Why some candidates run.

“ Bialystock: You were saying that under the right circumstances, a producer could make more money with a flop than he could with a hit.

Bloom: Yes, it's quite possible.

Bialystock: You keep saying that, but you don't tell me how. How could a producer make more money with a flop than with a hit?

Bloom: It's simply a matter of creative accounting. Let us assume, just for the moment, that you are a dishonest man.

Bialystock: Assume away!

Bloom: Well, it's very easy. You simply raise more money than you really need.

Bialystock: What do you mean?

Bloom: You've done it yourself, only you did it on a very small scale.

Bialystock: What did I do?

Bloom: You raised two thousand more than you needed to produce your last play.

Bialystock: So what? What did it get me? I'm wearing a cardboard belt.

Bloom: Ahhhhhh! But that's where you made your error. You didn't go all the way. You see, if you were really a bold criminal, you could have raised a million.

Bialystock: But the play only cost $60,000 to produce.

Bloom: Exactly. And how long did it run?

Bialystock: One night.

Bloom: See? You could have raised a million dollars, put on a sixty thousand dollar flop and kept the rest.

Bialystock: But what if the play was a hit?

Bloom: Oh, you'd go to jail. If the play were a hit, you'd have to pay off the backers, and with so many backers there could never be enough profits to go around, get it?

Bialystock: Aha, aha, aha, aha, aha, aha!! So, in order for the scheme to work, we'd have to find a sure fire flop.”