Just for the record here… I have never made a movie with the intention of making money from it. Every film I have ever made was created with art at its heart—and that was the only reason for its creation; at least in my mind.  Did you know that about me?
 
This has been much the same with all of the endeavors that have come to define the life of Scott Shaw.
 
Did you know that I never made a dime from teaching the martial arts for all of those years I was a professional martial arts instructor? Nope… Nada. Zero. I never charged my students to be their teacher.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong, we all need money to survive and pay our bills. And, I have done things to make money. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I grew up in the gutter of L.A. But, at the heart of my intention, for all of the various forms of the things that I’ve done that may be defined as art, it was always all about the creativity and not about the making money.
 
This blog, I’m asked, do I make money? Nope. It’s always been free. No ads, no nothing.
 
My Zen Films on YouTube, not monetized, so you don’t have to watch those intrusive ads. Free!
 
But, it all equals no dinero. My fault, I know!
 
You know, as this world of Influencers and Content Creators has erupted, it has always intrigued me as how some of these people have made a shit ton of money off of what they do. Now, I’m not speaking so much about say the film reviewers, and people who fall into that category, as all they are doing is telling other people what they think about someone else’s creation. I’m more referencing the people who either do some interesting something on camera, but more specifically, just talk to the camera about what they are thinking and feeling.
 
Through the Internet Years this process has gone in various directions. I think my old Zen Filmmaking Buddy, Donald G. Jackson would have been great at that as long before this craze hit the airwaves, he was always having people either follow him around filming his life and his talking or when the video cameras got smaller, he would carry one around with him and film himself. I’m just not that vain to want to be that seen. But, isn’t the at the heart of what these, “Influencers,” do; film themselves talking about whatever it is they want to talk about?  And, they make money from it! I wish I knew how.
 
I think one of the interesting things about the various characters that come into your (my) feed on FB, IG, TikTok, and elsewhere is that sometimes it is so random. I’m told this is all based on some kind of algorithm going on and all of that kind of stuff. But, all of that is way beyond my ability to control. So??? In any case, people come into your feed. But, then they go away.
 
Recently, this one young lady has popped up and she is very curiously interesting. The way she talks about her mind-set is truly unique. She says all this stuff about her-self and hoping to live her best life, but really, she is saying nothing. It’s like Spoken Word or abstract poetry. It’s quite an ART form.
 
I guess she gets followers and from that makes money. Me, I spend all this time writing these blogs and there is that crew of you out there who reads them, “Thanks!” But, is does not equal a dime.
 
…And, I guess that’s the thing about art, creativity, or whatever you want to call it… Or, perhaps better put, about the artist, as it’s long been known most do not make any money.
 
I wish I knew how to become an Influencer and make money by just talking into the camera about how I feel and what I think; my philosophies and all of that kind of stuff. That would be cool. To make money and to not have to ask people to pay for anything.  But, I just do not know how it is done???