$7000 in 1977 (when the movie was released) is about $24888.79 in 2010 according to an inflation calculator. Although, he probably did the work and got paid in 1976 or 1975, but it's close enough.
Still, pretty interesting.
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Zachnorn - <D http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4503/qrcode857546.th.png