What inspires you to do this?

gorillaonabike said:
If money was the genuine inspiration then you'd be doing something else. Money is much easier and more plentiful in other areas.
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That's quite a statement. We have never met, you know nothing
at all about me. You have only what I write here on the boards.
I hope you are not calling me a liar...

I have no skills at all outside of this industry. Not a one. I couldn't
even get a job in fast food. I can only assume - because I have never
done it - that cleaning toilets is not easier money than what I have
done for a living my entire working life.

In what other areas is money easier and more plentiful?
 
directorik said:
That's quite a statement. We have never met, you know nothing
at all about me. You have only what I write here on the boards.
I hope you are not calling me a liar...

I have no skills at all outside of this industry. Not a one. I couldn't
even get a job in fast food. I can only assume - because I have never
done it - that cleaning toilets is not easier money than what I have
done for a living my entire working life.

In what other areas is money easier and more plentiful?
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If you want to believe that I'm calling you a liar, then believe that. If you want to believe film making is the best way to make money then believe that. From my experience, there are a million better ways to make a ton of money. My experience is:

- Pops worked as a junior bean counter for a British film production company for many years
- Ran my own business, helped build businesses for other people

As a note, my film making isn't good enough... yet. If it gets to the point that it is good enough, I will call on my wealthy friends to back me. They made their money doing everything except film making.
 
gorillaonabike said:
If you want to believe that I'm calling you a liar, then believe that.
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I did not say I believe you are calling me a liar. I said I hope you are
not. It seems as if you either do not believe what I'm saying or you
are dismissing it.
gorillaonabike said:
From my experience, there are a million better ways to make a ton of money.
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Okay, in your experience there a million better ways to make tons
of money. You are changing what you said to narrow your point.
Originally you said, "Money is much easier and more plentiful in other
areas." I am asking you to explain. In which areas is money much
easier and more plentiful?

Perhaps with your experiences and skills money is much easier and
more plentiful in other areas but it is not in mine. I have no other
skills. I guess it's easy to dismiss my statement when you filter it
through your skills and experiences. I have not found an easier way
of making money than making films. I have not found money more
plentiful in other areas. I'm wondering if being junior bean counter for
a British film production company is an easier way to make money than
what I do for a living. I wonder if the money is more plentiful than the
money I earn. You seem to believe it is.

gorillaonabike said:
If you want to believe film making is the best way to make money then believe that.
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I do believe that. It is my experience. Filmmaking is by far the best way
to make money. I don't understand why you are dismissing my experiences
and my genuine, honest answer to your question. How about stepping out
of YOUR personal experiences for a moment and looking at the answers to
your questions from the viewpoint and experiences of others.

Do you believe it is not possible that money is what inspires me to do this?
 
directorik said:
I did not say I believe you are calling me a liar. I said I hope you are
not. It seems as if you either do not believe what I'm saying or you
are dismissing it.

Okay, in your experience there a million better ways to make tons
of money. You are changing what you said to narrow your point.
Originally you said, "Money is much easier and more plentiful in other
areas." I am asking you to explain. In which areas is money much
easier and more plentiful?

Perhaps with your experiences and skills money is much easier and
more plentiful in other areas but it is not in mine. I have no other
skills. I guess it's easy to dismiss my statement when you filter it
through your skills and experiences. I have not found an easier way
of making money than making films. I have not found money more
plentiful in other areas. I'm wondering if being junior bean counter for
a British film production company is an easier way to make money than
what I do for a living. I wonder if the money is more plentiful than the
money I earn. You seem to believe it is.


I do believe that. It is my experience. Filmmaking is by far the best way
to make money. I don't understand why you are dismissing my experiences
and my genuine, honest answer to your question. How about stepping out
of YOUR personal experiences for a moment and looking at the answers to
your questions from the viewpoint and experiences of others.

Do you believe it is not possible that money is what inspires me to do this?
Click to expand...

Seriously? Being a junior bean counter for a British production company made my father a dollar (and sterling) millionaire. He leveraged the stability of his position by buying properties and renting them out. I keep telling him to sell them and party as I want him to enjoy himself and party on in his old age. I don't want his money (and he's never given it to me) - I can make my own.

My friends and I started businesses in different areas including light bulbs, tar, helping rich people with offshore banking, recruitment, fashion etc... We didn't know about any of the areas but we did know there were problems which needed solving. As an idea of numbers, my best friend made in excess of $10m USD from lightbulbs. He traded them and at the age of 42 with more than $10m USD, he's retiring. He wants to dabble by putting money into my film stuff but I've refused it at the moment. I'm not good enough... yet.

We didn't know about the areas we started businesses in. We just saw problems and created solutions which other people bought. We just researched stuff and let's face it - tar, lightbulbs, putting money into rich clients' bank accounts is not exactly rocket science.

And I'm not rich. I wound my company up due to divorce which means I'm not a dollar millionaire anymore. Don't ever put 50% of a company into your wife's name for tax purposes. It's not good. Otherwise, the rest is easy money.
 
Even though I suspect I'm about to wade in where I'm not wanted, I couldn't watch this thread without responding to what I think are some quite unpleasant claims.

@GOB: Congratulations that your father is a millionaire, that your friend is a millionaire, and that you were a millionaire. That success is genuinely admirable.

At the same time, 99.9% of the world's population will never know anything close to that sort of financial prosperity. It's incredibly patronising to even suggest that they're not applying themselves, or aren't capable of targeting areas of growth. Most people work all their lives to support themselves, their families and make ends meet. With a wide disparity in education and resources, for many people 'doing their very best' means having stable employment. Being a millionaire is a pipe dream.

Most people can't afford to gamble on starting up their own business, more than half of which will fail within 5 years. Like Rik, they try and learn a trade which will be able to support them and which they will enjoy. Without qualifications, connections and financial support, people aren't able to snap their fingers and become entrepreneurs – not to mention the fact that many people don't have the skill or inclination.

If you honestly think that someone only has to try 'moderately hard' to become a millionaire by the age of 40 then you are living in a wildly out of touch version of the world. And, as the bloggers would say, check your privilege.
 
gorillaonabike said:
Seriously? Being a junior bean counter for a British production company made my father a dollar (and sterling) millionaire. He leveraged the stability of his position by buying properties and renting them out. I keep telling him to sell them and party as I want him to enjoy himself and party on in his old age. I don't want his money (and he's never given it to me) - I can make my own.
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I didn't get the impression you were asking about becoming rich.
When you asked what inspires us to do this I thought you were
asking about our inspiration.

But thanks for finally answering my question. I understand your
perspective; it was easier for your father to be an accountant than
to be a filmmaker. You and your friend started businesses in lightbulbs,
tar and helping rich people. So from your perspective those things
are easier ways to make money than making movies.

gorillaonabike said:
We didn't know about the areas we started businesses in. We just saw problems and created solutions which other people bought. We just researched stuff and let's face it - tar, lightbulbs, putting money into rich clients' bank accounts is not exactly rocket science.
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My friends and I started a business making films. I researched stuff
and let's face it, making movies isn't exactly rocket science. I suspect
your inspiration to start these businesses was to make money. So
why is is that you think my inspiration to start my business was not
to make money?

Tar, lightbulbs, putting money into rich clients' bank accounts was an
easier way for you to make money. Making movies is an easier way for
me to make money. From my perspective, much easier and the money
is more plentiful.
 
NickClapper said:
Even though I suspect I'm about to wade in where I'm not wanted, I couldn't watch this thread without responding to what I think are some quite unpleasant claims.

@GOB: Congratulations that your father is a millionaire, that your friend is a millionaire, and that you were a millionaire. That success is genuinely admirable.

...

If you honestly think that someone only has to try 'moderately hard' to become a millionaire by the age of 40 then you are living in a wildly out of touch version of the world. And, as the bloggers would say, check your privilege.
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You''re always welcome to comment and incidentally will easily be a dollar millionaire (with inflation) and my greatest shame is not 'going for it' earlier. In England, it is moderately difficult to do by the age of 40 if someone is healthy and wants to do it.

Incidentally, what does 'check your privilege' mean? Does it emphasise the fact my mother didn't speak English, that her family was massacred in the jungle, that I was brought up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in London surrounded by skins (interesting as I am Chinese) and learned to speak English from watching a tiny little black and white TV? I remember when my dad could afford to buy a television - it was amazing.

Or does it simply underline the idea my father worked in a factory and not allowed to complete his schooling? Naturally, he studied in the evenings to learn about book keeping.

Check your own privilege. I worked for everything I have ever earned and when you start to work, you will realize how little a million USD is. Illness, death, pain, suffering - that's the really hard stuff and changes a man for life. It sure changed me. Earning money is no more than moderately difficult in comparison for someone of my age.
 
I'm sorry for your hardships, GOB. And I'm glad that you have triumphed, despite those difficulties. Of course Nick didn't know about the difficulties of your formative years, not to mention your family's. Nor did we, most of us, I'm guessing.

Still, I don't see how it changes anything. I, too, was wondering how you figured it was so easy to become a dollar a day millionaire. I, too, don't think it's the typical experience of most people. I'm familiar with the truism we're often told that the typical worker will earn a million or so many millions in a lifetime of labor. But that's a far cry from the typical worker being a millionaire when they retire. But kudos to your father for being exceptional, especially given the hardships life gave him.

Then, yes, add getting seriously sick, in America, anyway. I don't know if that's changed due to Obama care. We'll see. But getting sick can (or could?) mean disaster, as in bankruptcy, etc.

I don't expect to be a millionaire when I retire. In fact, I wonder if I'll ever really retire. And I think that's many people's prospect.

I don't know directorik personally. He hasn't actually stated that he loves what he does, as far as I have seen or recall. But, if it is in fact true that he loves or even likes what he does, then I would consider him a rich man, at least in one sense.

But back to the original question.

I spend so much time here and at least dreaming of making films because I frickin' love films!

And naturally I'd like to make them too. =)

And, you know, you can really argue that filmmaking, like other art and entertainment making, is actually a pretty high and even a transcendent calling, one that I would not care to minimize.
 
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gorillaonabike said:
You''re always welcome to comment and incidentally will easily be a dollar millionaire (with inflation) and my greatest shame is not 'going for it' earlier. In England, it is moderately difficult to do by the age of 40 if someone is healthy and wants to do it.

Incidentally, what does 'check your privilege' mean? Does it emphasise the fact my mother didn't speak English, that her family was massacred in the jungle, that I was brought up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in London surrounded by skins (interesting as I am Chinese) and learned to speak English from watching a tiny little black and white TV? I remember when my dad could afford to buy a television - it was amazing.

Or does it simply underline the idea my father worked in a factory and not allowed to complete his schooling? Naturally, he studied in the evenings to learn about book keeping.

Check your own privilege. I worked for everything I have ever earned and when you start to work, you will realize how little a million USD is. Illness, death, pain, suffering - that's the really hard stuff and changes a man for life. It sure changed me. Earning money is no more than moderately difficult in comparison for someone of my age.
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This is utterly irrelevant to everything you've said in this thread, and is based on falling into classic compositional fallacies of arguments.

To say that anyone who works 'moderately hard' will become a millionaire by the time they're 40 is, by implication, to say that people who are poor have not even worked 'moderately hard'. I would refute that, as I think most people would.

Neither your nor my personal history is relevant to the claims we make about the world in general.

richy said:
Still, I don't see how it changes anything. I, too, was wondering how you figured it was so easy to become a dollar a day millionaire. I, too, don't think it's the typical experience of most people. I'm familiar with the truism we're often told that the typical worker will earn a million or so many millions in a lifetime of labor. But that's a far cry from the typical worker being a millionaire when they retire. But kudos to your father for being exceptional, especially given the hardships life gave him.
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It's largely true that a million dollars of cash will, in the lifetime of a worker in a developed nation, pass through their hands, but being a millionaire is defined by wealth. Thus, earnings must be factored against expenditure. In 2013, the Financial Times reported that 0.16% of the world's population were millionaires (obviously, much easier in USA than anywhere else), which means that, on average, people have about a 1 in a 1000 chance of becoming a millionaire. I refuse to believe that 999 people in every 1000 can be dismissed for not working hard enough.
 
richy said:
I'm sorry for your hardships, GOB. And I'm glad that you have triumphed, despite those difficulties. Of course Nick didn't know about the difficulties of your formative years, not to mention your family's. Nor did we, most of us, I'm guessing.

Still, I don't see how it changes anything. I, too, was wondering how you figured it was so easy to become a dollar a day millionaire. I, too, don't think it's the typical experience of most people.

I don't know directorik personally. He hasn't actually stated that he loves what he does, as far as I have seen or recall. But, if it is in fact true that he loves or even likes what he does, then I would consider him a rich man, at least in one sense.

But back to the original question.

I spend so much time here and at least dreaming of making films because I frickin' love films!

And naturally I'd like to make them too. =)

And, you know, you can really argue that filmmaking, like other art and entertainment making, is actually a pretty high and even a transcendent calling, one that I would not care to minimize.
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Mr Clapper's just a young guy. When I was his age, I thought I knew everything too! I was a crazy SoB - a complete idiot at his age with no idea how the world worked. Experience taught me a few things, though.

However, I don't consider that I had 'hardship.' It wasn't hard, just... the way it was, nothing more and nothing less and when my father got his act together, we were able to move out to somewhere else. However, t am a financial and commercial failure. I got my business model wrong (and got divorced) which is why I failed and made less money than I wanted to. There is no triumph there and one, powerful motivator within film making is trying to do something successfully although at this stage, I am weighing up my financial options.

And yes, I love films too. I just love them. But I also want to make this a success or not do it at all. One or the other.
 
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My Inspiration? My desire to help others understand what everything means. Not just simple things like, love and hate, but I mean every single facet of reality the extends well beyond feelings and emotions.
 
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