:21:01
How can a producer
make more money with a flop...
:21:04
...than he could with a hit?
:21:06
It's simply a matter of creative accounting.
:21:09
Let's assume, just for the moment,
that you are a dishonest man.
:21:13
- Assume away.
- It's very easy.
:21:15
You simply raise
more money than you really need.
:21:18
What do you mean?
:21:20
You did it yourself,
only you did it on a very small scale.
:21:23
What'd I do?
:21:24
You raised $2,000 more than you needed
to produce your last play.
:21:28
So? What did it get me?
I'm wearing a cardboard belt!
:21:31
That's where you made your mistake.
You didn't go all the way.
:21:34
You see, if you were really a bold criminal,
you could have raised $1 million.
:21:39
But the play only cost me $60,000 to produce.
:21:42
And how long did it run?
:21:44
- One night.
- You see?
:21:45
Do you see what I'm trying to say?
:21:47
You could have raised $1 million,
put on a $60,000 flop...
:21:50
...and kept the rest.
:21:52
- But what if the play was a hit?
- Then you'd go to jail.
:21:55
Once the play's a hit,
you have to pay the backers...
:21:58
...and with so many, there could never be
enough profits to go around. Get it?
:22:06
So in order for this scheme to work...
:22:08
...we'd have to find a sure-fire flop.
:22:12
- What scheme?
- "What scheme?"
:22:14
Your scheme, you bloody little genius!
:22:17
I meant no scheme.
:22:19
I merely posed a little
academic accounting theory.
:22:22
It was just a thought.
:22:24
Worlds are turned on such thoughts.
:22:31
Don't you see, Bloom?
Darling Bloom. Glorious Bloom.
:22:35
It's so simple.
:22:36
Step one, we find the worst play in the world.
:22:39
A sure-fire flop.
:22:40
Step two, I raise $1 million.
There's a lot of old ladies in the world.
:22:44
Step three, you work on the books...
:22:47
...phony list of backers for the government.
:22:50
You can do it, Bloom. You're a wizard.
Step four, we open on Broadway.
:22:54
And before you can say "step five,"
we close on Broadway.
:22:58
Step six, we take our $1 million,
we fly to Rio de Janeiro!