In Mel Brooks’ brilliant 1968 movie, “The Producers,” a timid accountant named Leo Bloom (played by Gene Wilder), off-handedly suggests that his client, Broadway producer Max Bialystock (played by Zero Mostel), could actually make more money by producing failures than hits. By overselling investment interests in truly bad plays, a short-running failure would leave the producer with excess cash, which he could theoretically pocket (instead of refunding), with no one the wiser. Of course, the one fly in the ointment, Bloom advises Bialystock, would be if the play were to succeed. In that instance, everyone would go to jail.
