Going for the Oscar: When do you make those bets? "It depends on the odds and the potential of a win," the producer says. "There's a list of things we're willing to bet on (like who will win the Academy Award for best picture). "We were actually able to make bets on what was going to win in (the 2006 season of) Project Runway because we had a lot of money riding on the final winner. We're also willing to bet big, especially when the odds are good. We'll bet you $100 against $5 when you get a 20 to 1 shot." The producer says the first film he got was in 1982. "It's a movie called 'Starstruck,' about a guy who inherits his father's fortune by winning a bet. So I'm the lucky heir. I went to (studio) Universal and said, 'You don't know me from a bar of soap but you're about to make a movie called 'Starstruck' and I would like to be in it.' It's now in my movie collection. But there have been about 250 bets I've been involved with in my life." "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." —1 Timothy 6:10 Producer Bob Weinstein's Money Shot: "The number one reason why we do it is to try to have a connection with what we're trying to do. If we're really passionate about a film, if we really want to make a great picture, we will try to stretch that money out longer and longer until we can find a way to make the picture." He was forced to do it again when one of his movies, "The Devil Wears Prada," went off in a different direction and his deal was up. "We had just lost 'Rambo' and we couldn't afford to go to the public for the next movie. We said, 'If we need to go to New Line for $50 million, we will. Because we've got to get 'Prada' out.'" "One of the worst things you can do is come back empty-handed." —Horace "There's always good money in bad pictures." —Bob Shaye Producer Bob Weinstein's Bid: A lowball bid is not a bid. "They used to bid for me. I don't like to use that expression. It makes me think of people (like them) when I think of Hollywood. We were (the studio) that people like to call. 'Oooh, we love them, we love them, they're so great.' And then they do the money grab with (their) lowball offer." "It's a dog eat dog world. . . . Sometimes things don't happen for you. It's only money and power, that's it. Money can't buy you everything, but it will buy you the one thing in life you want." —Jerry Garcia Producer Bob Weinstein's Money Shot: "What does it take to get in? You need to have enough capital to back yourself. You need to have the expertise. If you're getting the deal, but it is just a lot of stress and a lot of stress on the other side. There's no way to tell. It's not like, hey, don't worry about the money because if you don't have it, you're going to lose." Money can't buy you love but it can buy you a yacht . . . Producer Bob Weinstein's Bid: "We always say the deal is the deal, and a lowball bid is never a bid. Even though they have to pay (his price), it doesn't matter, because you're paying anyway. The price (they offer) doesn't matter, unless it's $300 million, then you better pay that if you want to get the deal. (An offer) has to be so compelling that (a distributor) can't not make the deal." "The bottom line is that if you own it, you make money. If you lease it, you take money. I think there's a way to make money on movies, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I want to make a movie like an investor would make a movie. I'm really not interested in making a lot of money. I'd like to make a lot of money, but I want to make it through the way I have to make it, and not based on my personal investment. I think there's nothing wrong with that. There's no such thing as a real fair share of revenue." —Michael Eisner "All my life, it has been my privilege to be a student of the law. Some of our richest blessings are of a negative kind. You know, I don't know if you can ever get rich enough to pay your taxes." —Bob Dylan "I have never made a deal for millions of dollars. It would be illegal for me to make a deal for millions of dollars." —Nelson Mandela A Good Business Decision "I never knew there was a deal and (a buyout) wasn't a deal. That made me feel a little bit better. It is always easier to say no to someone than it is to explain why no is not an option. If you want to be in the movie business, you've got to be prepared for those kinds of situations." "I can only think of one deal that I felt I had to walk away from. That was the (buyout) with Michael (Eisner)." —Gerry Hambling "You know why I'm not worried? Because we'd already done a buyout of the company, the studio. We'd already had our conversation. . . . I came to work one morning and I met with Bob. And he said, 'We're buying you out of the company.' I said, 'I knew it.' And he was looking at me and I said, 'How much did we do?' And he said, 'We're $200 million in the hole. So we're buying you out for $200 million.' " "You don't always have a choice about a lot of stuff in life. (Being bought out) wasn't a decision I had a lot of control over. I wanted to stay here. I wanted to help build this company. . . . It was a horrible day in the middle of a great company. But it is what it is. You know, you make the decisions you're faced with." —Eli Roth "When someone asks me how I became a director, I always say, 'I became a director by failing.' I've never been able to develop anything. My movies have been my salvation. All those movies I never intended to make. That was a way to get them on screen. When the movie was done, I could go back to other stuff." —Tim Burton The Worst Deal of the Century? In the spring of 1994, there was more bad news from the home office at Disney (DIS) . . . It was already the worst deal ever—but it was about to get worse. Disney was taking The Walt Disney Company (DIS) private, and there was going to be a big drop in stock price. At the time, Disney stock traded for $35 a share and was trading on the New York Stock Exchange. As of September 21, 1994, the shares were down 17 percent. The stock had already fallen 9 percent from the spring of that year. Disney blamed a general slump in the stock market and blamed it on nothing. It was only after it was forced to restate earnings and the stock went into a free fall that Disney admitted there were problems. With the addition of a $57 million loss in its third-quarter financial results, there was a total loss of $33 million from the second quarter of 1994. The board of directors had been meeting since June and approved the sale of Disney's ABC television network (Walt Disney Television and Radio) and its publishing businesses for $5.3 billion, the largest sale in history at that time. The deal fell through because of a $50 million loss on a debt in one division of the company. By September, Disney's sales had fallen from $6 billion in 1993 to $4.5 billion. The new deal was called the Disney LBO. Disney's chairman, Michael Eisner, blamed the previous CEO Michael Ovitz and the division heads—all of whom he now fired—for driving the stock down in a price war. He blamed the media for not helping the company to boost its stock price. The new CEO, Bob Iger, said the plan was a good one but it would still hurt the company's stock because there was no real growth in the company. The deal was done by Disney's new board of directors, which was made up of eight investment bankers, including Ivan Seidenberg, the chairman of Travelers (TRV). The only employee to vote against the takeover plan was Michael Goldstein, who has been with the company since 1969. He refused to sell his shares until Disney agreed to not take the company private. In early 1995, Eisner took another stab at it. His new deal is called the Capital Purchase Program (CPP). He sold $800 million in Disney stock at $14 a share and got $14 billion. However, in 2001, he had to raise $2.