Born Rich
DVD cover
Directed byJamie Johnson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyNick Kurzon
Edited by
  • Nick Kurzon
  • Steven Pilgrim
Music byJoel Goodman
Production
companies
Wise and Good Film, LLC
Distributed byHBO
Release date
  • January 19, 2003 (2003-01-19) (Sundance Film Festival)
Running time
  • 75 minutes (Sundance)[1]
  • 67 minutes (television)[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150,000[3]

Born Rich is a 2003 documentary film about the experience of growing up in wealthy families. It was created by Jamie Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and filmed primarily between 1999 and 2001. The film consists primarily of Johnson interviewing 10 other young heirs. These interviews are offset by Johnson's exploration of his own experience and family as he comes into a large inheritance on his 21st birthday. He seeks out how to be a productive person, avoiding the dysfunction that he sees affecting many of the very rich.[3][4] The film explores the taboo the ultra rich have against talking about their wealth. Johnson believes this secrecy about wealth causes the wealthy to be dysfunctional,[4][5] and exists because the discussion of their wealth challenges the notion that America is a meritocracy and their right to have their wealth.[6][7][8]

Cast

Production

Development and pre-production

Made over a three-year period while he was a history student at NYU,[27][28][29] the documentary started out as his graduation thesis.[30] At the age of 20, Johnson came up with the idea for the film through conversations with his uncle, Dirk Wittenborn, a novelist and screenwriter, who is also a producer of the film.[3][4] Having been brought up reading F. Scott Fitzgerald, Johnson noted that no one of his class or background had attempted to examine issues of social class in America today.[3] He was also personally motivated to make this film by his approaching inheritance on his 21st birthday, having observed that a lot of people with inherited wealth, including members of his family, “live unproductive lives, and even in some cases tragic and miserable lives.” He wanted to figure out why this occurs, to avoid that fate.[4][5][31] The film makes reference to his grandfather, Seward Johnson, noting the conflicts from his third, late in life marriage to his chambermaid, and the longest, most expensive contested will trial in U.S. history that ensued after his death in 1983. During the trial there were ongoing headlines in The New York Times about the estate battle and lurid tales were revealed that humiliated his family.[5][7][31] Johnson said, “My grandfather made some serious mistakes, he was born rich and I really didn’t want to be in the same situation that he found himself in at the end of his life.”[31]

It took three years to make as most of the young heirs contacted to participate in the film turned him down,[28] sometimes harshly,[26][12] due to parental objection, fear of losing their inheritance, or fear of violating social taboo.[6] A Campbell's soup heir and a Rockefeller initially agreed to participate but both of them backed out due to a parent's objections.[12] The pre-production took two years and involved hundreds of phone calls to line up the "young inheritors".[32] Johnson enlisted Bingo Gubelmann, a childhood friend who is a cousin of socialite Marjorie Gubelmann, to be a co-producer and to help recruit "inheritors" in their late teens to mid-20s who could live lavishly without ever having to work. 11 heirs ended up being interviewed.[12]

Filming

By summer of 2000, after a year of filming, most of those interviewed were asking Johnson to take them out of the movie.[12] Carlo von Zeitschel threatened a lawsuit but never filed.[4][12] Johnson recalls people approaching him at parties telling him that he was a traitor to his class, that making the documentary was the "stupidest thing" he could do, it would not benefit anyone, and he would regret it and lose all his friends. When they were no longer able to get permission to film at parties, Johnson and Bingo had a "Roaring Twenties" themed joint 21st-birthday party for themselves at the East Hampton house of Johnson's parents. A sign posted at the entrance informed the guests they would be filmed for a documentary.[12] They were worried that no one would come to the party because of their unpopularity with the rich due to the film,[33] but four film subjects and 150 other guests attended.[12] The movie ends at the party with Johnson's voice-over about living outside the American dream that was achieved by his great-grandfather.[6][34] According to Johnson, the decadence of the party was intentional.[35] He had always wanted to film the final scene, where he and Bingo pour Veuve Clicquot into a tower of champagne glasses,[12] "as part of the movie about the unequal distribution of wealth in America."[35]

Post-production

The editing process took over a year,[36] with 45 hours of footage to edit.[12] While the film was being edited, Wittenborn wrote an article about the film that appeared in the September 2002 issue of W magazine.[12][35] After hearing early reports about the film, Luke Weil filed a lawsuit on September 4, 2002, demanding that his scenes be removed.[4][37][38] The lawsuit was featured in the film.[4] Other film subjects were also apprehensive when the press started reporting about the movie.[39]

Weil alleged in the lawsuit that he had been "tricked" into participating in what he thought would solely be a school project.[40] Wittenborn recalls that when he was questioned by Weil during the filming, he told Weil about his work in film and television, and that they hoped to sell the film to HBO.[33] Johnson recalls Weil constantly vacillated during the making of the movie between being the most enthusiastic film participant, who expressed his ideas for film scenes, to being nervous about the criticism from his friends regarding his participation.[33][35] Other film subjects also had regrets about participating and some also claimed they were told that it was a student film and thought it would never be seen by a large audience. Johnson denied any deception, saying they all signed releases that were fully explained to them.[4][41][42] In a decision dated September 27, 2002, the New York Supreme Court dismissed Weil's lawsuit, ruling that the subject matter of the film was newsworthy, and that the releases Weil had signed in 2000 clearly identified the film as a commercial production.[37][40]

The film had been submitted to the Sundance Film Festival when the court ruling was reported by the press in October 2002.[40][43] Changes were apparently made to the film after Weil became incensed after the film's debut at Sundance.[3][41] Wittenborn remarked on Weil's reaction to the film, "We could have made him [Weil] look worse. We were being kind." Johnson concurred that there was "some reservation on our part in terms of editing".[33] Johnson thought that Weil was "the most honest person in the film",[35] who was "willing to say things...that may reflect what our peers are thinking all the time."[36]

Release

Born Rich was selected for a noncompetition screening at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival,[44] where it was a hit.[45][46] The film premiered at Sundance on January 19, 2003, in the American Spectrum category.[1][47] Every seat at the screening was occupied and a couple dozen people were turned away.[32] Sheila Nevins, executive vice president for original programming at HBO, decided to see the film at Sundance when she saw a line around the block for it.[4] An edited version of the film was produced after it was acquired by HBO.[41] In July 2003, it was promoted at the HBO presentation at the Television Critics Association convention in Los Angeles by Johnson and three film subjects.[41][48]

Johnson was on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss Born Rich in a namesake episode that also featured Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton, two days before HBO's big screen premiere of the film in New York City on October 15, 2003.[49][50] Five heirs from the film attended the premiere with Johnson.[33][50] According to Johnson, although Georgina Bloomberg did not attend the opening, she sent him a note afterwards saying she was happy with the film's success and the wide audiences that were able to see it.[33] A week before the premiere, some of Georgina's remarks in the film were reported in a New York Daily News article that included a response from a spokesperson for her father, the then mayor of New York.[51] There were sold-out screenings of the film in New York for weeks.[3] Johnson appeared with S.I. Newhouse IV on Paula Zahn Now on CNN to discuss the film the day before its October 24, 2003 premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival.[4][52]

Johnson was also interviewed about the film on CNN Sunday Morning the day before the film's television debut and on NPR's All Things Considered on the day of the television debut on HBO on October 27, 2003.[7][46] The film was broadcast as part of the HBO's America Undercover series, where it was on a regular rotation.[2][4][30] Johnson noted that some film subjects were very supportive of the film and happy about what they said on camera, while other subjects were anxious about the film due to the criticism from friends and family for violating the code of secrecy about wealth.[7] Johnson felt this secrecy about wealth arises from fear of contradicting the belief that their society is a meritocracy, and enables the wealthy to avoid having to justify the power and privilege bestowed by their wealth.[7][38][52]

Born Rich was the first of several television shows about the wealthy that fall season.[8] A number of shows on the rich had started airing or were in production.[25][53] Born Rich was considered more substantive viewing.[25][8][53] Johnson believed that the television networks were influenced by the amount of press the film received, as it went to Sundance right before the networks started to develop and market shows for next two television seasons.[33][54] He also believed the fascination with wealth in popular culture at the time of the release "is deeply influenced by the administration that's running the country."[45] In 2004, Johnson and Cody Franchetti were interviewed about the film on Australia's Channel 9 news show 60 Minutes.[39]

In an Avenue Magazine interview about the film ten years after its release, Johnson said, "Now, reality television about wealth is a staple genre on TV, whereas there wasn't a single show about that at the time...so it had more of an impact and people weren't as guarded."[36] In 2013, Born Rich was alluded to on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes where Johnson commented on meritocracy in America on the day Prince George of Wales was born.[55] Born Rich was also broadcast in 2013 on Australia's public television channel ABC2.[56] ABC2 published an update from Johnson where he said that privacy around wealth has recently begun to ease, and that he remains close to at least half of the film's subjects and friendly with all of them. He also noted that now as economies are more globalized, he sees the film as an early step in the growing fascination with family wealth as great fortunes continue to grow in developing economies, e.g., the influx of wealthy families into Australia with the expansion of the Chinese economy.[57][58]

Accolades

The documentary was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 2004: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming for Jamie Johnson; and Outstanding Nonfiction Special for Sheila Nevins (executive producer), Dirk Wittenborn (produced by), and Jamie Johnson (producer).[59]

References

  1. 1 2 Frilot, Shari. "Born Rich". Sundance03 Film Guide. Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on 2003-02-16. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  2. 1 2 "HBO Schedule: Born Rich: America Undercover". HBO Documentary Films. Archived from the original on 2004-10-13. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cash, William (2003-11-07). "The Rich Kids Are Different; When 23-Year-Old Billionheir Jamie Johnson Made a Film about His Superrich Set, New York Society Was Divided. Ostracised by the Bluebloods, Celebrated by the Media, Manhattan's Most Scandalous Scion Gives His First British Interview to William Cash". The Evening Standard. London, England. Archived from the original on 2016-09-23.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Chaplin, Julia (2003-10-12). "Biting the Silver Spoon That Feeds Him, on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Serwer, Andy (2003-11-24). "Too Young, Too Rich? The problem of inherited wealth, seen through the camera of an heir". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  6. 1 2 3 "'Born Rich'". Los Angeles Times. 2003-10-27. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Director Jamie Johnson". All Things Considered. 2003-10-27. NPR.
  8. 1 2 3 McFadden, Kay (2003-10-27). "Documentary offers look into lives of those who were 'Born Rich'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  9. ↑ Morgan, Laura (2012-02-27). "Uptown Girl". Modern Luxury. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  10. ↑ "Stephanie Ercklentz, Chase Coleman". The New York Times. 2005-01-16. Weddings. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  11. ↑ "ENNO W. ERCKLENTZ". The New York Times. 1987-02-18. Obituaries. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Wittenborn, Dirk (2002-09-01). "The rich are different: On film, a young heir explores the work of his very wealthy peers. (Social Flash)". W. Vol. 31, no. 9. Condé Nast. pp. 288+ – via Academic OneFile.
  13. ↑ "Christina Loran Floyd, Emmanuel Di Donna". Palm Beach Daily News. 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  14. ↑ Ratner, Lizzy (2006-01-30). "Baron Franchetti Gets Ready". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  15. ↑ McMenamin, Brigid (2000-12-25). "Close-Knit". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  16. ↑ Worth, Robert F. (2003-11-20). "PUBLIC LIVES; Embracing a Father's Creation, if Not His Tastes". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  17. ↑ Lewis, Daniel (2008-05-20). "Huntington Hartford, A. & P. Heir, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  18. ↑ Andrews, Suzanna (2004-12-01). "Hostage to Fortune". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  19. 1 2 "Jocelyn Hunter, Josiah Hornblower". The New York Times. 2007-09-09. Weddings. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  20. ↑ "Alix Hornblower Becomes a Bride". The New York Times. 1990-02-04. Retrieved 2017-07-24. "Jo Hornblower Marries Alix Tower". The New York Times. 1971-05-30. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  21. ↑ Loomis, Carol J. (1987-08-17). "THE BIGGEST PRIVATE FORTUNE Media magnates Si and Don Newhouse control a $7.5-billion empire. It's a tightly private show, but there's no hiding wealth this big". Fortune. Vol. 116, no. 4. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  22. ↑ "Ivanka Trump Weds Jared Kushner". The New York Times. 2009-10-24. Weddings. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  23. ↑ Shute, Joe (2017-01-15). "Donald Trump and the family that shaped a president". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-08-02. Mahler, Jonathan; Eder, Steve (2016-08-27). "'No Vacancies' for Blacks: How Donald Trump Got His Start, and Was First Accused of Bias". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  24. ↑ Morgan, Spencer (2007-05-23). "Where's Weil? Online Gambling Scion Will Summer in Tribeca Jail Cell". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  25. 1 2 3 Goodman, Tim (2003-10-24). "An embarrassment of riches? In some cases, this is just what they deserve". SFGate. San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  26. 1 2 Pierce, Scott (2003-10-27). "It's tough to be 'Born Rich'". Deseret News. Newspaper Agency Corporation. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  27. ↑ "Born Rich: Synopsis". HBO Documentaries. Archived from the original on 2005-02-07. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  28. 1 2 Thompson, Kevin D. (2003-10-31). "'Born Rich': Lifestyles of the rich and aimless" (PDF). The Laredo Morning Times. Hearst Corporation. Cox News Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  29. ↑ Vachon, Dana (March 2008). "Why Jamie Johnson turned his camera on the rich and powerful". Men's Vogue. New York, N.Y.: CondéNet. Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  30. 1 2 Henderson, Jessica (2006-11-07). "Filmmaker Jamie Johnson". ontheinside.info. Archived from the original on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  31. 1 2 3 AP (2003-10-21). "The pains of being 'Born Rich'". The Today Show. NBC.
  32. 1 2 Houston, Frank (2003-06-29). "Film subjects take exception to 'Born Rich'". Oakland Tribune. ANG Newspapers. Cox News Service – via ProQuest.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Audio Commentary 2. Jamie Johnson, Cody Franchetti [textile heir] and Dirk Wittenborn [producer]." Born Rich (DVD). Los Angeles, CA: Shout Factory. 2004-10-05.
  34. ↑ Jamie Johnson (director) (2004-10-05). Born Rich (DVD). Los Angeles, CA: Shout Factory.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 "Audio Commentary 1. Jamie Johnson [director]." Born Rich (DVD). Los Angeles, CA: Shout Factory. 2004-10-05.
  36. 1 2 3 Prince, Daisy (2013-04-01). "Cocktail on the Avenue: Jamie Johnson". Avenue Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 4. New York, N.Y.: Manhattan Media. pp. 36, 38. Retrieved 2016-09-19 – via issuu.
  37. 1 2 Kornreich, Shirley Werner (2002-09-27). "Weil v. Johnson Decision" (PDF). Legal As She Is Spoke. New York Law School. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  38. 1 2 Henbest, Danielle (2004-10-04). "DVD Talk Interview: Jamie Johnson - Born Rich". DVD Talk. Internet Brands. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  39. 1 2 "Transcript: Poor little rich kids". 60 Minutes Online. Ninemsn. 2004-06-20. Archived from the original on 2005-07-16. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  40. 1 2 3 "Johnson & Johnson heir can release film, judge says". Arizona Daily Sun. Associated Press. 2002-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  41. 1 2 3 4 Wolff, Alexandra (2003-10-06). "Born Rich Rag". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  42. ↑ Laurence, Charles (2003-10-19). "Super-rich turn on billionaire film-maker". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  43. ↑ Peterson, Helen (2002-10-22). "JUDGE OKS FILM PEEK BEHIND RICH KIDS' DOORS". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  44. ↑ Louie, Rebecca (2003-01-16). "NYC FILMS OFF TO GOOD, ROCKY START". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  45. 1 2 Kilian, Michael (2003-10-23). "Offspring inherit the windfall: Film studies rich kids". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  46. 1 2 "CNN SUNDAY MORNING: Interview With Jamie Johnson". CNN.com - Transcripts. 2003-10-26. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  47. ↑ Schmitz, Greg Dean (2003-01-10). "Born Rich". Yahoo! Movies: Sundance Film Festival Coverage. Archived from the original on 2003-08-03. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  48. ↑ Kopaloff, Jon (2003-07-10). "HBO Presentation at Television Critics Association". Getty Images. Retrieved 2016-09-20. HBO Executive Vice President of Programming Sheila Nevins, Ivanka Trump, S.I. Newhouse IV, Josiah Hornblower and producer/director Jamie Johnson of the HBO Documentary 'Born Rich'
  49. ↑ "Born Rich: Inside the Lives Of". The Oprah Winfrey Show. Chicago, IL: Harpo Productions, Inc. 2003-10-13. Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  50. 1 2 Lovekin, Stephen (2003-10-15). "HBO Presents The New York Premiere of 'Born Rich'". Getty Images. Retrieved 2016-10-19. Kneeling - Cody Franchetti and S.I. Newhouse IV Back row - HBO Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, Producer Sara Bernstein, Producer Dirk Wittenborn, Director Jamie Johnson, Ivanka Trump, and Juliet Hartford; McGee, Henry (2003-10-15). "S.i. Newhouse Iv, Jamie Johnson and Ivanka Trump Arriving at the Premiere of Hbo's Born Rich at the Screening Room in New York City on October 15, 2003". ImageCollect. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  51. ↑ Saul, Michael (2003-10-08). "GEORGINA, POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  52. 1 2 "PAULA ZAHN NOW". CNN.com - Transcripts. 2003-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  53. 1 2 Stanley, Alessandra (2003-10-27). "TELEVISION REVIEW; Focusing on Residents of Gilded Cages". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  54. ↑ "Born Rich: Wealthy & Nasty?". Access Hollywood. MSN. 2003-01-21. Archived from the original on 2003-01-24. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  55. ↑ "All In With Chris Hayes MSNBC July 22, 2013 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT". All In with Chris Hayes. 2013-07-22. Event occurs at 5:54pm. MSNBC. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  56. ↑ "Sunday Best: Born Rich". Sunday Best. Series 3. Episode 3. 2013-06-16. ABC2. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  57. ↑ "Here's an update from director of BORN RICH Jamie Johnson". Facebook. ABC2. 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  58. ↑ "What you need to know about new Chinese wealth flowing into Australia". Special Broadcasting Service. 2014-02-18. Retrieved 2017-08-09. Needham, Kirsty (2017-06-20). "China's richest have $30 trillion to spend, and more investing in Australia". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2017-08-09. Frank, Robert (2017-02-25). "For Millionaire Immigrants, a Global Welcome Mat". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  59. ↑ "Born Rich". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
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