DreamWorks wrote a check to Paramount for $26.5 million on Wednesday for the right to keep 17 films including "Dinner for Schmucks" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7" - but more than half of that sum came from Steven Spielberg himself, reports Variety [1]. Spielberg, "perhaps for the first time in his career," is spending his own money on the studio, along with Indian conglomerate Reliance, which is covering the other half of bill, a DreamWorks source told the trade. The revamped company headed by Spielberg and Stacey Snider has had to scale back its ambitions because it so far has not matched a $550 million investment by Reliance. As a result, DreamWorks has forfeited the right to co-finance another 17 films with Paramount, though Spielberg can still be a producer. DreamWorks and Reliance are currently splitting the company's overhead, which was $50 million a year when DreamWorks was owned by Paramount.