Here’s something I don’t understand. This note or message appeared at the very end of the FANTASTIC FOUR (2015) movie. At 01:39:50 it reads: THE MAKING AND AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTION OF THIS FILM SUPPORTED OVER 15.000 JOBS AND INVOLVED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WORK HOURS.
To be honest, 15.000 jobs seams a little bit too much for a Sci-Fi movie especially since they used CGI for most of the scenes and only about 100 +/- 10 or so actors have been seen on the screen and let’s not forget, this is not even an original idea, it’s a remake. I have a question. Are the writers Mark Frost and Michael France on this endless list of jobs? I'll explain why I even asked this but I need someone to respond first.
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That message in the credits has been going on for at least five years, and first appeared on Taken 2. One of the industry trade organizations came up with the idea, and the purpose was to affect/counter the piracy market.
Did the Fantastic Four - or any of the films using that message - actually support over 15,000 jobs? Well....the key word is "support".....if 300 direct movie personnel spend their earned income on 20 or 30 merchants/service providers....and those 20 or 30 merchants/service providers spend their earned income on 20/30 merchants/service providers....well....you get the idea.
If I recall correctly, I believe that Iron Man 3 holds the record for actual cast and crew credits - over 3,000, which can probably be verified on IMDB. Wow...that's a lot of people. Viva la Cinema!
15,000 from script through to cinematic and dvd distribution, no matter how small the job? I don't find that difficult to believe. They're not saying they hired 15k people on set but the production and distribution involved that many people. Why not?
I'm not surprised at all.
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Ecomonic impact is why towns fight to get movies made it their area. If I buy one shirt I generate a commission for the sales assistant, they order new stock, truck driver gets a wage, manufacturer gets money etc. The money spent in a community flows creating more economic activity. It is easy to see how 20,000,000 could support 15,000 jobs. Don't think of the direct benefits, there are massive indirect and intangible benefits.
There was a study that came out a few years ago on The Multiplier Effect (there are many of these types of studies) regarding the Intel plant in Washington or Oregon, and how every one job at that plant created three other jobs - from restaurants to medical centers.
Manufacturing in America and elsewhere creates not only jobs, but entire towns and cities, and can also kill a town when they leave. When the big automakers left America, the steel industry and other supporting industries were decimated. I think the most tragic loss occurred when Bethlehem steel folded and people lost their pensions. There are many ghost towns across America as a result of manufacturing businesses that went elsewhere.
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Thank you all for your answers. The reason I asked this question was this. You all know there are hundreds of things involved in movie making process and I'm not even mentioning actor/actress...etc. I'll start with Craig. I personally don't know that much about contracts and filming permits but I remember reading an article in local newspapers. I know Game of Thrones was filmed in Dubrovnik. I can't say for sure was it 2 or 3 seasons. The production company payed or rented some public and private places in the city and they payed for it. Once the filming ended, the city paid them back even more. The explanation was very simple. It was a free advertising and promotion. I'm sure some money was generated later but I have no idea how much. There's a blog here on Stage32. "Los Angeles Lowers Permit Costs for Digital Filmmakers." It sounds good but I don't think it solves anything at all. Here's a section from the original article. "The Digital Makers Initiative is designed for productions that have a low impact on the communities in which they shoot. Pilot participants will pay a $250 fee and will be required to take part in a FilmL.A. training program. Cast and crew will be limited to up to 15 people on set for interior filming and up to six people for exterior filming. Productions will have specific equipment requirements and filming of exceptional activity will be prohibited. There will be no special parking provisions or street closures for productions." When someone lowers the price of anything, it always points to a problem(s). So from 650 down to 250. How will they fill this this $400 gap? With this FilmL.A. training program? How much this program costs? Was it mandatory before the price went down and what's with all these restrictions. Can we stick to $650 version and do things the way we planned to? Just imagine what the permit would cost if Universal, Sony or WB applies for one. Here's a link for New York permits. http://www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/permits/permits.page
@Pierre - I don't think they hired 15k people on set either. Let's say there are 3k people on set but the production and distribution involves 12k people. I'll never believe that.
Back to Craig again. You really think $20,000,000 could support 15,000 jobs. Half of that money will be gone the moment Actors, Director...etc sign their contracts and keep in mind the always ask to be paid upfront. Visual Effects, CGI...etc is about $12.000 a day, what about location permits, accommodation, travel expenses, food... you think that's free?
@Bill Constantini - You're right, Iron Man 2 or 3 had about 3.500 people.
What would you say if I tell you, there's a way to remove this Permit CRAP and lower the costs even more?
Niksa, 15,000 people are NOT on the production company's payroll but the production and distribution of the film worldwide involves up to 15,000 people, is what they are saying, and they're talking right down to the pimply-faced kid making popcorn in a cinema in Uganda who has a job because the cinema shows movies like this one. The copy setter at a newspaper company in Berlin who sets the cinema ad for the week. A small printing company that prints the posters for the cinema walls or subway ads in Sydney. Anybody whose job touches on the production or distribution of this movie is impacted. That's what they're talking about so 15,000 is not hard to believe.
I think the producers are also making the point that if you steal the film or fail to support films like this it puts 15,000 jobs at stake. Important point to make.
Pierre, let me start with this. If we somehow manage to find a creator of this "Message" and we ask him to explain to us in plain English, what does this message mean, I'm not sure he or she could even remember why they even posted it. Let's get back to this magical 15.000 number. Imagine 3.000 people were directly involved in production. It leaves us with 12.000 people. This pimply-faced kid who makes popcorn in a cinema in Uganda. That's 1 person. What about a person who sold you a ticket and the one who you showed that ticket to. That would be 3 people so far. Then someone will have to press play button, so the audience can be able to see this movie. Once the movie ends, someone will have to clean all the popcorn left behind, not to mention leftovers from any other food the audience consumed. That's 5 people so far. Is there a security guard who will protect all the money generated by tickets sale? Than again there's always a manager whose job is to make sure everything gets done, just as it was planned. That's 7 people so far unless, this One-Man-Army popcorn salesmen can somehow manage to complete all the tasks by himself, which I doubt, this mathematical formula won't work and I'm pretty sure if you include everyone who works in movie theater chains in California and New York only, the number would be about 5.000 maybe even higher. Whatever calculator or method they used to come up with this number, I suggest you throw it away and get another one.
Bill Costantini is right. The entire towns and cities usually turn into a ghost towns when production ends. Sometimes they simply don't have a plan how to maintain continuity or in most cases it's a plain and simple greed, give us more, more... you know what happens when bubble explodes. Game Over. The main reason I asked this 15.000 jobs question was, I needed to start somewhere. The big picture here is the entire filming process, from cradle to grave. If I write down the entire list, some steps or process' will need to be rearranged, 1 or 2 things would be added, nothing would have to be removed. Things would go even faster and always cheaper, no matter which calculator or formula you use. Look, no matter how good you are of how fast you type, it will take about 2 years before anyone even decides to read your title page. I mentioned this before, there's a way to wipe out the Filming Permit. Then, the entire rearrangement would create a chain reaction but not a single job would be lost. I can start a new lounge discussion or continue here or call me crazy and I'll drop this topic. We can always find something else to talk about.
What is the goal of your question? Why worry about American Show Biz when you're not a part of it?
I never worried about American Show biz even when I was a part of it; now that I'm not, I couldn't care less. Don't worry, be happy.
And just when I thought it was over, a man named Dan came along. A two part confuse and discourage question. I haven't seen one of these in a while.
First question by Dan. What is the goal. Okay. Final Draft (software) was co-founded in 1990 by Marc Madnick and Ben Cahan. A few years later, Final Draft v.2.0 was released. But why waste your time on something you already have. I don't think they were trying to get 10.000 friends on FaceBook. Maybe they wanted to have more followers than any other member on Instagram. I don't think their goal was to generate 100k or 10m views on YouTube either. I'm sure you can translate all this to different sentence or two and call it an answer.
Your second question Why worry about American Show Biz when you're not a part of it? I'm not sure what did you mean by American Show Biz but let me ask you this; How are YOU part of it? Are you part of it now, maybe you would like to become a part of it or all this part of it is just based on hope? Oh, Dan. We are all part of it, one way or another. You will find 6 links below and no matter which one you check first all six articles points to a same problem. Why 6 links from 6 different sources? Simply because some people always mix politics and facts and blame the other side; This is Republicans talking, This was clearly written by some Democrat, Independent, Liberal...etc. On of these articles mentioned something, which is also a part of the current problem.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/08/01/creativity-crisis-has-re...
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/remake-central-has-hollywood-run-out-of-new-...
http://www.debate.org/opinions/hollywood-is-running-out-of-ideas
http://www.dailydischord.com/has-hollywood-run-out-of-ideas-oh-wait-we-c...
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/entertainment/2015/03/26/movie-remakes-seq...
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hollywood-loves-the-1980s-as-much-as-it...
Doug, unless we are all planning to sit on our hands and watch this Show Biz collapsing on itself, I agree with you, all the way.
You're delusional.
Stay frosty, Sir.
Sorry; no speak Croatian.