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This made me look up what Andrew Niccol has been up to since. He had a terrific start to his career, writing and directing Gattaca and also writing The Truman S

This made me look up what Andrew Niccol has been up to since. He had a terrific start to his career, writing and directing Gattaca and also writing The Truman Show. But since then he seems to have fallen into a slump, directing just a handful of poorly reviewed movies in the span of 26 years. (The exception is Lord of War, which, while not a masterpiece, was quite enjoyable at the time, and has one of the most memorable opening sequences of any movie.) This also made me think about what people like him do in the time in between. How are they earning a living? Some directors and screenwriters have gaps lasting 5-10 years between each movie they make. Much of the time must be spent trying to get projects off the ground, but who's footing the bill?

kqr2 4y ago
Not sure if this is accurate: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/andrew-niccol-net-worth/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/direct... But claims his net worth is $14 million.
- Sebguer 4y ago
  These sites are complete dross.
pmoriarty 4y ago
His film In Time[1] was also pretty decent, though not as good as Gattaca, imo. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time
TigeriusKirk 4y ago
They're largely living off money from past films. Residuals help, but it's mostly the paychecks. Screenwriting is somewhat unusual, though, in that the official credits for a film don't always represent every writer who got paid for the project. There's a whole complicated thing with establishing who gets credit and who doesn't. Union arbitration can be involved, and so on. There's often a lot of intermediate drafts that don't lead to credit but nonetheless earn big paychecks for the writers. And of course writers are often paid for scripts that never get made at all. The big win is writing a huge hit that earns substantial residuals for years, but there's a lot of money made at levels below that too. As for who is footing that bill, it's the producers/studios.

kqr2 4y ago

Not sure if this is accurate: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/directors/andrew-niccol-net-worth/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/direct... But claims his net worth is $14 million.

Sebguer 4y ago
These sites are complete dross.

pmoriarty 4y ago

His film In Time[1] was also pretty decent, though not as good as Gattaca, imo. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time

TigeriusKirk 4y ago

They're largely living off money from past films. Residuals help, but it's mostly the paychecks. Screenwriting is somewhat unusual, though, in that the official credits for a film don't always represent every writer who got paid for the project. There's a whole complicated thing with establishing who gets credit and who doesn't. Union arbitration can be involved, and so on. There's often a lot of intermediate drafts that don't lead to credit but nonetheless earn big paychecks for the writers. And of course writers are often paid for scripts that never get made at all. The big win is writing a huge hit that earns substantial residuals for years, but there's a lot of money made at levels below that too. As for who is footing that bill, it's the producers/studios.