Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Movie Experiment

Hey everybody!

I recently heard that Utah has been testing out the 4-day workweek for almost a year now.

That's not what this post is about, but it got me thinking about "small" experiments in the way government works. I started to wonder what other experiments we as Americans could do, to test out some of our political beliefs.

And then I had a brainstorm. I'll call it "Aggle's Movie Experiment." This is not to be confused with "Aggle's Economic Stimulus Proposal." That particular plan would have worked, but all I could get the government to give me was a lousy 8 bucks a week.

Okay, here we go.

AGGLE'S MOVIE EXPERIMENT

This is an experiment in socialism. First, we find a movie franchise. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll use the "Ocean's" movies, since they're heavy with big-name actors and incredibly light on story.

Call up Clooney, Pitt, Roberts, Cheadle & Co., and pitch them this idea. Since the U.S. unfairly allows rich people to keep a bunch of their money, we need to make another "Ocean's" movie. The storyline could be anything, but I'm suggesting Danny and his super-cool pals embark on a quest to pull a heist on the International Space Station. That way, the special effects will be enormous!

With those folks involved, the movie's virtually guaranteed to bring in oh, say about a billion dollars.

But all the current contracts are out the window.

See, each person working on the movie must sign a contract that they'll take an equal share of the profits.

Yeah, you heard me right.

If there's 1,000 people working on the movie (producers, actors, directors, lighting, sets, wardrobe, caterers, grips, gaffers, effects, personal assistants, everybody), then they each get one-tenth of one percent of the profits.

And they don't get paid before the movie goes to the theaters.

That means the guy who fans out the "Save Darfur" brochures in Clooney's trailer gets paid exactly the same as Clooney himself. The gal who brings Julia Roberts her chai latte gets as much as Roberts. Everybody's got to bring their A-game, because their compensation will directly depend on everybody else equally. Right?

Brilliant!

Let's give it a go.

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