Question: What’s the best way to minimize the risk of long-term financial commitments and wrap up a win-win negotiation? About a decade ago in Hollywood, many negotiators thought the answer to that question was “slate deals.” In the early and mid-2000s, hedge funds and other large investors streamed into Hollywood, persuaded by the major studios that they could minimize the inherent risks of investing in films by backing a slate of several dozen movies rather than just one, write Ben Fritz and Erich Schwartzel in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.