Tommi Trudeau

Odd situation, T...But, certainly more positive than negative! Great news!

What cable channel

I thought they handled that too. I learned something today.

Just ask yourself...how does this get real easy? What else is possible here? This always works for me:)

Wow...Awesome news, Tommi...Please keep us posted.

It's yours Tommi. No doubt!

Hi Ann... It's really nice to meet you.. :-)

Hi Tyler, .. Nice to meet you, my friend!

*Megan Ellison is a millionAIRE was what that was supposed to say. Not "million."

Not exactly my point, though. I am suggesting that people who have made millions WITHOUT being creative to begin with, generally don't tend to just jump into the game. Well, unless it's a lucrative venture. And honestly, how many lucrative ventures are really out there? So yes, I stand by that sentiment. You can suggest Megan Ellison, or those other people, but I tend to believe that they were creative to begin with. Would I be assuming incorrectly? Oh, and I have approached exactly 4 multi-millionaires (friends of good friends, just in case the SEC tends to hang out here...) with two different ideas that were quite well developed and was turned down. One of them is the comptroller for the CIA (G-15 Level 10 payscale). I have even approached investment bankers/companies with ideas. Even angel investors. You know, those people willing to put money into something lucrative. Bupkis. They go as far as wanting to have numerous "plans" in place. So my initial words were just taken out of context, and I hope I've reformed them well enough to satiate. Have I ever sold projects? Sure. Only two. But I've been in that realm and dislike it to the fullest. And which was really the reason for the comment.

The greatest danger to waste money on a movie project is, when a director finances it himself, or a good friend gives him the money without having the movie script approved by several professional producers to make sure, that it is worthwhile to be made. Some projects do actually deserve not to be made, because they are simply not ready to be executed. On the other side, could any bad script be transformed into a good plot, if really talented and professional writers are involved.

Wealthy people naturally get's easily pissed of, because a lot of people constantly want them to join any kind of ridiculous financial adventure, but if they would do that all the time, they wouldn't ever had made the money they made until that day.

Most filmmakers have an idea & want to execute it quickly, while almost everybody has to work for free to make it possible. It is a good way for practice, but finally it's only really professional, if you manage to race the money for a short film, win some awards and still manage to make a huge audience excited to watch this film.

If a millionaire would make a movie only after his own ideas, it is an invitation to produce a huge flop and to attract people, who wants to profit money wise without having any talent for their profession. So a healthy mix of different investors would share the risks and make sure that things are kept under control, as long as the producers and Filmmakers do the Production management & creative work and really know how to handle a great script.

In my opinion, Tommi is exactly right.

On the subject of wealthy investors, my general observation in life has been that the wealthier someone is the more that person looks for a guarantee on their return, plain and simple. Thus, the people on top at Warner Brothers or Viacom Corp are much more likely to invest only "if it's already been done", and especially if all the people involved were among those folks who "already did it before" (and by that I mean successfully, financially).

That is probably also true for the less wealthy investors who are in any case going to end up being the more wealthy investors of the future.

For "creative" types who are wealthy investors, I think the rule still applies, except that the "guarantee" is simply based on different criteria. That is -- unlike the "non-creative" investors -- they have "vision" and can tell what is going to be a hit without having to have seen it "already done before", per se. The guarantee is based more on subjective than empirical evidence.

In general, your slow rise to the top depends more on the first type. Your meteoric rise depends more on the second.

My 2 cents.