Not a "Hollywood" trope as we usually use it: Hollywood Accounting

Most of our Hollywood Style tropes refer to places where film deviates from reality (and frequently common sense as well) - things that are blatantly wrong yet protected by The Coconut Effect. Hollywood Accounting, however, describes a very real phenomenon - the trope is not about "this is how Hollywood depicts accounting and why it's unrealistic," but rather "this is how studios weasel out of paying percentages by grossly overstating expenses."

Now, the trope name itself has merit, since it's what The Other Wiki calls it, but this might work better as a Useful Notes page or some such.

Well, it is hard to imagine something that departs more from reality than Hollywood Accounting.

Hollywood Accounting Practices would work. Or Hollywood Accounting Tricks, since most of them are fairly underhanded.

edited 9th Jul '11 3:59:49 PM by Madrugada

There is now a single proposition rename crowner about this trope here. Given that it has not been used that much and that I believe the name could be confusing in light of the other Hollywood tropes, I would like to see it renamed.

edited 9th Jul '11 4:05:03 PM by LouieW

I think it would be better to move it into Useful Notes and not rename it.

Calling it UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting could be considered a rename.

Okay then, if Hollywood Accounting is on the table, I'm cool with a rename. Another question, wouldn't this be more of a Trivia thing anyway?

I agree this is not really a trope, it is trivia.

Rename, move to Useful Notes or both?

The crowner has been up for nearly 3 months, and there's a strong consensus to rename it. I'm calling it, and making an page action crowner for the new name and whether to move it to Useful notes or not.

edited 28th Sep '11 9:47:14 AM by Madrugada

I've mostly just seen it called "Hollywood Accounting". As Ryusui pointed out in post 1, "Hollywood Accounting" is what the other wiki calls it. At the very least, I think we need UsefulNotes.Hollywood Accounting to be a redirect, but I think it's best as the main name.

Note: I also think there's a trope in there. Works about the movie industry often feature this. But the trope can be called something else and YKTTW'd separately, so I'm not particularly concerned about that. Just wanted to mention it.

Hollywood Accounting is a real term.

Complaining that this isn't like "Hollywood" tropes is like complaining that A Certain Magical Index isn't an index.

But is it just limited to Hollywood?

I'm more curious as to why this is an article at all. It seems more like something informing the production of media rather than a storytelling device used in media. Even as a Useful Notes, it's only relevant to this wiki if it's something that gets brought up in the works. How much J Michael Straczynski got paid for Babylon Five has nothing whatsoever to do with our mission.

edited 29th Sep '11 11:26:18 AM by Fighteer

Now if there are In-Universe examples of this, or something like it...

There aren't, at least not in the current examples list, of which we have all of six. Wick check?

Edit: Okay, I'm back. There is one wick from an actual In-Universe example — that being a Show Within a Show in Bowfinger, which is not on the "trope" page. The other work wick is from Babylon Five, presumably the Straczynski thing. All other wicks are from tropes.

edited 29th Sep '11 11:41:00 AM by Fighteer

I meant "are" as in "exiting" rather than "listed". I meant let's see if we can find examples of a company using shoddy accounting to screw people out of money.

Umm... wow. That might take us a while. How wide a net do you want to cast — corrupt financiers making life tough for people is an incredibly common theme. But that's not really what this article is about — maybe we could start a Cheap Accounting Tricks article about in-universe "not-quite-cheating with money".

edited 29th Sep '11 11:44:51 AM by Fighteer

Yeah, that's not really what this trope is talking about. This is a much more specific thing.

Well we either broaden it, or cut and make a new trope in ykttw.

Or we turn it into a Useful Notes page. Which is what we're planning on doing and makes the most sense. It effects the production of media and thus fits what Useful Notes is for.

edited 29th Sep '11 11:52:21 AM by shimaspawn

Some pointed out this barely fits even that.

At best it's Trivia. But we deliberately do not talk about things like actors' salaries, box office receipts, and that kind of stuff, which it seems like this would easily fall into.

Well in universe versions should at least be a trope, even if not this one.

So we should YKTTW Cheap Accounting Tricks, then.

~6 weeks on the crowner. Top result is UsefulNotes.Hollywood Accounting at 12 to 2.

Second place is UsefulNotes.Hollywood Accounting Practices at 8 to 4.

edit : everything is moved over.

edited 10th Nov '11 9:01:24 PM by Zyffyr