You guys, I want you all, and I tell you this because I love you. I tell you this because this is something that I have seen over the years and I love you guys and I want you to be mindful of this. The internet and social media has brought us a lot of good things, but they've also brought a lot of problematic things. One of the things that they've brought us is perception. I was talking to somebody the other day and I was telling them, back before the internet, if you wanted to do something, if you claimed to be something or you claimed to have done something, you had to of done it, pretty much. You needed to do it. If you had an idea, it was up to you to do it. Today, there is no shortage of people on the internet who create a perception of themselves as a professional, producer, artist, an executive director, or this or that and because they know how to craft social media, you think they're professionals, you think they have actually have a company or a studio or a production or this or that and the reality is, they don't. And you don't know that.
I'm going to give you an example. There was a guy I knew years ago, who had this perception on the internet of being this big mover shaker, film maker, producer, director guy. And everyone thought he was this bigwig. Well, ultimately, I went to visit this guy and he lived in a tiny little trailer in a trailer park that didn't even belong to him. It belonged to an older woman who worked in town and he didn't work. He just sat at home and surfed the internet all day, but he lived in this little trailer home in this little trailer park and there's nothing with that, but my point to you is, the perception of him was that he was this big deal. There are voice actors I know and when you see them at a convention or you see them online or whatever, you think, "They talk like they live in some big fancy home and they drive this fancy sports car and they're so successful and wealthy and all of that." And I know voice actors who literally slept on their friend's couches because they didn't even have an apartment. I'm not saying that to put anybody down and I will never say any names, but this is very important that you understand that the things you read about people online, the things that you hear or that you see about people online, especially stuff of their own making, is many many times, it's perception, and perception is not reality.
There are a lot of people out there, and this is very important, listen very very careful to what I'm about to say. There are people out there who want all of the accolades of accomplishing something good without ever accomplishing anything. See what I mean? There are people out there that are so obsessed with the idea of getting attention and getting noticed and sounding like they're important and they're all so relevant and powerful and movers and shakers and so successful . . . and look at all the people that are looking at me and reading what I write. They are so preoccupied with the idea of ... with accolades of accomplishing something, but they don't ever want to put in the work to accomplish something, 'cause that's too hard. It's much easier to create a perception online, that you are somebody big and important and you have something to say about this and you have the inside scoop on that, etc, etc, etc. Instead of just creating something and accomplishing something of note.
When we started Star Trek Continues I sat down with the other people involved in it . . . and said look, "We're just going to make something really good. We're not going to buy advertising time, Facebook ads, or do any of that. We're just going to make something of quality and let the work speak for itself." There are so many people out there that make all kinds of noise and all kinds of bravado and they create this perception that they're this big deal and they're making this big thing and it's going to be so amazing and they're so successful and they don't do anything because they just want the attention and the accolades of accomplishing something without accomplishing something. So I want you guys to be very protective of yourselves. Just because somebody says I'm a director, producer, I'm this or that, I have this or that, anybody can create a perception on the internet and don't let yourselves be duped. Don't let yourselves be taken advantage of and I love you guys and don't want that for any of you. That's what I wanted to say.