Roundtable: 6 Top Producers on 'Entourage' Salaries, 'Fifty Shades' Backlash and Appeasing Directors

DE LUCA: Yeah, Boogie Nights scored horribly. They recruit for these [test screenings] off a paragraph [synopsis] in the mall, and the paragraph for Boogie Nights made it look like a sitcom, and then they come for this three-hour exegesis on existential crises in porn. It got to a point where Bob Shaye, my old boss, chased good scores on that movie, and that movie was never going to score high.

WAHLBERG: I remember [he did] his own cut.


WAHLBERG: I was starting to think, "F---, I should have done Starship Troopers." (Laughter.)

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WILLIAMS: And yet screenings aren't just [about] the score. We must have screened The Butler 70 times. A lot changed, namely tone. Lee Daniels is a certain director, and the movie needed to be PG-13, and he is [in] more of an R-rated world. And the movie started out as two hours and 46 minutes, so it was really useful to know [what might be cut]. I see those as a tool -- and if screenings are used as a hammer, that's the wrong tool.

WAHLBERG: I did a test screening in New Jersey once, and it's New Jersey. The guy goes, "Why the f--- isn't Joe Pesci in this f---ing movie?" It may have been The Fighter. I'm not sure. But if you have a smaller movie that's not working, and you need [the studio's] support, you really need those numbers.

One last question. It's a very competitive marketplace for material. What's your pitch? What is your ace in the hole when you want something?

DE LUCA: I try not to slime other people in my pitch.

GARDNER: You have to listen to the author. You have to listen to what they say, at least create the space to have a conversation. They have opinions about how they want their material adapted.

HEYMAN: And ultimately, they'll go to the person who they feel is best for them.

WILLIAMS: All you can do is lead with your passion and what your vision is.

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