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

nytimes.com

161–170 of 366 posts

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

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how you're being called out for how wrong you are on this thread, but somehow manage to double down and always ask "but what about?..."

But that’s what tax accounting is. Asking “what if we interpret the tax code this way?” It’s all gray areas. See my sibling comment about how to write off future profits.

There are some gray areas in the tax code, but this isn't one of them. You write off your basis in a capital loss. There's no legal justification for writing off "lost profits". Trying to do so would just be tax fraud.

Even if that were a thing, the fact that it would cost more to release it than not shows that the profit value is negative.

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

#162
post #10

I love these stories of sci-fi movie diasasters. There are just as many insane stories of "amazing this classic ever got made". On the topic of disasters, I recommend reading about The Starlost: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starlost

Is The Starlost worth watching? The episode summaries look neat, but the reception/reviews don’t look so good.

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

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO Dune needs to be a tv show that likely runs several seasons so all the world and backstory can be explored properly so the audience can get a full experience. Think The Wire in terms of plot discovery and forwarding (leaves out bogus exposition, means you have to pay attention to get things etc that moves along at a good pace and has forward development each episode. It would be expensive, but it’s the only way I…

The problem is that nobody wants to acquire Dune to be a critical success. It needs to be a commercial success. This of course implies the addition of much lazier exposition than The Wire, which IIRC never had more than about 4 million viewers. I'm sure it's different in the streaming era, but more and more, audiences are making it clear that they are definitely not tuning in to shows that require thought.

Eventually special effects will become so easy to do well that a cheaply produced Dune will capture all its facets. Although you'll still need a good writer to make it compelling.

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

#165
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't understand all the love for Dune. I read it, it was ok, and that was it. 3 underwhelming film adaptations is more than enough. It's the Count of Monte Cristo meets Star Wars, with great world building, pretty good plot and characters and a lot of interesting philosophy, sociology, strategy and tactics. What's not to love? The scifi miniseries was decent. The 1984 one was...barely Dune, though I enjoyed it.…

1984 Dune was enjoyable as a bonkers Lynch movie, less so as a Dune adaptation. I actually credit the 1984 Dune with turning me on to Lynch.

1984 Dune was also kinda legit decent for the first 40 minutes or so. It gets pretty bad after Paul meets Chani.

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

#166
post #121

> Netflix executives grew so concerned with Mr. Rinsch’s behavior that they consulted with the Los Angeles Police Department’s threat management unit, a person with knowledge of the matter said. A Police Department psychologist reviewed Mr. Rinsch’s texts and emails and concluded that he didn’t seem like a threat to himself or others. Were executives concerned about possible risks to people, or were they trying to us…

>Were executives concerned about possible risks to people, or were they trying to use (misuse?) the police to establish the conditions for a contract clause or insurance policy?

this kind of just seems like the system work as intended. if you are thinking you need to call the police to perform a wellness check on somebody just for the purposes of covering your own ass, you're probably justified in calling for a wellness check.

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

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand all the love for Dune. I read it, it was ok, and that was it. 3 underwhelming film adaptations is more than enough. Special effects don't make a movie anymore. What matters is plot (and music). For example, "Colossus the Forbin Project" is very good. Some other very good scifi movies: . Invaders from Mars . Flash Gordon (1980) . Terminator . Star Wars IV . Alien

It’s a cargo cult. Dune itself is pretty standard sci-fi. The sequels are where it goes from good to great. People deify the first one because they think that’s where the great reputation comes from, not understanding that the really interesting stuff is in the later books. I mean, the giant worm-man, the endless clones experiencing existential dread, and the trans stuff all come after book 2 and really after book 3.

I've only read the series once, >20 years ago, but I thought the opposite. To me it started out good but ended weird and stupid (I admit I remember almost no details though, so can only give the impression I'm left with). I've read other books I thought much better than any of them though.

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

#168

[flagged]

Because the money is gone without anything to show for it, after (allegedly) spending lots of it on... not TV show stuff. You don't see a problem with that? Did we read the same article? I don't know about you, but if someone gave me $55m to make a TV show, I'd like to think I wouldn't blow $6m of that betting on the stock market. If even one of these allegations are true (and honestly I don't really see a reason to…

> I don't know about you, but if someone gave me $55m to make a TV show, I'd like to think I wouldn't blow $6m of that betting on the stock market.

The article does claim he lost that, but then claims he made more back.

It claims Netflix transferred him $11M, he tried played markets and lost then speculated crypto and more than doubled the money, then bought toys, and was still up:

Netflix wired Mr. Rinsch’s production company $11 million... Rinsch transferred $10.5 million of the $11 million to his personal brokerage account at Charles Schwab... lost $5.9 million in a matter of weeks [then later] transferred more than $4 million from his Schwab account to an account on the Kraken exchange and bought Dogecoin ... this one paid off: ... a balance of nearly $27 million...

At this point, he's up. Then the spending spree "tab came to $8.7 million", but that still leaves more than the $11M.

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

#170
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You probably want the "Maple Edit" of the Hobbit (also known as "J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit"). It is 247 minutes and is setup as a single film with intermissions. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85gVFD7Dqwk Info: http://www.maple-films.com/jrr-tolkiens-the-hobbit/the-final...

I had no idea about this! Thank you for linking!
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