“Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.” (…and when it’s in a big pile, it draws flies.)
– Thornton Wilder
Why not just stick with a hedge fund? I don’t have all the money in the world, but if I did, I’d make movies. At the end of my life, I hope to say: 1) I had a lot of fun, 2) I built great relationships, and 3) I left behind something of quality for others to enjoy.
Making movies is the most fun and rewarding thing I can imagine. Films matter – they show us people and situations from other perspectives, we get to vicariously travel around the world to see things we may have never seen otherwise, and they allow us to imagine the possibilities our life can be, beyond our only known circumstances. Movies can inspire us to be the best versions of ourselves.
Another reason is the people. I wrote script coverage for several years, and I loved reading screenplays. Most weren’t great, some were terrible, but I got to read a story that maybe only the writer and their mom had ever experienced. No one else in the world would know that story and those characters. What’s amazing is when you find a great script, and you realize the rest of the world needs to meet these characters. Then you go on set, maybe for that script or for another project, and everyone works together to bring the story to life. You meet new people, learn about their families, and meet some of the most interesting, highly skilled people with the wildest stories you can imagine. It’s amazing.
Lastly, if you reach the end of your life with a pile of money, houses, and boats, how does that impact others? My children will always be my greatest legacy, but if I can leave behind a film library we’re all proud of, stories that resonate, that people want to revisit, that showed someone a new side of themselves or a new side of the world, that’s a true legacy.