Tales From The Script: Episode 2, Money - The Dream Killer

Money is the root of all evil, or so the saying goes. Many would believe that the evil referred to may be greed or envy but in the creative industry you would be hard pressed to find a more powerful killer of dreams than the cold, hard cash sitting in the big guy’s pocket. All that being said, is trading in dreams for money really such a bad thing? Well it isn’t bad if you are passionate about what you’re striving towards and aren’t afraid to let everyone know that you’re really selfish about it.

Recently I worked with a student on his personal project that was initiated over one year ago. The project had grown quite large and at least 15 workers had been recruited by the time I made the decision to jump on board. The team consisted of primarily students but a few professionals were also on the team, all of which were assigned to positions pertaining to their area of expertise. The project was directed by the student who approached me and to be honest he handled his position very well for a rookie and that takes guts. This was his dream, not mine nor every person that had joined this unpaid production. I was more than optimistic to lend my skills and for a time it was a very healthy relationship but the fact remains that I need money to support myself because if I don’t them nobody will. So needless to say over a month went by and the project sunk lower down on my list of priorities until the point where I hardly worked on it for weeks – was this the money calling me back? Sadly as much as I hate to admit it, money does make the world go round and it’s a big motivational tool. Yesterday I resigned after realising that I didn’t have anything else to offer to his noble effort. The feelings between me and the student aren’t resolved and probably never will be until he understands why I had to leave.

There isn’t anything wrong with whoring ones skills. Everyone needs to make a buck and the myth of the noble effort should be placed in the cupboard where student dreams belong and juvenile fantasies of receiving awards for ones efforts are laid to rest. Money is what drives the large contingency of professionals into doing what they love, whether it is magazine spreads, advertising campaigns, or senseless logo designs that pull us away from the idealistic happy go lucky days of the naïve learner hell bent on changing the way the world sees art. This all sounds harsh and blatantly insensitive but people who hold onto delusions of grandeur almost always land up completing an entire production on their own. This happens because in his/her crusade to become the best their ever was, the team that was gathered for this noble journey realise before the end that they must start living their own dreams and not be lead by another’s.  You can call me an object of the capitalist machine but to be honest my family is my team and I don’t want to lose them based on quests that will ultimately result in nothing more than a tiny footnote on the history pages…I am selfish, but I’d rather be selfish for my family than be selfish for myself.

By now you, dear reader, have probably taken a contrary position to my diatribe, indeed I may even have incited some rage deep within your guts but I don’t pretend to be a hero – Superman and Mighty Mouse are heroes and we have enough of those to fill a nuclear fallout bunker built for the entire human race. So is money the bane of all creative existence, or maybe I’m just being narrow minded? Just remember that if you plan on whoring your skills, do it with pride, conviction, and most importantly be passionate about it because without passion there is no love.