Every time Tim Gunn uttered the words "make it work" during the first season of Project Runway, he was paid precisely this amount: $0. And during the second season? Just $2,500 per episode. That's according to his testimony in New York State Supreme Court, where proceedings are underway between NBC Universal and The Weinstein Company, which ripped Runway away from NBC's Bravo for Lifetime. Other tidbits from the ongoing trial? NBC chief Jeff Zucker has instructed Bravo to air marathon repeats of Runway during the same timeslot Lifetime will air new episodes of the show's sixth season. Did we mention Zucker is BFF's with Harvey Weinstein?

We will miss Portfolio's napkin math sessions when the magazine eventually closes. Last month, they calculated the net worth of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," supposedly the most profitable song ever recorded, which earned an estimated $572 million. Now, they've moved on to other pop culture fare: Project Runway. Just how much is the fashion reality show franchise worth? Well, The Weinstein Company's new deal with Lifetime pits the show at $150 million over the next five years. But if they were to sell the show? $243.5 million — the insurance policy on Heidi Klum's legs not included.

Ever since NBC Universal execs learned they would officially be losing Project Runway on Bravo, they've been working overtime to tear the brand apart. Why should they bother promoting a show that Harvey Weinstein ripped away from them to take to Lifetime, where he's set to bag a bigger payday from production and product placement fees?

At first, the negativity was subtle. Bravo execs kept quiet as they stole Runway's brilliant production team, Magical Elves, away from the show in an exclusive deal. And then the more obvious signs arrived.

Project Runway's fifth season, and the last for Bravo, premieres on Wednesday. And by the time it arrives, and certainly by the time it wraps, its varnish will be worn, damaged, or gone altogether.

So just how is Bravo systematically sabotaging the Project Runway brand?

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An "explosive" Harvey and Bob Weinstein book might one day hit bookstore shelves, but don't expect its arrival anytime soon. That's because the still-anonymous author likely doesn't even have an agent, like alone a book deal, based on the report Page Six filed today — sourced by the author himself.

The scribe, a former Weinstein employee using the pseudonym "The Final Nail," wrote Page Six insisting "our database of Miramax files is huge" and that there was no nondisclosure agreement even signed, and even included a phone call recording, from 1996, between Harvey and Joe Roth, then president of Walt Disney Studios, where they're caught complaining about Michael Ovitz's $138 million severance package from Disney.

All potentially scandalous stuff — but none of that means a book will ever get printed.

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Harvey Weinstein's brilliant, and inevitable, business model for Project Runway now includes a new cash infusion: dollars from the magazine. When he was first shopping the show around in the early 200s, most magazines passed on the opportunity to be attached, and Elle was the only taker. It's been a brand boon for the Hachette fashion book, but after the fifth season, they're gonna lose it. And whoever wants the opportunity to work with Runway, now on Lifetime, will have to pay for the privilege. Seven figures, anyone?

Was Harvey Weinstein so furious with Page Six's report about Sharon Stone's amfAR antics that he bum rushed every other gossip in the industry asking for a counter attack?

That's what we've been hearing since the Post's item ran on Saturday, which chronicled Stone, who hosted the event, which raised $10 million, crawling into Diddy's lap to discuss his crack budget and spending hours on "self-indulgent commentary."

Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company helped underwrite the event, scored at least one coup: Fox 411's Roger Friedman battled back against Page Six, as we discussed earlier today, defending Stone's hosting abilities. Nevermind that Friedman and Weinstein are friends, and part of the gossip's Cannes column was spent talking about the film Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which Weinstein's company will be distributing abroad.

Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of production company Magical Elves are the duo responsible for turning Project Runway into ratings and publicity gold. That's why NBC was angling for 'em, and now they've got 'em, signing the twosome to an exclusive deal, effectively stealing them away from the Weinstein Co.'s fashion franchise just as they're moving from Bravo to Lifetime. Cutforth and Lipsitz will remain producers for Bravo's Top Chef and NBC's Last Comic Standing.

Oh, what's that? NBC owns Bravo? Yeah. It was basically Jeff Zucker's way of brushing the top of his hand underneath his chin at Harvey Weinstein.

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ELLE-O, GOODBYE Harvey Weinstein wants Nina Garcia back on Project Runway whether she accepts Elle's backhanded offer or not. [WWD]

Why do the post-Elle Nina Garcia rumors keep circulating? Because no decisions have been made, which means it's conspiracy theory time! Though she's no longer the magazine's fashion director, Elle's Robbie Myers understands her relationship with Project Runway may hinge on her foe's involvement, which is why Myers is so ready to offer Garcia an editor-at-large assignment. That would at least keep her on the magazine's masthead, but only through season six, according to one rumor mill, which means she'd be done wit Elle by mid-October. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein, who is taking the show to Lifetime, could possibly keep her on the show sans Elle affiliation. She would simply be listed as "author and Blackberry ad face."

In what can only be described as good news for Lifetime as it successfully swindles the Project Runway brand away from Bravo, new research shows TV viewers are loyal to their favorite shows, and not the networks they're broadcast on.

Analysts at Accenture see this as a ripe opportunity for content creators (producers, directors, self-absorbed video bloggers) to start putting their commodities on "multiple platforms and distribution channels and find new revenue streams by doing so."

Perhaps that's why the Weinstein Company is so enthused about its new deal.

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Under the original deal struck between The Weinstein Company and Bravo, Project Runway cost the NBC Universal channel $600,000 per episode. That was not enough for Harvey Weinstein, especially when Bravo started taking all the credit for the show's success. So Harvey started going around NBC's back to try and make the show more lucrative on his end, striking product placement deals without telling Bravo suits, even though they had already lined up major sponsorship deals with brands like L'Oreal and Tresemme. Bravo's deal with Macy's totally dried up when Weinstein insisted a rep for Wal-Mart, which it had an arrangement with, appear in the finale. In Weinstein's new deal with Lifetime, the lady network will be paying upwards of $1 million per episode, a nice 66 percent fee hike. And reality television was supposed to be the cheaper alternative.

The reason Bravo lost Project Runway to Lifetime is because the show's producers, The Weinstein Company, wanted to force NBC Universal to buy up some of its "second-tier" film projects as part of a contract renewal. NBC balked, but Lifetime was up for the offer, so they took the bait, agreeing to buy "stolen goods." Or at least that's the series of events according to NBC and the lawsuit they filed yesterday against Weinstein. And they're also claiming any cash a court ruling might send its way as punishment to Weinstein for breaking their contract – which promised NBC right of first refusal – wouldn't be good enough. They want to be back in negotiations.

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Bravo parent NBC Universal filed suit against The Weinstein Company today after, in a shock to them, losing the network's biggest show, Project Runway, in a backroom dispute with producers. If things go accordingly, Lifetime will snap up the show, with a new season airing in November. "Weinstein officials said that NBC had filed the suit after 'declining to compete for the right to have Project Runway' and the legal action was simply, NBC trying to 'disrupt the series moving to Lifetime.'" [NYP, Variety]

• Hannah Montana fans feel "played for a fool" when they realized the star had used a body double to lip-sync songs at her national concert. Surely, this won't be the last time these fans will feel this way.

• PETA is so desperate for spokespeople they'll even use women who wear fur.

• On the top-ten impressive beards list of all time, Chris Beam didn't make the cut.

• Bridesmaid's dresses are ugly. Also, Katherine Heigl, that nice actress from Knocked-Up, has a new movie coming out about being a perennial bridesmaid.

• Democrats don't like gays anymore than Republicans do. Well, maybe a little more, but the sentiment remains.

• Michelle Rodriguez finishes up her 180 day DUI sentence in a record 17 days.

• The Weinstein Company makes an interim agreement with the striking writers. Blah blah. When are we going to be done with pretending reality TV is as entertaining than badly scripted drama?

[Photo Credit: WireImage]