What would you do if someone paid you $4 billion for your ideas?

[Zero Angel]

I know what I'd do with $4bn. And yes I'd sell whatever I've come up with so far in my life for it.

Hell, I'd do it for $4m. I can build a nice ecohome with a massive library and a vegetable garden and nice views for that, what, £2.6m in real money? I've got more ideas in me, and if the stipulation is that the stories I've begun so far can't be used (even the ones that never saw the light of day) then fine, I'll have more ideas, I'll create new worlds and new characters, and if I can't I'll just paint all I like in a massive studio instead of writing. But with that kind of money I'll be set for life.

Quick question. Is 4 billion in England 4 million million or 4 thousand million? I've always heard a billion in UK English is a million million (which is a trillion in American English). If it is a million million, then do yins get confused when reading stories with billions or trillions?

 

[CTStanley]

How many is a billion? - Oxford Dictionaries Online

In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000). British English has now adopted the American figure, though, so that a billion equals a thousand million in both varieties of English.

The same sort of change has taken place with the meaning of trillion. In British English, a trillion used to mean a million million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000). Nowadays, it's generally held to be equivalent to a million million (1,000,000,000,000), as it is in American English.

 

[CupofJoe]

Quick question. Is 4 billion in England 4 million million or 4 thousand million? I've always heard a billion in UK English is a million million (which is a trillion in American English). If it is a million million, then do yins get confused when reading stories with billions or trillions?

There was a point in the 1980s when the Government officially accepted that a billion had 9 zeros and not 12... so it only if reading stuff written in the 1960s and before that you might get confusion and even then I've seen it written "million million" just so there wasn't any confusion...

 

[Mindfire]

I'd ask them to allow me to retain significant creative control in exchange for a substantially reduced figure, say $2b instead of $4b. They get to pay me less, I get to make sure my masterwork isn't tarnished. Everyone's happy.

 

[Amanita]

From my current position, I'd say no. I don't really many wishes that require large sums of money and given the current situation in Europe, I couldn't be sure to keep it. My story world gone and my money gone to hyper-inflation, the end of the Euro or anything along those lines would be too much for me I'm afraid. If the situation turns bad, I need the story and simply creating another one isn't that easy for me that I'd force myself to do it without really good reason.
If I were unemployed for a longer time and would start to live off the state or if I had a family to provide for, my opinion would probably change though. In such a case, denying such an opinion would be quite selfish. I'd still try for Mindfire's option though.

 

[Zero Angel]

From my current position, I'd say no. I don't really many wishes that require large sums of money and given the current situation in Europe, I couldn't be sure to keep it. My story world gone and my money gone to hyper-inflation, the end of the Euro or anything along those lines would be too much for me I'm afraid. If the situation turns bad, I need the story and simply creating another one isn't that easy for me that I'd force myself to do it without really good reason.
If I were unemployed for a longer time and would start to live off the state or if I had a family to provide for, my opinion would probably change though. In such a case, denying such an opinion would be quite selfish. I'd still try for Mindfire's option though.

You know you could immediately invest in things like fortresses, bunkers, stores of food, weapons, trade goods and the like, right? So you could have your money and your safety and peace of mind.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

First thing I'd do if I had $4 billion is buy a tract of land in the Mojave, and then build a pyramid there larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. Just because.

 

[Chilari]

First thing I'd do if I had $4 billion is buy a tract of land in the Mojave, and then build a pyramid there larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. Just because.

Totally awesome. You could really mess with future archaeologists if you put things that are really really old in it too, and create random items with no purpose whatsoever, little things that couldn't even be considered art, and then leave no records; they'll think they've found some sort of religious item (the go-to answer when they don't have a real answer). As someone who has studied archaeology, the idea of messing with future archaeologists really appeals to me. Keep them on their toes. It makes them better archaeologists in the long run. I mean, if they aren't expecting trolling from the generation that invented internet trolling, they clearly aren't considering enough factors in their studies.

Leif: I think you're overreacting a bit. Disney are best known for animated films with songs about friendship, but they actually produce an awful lot of films that are quite different, including live action films. It's just easier to market Mushu or Tinkerbell in merchandise than some kid who learned how to be a better person through ice skating. Having said that, they've not had any problems marketing Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not saying all their films are brilliant - they've produced a lot of rubbish too (like Pirates of the Caribbean 4) - but they generally know what they're doing. And they know they've got a valuable asset on their hands and will do everything they can to keep it a valuable asset and not screw it up.

 

[WyrdMystic]

I've always wanted to blow up a ghost town.

 

[SeverinR]

I've always wanted to blow up a ghost town.

Little House on the prairie, the last farewell?

 

[WyrdMystic]

Little House on the prairie, the last farewell?

5.....4......3........2.......1........Goodnight Jim Bob!

(I know wrong show...but still)

 

[Zero Angel]

I mean, if they aren't expecting trolling from the generation that invented internet trolling, they clearly aren't considering enough factors in their studies.

Agreed. I do this in my books, so I'm surprised I never considered doing it in real life.

Leif: I think you're overreacting a bit. Disney are best known for animated films with songs about friendship, but they actually produce an awful lot of films that are quite different, including live action films. It's just easier to market Mushu or Tinkerbell in merchandise than some kid who learned how to be a better person through ice skating. Having said that, they've not had any problems marketing Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not saying all their films are brilliant - they've produced a lot of rubbish too (like Pirates of the Caribbean 4) - but they generally know what they're doing. And they know they've got a valuable asset on their hands and will do everything they can to keep it a valuable asset and not screw it up.

Agreed again. Disney owned Miramax films and had several hard R films released over this period of time. Disney owns Marvel and released the Avengers. They can do films that are entertaining for everyone.

Also, I really would like a Smash Bros style video game from Disney now that they own so many different intellectual properties that I'd like to smash.

 

[Leif Notae]

Leif: I think you're overreacting a bit. Disney are best known for animated films with songs about friendship, but they actually produce an awful lot of films that are quite different, including live action films. It's just easier to market Mushu or Tinkerbell in merchandise than some kid who learned how to be a better person through ice skating. Having said that, they've not had any problems marketing Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not saying all their films are brilliant - they've produced a lot of rubbish too (like Pirates of the Caribbean 4) - but they generally know what they're doing. And they know they've got a valuable asset on their hands and will do everything they can to keep it a valuable asset and not screw it up.

I appreciate the opinion, but I am not putting it past any corporation that wants something this bad. While they don't touch Pixar much, they have put more pressure on them and some people are grumbling about quality. If Avengers didn't do well as well as it did, they would have people there to monitor and adjust as needed.

The thing here is about money, but it's also about standards the parent company maintains.

EA is a very poor example because they do stupid stuff to the extreme, but that's what can happen. They buy Bioware and tinker with things. Small things at first, some things that make sense, but other things that didn't work the thousands of other times they did it before now. Then they start using things that work in different genres or methods and start making odd moves like putting multiplayer into a single player game because "the market supports it".

Now it is very possible they might not do anything with it. I accept it and I would hope that's the case. However, it is a corporation first. They aren't artists, they are in business. Money is always the bottom line, never let them fool you into thinking otherwise.

 

[Weaver]

I wouldn't do it. I would not sell all of my stories and ideas to anyone for any amount of money. I wouldn't sell all rights to even some of them.

Had a discussion with my twin (using the mundane term this time 'cause, y'know, clone would make people think the wrong thing here) yesterday about this. As he pointed out, neither of us could sell our ideas without the consent of the other anyway, since all our stories are tied together. He'd be tempted, heh said, but even if it was entirely his own work up for sale, he wouldn't do it. And I'm far too rabid about creative control -- I would never give someone else the right to make up whatever stuff they wanted about my characters and settings. Hard enough to let my twin mess with 'em sometimes, and I trust him.

 

[Reaver]

First thing I'd do if I had $4 billion is buy a tract of land in the Mojave, and then build a pyramid there larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. Just because.

And, being an android, you could build it by yourself in a matter of months AND be around a thousand years later to see it still (as Chilari suggested) baffling future archaeologists. Lucky!!!