“The deals are now so convoluted,” says a top producer. “Gone are the days when you had a Scorsese and he always got his quote. Seldom do you see anyone get their quote anymore.” It happens — Christopher Nolan is said to be getting $20?million upfront and 20 percent of the gross for his upcoming World War II epic Dunkirk, the richest deal since Peter Jackson got the same for King Kong. But even a director as esteemed as David Fincher can find himself getting nickeled and dimed when a studio is less certain of a project’s future; Fincher lost Steve Jobs to Danny Boyle because he wouldn’t back down from his $10 million asking price (plus, he wanted control of marketing). The average director salary for a studio film is in the $750,000 to $1.5 million range, depending on the number of past credits. As a second-time feature filmmaker, Angelina Jolie got $1 million for Universal’s Unbroken. But Sam Taylor-Johnson, who had directed several films before Fifty Shades of Grey, received more than double Jolie’s fee for the S&M picture. Lately, the studios are pushing for smaller upfront fees in exchange for more generous backend (after the film hits cash break-even, of course). “That’s the big trend — the increasing distinction between what a director gets upfront and the overall payout,” says the same producer. But, as The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel’s lawsuit against The?Weinstein Co. illustrates, those deals are filled with pitfalls. Frankel claims he cut his directing fee of $6?million to $1.2 million to direct the 2013 opera comedy One Chance in exchange for a larger slice of the gross. But TWC barely released the film — it made a total of $90,000 in the U.S. — leaving Frankel short $4.8 million.