You don't have to get your money up front, you just need to make your cut part of the gross, not the net.

This type of accounting is not at all limited to Hollywood. This is basically the same thing corporate raiders like Bain Capital do.

* Buy a company on 90+% borrowed money

* Charge massive fees up front for your "expertise"

* Make yearly fees part of the deal

* Sell off pieces of the company and take a percentage on those deals

If by some chance the company still survives, your yearly fees continue. If not, you don't really care that much as you've already made a huge profit. You take that profit and use it as the 10% down on the next company you raid.

That is how Mitt Romney got to be worth $250 million while bankrupting at least as many companies as he "saved" (relative term there as who needs "saving" is VERY subjective) as head of Bain.