Not Just the Beatles

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If the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein had understood this principle, he could have made the Fab Four millions more on their first movie. United Artists wanted to cash in on the popularity of the singing group, but was reluctant to go out on a limb because the studio didn’t know how long the Beatles would be popular. They could have been a fleeting success that fizzled out before their movie hit the screens. They planned it as an inexpensively made exploitation movie, and budgeted only $300,000 to make it. This was clearly not enough to pay the Beatles a high salary, so United Artists planned to offer the Beatles as much as 25 percent of the profits. The Beatles were such a worldwide sensation in 1963 that the producer was very reluctant to ask them to name their price first, but he had the courage to stay with the rule. He offered Epstein $25,000 up front and asked him what percentage of the profits he thought would be fair.

Brian Epstein didn’t know the movie business and should have been smart enough to play Reluctant Buyer (see Chapter 5) and use Good Guy/Bad Guy (see Chapter 14). He should have said, “I don’t think they’d be interested in taking the time to make a movie, but if you’ll give me your very best offer, I’ll take it to them and see what I can do for you with them.” Instead, his ego wouldn’t let him play dumb (see Chapter 27), so he assertively stated that they would have to get 7.5 percent of the profits or they wouldn’t do it. This slight tactical error cost the group millions when director Richard Lester, to every one’s surprise, created A Hard Day’s Night, a brilliantly humorous portrait of a day in the group’s life, became a worldwide success.