CUT THE FAT

For The Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein pens an excellent article on how the studios are getting tough and not forking over $20 million dollar salaries to talent anymore.

With the recession, studios have had time to think, agents and stars are not liking that verb, and reflect on  where their alloted monies are going and what will get them the bigger bang for their buck.

The article states:  

"It's never a good thing when studios have time to think, especially if they're going to be thinking -- exactly why are we paying all these people all this money?" one top talent rep said. "They started looking at their overall TV and movie deals and before you knew it, a ton of talent had lost their deals, because the studios had the time to study who'd actually made them money and who hadn't delivered the goods."

The end result is a huge recalibration of the money being paid out to talent, especially in an era where a surprisingly large percentage of the biggest hit films, from "Up" to "The Hangover" to "Star Trek" and "Transformers," are star-free movies, potential franchises that involve interchangeable parts. There are some who see this new austerity as a potential boost for creativity. If studios can make movies for less money, in theory the studios who still retain any artistic ambitions -- all two of them -- could greenlight some riskier, more filmmaker-friendly efforts, knowing that the price tag would be far less than it was a few years ago.

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