated, but there is a 19 hour fan-edit of the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings -- i.e someone glued all 3 Hobbit movies and all 3 LotR movies into a 19 hour video.

There are also fan-made "book edits" of LotR and the Hobbit that purge as much non-book material as possible while keeping th film coherent.
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