Producer of Oscar-Winning Film is Flat Broke

Posted on March 10, 2006

How's this for a bummer? Independent producer Cathy Schulman won the Best Picture Oscar for Crash last Sunday night, so you'd think she's be on top of the world, right? Nope, she's actually flat broke.

It's been a bumpy ride. Accepting the fifth best picture Oscar ever awarded to a woman, independent producer Cathy Schulman landed on the stage of Hollywood's Kodak Theater on Sunday along with writer-director Paul Haggis as one of the credited producers of "Crash."
But while Schulman, 40, has a lot for which to be grateful, including a supportive husband of 12 years and a 5-year-old daughter, she can't entirely savor her win. She still faces a court fight against producer Bob Yari, who is furious that he was deprived of the chance for his own moment onstage because of rulings by the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And at what should be a career pinnacle, Schulman finds herself flat broke. "I have the interesting distinction of having made five movies in a row without ever being paid," she says. "I can't pay my bills."
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In the end, Schulman sees her "battle wounds as badges of honor," saying: "It's been a hard battle to succeed in this crazy career as a female indie producer. It was the greatest reward to end up with an Academy Award. 'Crash' is amongst 78 other movies that are considered American classics. I feel proud that this amazing exploration of fear made people feel something about the lives they are living, all over the world."

People magazine has the entire (quite interesting) story of her rise (she was making $600K per year at one point) and fall into financial disaster, but the bottom line seems to be this: she's a brilliant producer but needs to hire a brilliant lawyer immediately. On several big films, she let an investor talk her into "waiving her fee for now" with the oral promise that they'd take care of her later.

We think it's time she started getting those producing fees up front with a nice percentage of the gross on the back end.