Poky Stick, the 2nd of June's films, was made for approximately $150k and managed to sell in the US market for $50k. Because June's first film was made for approximately $400k and sold for $5k, this was a resounding success as far as June is concerned.

I don't have any answers for this hypothetical but I will point out that June is in the right for celebrating the lesser losses from her second film. If she's bankrolling these films and is progressively losing less money, she likely assumes that she'll one day reach a break even and be profitable. -at this rate it may take 20 movies, but hey... she's committed to being in the industry. Now, you work in a highly subjective industry and obviously such projections are dangerous but still, I can see why she considers it a "success" -perhaps not "resoundingly" so.

But if I were someone working for her, I would fight for my money without losing site of the fact that this women clearly has unwavering aspirations, seems to be losing less money each film and may one day prove a viable revenue stream for me. But then, even a blind squirrel can lose slightly less money than they did the first time.

Long story short, I've had a few drinks and the words are wobbly :) You're a smart guy, you don't need my advice.