Squire - The Movie Business Book

Fourth Edition

Edited by
Jason E. Squire

Fourth edition published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Jason E. Squire

The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published 1983 by Prentice-Hall

Third edition published 2004 by Touchstone

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-138-65627-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-65629-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62196-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Giovanni and Optima
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK

For Tari, my love

BY JASON E. SQUIRE

BY MICHAEL LONDON
Producer, West Los Angeles, CA

BY DOUG LIMAN
Director, Producer, New York, NY

BY JAY DUPLASS
Co-Writer, Co-Director, Actor, Los Angeles, CA

BY DAVID S. GOYER
Screenwriter, Director, Producer, Los Angeles, CA

BY JEWERL ROSS
Owner, Silent R Management, Los Angeles, CA

BY ROMY DWORMAN
Senior Vice President, Story Department, Universal Pictures, Universal City, CA

BY JOEL GOTLER
CEO, Intellectual Property Group, Los Angeles, CA

BY PETER J. DEKOM
Entertainment Lawyer, Los Angeles, CA

BY ROB AFT
President, Compliance Consulting, Los Angeles, CA

BY HAROLD L. VOGEL
Financial Analyst, Vogel Capital Management, New York, NY

BY ALAN HORN
Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA

BY KEVIN FEIGE
President, Marvel Studios, Burbank, CA

BY DAVID V. PICKER
Former President, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, United Artists, New York, NY

BY BARBARA BOYLE
Professor and Associate Dean, Entrepreneurship, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, West Los Angeles, CA

BY LINDA LICHTER
Partner, Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman, Inc., West Hollywood, CA

BY STEPHEN M. KRAVIT
Executive Vice President, Business Affairs, The Gersh Agency, Beverly Hills, CA

BY STEVE MANGEL
President, UniFi Completion Guarantors, Los Angeles, CA

BY JESSICA TUCHINSKY
Producer, Former Talent Agent, Creative Artists Agency, Beverly Hills, CA

BY MICHAEL GRILLO
Executive Producer, Los Angeles, CA

BY ALLEN KUPETSKY
Second Assistant Director, Los Angeles, CA

BY BLAIR RICH
Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. Pictures Worldwide Marketing, Burbank, CA

BY KEVIN GOETZ
Founder and CEO, Screen Engine/ASI, Los Angeles, CA

BY STEVE MONTAL
Film Festival Consultant, Los Angeles, CA

BY LINDA BENJAMIN
Former Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, Relativity Media, Beverly Hills, CA

BY ILAN HAIMOFF
Partner, Green Hasson Janks Accountants, Leader, Contract Compliance and Forensics Department, Los Angeles, CA

BY DANIEL R. FELLMAN
President, Warner Bros. Pictures Domestic Distribution, Burbank, CA

BY TOM QUINN
Former Co-President, RADiUS, The Weinstein Company, New York, NY

BY SHARI E. REDSTONE
President, National Amusements, Norwood, MA

BY ROBERT LAEMMLE AND GREG LAEMMLE
Laemmle Fine Arts Theatres, Los Angeles, CA

BY RONALD J. SANDERS
President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Home Entertainment Distribution, Burbank, CA

BY JAMIE WILKINSON
Co-Founder and CEO, VHX Corporation, Brooklyn, NY

BY JASON E. SQUIRE
USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA

BY ERIC B. FLEISCHMAN
Producer, Los Angeles, CA

BY AL OVADIA
President, Al Ovadia & Associates; Former Executive Vice President, Sony Pictures Consumer Products, Los Angeles, CA

BY ROB AFT
President, Compliance Consulting, Los Angeles, CA

BY SHAOYI SUN
Professor of Film and Media Studies, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai, China

BY DAN OCHIVA
Founder and President, NYC Production and Post News, New York, NY

For moviegoers and moviemakers,
and to everyone who has two businesses
their own and the movie business

Movies are a collaboration and so is this book.

Above all, my deepest appreciation goes to the contributors. Its their book. These extraordinary professionals took considerable time to make their chapters as empowering as possible for the reader. It was joyful to work with them as curator, co-writer and editor.

This Fourth Edition, MBB4, is almost entirely new. Every chapter was created exclusively for this book. Thats the technical side. On the personal side, these collaborations have fostered friendships and admiration.

A little history: The concept traces back to the pioneering text The Movie Business: American Film Industry Practice. It was a privilege to work with my mentor, Professor A. William Bluem. But early attempts to enlist industry experts were pretty discouraging. One famous lawyer was unwilling to share industry secrets and suggested this unwillingness as the reason why no book on the movie business had been done. Turns out there were many worthy professionals who understood and supported the need. Their expertise made The Movie Business: American Film Industry Practice the primary text on the subject, adopted at universities around the country. We had no idea we were working on the original knowledge formation in the field.

The warm reception of that first book coincided with the growth of film study on campus. Universities began to broaden their curricula to introduce the business side as an interdisciplinary study often coordinated with law as part of a well-rounded treatment of mass media and popular culture.

After Prof. Bluem died, my rededication to the work resulted in The Movie Business Book and subsequent editions. Over time, it was adopted by professors who recognized its structure as a one-semester survey course. A growing international readership of students and professionals embraced it with translations in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and German.

How is this book put together? It takes about three years. Deciding on subjects and experts is a matter of instinct. Finding an expert is only half the battle; the ideal person must know how to clearly explain the subject and be comfortable with the back-and-forth inherent in the editing process. Most worked from my outlines, after deciding to write an essay or be interviewed for the core material. Then the results are honed and structured, debated and brooded over, rewritten and rewritten, as we engage in a stimulating and delightful process, working closely and even obsessively, via e-mail and over the phone, to get the chapter right. I deeply appreciate each contributors cooperation as additional material was added for teaching purposes.