Edoardo Ballerini

Well, now I’ve done it. After all my preaching about actors having to take the reins and make things happen, a project of my own is about to start. It’s a low-budget affair, so of course after the initial funding came in we all looked at each other and thought, “Gee, wouldn’t it be nice to have a little more?”

Yes, it would.

So we launched a fundraising campaign, and I, the actor/producer, suddenly found myself being the guy who asks for money. It’s not a role I’m particularly adept at, though believing in the project helps a lot. But it did get me thinking: how different is this really from the rest of what I do?

Actors are always asking for something. We ask for parts, ask for attention, for praise, for reality to fade away if just for a little while. What’s the difference when it comes to money?

Bob Dylan wisely remarked that “money doesn’t talk, it swears.” Money matters. We are impressed by those that have it, we think less of those that don’t. We hesitate to ask for it, and we hesitate even more to give it. It is, quite literally, our measure of value.

But I’d like to think that my value, our value, is not measured in Treasury Notes. My value is in the project I’m working on, that I believe in, and that I’m looking forward to sharing with the world. And with this thought, I have no problem asking people to contribute a few dollars.

Neither should you.