10 Ingenious Ways Film Directors Beat The Studio
1. Alfred Hitchcock Shot The Film On A Rival Studio Lot With His Own Money - Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the shrewdest filmmakers the industry has ever seen, but his most brilliantly Machiavellian achievement might well be how he ingeniously schemed Psycho into existence.
It's no secret that Paramount didn't want Hitchcock to make the film in the first place, feeling the source novel was "too repulsive."
Hitchcock bought the rights to the book anyway, but Paramount held firm, refusing to stump up the usual $3-4 million budget Hitch's films commanded.
Never one to be deterred, Hitch fought back, making a series of concessions which ultimately ended up elevating the film: he agreed to shoot in black-and-white and self-finance the project on a budget of just $806,947.
Even then, Paramount still tried to talk the director out of it, insisting that they didn't have any spare soundstages where Psycho could be filmed.
And at this point Hitch pulled out his masterstroke: he agreed to shoot the film on a lot owned by rival studio Universal-International, in turn only requiring Paramount to distribute the film.
Hitch also waived his $250,000 director's fee, instead agreeing to receive a 60% stake in the film negative, which naturally proved far more lucrative soon enough.
Hitch just kept trivialising Paramount's risk and exposure until they couldn't really say no to a director of his repute, and it sure as hell paid off.