“We’re in debt. You’ve gotta get a job.”136 On September 28, Coppola signed the deal with Paramount to direct The Godfather, with production to begin in the spring of 1971. He was offered $75,000 to direct it, plus 6 percent of the profits—not much, especially if the film didn’t work, and given that Coppola was a lavish spender.137 “It takes no imagination to live within your means,” Coppola liked to say.138 But it was a job.
