How Harry Potter Movies Technically Lost Money 

Hollywood: if you pirate the movie, the actors won't get paid Also Hollywood:

I interviewed three people. A mathematician, an engineer, and an accountant. I asked each the very same question. What is 2 plus 2? The mathematician said "4". The engineer said "4.00" The accountant however looked around, closed the windows, locked the door, and whispered "What do you want it to be?"

I just want to point out that agents for big name stars are well aware of these accounting tricks and negotiate for a percentage of gross revenue rather than net profit.

“Its only a banana, how much could it cost? 10 dollars” Nice AD reference there :p

This video has a surprisingly unhealthy amount of stock footages.

*I can't wait to see how this relates to planes.*

It's literally called "Hollywood accounting" and has its own wikipedia page.

Video: "So if dashlane pays me $100......" Caption: "So if brilliant pays me $100......" Can't decide huh??

I'm always shocked at the stock footage that is available ... like wtf who decided to film some of those scenes!

How Stock Footage industry technically lost money -Half as Interesting

2:00 "Don't worry, no accountants are watching this video. It's tax season, a.k.a. corporate slavery season." But what if the accountants get sneaky and watch this video later?

"I mean it’s one banana, Michael. How much could it cost, $10?" - Lucille Bluth, Arrested Development

Isn't this illegal? I thought there were laws against "paying yourself" in order to hide profits. Or am I thinking of something else?

Dashlane: *Exists* Half as Intresting: *_"I am once again, asking for your financial support."_*

Actors: want share of movie Movie studios: so I'm gonna do what's called a pro gamer move.

"here's the actual balance sheet" shows an income statement Come on man economists should know basic Accounting 101

"The security guard at my editor sweatshop, $30 to bribe Susan Wojcicki to put the video on trending, and $20 to license the HAI initialism from Helicopter Association International" lol

"no accountants are watching this video" hello

Wow I actually felt ashamed enough of watching movies on random streaming sites to rent movies on iTunes. This changed my mind. Screw the Hollywood companies.

I’m an accountant, and I can verify his accounting jokes are true.

“Just enough to buy a banana” what a reference

Next up: *How Dashlane lost money in its partnership with HAI

Stock videos: *exists* HAI: “I’ll take your entire stock”

"Profits are what fall out of the producer's pockets on the way to the bank" a Hollywood accountant told me back in the early 1980s.

It's just a banana Michael, what could it cost, 10 dollars?

That accountant joke about how it's tax season is so accurate 😂😭😂😂😭😭 Accountant here

1:06 Sam: Dashlane Captions: Brilliant

"People don't like giving other people money." IRS: *U WOT MATE*

I mean it's one banana Michael, what could it cost? Ten dollars?

Harry forgot to pay for his school fee for hogwarts... plus his lunch fee as well

The Harry Potter fella needs a good tax lawyer and accountant on his side. Transfer pricing rules would dictate pricing of transactions between related entities. If the amount paid exceeded the arm's length price to an unrelated entity, the excess paid would be disallowed. Don't see why a lawsuit or arbitration wouldn't comfortably settle this in favour of the actor (and yes, I am an accountant)😁

"It's one banana, Michael. How much could it cost? $10?" -Lucile Bluth

How expensive are your bananas!!!

Seeing a typo in the description blows my mind, you actually retype each one instead of copy pasting them?

It is sad that this is also how the music industry works - labels usually force artists to pay exorbiant fees to rent studios that they own, even if the actual cost is nowhere near that high, just so that they can make more money...

''It's more about accounting... goodbye everyone'' Me an accountant: a mere mortal dares challenge me?!

There is no video on this website that defines an accountant this accurately.

Hollywood "accounting" at its finest.

1:10 If you open subtitles, when HAI is saying "Dashlane", the subtitles say "Brilliant"

They probably lost the money by hosting those large Quidditch games just like every nation lost money hosting Olympics

That sounds illegal. Isn't this technically scamming?

Imagine having bought IMDbPro for a one second shot for one video...

That is why actors today ask for a percent of gross revenue. You are welcome An Accountant.

“Most people don’t like giving money to other people” Mr beast: am I a joke to you?

that why u need to ask for the % of what the film makes not in profit

1:22 I mean it's just a banana, Micheal! What would it cost? $10??

Hai : Ok so this video isn't about Harry Potter Me : Ok, so it's about bricks isn't it? Hai : Accounting Me : Quaking!!!

Seeing how the Harry Potter series is 8 movies long, and the actors were somewhat aware that there was always going to be another movie, why did none of them ever refuse to act in the following movies until Warner Brothers stopped doing this? Did they just not take notice of the million they were missing out on? Or did they only have this deal for like the last 2 movies?

I literally had no idea this was even possible 💀 rich people / companies are always finding ways to get richer (in kinda shady ways)

Fun fact: Harry Potter all started with JK Rowling getting a suggestion from her viewers. If you want to help HAI start a multi-billion dollar franchise, suggest an HAI topic here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUdlvw6YgU44J8AnM2U_ZvRMyvh_CUM51LYSqF5nYJB9d1-w/viewform?usp=sf_link If we use yours, we’ll reward you with one whole free T-shirt.

Lucille- It’s a banana, Michael.What could it cost? Ten dollars? Michael- You’ve never BEEN to a grocery store, have you, Mom?

Bananas? Where are you getting the bananas, Starbucks?

As a public accountant: NOT ALL OF US ARE TAX ACCOUNTANTS 😤

"You've never been in a super market, have you?"

The Arrested Development reference is so subtle. Love it.

Usually I loathe stock images/video, but I'll make an exception for 3:05 😂 They are having way too much fun haha

4:57 sounds like a good way to get scammed imo

RIP David Prowse 1935-2020

1:21 "It's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?"

1:22 who’s buying bananas at $10 a pop 😳 I’m tryna sell them some bananas 🤣

At about 1:06 the caption says brilliant but the narration says dashlane. War of the sponsors! Edit: timestamp

I'm an accountant and I'm watching this two months after this was uploaded. Corporate slavery season is absolutely right on the money.

I am SO fascinated by everything related to Hollywood Accounting. The first time I learned about the very basics of it, my jaw hit the floor.

“This video is really about Accounting” Me, An Accountant: Happiness Noise

Was caught off guard by the subtle “How much does a banana cost, Michael? $10?” reference. But man did I enjoy that.

disney: * writes this idea down *

In the cartoon Freakazoid, the title character teaches an alien about the ways of Earth. In one clip, he says, "Always ask for a piece of the gross. Never the net. The net is fantasy."

that's why you negotiate on gross profit. the first sales job i did paid the commission part of my salary this way. in fact the boss said to me in the interview, "you must be driven by commission". i am sure more experienced actors have caught on and will negotiate this way moving forward. which side gives in will then be based on game theory and how confident each side is that the other needs them more.

I'm here for the accounting. You almost lost me with the (what I assume was) Harry Potter stuff at the beginning.

Was that a Tool reference? - "Lie cheat and steal"

Phoenix actors: So how much money did you make? WB: Yes.

One of the saddest cases is the writer of Forrest Gump. He never saw a penny from the movie because it has never turned a profit.

1:23 what the hell is your countries economy? In the UK I can get at least 38 for $10 (£7.68) Or, am I missing a joke?

Friend: Ok don’t watch HAI anymore they use false facts and... HAI: 4:54

Where do you buy your stock footage? Honest question, really want the answer.

Literally had to stop and rewind the video because I was so distracted by the stock footage of the boardroom moneyfight

“It’s a banana Michael. What could it cost? Ten dollars?” I love that arrested development joke - thanks HAI for making my day :)

4:27 damn you. i was just about to make that comment

*In Creed’s voice* Oh you're paying too much for bananas man. Who's your banana guy?

If you have ever wondered how companies offshore profits it is through this practice called transfer pricing. This is what Facebook is in court for. They are basically licensing their brand to Facebook Ireland. You want revenues to be sourced in a low tax environment and expenses to be sourced in a high tax local. So this means FB California records an expense and FB Dublin records a revenue. This is perfectly legal and actually does have a sound accounting and business basis but where companies go wrong is when they make the agreements too generous with terms that no company in the free market would ever agree to if it was an arms length transaction. The Harry Potter movies are doing this not to avoid taxes but rather to avoid paying profit participants. But the practice can be used for a variety of purposes. The smart celebs know not to ask for a share of the profits but a share of the revenues. Of course since studios are releasing movies directly to streaming, celebs are not making money on their cut of the gross deals. This is what Scarlett Johansson is suing over. She's the most prominent one but lots of them are suing over this. Not sure I have much sympathy for Radcliff since his agent should have told him up front about Hollywood accounting. Of course if he dropped out of the movies, there's a good chance they could have replaced him with another actor and the franchise would have been just fine. If he had demanded a percent of the gross they probably would have told him no thanks.

Ah yes, something I think about every day, thank you half as interesting

*_searches up “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix inc._* (I got the Wikipedia page for the film)

"Just enough to buy... a banana" Boyyy what bananas you buying?

"$10 just about enough to buy a banana" Is that an Arrested development reference I see there?

When you said accounting I almost clicked off the video but, the clever joke made me stay and watch the whole video

Me: watches this during my lunch break at my accounting firm...

At 3:24, you are looking at the P&L not a balance sheet.

Actors (agents) began negotiating for "points" (percentage of profits) when they were not especially rich, by California standards; it's a tl;dr complicated story, but it has to do with the old "studio system" the actors had to work under and what happened when it faded out. Might be a good video in there, while you're on the topic.

A L O H O M O R E M O N E Y

"Cats" (2019) was made on a budget of $95 million, and when you add in the cost of marketing, it easily goes way over 100 million. It made a pathetic *$ 27 million* at the US box office over an *eight week run.* Slice that up, Hollywood Accountants. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog made twice as much in its *opening weekend.*

In other words, never ask for a percentage of the net profits; ask for a percentage of ticket sales.

And this is why (knowing) actors now negotiate for a percentage of the gross, plus back-end from the studio directly; so they actually get paid money. A percentage of the **net** will mean they always lose, but a percentage of the gross is built into the distribution up front.

"people like having money and don't like giving it to other people" Eeeeeeh? The entire point of money is to exchange it with other people for goods and services. If you don't give your money away, it just becomes useless paper.

Am I the only weird person that says "Hai!" immediately after every "slash H A I" on every video? It's kinda compulsive.

The same method big companies used as not to pay taxes with shell companies and royalties.

HAI: It’s about accounting, goodbye everyone Me, an accountant: It’s free real estate

Lol I was just reading Harry Potter

While we’re at it, here’s my advice for Harry Potter fans: read the books, they’re *much* better. I am not lying. Read the books.

I've noticed that trend towards every movie getting its own production company. But this doesn't quite explain that phenomenon just yet: Why create a new company foe every movie? What would be the problem with just having one shell company that handles all productions?

That's why the smart/powerful actors in movie franchises get "gross" percentages in their contracts. They get their money based on top line dollars revenue. Vin Diesel for Furious 7 and Harrison Ford for The Force Awakens.