Give it a Shot!

I have noted time and again that unearned wealth can have a corrosive effect on the soul.   People who inherit large sums of money, or win the lottery - or even collect welfare - are not happy people, for the simple reason they know they don't "deserve" the wealth they have and they realize they did nothing to earn it.

Many squander it in short order - which is why lottery winners, professional athletes, and wealthy movie stars usually end up in bankruptcy court, sometime during their lives.  When you don't "earn" money the hard way, it is a lot easier to let it slip through your fingers, even if you studied your fanny off and did everything correctly, a few million dollars for a few months work is off the charts.

Hollywood is probably the capital of unearned wealth.   If you become a famous movie star, your very name will attract customers to the box office.   Suddenly, you can command millions of dollars, just for appearing in a movie, which although is hard work, is hardly more than a few months time out of your life.  It literally makes no sense that someone should earn more in a few months than others do in their entire lifetimes.

And I think a lot of people in Hollywood feel this way, at least subconsciously.   Sure, they will say otherwise of course.  But deep down, they know that they really didn't deserve $5M for doing a sequel that was not very good the first time.

I feel it's better to have had it and lost it, than never to have had it at all, so give it a shot.

william reynolds