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The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood | 
 enlarge | Author: Edward Jay Epstein
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $5.54
You Save: $10.41 (65%)
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Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 367374
Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0812973828
Dewey Decimal Number: 338
EAN: 9780812973822
ASIN: 0812973828
Publication Date: January 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this unprecedented, all-encompassing, and thoroughly entertaining account of the movie business, acclaimed writer Edward Jay Epstein reveals the real magic behind moviemaking: how the studios make their money.
Epstein shows that in Hollywood, the only art that matters is the art of the deal: Major films turn huge profits not from the movies themselves but through myriad other enterprises, from video-game spin-offs and soundtracks to fast-food tie-ins, and even theme-park rides. The studios may compete for stars and Oscars, but their corporate parents view wth one another in less glamorous markets such as cable, home video, and pay-TV.
Money, though, is only a small part of the Hollywood story; the social and political milieus–power, prestige, and status–tell the rest. Alongside its remarkable financial revelations and incisive profiles of the pioneers who helped build Hollywood, The Big Picture is filled with eye-opening insider stories. If you are interested in Hollywood today and the complex and fascinating way it has evolved in order to survive, you haven’t seen the big picture until you’ve read The Big Picture.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Hollywood and Economics March 16, 2009
Ravi Madhavan (Bronxville, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An informative read that will provide the reader with a good understanding and overview of the economics of the film industry. The author provides a brief history of the major studios (consolidated into the current Big Six: Disney, Time Warner, Fox, Viacom, NBC Universal, and Sony) at the beginning and the leading men that transformed the business from post WWII into the eighties and nineties. These men provided the initial vision for licensing, international distribution, integration with home electronics and the continuing digitization of the industry.
The economics for the industry are that films at the US box office are money losers but once the revenue streams from International Box Office, DVD, Pay TV, Network TV, Foreign TV, product licensing and other forms of distribution are collected even box office failures can break even or even become profitable. The studios have developed a compensation system for the major players in the process to share in the revenue but not all of them through some unique accounting practices. Everyone knows about this but still willingly participate.
The other very interesting note is that the true money makers are films that are fairly consistent in plot (action) and audience (young) and character (young hero/super hero) but all the studios continue to make the adult movies and art house independents to please the inner world of Hollywood.
Great info, a bit dry September 26, 2008
Eric J. Robertson (New York, NY)
I read a lot of non-fiction books about the film industry in general. This one was full of useful info but it didn't explore any new territory. It was written factually without much regard for easy reading. Useful to learn about some of the business practices in Hollywood if you haven't learned much already. A decent primer.
There is No Net March 3, 2008
Jeff M. Brown (Portland, OR USA)
Epstein gives a fascinating account of the rise of Hollywood in the early part of the 20th century, focusing on the role intellectual property law played in the that development (the fact that patents in technology related to the making and showing of movies were controlled by the Edison Trust, located on the East coast, forced would-be movie moguls to relocate to the West coast away from courts sympathetic to the Edison Trust). He also explains how historical and legal developments (studio ownership of the means of production and the resulting anti-trust lawsuit brought by the federal government) led to the rise and fall of the studio system by the 1950s, and how federal legislation made it impossible for television networks to produce their own shows in the 1970s, a void the movie studios rushed to fill. Epstein details of the creative accounting methods and other legalisms that the six major movie studios use to maximize profit in the modern world of movie finance, where licensing revenue and home video sales far outweigh box office receipts.
jeffbrownlegal@gmail.com
 An authoritative, mesmerising read May 1, 2007
Mezzanine (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you want to understand how Hollywood became what it is today then this book ticks all the boxes: it tracks Hollywood from its beginnings in the early-20th century and the early part of the book focusses on the development of the big six media corporations in the world and who runs them and why TV and DVD are now far more important to the bottom line than straight theatrical release.
Some of the real examples of Hollywood's incredible loss-making ability are startling: one studio's 'greatest success' actually lost over US$60m, and you learn that the drivers of money and power are not the strong but actually it all boils down to children: what they want and don't want fuels the whole industry.
Fascinating stuff and very easy to read...five stars, no questions asked.
a good book about recent changes in the industry September 26, 2006
Jeffrey Hart (Bloomington, IN)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Edward Jay Epstein's book provides an excellent overview of how business has changed in Hollywood since the 1970s. The book will give the reader a chance to think about how the industry moderates its relentless pursuit of money occasionally in order to pursue loftier goals. The book is particular strong in identifying key industry leaders, such as Lew Wasserman, who were able to respond quickly to changing circumstances and to rebuild the studio system in a new form after the rise of television. For a more complete history of the studio system, see Douglas Gomery's recently published book. But this one is a good read and it does a good job of recounting the recent history of the industry.
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