Hollywood Accounting

So, apparently Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made $929 Million dollars, and still managed to lose money. Poor Harry! I guess the recession hits wizards too! Luckily for Harry he’s not alone- apparently up to 80% of Hollywood productions lose money, including many blockbusters and TV shows.

How is this possible, you ask? Well, it’s quite simple really, if Hollywood actually made money, they’d have to pay people who work on their products, and most importantly they’d have to pay their fair share of taxes to the American people. Luckily for them, they’ve developed a highly advanced financial system for defrauding as many people as possible of the profits any such production makes.

I have to say, as stunned as I am that the US government lets Wall Street get away with what it does, I’m even more shocked that they’ve let Hollywood and the entertainment industry get away with this crap for decades. People who work in Hollywood shouldn’t have to sue just to get paid their fair share of wages, and I hope that some recent cases might change things for the better.

I doubt it, though! Where there’s money to be made, there’s greed and corruption to make sure that the system works in the ways that best benefit the rich and greedy.

On the other hand, here’s one less reason for downloaders to feel guilty about “pirating” Hollywood’s products. If Hollywood doesn’t want to  pay the creative people for them, why should the rest of us? Consider it the people of America following Hollywood’s example.

You reap what you sow.

(With special thanks to Jack Ward and Adam Baxter for the links.)