I’ve been thinking about an idea for a TV show, would like to know if people think it’s possible/could work.
You take a young, entrepreneurial-minded male (I guess it could be a female, but I think this works better with a male), let’s say, me. On New Years Eve, I transport myself to a large city where I have no close friends or family (I’m in Australia, so a good candidate city for me would be Sydney). I can’t take any possessions with me, except for a video camera. At a few minutes to midnight on NYE, I am required to discard all of my clothes, and whatever other personal items I may still be carrying on me at the time (except for my camera).
At the stroke of midnight, as the new years fireworks are shooting up over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I am standing somewhere, naked, with a video camera, and a grand total of $0.00 to my name.
The first thing I do is make my way to a public donation bin (they have them here in Australia, where people discard second-hand clothes in to giant bins). I rifle through these bins and find a set of reasonable looking clothes.
January 1 would be spent walking the street and begging people for money. My first few nights (at least) would be spent sleeping in a homeless shelter. My first main goal would be to get a job as absolutely quickly as I can, in order to generate some money to fund a small business enterprise that I could operate in the evenings.
The goal is to return to my starting point on December 31 that same year, hopefully worth at least $1 million (including all cash + assets).
Rules:
I can’t obtain money illegally
My video camera can only be used strictly for documenting my million dollar attempt (ie, I can not sell it, lease it, use it as part of some other business venture, etc).
I can not take money from people who know me
What do you guys reckon? Could such a concept work, and could it be at all possible for an entrepreneurial minded person to achieve this? What other rules should I include to make the concept more appealing? Has anything like this ever been tried?
You just want to get people to watch you naked on national TV. I’m on to you.
I think it would be really hard to do that, unless you are a super wizard at finances. Then again, if you think you could actually pull this off, go for it. You’ve got a little over two months to get yourself a camera. If it works, you shouldn’t have much of a problem selling the footage to a producer.
And yeah, I’d watch it.
It might be more interesting if several people did it simultaneously, though.
I think its a cool idea. tdn’s idea to have several of you also sounds like an improvement on the concept.
You could also make a documentary on your attempt, in which case it could be just about you.
I also think you’d have to convince a producer that you’d have a chance to actually accomplish it. Do you have any credible reason why I’d think you’d actually be able to do it?
How much are you worth right now? If your net worth isn’t several million, what with your clothes, house/apartment, car, cell phone, etc., I don’t see a whole lot of drama about going from zero to a million. Because it will not happen.
It might be interesting to see an actual financial genius put to this test… but just some guy? Forget it. It would be depressing to see someone who was recruited with the hope of becoming a millionaire instead struggle for 12 months to put his life back together.
Yes, but there’s a difference between someone living a modest life on a fixed income, compared to someone taking large financial risks over a 12 month period, specialising in private enterprise ventures.
It’d be worth it if you could document it professionally(Like get a film producer on board). I’d like to hear your rationale behind the various decisions you make on your way to fortune. And I’d like to see you explain to the cops why you’re running around naked in Sydney on your way to the free-clothes bin. I’d probably watch it–theoretically I’d have a leg up on you so if you could do it from nothing, why shouldn’t I have $1 million by next year?
From how I understand it, the person who would star in the show (the OP, perhaps) wouldn’t be required to drain his bank account and start his life over from scratch. Rather, he would simply not be allowed to take any of his money or clothing with him. I’m neither wowed nor dismayed by the idea, but I wouldn’t start it off completely naked. Can’t it at least start with one outfit and clean underwear only?
I think it’s worth remembering, most people aren’t actively trying to get to a million dollars. They are, instead, earning a fixed income and just wishing they were millionaires.
Do you seriously think that there aren’t a lot of hardworking, entrepreneurial people trying to make a million dollars in a year? I’m not saying that everyone is that way, I’m simply saying that there’s a lot of them, as in many, many thousands of people. And how many of those people are successful in their goal within 12 months?
In the US, you’re talking about roughly one half of one percent of the population who make more than a million dollars in a year. I don’t think that’s for lack of effort, and it beggars belief that any of them start with zero resources at their disposal.
I’m rather curious what the plan after the homeless shelter and all. Get a job at an investment bank in the first week of looking and aim for instant promotions? Take whatever meager earnings at the beginning of the year and do day-trading at the local library?
It’s got to do with the power of incentives. Working under a fixed time-frame, and knowing that everything you do is being documented, you are far more likely to take bigger risks, and dedicate far more of your time to the project, than somebody who isn’t in your position.
Also, there is no rule that you can’t tell people what you are doing. The concept itself is surely worth some extra revenue.
And even if there is half of a chance that someone could succeed, let’s say it’s month four and the guy is struggling. I can’t imagine that another eight months of footage of the guy who has no chance to succeed would actually make good TV.
Plus it’d be tedious as hell to watch even 52 episodes. Nobody has that kind of attention span. You’d pretty much have to do the exercise and then, if it’s successful or flames out in spectacular fashion, go into postproduction editing and market it as maybe a 12-15 episode series.
I think you’re too late. I believe it’s been done. Not on TV, but in book format and with rather more modest goals. There was an American guy who took off to another city in America, and, arriving with little more than the clothes on his back, checked into a hostel for the homeless, and without using any of his exam certifications after a year had passed he had managed to buy himself a car and was living a moderately decent lifestyle. IIRC the book’s been mentioned on the Dope.
Maybe it’d be more interesting to take a handful of people and make it a contest: whichever has the most in assets after a year, wins a million dollars.