Money Also Walks

First-time film director Brett Ratner knows as well as anyone that money talks. In fact, it gives him a means of expressing himself in ways that most of us can’t even imagine.

When Ratner wanted to catch a Mike Tyson bout, he didn’t order it on Pay-Per-View. He didn’t even fly first class to Vegas.

He rented a Gulfstream plane with leopard-print carpeting at a cost of $10,000 a day and flew himself and a few friends--including director Quentin Tarantino, actress Mira Sorvino and her father, Paul, comedian Chris Tucker and Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons--to the fight.

“OK, so I wanted to spoil myself,” Ratner said.

But Ratner, 26, whose first feature directing effort, “Money Talks,” opened last month to decent reviews and a respectable gross ($10.7 million in its first weekend), knows that in Hollywood, the wunderkind of today can easily find his phone calls unreturned tomorrow.

“This type of business is especially cyclical. . . . One year is a good year, but the next year might not be as good,” Ratner acknowledged.

So far, it looks as if Ratner has yet to experience the downside of Hollywood life. He recently signed a two-year first-look deal--Hollywood-speak for giving a studio first right of refusal on the projects that you’d like to produce--with New Line Cinema to produce and direct for them. The deal, according to Ratner, includes “a substantial fee” for each project of his it accepts, along with profit participation.

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Ratner, whose directing career began a few years ago with music videos, is now preparing to enter pre-production on his next film for New Line, “Rush Hour,” starring Jackie Chan. The first official project under his new contract with New Line will be “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie,” a remake of the 1976 John Cassavetes film that Ratner will produce as well as direct.

In addition, Ratner arranged late last year for his music video production company, Rat Productions Inc., to join up with Giddens, Marshall & Short Productions, forming a relationship that gives him a share of the firm’s music video net profit. So far this year, the division has grossed between $8 million and $9 million, firm partner John Marshall said.

Ratner also has a recording arm, Rat Records Inc., that’s producing the debut album of the alternative pop group 1,000 Clowns, which will be released by Capitol Records Inc. later this year. “If it sells a million copies, I’ll be enormously wealthy,” noted Ratner, who also will receive a cut from the “Money Talks” soundtrack.

And, proving that he can think as synergistically as any mega-corporation, Ratner is currently in final negotiations with Capitol for soundtracks on his future films and with Loud/RCA Records to produce comedy albums.

In short, at an age when most of his contemporaries in the biz are serving apprenticeships as personal assistants or low-rung staffers, Ratner is threatening to become his own cottage industry.

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Ratner was a 16-year-old from Miami when he enrolled in New York University’s film school, where he met up with Simmons and Rick Rubin just as they founded Def Jam. Watching the duo build a rap music empire turned out to be quite an education.

“Film school teaches you how to make films; it doesn’t teach you how to get a job,” Ratner said. “I knew I had to make relationships . . . and I realized that these people aren’t out of reach, and that actually the bigger they are, the more accessible they are.”

When Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy--whom Ratner had met through Simmons--asked him to direct a video for them in 1993, Ratner jumped at the chance.

But, having seen through Def Jam what an entrepreneur determined to build success on success can do, he knew he didn’t want to be just another director working for just another production company.

Independent music video directors traditionally receive 10% of the cost of the video as their fee. For example, if a video costs $50,000 to produce, $5,000 of that is the director’s pay. Moreover, music videos, unlike films, can be produced in a matter of days.

But the rewards can be significantly greater if you own the production company, something Ratner realized early on. Almost immediately, he set up Rat Productions, initially running it out of his New York City apartment.

Before he knew it, Ratner had several employees--including some longtime friends--and was hiring other directors to shoot music videos as he turned his attention to television commercials. Yet directing movies remained his ultimate goal.

“See, I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I didn’t stop,” Ratner said. “I was relentless and I did what I wanted to do. And I always talked about it. I told everyone I wanted to be a director, even when I wasn’t a director. “

Although Ratner admits to a love of spending his considerable earnings, he’s nevertheless taking steps toward lifetime financial security, both for himself personally and for his business.

Currently, Ratner’s investment portfolio and personal day-to-day money management are handled by Altman, Greenfield & Selvaggi.

Ratner admits he chose the group partly because he finds its business statements very easy to read. “The more simple a statement is, the easier it is for me to understand,” he said. “I’m a kindergartner when it comes to numbers.”

Ratner describes his investment strategy as “conservative, conservative,” with a large percentage of his funds in U.S. Treasury securities. But he also keeps some of his money in individual stocks, choosing to invest in companies whose products he’s familiar with, either through his work or personal pursuits.

As a result, Ratner’s portfolio includes Eastman Kodak Co., “because there’s always going to be movies made,” and Motorola Inc., because “I use my cell phone more than anyone I know.”

However, Ratner isn’t invested in very many stock mutual funds, and said he is beginning to wonder if he should start altering his portfolio a bit. “The money I’m saving can stand to have more risk,” Ratner said. Although Ratner should probably assume less risk than another person his age on a more predictable career path.

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Not that Ratner lets the occasional worry about his financial future prevent him from enjoying his money.

He’s currently renting a rambling 2,700-square-foot house with a pool on an acre in the Hollywood Hills, but he says he’s in the market to buy: “I’d rather put the money into a mortgage,” he said.

He considers restaurants his great indulgence, often treating groups of friends to meals at Mr. Chow, the pricey Beverly Hills dining spot.

He admits to a few other expensive whims. Not only does he collect black-and-white photographs by artists such as Annie Leibovitz from Fahey/Klein Gallery on La Brea Avenue, he also spends freely on photography books, recently running up a $7,000 tab at Arcana Books on the Arts, on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Ratner also just purchased a new Mercedes, and he buys his couches at Shabby Chic, a furniture emporium on Santa Monica’s high-end Montana Avenue. Nor does he stint when it comes to his fiancee, “Beverly Hills 90210” actress Rebecca Gayheart, recently buying her some diamonds.

Ratner admitted that his fiancee keeps a closer grip on her day-to-day spending. “She never spends a penny of her money,” he said, laughing. “She’s just the opposite of me.”

Ratner, however, claims that, his indulgences aside, he’s quite aware of the dangers of success at such a tender age.

“Money allows you to enjoy life, but it’s also a thing that can take you overboard.”

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Helaine Olen is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. She can be reached on the Internet at holen@aol.com