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J.J. Abrams Declined Apple's $500 Million Offer Because it Would Have Restricted Bad Robot Productions to Apple TV+
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No you’re not. You’re upset that Apple didn’t get what they wanted.
I find the number thrown out to be a bit dubious — mainly because there's an ocean of difference between $250 and $500 million. If Apple was truly offering a quarter billion over the final market price, even with exclusivity, they were overpaying by an unfathomable amount. As much as people like to imagine that everyone in Hollywood is obscenely rich owing to deals precisely like this, a contract of that size for future considerations is an absurd proposition, even by industry standards. The only way that number makes any sense is if Apple also got hold of Bad Robot's back catalogue, which is likely parceled out among its various distributors. It's not like BR could simply hand them LOST outright. So I suspect this number may have been inflated somewhere in the "source" chain, or not reflective of the complete terms of Apple's deal.
That said, I don't fault Abrams at all for turning it down. It's hard to put a price on creative independence at any level, and when you reach the level of professional success that JJA has, it becomes a chief consideration. Let me tell you, few things feel better than being secure enough to turn down work in an industry where work is nearly impossible to get.
Secondly, when you're already making $250 million, another $50 million on top of that is not going to change your life to any measurable degree. Unless he plans on launching his own studio someday — which he wouldn't be able to do with an exclusivity agreement anyway — he's already got the nicest house on the block and is sending his kids (and grandkids) to the best schools, so really what's left? Take the freedom, reduce your headaches, and enjoy your life. There are waaaaaaaay worse places to end up than Warners.
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Anyone who's purchased a MacBook in the past 5 years knows that Apple doesn't care about junk; it cares about profit margins. And Abrams' movies have big ones.
That said, I don't fault Abrams at all for turning it down. It's hard to put a price on creative independence at any level, and when you reach the level of professional success that JJA has, it becomes a chief consideration. Let me tell you, few things feel better than being secure enough to turn down work in an industry where work is nearly impossible to get.
Secondly, when you're already making $250 million, another $50 million on top of that is not going to change your life to any measurable degree. Unless he plans on launching his own studio someday — which he wouldn't be able to do with an exclusivity agreement anyway — he's already got the nicest house on the block and is sending his kids (and grandkids) to the best schools, so really what's left? Take the freedom, reduce your headaches, and enjoy your life. There are waaaaaaaay worse places to end up than Warners.
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Anyone who's purchased a MacBook in the past 5 years knows that Apple doesn't care about junk; it cares about profit margins. And Abrams' movies have big ones.
A vocal minority doesn’t mean the MacBook is junk. Apple still leads in customer satisfaction, so other laptops and junk squared.
The MacBook has sold very well over the last 5 years too...I can give you the numbers if you want.
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[doublepost=1568514509][/doublepost]Good for JJ Abrams!
A new article by The Hollywood Reporter today sheds light on why director/producer J.J. Abrams declined a big deal with Apple, which would have seen his Bad Robot production company become one of the main creators for exclusive content on Apple TV+.
According to sources, Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath wanted to be able to sell Bad Robot's content to other outlets. Of course, Apple wanted the company to exclusively produce shows and movies that would only be made available on Apple TV+ and nowhere else. Ultimately, Abrams decided to stick with WarnerMedia, which offered far less than Apple.
Now that Bad Robot remains under WarnerMedia, the company is able to create shows like "Lisey's Story" and sell it out to other brands, including Apple. Abrams hopes to turn Bad Robot into a "consumer brand" in this way and get its content in front of as many people as possible, which would have been more difficult if it were locked behind the Apple TV+ exclusivity barrier.
Apple's exclusivity deal (valued in the $500 million range), also would have restricted Abrams' ability to work on outside projects under the Bad Robot umbrella for other studios, like his work on Star Trek for Paramount. Additionally, Bad Robot was concerned about Apple's lack of a clear theatrical distribution model, which the company as of yet has not needed to dabble in.
There are a multitude of other reasons that appear to have ultimately convinced Abrams to remain at WarnerMedia. These include Apple's lack of IP for him to adapt, his alleged disappointment in Apple's March media event where it introduced Apple TV+, and a disagreement on the exact valuation of Bad Robot.
J.J. Abrams is still producing many shows on Apple TV+, including "Little Voice," "My Glory Was I Had Such Friends," and the adaptation of the Stephen King novel "Lisey's Story."
Article Link: J.J. Abrams Declined Apple's $500 Million Offer Because it Would Have Restricted Bad Robot Productions to Apple TV+
What do you mean? I'm lost!Now who will they hire to write 2/3rds of a story?!
ish clearly you don't have the money for the device. Guess haters will hate.
Stop with the idiotic “can’t afford it” crap, it’s getting old.
You’re right. The MacBook has sold extremely well.
However a “vocal minority” doesn’t get a company to put out a 4 year repair program on a keyboard, failures do.
There is no way to spin that that Butterfly keyboard was a misstep by Apple.
Apple takes care of customers better than any other tech company, so they have more repair programs by default.
I disagree. IF the butterfly keyboard were such a big issue, it would have been redesigned the first opportunity. Instead, you saw it over and over again in refresh after refresh with only subtle changes. Sure, it was an issue. A show stopping widespread one? Nahhh...watch what Apple does, not what people say here.
Design flaws have to be fixed...immediately. Other things are refined and optimized over time. Like the keyboard.
Ask Samsung what happens when there is a design flaw.
Oh I’m not basing my words off of what people say here, I’m basing them off of experience with the machines themselves. More failures than I care to count.
And you’re right. We’ll see what changes the next MacBook Pro has in store.
What does Samsung and a two plus year old battery issue have to do with an ongoing Apple keyboard issue? What is it with Apple fans constantly bringing up Samsung as a defense of the garbage that Apple has put out?
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Your experience is anecdotal.
I was talking about the Galaxy Fold they yanked after starting actual orders because they released dirt could enter the fold mechanism. Thanks for reminding me they had another massive design issue.
Apple goes is big enough to offer a guy $500M, they can fix keyboards if needed. It wasn’t needed because it wasn’t widespread enough.
So they came out with a repair program why again?
Oh, right, because there weren’t any problems. Got it.
They have sold around 80M Macs in the last 4 years. If even 0.1% have the issue, that’s 80,000 Macs.
Apple would have redesigned in year 1 if this were anything significant.
As I twist famous Spock Quote here: "The needs of the many (outlets), outweigh the needs of the few, or the one (Apple)."
It may seem like a good offer, but JJ Abrams can make $500 million off one movie and potentially a few shows. Believe it for not this was not a good offer.
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