Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Someone needs to keep that idiot far, far away from D&D.
Director Courtney Solomon Talks 'Dungeons & Dragons' Movie
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Uh, no. Courtney Solomon is not making millions. Few make millions, even in the movie industry, and Courtney Solomon is not one of those few.
Jester David
Hero
No, but he's getting millions to make the movies. The first D&D movie alone cost $45 million in year 2000 dollars.
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
The average salary for producers involved with motion pictures and video was $108,580 as of 2009. They also usually live in Los Angeles (so for context, that salary in Los Angeles is the equivalent to $67,000 in Harlingen, TX, due to differences in cost of living).
How much the movie costs is, of course, not the same as how much the producer makes. So for the sake of clarity, he doesn't make millions. He makes a pretty normal salary for Los Angeles...for producing bad movies that make a decent profit for the investors in those movies.
How much the movie costs is, of course, not the same as how much the producer makes. So for the sake of clarity, he doesn't make millions. He makes a pretty normal salary for Los Angeles...for producing bad movies that make a decent profit for the investors in those movies.
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Ahnehnois
First Post
I know he's not particularly rich. But as [MENTION=37579]Jester Canuck[/MENTION] correctly concluded, my point was that millions of dollars are being devoted to projects that he produces, projects which suck. Meanwhile, tons of talented people are waiting tables in LA waiting for their shot. They're making a lot less than he is, and they'll be lucky if they get to work on even one movie. Is this guy a bad guy for taking the money and making his movies? No. But studios should be smart enough to invest better.
The injustice is particularly striking given that we're talking about D&D, a hobby for creative people. There are a lot of us that would probably produce better movies than him if we wanted to and had the opportunity and training.
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Wait now, that's also out of context. He makes fine movies in terms of return on investment. Millions are being tied up, for a relatively short period of time, in order to get back out those same millions, and then turn a relatively decent profit on those millions. That we think the movies are bad is not really relevant to whether he's doing his job of making the investors money.
At producing movies and video? No they're not. You've confused stereotypes there. Actors might wait tables waiting for their shot - but movie production is frankly not a glamorous position, and there are not thousands waiting in the wings to get a shot at producing a movie. I know several movie producers, and if you want to work in that industry and have a half-way decent background to pull it off, you can get work as an assistant producer and work your way up. It's terribly difficult and fairly thankless work, by the way, for 90% of them.
Producing? No, again, you seem to be confusing acting and producing. If you want to work as an AP in this town, and you went to school for it or have a background in it, you can get that work and eventually you will be a producer. Again, it makes about $110K/year as a producer, after a decade or so as an AP at a lower salary. If it's money you want, you'd do better in countless fields, like almost anything in computers or tech. Producing is not like acting. There's a fairly reliable path to becoming a producer (not a top producer - just a regular one like this guy).
Why is this not a smart investment? He has a track record of making profit for his investors. Seems smart to me.
Production is mostly about raising money, and making sure everyone else does their job. It's one of the least creative jobs involved with making the movie, apart from the begging and mollifying egos (which sometimes takes creativity).
Warbringer
Explorer
Well, the D&D movie made a box office $14.8MM on an estimated cost of $45MM. Even with other rights I doubt this even got close to break even. He was also the Director on the movie.
Isn't Hasbro challenging his right to make the movie? Basically, the "made for TV" movies don't qualify for the 5/7 year rolling license.
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Sure but that was 14 years ago. Since then, he's gotten good returns for investors on all kinds of stuff. He's basically producing 7 movies a year at this point.
Quickleaf
Legend
The current legal argument from Sweetpea & Courtney Solomon seems to be that reversion of rights never returned to Hasbro cause they never provided written notice of termination of license. http://www.examiner.com/article/sweetpea-entertainment-goes-on-the-offensive-over-d-d-movie-rights Anyhow that's from late June and is the most recent news about the legal dispute I could find.
From what I could tell of the interview with Courney Solomon his argument seems to be that having Warner Brothers' backing and resources will allow him to make the movie he always wanted to. So $45 million budget on D&D1 and $12 million budgets for both D&D2 and D&D3 (neither of which were directed by Courtney Solomon), and both D&D2 & 3 received better reviews than D&D1. Even though they're different genres, $12 million is even less than Getaway's $18 million. Long story short, yes budget matters, but there's something else going on to make Courtney Solomon's movies suck besides budget.
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