Making Movies, Going Broke
“Young people need models, not critics...” - John Wooden
In the New York Times on Sunday, Charles Lyons wrote a piece in the Film section about making movies and going broke. He interviews Arin Crumley, 24 and his girlfriend, Susan Buice, 27 and they discussed their 14-month ordeal making “Four Eyed Monsters”. The movie was well received at film festivals but it never attracted a theatrical distributor. “The first-time filmmakers used their $10,000 in savings to begin production and borrowed $55,000 on seven credit cards to complete the film.” Unfortunately, “the medium is more accessible than ever. So is bankruptcy.”
The use of credit cards is a risky financing strategy with any venture. What I find interesting about this article is that two people in their mid-twenties were able to legitimately borrow $55,000 on credit cards. Something is wrong with an industry that would knowingly give that much credit to people without the income to justify it.
Credit card companies are sneaky and you do not have to be a young filmmaker to get sucked in. Amy C. Fleitas at Bankrate.com writes, “Credit card companies can be as slippery as a handful of greased Jell-O. They have all kinds of tricks to gouge your wallet and drive up your bill. While arguably unfair, all these tricks are legal, leaving you no alternative but to stay as informed as possible to protect yourself.”
BCS Alliance.com writes about marketing credit cards to college students: “If you are one of the few people who can't seem to get a credit card or can't get one with a decent credit limit, consider enrolling in college. Your local community college will do just fine -- take a class or two, but remember, when you enroll at the college, check the box on the application that allows them to sell your personal information to any Tom, Dick or Harry who asks for it.”
“That way, you will be besieged with credit card offers from the big credit card banks who love to give big credit limits to college students, most of whom don't even have jobs or an income any where near high enough to qualify for the credit cards with $2,000 or $5,000 limits. A scary percentage of college students leave college owing one or two credit card companies a great deal of money, with no means to pay it back.”
“The credit card companies don't care about that. They pretend to care by creating little booklets for young people that warns them how to use credit wisely. But they encourage these students to run up big debt on trips, shopping sprees and the like with zero percent introductory offers and minimum monthly payments so low it will take 500 years to pay the card off if you just paid the minimum. All this because they're willing to bet that the parents are going to pay the cards off if Junior can't, just to keep him out of trouble.”
So what is the answer – well, it all boils down to discipline. A skill that is generally not taught to young people and why I often run into less than young adults still struggling with credit card debt. As Suze Orman often rants, “If you have the desire to take control of your credit card mess, you can. It’s just a matter of choice. I am not saying it will be easy, but there are plenty of strategies that can put you on a path out of credit card hell.”
In the New York Times on Sunday, Charles Lyons wrote a piece in the Film section about making movies and going broke. He interviews Arin Crumley, 24 and his girlfriend, Susan Buice, 27 and they discussed their 14-month ordeal making “Four Eyed Monsters”. The movie was well received at film festivals but it never attracted a theatrical distributor. “The first-time filmmakers used their $10,000 in savings to begin production and borrowed $55,000 on seven credit cards to complete the film.” Unfortunately, “the medium is more accessible than ever. So is bankruptcy.”
The use of credit cards is a risky financing strategy with any venture. What I find interesting about this article is that two people in their mid-twenties were able to legitimately borrow $55,000 on credit cards. Something is wrong with an industry that would knowingly give that much credit to people without the income to justify it.
Credit card companies are sneaky and you do not have to be a young filmmaker to get sucked in. Amy C. Fleitas at Bankrate.com writes, “Credit card companies can be as slippery as a handful of greased Jell-O. They have all kinds of tricks to gouge your wallet and drive up your bill. While arguably unfair, all these tricks are legal, leaving you no alternative but to stay as informed as possible to protect yourself.”
BCS Alliance.com writes about marketing credit cards to college students: “If you are one of the few people who can't seem to get a credit card or can't get one with a decent credit limit, consider enrolling in college. Your local community college will do just fine -- take a class or two, but remember, when you enroll at the college, check the box on the application that allows them to sell your personal information to any Tom, Dick or Harry who asks for it.”
“That way, you will be besieged with credit card offers from the big credit card banks who love to give big credit limits to college students, most of whom don't even have jobs or an income any where near high enough to qualify for the credit cards with $2,000 or $5,000 limits. A scary percentage of college students leave college owing one or two credit card companies a great deal of money, with no means to pay it back.”
“The credit card companies don't care about that. They pretend to care by creating little booklets for young people that warns them how to use credit wisely. But they encourage these students to run up big debt on trips, shopping sprees and the like with zero percent introductory offers and minimum monthly payments so low it will take 500 years to pay the card off if you just paid the minimum. All this because they're willing to bet that the parents are going to pay the cards off if Junior can't, just to keep him out of trouble.”
So what is the answer – well, it all boils down to discipline. A skill that is generally not taught to young people and why I often run into less than young adults still struggling with credit card debt. As Suze Orman often rants, “If you have the desire to take control of your credit card mess, you can. It’s just a matter of choice. I am not saying it will be easy, but there are plenty of strategies that can put you on a path out of credit card hell.”
posted by Nina Smith at 5:52 AM
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