Read the quick interview with Entourage creator Doug Ellin, whose next show will be about a couple guys running hedge funds and making money that "makes Vince look like a pauper." I though that given Ellin's expertly apt and guilt-free portrayal of the Hollywood entourage there would finally be a show about finance that didn't have the message of Wall Street, Boiler Room, et.al. - that money always corrupts and the people who make markets are the devil incarnate.
Perhaps I was wrong.
Ellin calls the Entourage boys who do nothing but sleep, drink and fuck "good guys who have each other’s back", and his homies who nonchalantly buy Bentleys make him laugh, while hedgies working their ass off and making billions sadden him. Is it because actors are idiots who couldn't be doing anything else, whereas Harvard-educated hedgies could be "trying to cure cancer"? Why aren't you shooting a documentary about fuckin' Darfur then, Ellin? Get off your hybrid high horse and kiss my wingtips. People who succeed do what they are most passionate about, and all the best traders and dealmakers, the ones who really have a gift for the game, would still be doing it for free. At their level "money is just a way to keep score," as Kravis said. Not to mention that Wall Street players give a whole lot more of their wealth away than your average Hollywood celeb trying to campaign for the it cause of the day because somehow being able to act [i.e. big tits or a nice jaw line] makes one naturally adept at understanding the intricacies of world politics.
Ellin then has the gall to say that people go to finance to hit a home run and take a shortcut to wealth. This is what worries me the most as it sets up the show to be completely unrealistic. As we all know there is no easy money in finance. You earn every penny you make, sometimes you just have a bit of tailwind. True, there are a very few brilliant traders out there who make a killing early on an keep on doing it, but even 80% of them spent years studying the trade before they got a chance to hit one out of the park. And I assure you - none of them could have cured cancer even if they tried.
Perhaps I was wrong.
Ellin calls the Entourage boys who do nothing but sleep, drink and fuck "good guys who have each other’s back", and his homies who nonchalantly buy Bentleys make him laugh, while hedgies working their ass off and making billions sadden him. Is it because actors are idiots who couldn't be doing anything else, whereas Harvard-educated hedgies could be "trying to cure cancer"? Why aren't you shooting a documentary about fuckin' Darfur then, Ellin? Get off your hybrid high horse and kiss my wingtips. People who succeed do what they are most passionate about, and all the best traders and dealmakers, the ones who really have a gift for the game, would still be doing it for free. At their level "money is just a way to keep score," as Kravis said. Not to mention that Wall Street players give a whole lot more of their wealth away than your average Hollywood celeb trying to campaign for the it cause of the day because somehow being able to act [i.e. big tits or a nice jaw line] makes one naturally adept at understanding the intricacies of world politics.
Ellin then has the gall to say that people go to finance to hit a home run and take a shortcut to wealth. This is what worries me the most as it sets up the show to be completely unrealistic. As we all know there is no easy money in finance. You earn every penny you make, sometimes you just have a bit of tailwind. True, there are a very few brilliant traders out there who make a killing early on an keep on doing it, but even 80% of them spent years studying the trade before they got a chance to hit one out of the park. And I assure you - none of them could have cured cancer even if they tried.
Q: Why do you find the subject of money so interesting? Sadly, right now, that’s the world people are aspiring to. You have Harvard-educated medical doctors who would rather work at an investment bank than try to cure cancer. Q: Is [Entourage] intended as a sendup of Hollywood excess? No. I consider the show 100 percent realistic. I have friends who wake up in the morning and want a Bentley and they go get it. I find it funny. I look at them [the Entourage cast] as good guys who have each other’s back and just want to take care of each other. They watch out for each other like family.
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