What Makes Hollywood Run?

March 21, 2012 2:49 PM

I just discovered the most amazing study on the average finances of musicians - is there anything equivalent for the film industry?

I recently came across this study: "Artist Revenue Streams" put together by the Future of Music Coalition, that analyzes the average finances of different musicians, creating case studies by work type (Orchestra Member, Indie Rock Composer-Performer, etc.) as well as drawing wider conclusions about the power/size of new revenue types from an amalgamation of all the data. The original thrust of the study was, I think, to look at how musicians have lost and benefitted from the drastic changes created by the internet in the last ten years (the skyrocketing in piracy, music festivals being easier to promote, the speed with which one can go from Youtube success to real success).

I was pretty friggin amazed by all this, and I was wondering if anything similar had been done for the film industry? Obviously, the two industries have faced parallel problems in the last decade, and I wondered if there were any wide-reaching, independent studies that looked at how the livelihoods of people in the entertainment (features/commercials/music videos/scripted television/reality) had changed in that time? Or studies of what new revenue sources have become far more significant, or far less significant, than they were ten years ago? What production companies (or what types) have benefitted from these changes, and which have failed to adapt?

I feel like this a pretty esoteric desire, especially when everyone knows detailed financial data from the film industry is very hard to get your hands on, but it interests me tremendously, and even the existence of this sort of study for musicians gives me hope. Are there any interesting, well-thought out, independent studies out there?

posted by sidi hamet to Work & Money (4 answers total)

I wondered if there were any wide-reaching, independent studies that looked at how the livelihoods of people in the entertainment (features/commercials/music videos/scripted television/reality) had changed in that time?

Highly unlikely. For one thing, Hollywood accounting is so notoriously opaque and obfuscated that not only does it have its own Wikipedia article, but it's the subject of dozens of lawsuits. Like, for example, the one filed by the Tolkien estate, which at the time of filing in 2008 hadn't received a dime of profits, despite the fact that the movies had racked up at least $6 billion in total sales. The music and film industries are roughly the same size, with music actually being a tad larger domestically and more so globally. But whereas Hollywood puts out maybe a few hundred films a year, the music industry puts out thousands of albums.

In comparison to a feature film, an album is a relatively simple, small-scale undertaking. Look at the liner notes on an album and count the names involved in production. Maybe a few dozen. Ideally, the process takes a few months, maybe a year. But making a single film takes hundreds if not thousands of people years of collective work, to say nothing of the effort that goes into marketing. And unlike music, where the people who can be categorized as "artists" are largely limited to musicians and producers, films involve more trades and professions than you can shake a stick at.
posted by valkyryn at 3:07 PM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

But Hollywood accounting has little to do with below the line crew, etc. whose rates are set by union contracts. The NYT had a story about film school grads, but wanna-be producers have a rather different job track than a DP, a grip or a costumer. Artist revenue streams doesn't really include sound engineers, producers, and so on, either.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:13 PM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well, this tells you something about what the principals and lawyers make. But not the ancillary staff or actors.
posted by dfriedman at 5:01 PM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Horace Dediu of Asymco and Dan Benjamin do an excellent show that covers distruption and Hollywood accounting occasionally. I haven't listened to it but this episode seems especially relevant. Most of the actual financial data comes from a handful of lawsuits where the books were opened up in court. Check the show notes from this episode for more info.
posted by euphorb at 2:01 PM on March 22, 2012