History Main / MoneyDearBoy

* Creator/ThomasHardy always wanted to be a poet and said that poetry has a "supreme place in literature". However, he wrote novels only because, in his early years, he would not make a living as a poet. With the success of ''Literature/TessOfTheDUrbervilles'' and ''Literature/JudeTheObscure'', he returned to poetry and spent the rest of his life writing poems.

* While most of the films Creator/PatrickStewart does is because [[DoingItForTheArt he just loves acting in general]] and has as much fun doing a goofy popcorn film as a serious drama, even he had a time in his career where he's admitted to taking roles just to pay the bills. Before ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Stewart took a role in ''Film/{{Lifeforce}}'' to pay for the replacement of a broken bay window at his house. He also took on a role in ''Film/WildGeeseII'' because he just had an expensive maintenance job done in his kitchen. Even his role in ''Star Trek'' was originally a case of this: early in his career, he disdained TV acting and sci-fi (his role on ''Star Trek'' changed that), and only took the role of Picard because he thought it would be cancelled after one season and "I'd make some money, get a tan, and go home". When Stewart once recollected about accepting an award in Britain, he stated that, while with other British stage actors, he was asked the same thing repeatedly about his Hollywood experiences -- "How much do you get paid?"

* Creator/GerardDepardieu stars in an average of 3.6 movies a year, most of them probably to pay his bills. There's a rhyming lament of the American Foreign-Film viewer that goes: "I fear I shall never view, a French film without Depardieu." Admittedly, it rhymes only if you pronounce him incorrectly.

* In an online chat about the 2006 ''Film/{{Poseidon}}'' remake, Creator/RichardDreyfuss had this memorable exchange:
-->What attracted you to this film?\\
''The money''.\\
Did anything in particular stand out about it?\\
''The money they were offering me.''
** It was enough for him to take a break from acting and [[http://www.movieweb.com/news/richard-dreyfuss-answers-an-age-old-question-with-poseidon teach for a few years]], although at the time he said he was done for good.

* Creator/HenryFonda went from ''Film/YoungMrLincoln'', ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' to ''Film/TheSwarm1978'', ''Film/{{Meteor}}'' and other films of even worse quality.

** When promoting ''Film/EndersGame'' on ''Series/TheTonightShow'', [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Leno Jay Leno]] asked Ford about his involvement with ''Film/TheExpendables3''. Ford says, "They asked me if I wanted to be in the movie, they gave me a reason that I should be..." ''*Leno rubs his thumbs and fingers together, signifying "money", Ford nods.*'' "That's a good enough reason."

* Creator/MichaelJFox said that after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, his thinking during that time was "I'd better do as much movies as I can before I can no longer act", and started accepting roles for movies that, in the end, weren't very good.

* Creator/HenryFonda went from ''Film/YoungMrLincoln'', ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' to ''Film/TheSwarm'', ''Film/{{Meteor}}'' and other films of even worse quality.

* Creator/LeeGrant appeared in ''Film/TheSwarm'' for this reason. She later lampshaded this by titling her memoir ''I Said Yes To Everything''.

* Creator/JoseFerrer, who went from an Oscar-winning performance in ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', and acclaimed films like ''Film/{{Moulin Rouge|1952}}'' (1952), ''Film/TheCaineMutiny'' and ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'', to roles in ''Film/TheSwarm'', ''Film/Dune1984'' and ''Film/DraculasDog'', alongside television work of variable quality. Citing financial woes as the reason for such a dismal resume, Ferrer commented that "I made a few good movies in the '50s, then went into freefall."

* A lot of top talent who were pushed relatively early in their career have displayed this attitude. Wrestling/BrockLesnar is an especially notable case -- he was hotshotted to the main event within his first year in the WWE and is a massive draw, but he has never made it a secret that the only reason he ever got involved with the business was for the cash. In fact, his post-UFC return to the WWE was motivated solely by Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's offer to let him work part-time for full-time pay. His future wife Wrestling/{{Sable}} later admitted that she never cared about wrestling and only used the business to get money and become famous. Ditto for Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} -- who in fact wrestled his last match in the WWE with Lesnar, when both were leaving (Lesnar for football, Goldberg because most of his WWE run sucked).

** The same goes for Wrestling/RicFlair's stint in TNA. Poor money management and a string of divorces left Naitch near broke, despite a 40-year in-ring career.

See also ContractualObligationProject, PayingTheirDues, IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney (when this trope is given as the excuse for OldShame), WTHCastingAgency, and TookTheBadFilmSeriously. Not to be confused with OnlyInItForTheMoney, which is when this is the excuse a character uses ''in-story''.

To be clear, however, there is no shame at all for doing a movie for the money, and if the movie happens to be a great one, artistically or popularly, all the better. Even if it is for the money, the level can be kept high and professional and they can turn out something great (like the example with Coppola and ''Film/TheGodfather''). And just because an actor or director only took a movie for money doesn't mean they'll necessarily dislike the end result.

* Starting in the late twenty-teens and early twenty-twenties, high profile college football players began skipping bowl games to prepare for entry into the NFL Draft. This was exacerbated by the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, where many players opted out of that season entirely. While this draws ire from pundits (many of who are former players who embrace the "old school" mentality) for letting the team down for a big NFL payday. With huge paydays lingering, there is little motivation other than pride for a top-ranked NFL prospect to play in meaningless bowl games that aren't part of the College Football Playoff.

* Creator/DannyGlover has over 100 credits on his resume, and most after 1998 (''Film/LethalWeapon4'', ''Film/{{Beloved}}'', voice roles on ''Westernanimation/{{Antz}}'', ''Westernanimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' and ''WesternAnimation/AlphaAndOmega'', his appearance in the first ''Film/{{Saw}}'') seem like they were chosen only to get a paycheck.

* Creator/BenAffleck once hawked ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'' on Creator/ConanOBrien. Conan asked him why he did the film, and Ben fittingly told him "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the answer lies in the title]]." Affleck appeared on a British chatshow to publicize the movie, only to be told by the enthusiastic host that it was one of the best science fiction films he had ever seen -- the host actually suggested that ''Paycheck'' was at least as good as ''Film/BladeRunner'', and asked Affleck if he agreed. You could see how bemused Affleck was as he admitted that he thought Blade Runner was the better movie. Co-star Creator/PaulGiamatti referred to the film as "the aptly-named ''Paycheck''" in an appearance on ''Series/TheDailyShow''.

* The ''Film/{{Superman}}'' franchise has been the focus of a number of publicized instances involving the stars:

* An entry in Creator/RogerEbert's "Little Movie Glossary" describes the effect of Creator/MarlonBrando's participation in a film as the "Brando Acceptability Yardstick" -- as the whole idea of respected actors doing comic book movies for the money can be traced to him. See the ''Film/{{Superman}}'' franchise, ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', and ''Film/TheIslandOfDrMoreau1996''. Incidentally, Brando received, as a salary for the entirety of his work on ''Film/TheGodfather'', approximately 1% of his ''Superman: The Movie'' salary, which was once calculated by The Guinness Book of Records as '''eight dollars for every second he was on screen'''.

* After Creator/BruceWillis' A-list career [[StarDerailingRole flatlined]] with ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' in 2013, the majority of his output became AdvertisedExtra roles in DirectToVideo films, culminating in seven of those in 2021. While it was clear that he was being well paid to work little, many fans still wondered why Willis was taking these jobs given how they were dragging down his reputation, to the point that in 2021, the UsefulNotes/{{Golden Raspberry Award}}s created a special category just to make fun of his movies. Those questions were seemingly answered in 2022 when Willis retired from acting, with family members citing aphasia and later admitting it had progressed into full-blown dementia. With that, the consensus on Willis' late-period career suddenly turned darker and more tragic: that he took the roles knowing he had little time left, and wanting to make enough money to retire comfortably while he was still able to work, something that even led the Razzies to withdraw the "award" out of respect for Willis.

* Creator/AlexTrebek signed onto host the short-lived 1981 game show ''Series/{{Pitfall}}'' after going through a bitter divorce coupled with the passing of his father. Despite leaping over several legal hurdles in his native Canada to get the job, the second of his two paychecks bounced due to parent company Catalena Productions going bankrupt mid-production. All was not lost as he went onto host ''Series/{{Battlestars}}'' for NBC later that same year.

* The pay-grade for dubbing anime is laughably low. In fact, actor/singer Creator/EricStuart (of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''{{Anime/Slayers}}'' fame) once stated that one commercial gig pays more than a week of dubbing an anime episode. As a result, actors who take these jobs and ''aren't'' DoingItForTheArt are doing it for this reason.
* Creator/FourKidsEntertainment received criticism throughout its life for its [[{{Bowdlerize}} heavily-edited anime dubs]], yet compared to the other localization companies out there, it paid its actors very well. As a result, it's rare to hear any NYC-based voice actor complain about the company's existence, despite any personal feelings they might have over their editing practices. This fact was laid bare when 4Kids lost the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' rights and The Pokémon Company replaced the original voice actors due to their much-higher-than-normal salaries.

* The two lead actors on ''Series/MyFamily'', Creator/RobertLindsay and Zoë Wanamaker, freely acknowledged that the show's writing was rather poor, with Lindsay saying "There's some real dross (in the scripts) and we're aware of it". This trope is probably why they stuck with it.

* There's a lot of European football/soccer teams which often try and invoke this trope to get reputable players, the idea being those good players will give the club instant success. This also explains why such non-traditional soccer markets such as Russia, Ukraine, and all of the rich countries of the Arabian Peninsula (even tiny Bahrain and Qatar!) can attract big names--who cares about isolation or scorching hot weather when [[ArabOilSheikh oil money]] goes straight into your pocket? China, the fastest-growing economy, is also getting a lot of good if aging stars.
* Dysfunctional ownership aside, this is one of the reasons why the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]] allowed the Atlanta Thrashers to relocate to Winnipeg; the league would not have collected a $60 million relocation fee if they found a new owner committed to keeping the team in Atlanta.
* After the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes (now the Arizona Coyotes) filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the city of Glendale, Arizona, which owns and operates Gila River Arena (then known as Jobing.com Arena), paid the NHL $75 million over three seasons (from the 2010-11 season to the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season) for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona while the league searched for a new owner, preferably one committed to keeping the team in Arizona. [[note]]The payment for the 2011-12 season was also another factor behind the Atlanta Thrashers' relocation. True North Sports and Entertainment originally intended to buy and move the Coyotes to Winnipeg (as the Coyotes were the ''original'' Winnipeg Jets) if the league failed to find a buyer to keep the team in Glendale; however, the Glendale city council elected to cover the Coyotes' losses for another season.[[/note]] Eventually, it worked, as a new buyer was found in 2013.
* Completing an NHL trifecta, in 2016, an expansion team was granted to UsefulNotes/LasVegas (area untapped by major leagues! huge fee shared with the 30 other teams!) but held up to Quebec (traditional hockey market, but the crowded area and Canadian dollar uncertainties that already drove the previous team away in 1995 made it somehow riskier; also, a Quebec expansion team would likely require an existing team in the Eastern Conference to move west, which is why UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} was favored for the 32nd slot, which requires simply moving one team in the Pacific Division to the Central).

* This was why UsefulNotes/FormulaOne driver UsefulNotes/NikiLauda came out of retirement and joined [=McLaren=]: he had started an airline and needed money for it. It did get him his third title (in the narrowest margin of victory ever, no less), so there's that.

* The Qatari national handball team for the 2015 World Cup. The team consists of three Montenegrin, two Bosnian, one Spanish, one French, one Egyptian, one Tunisian, and a Cuban player with their 6 Qatari players. It is possible to buy a national team, it seems.
* The top European Soccer teams rely heavily on imported talent. France, who most recently won the 2018 World Cup, has a team almost entirely consisting of African players, who are ironically subjected to horrific racism when they're NOT playing for the National Team.

* George Foreman returned to boxing after a ten-year retirement to raise funds so he could continue his ministry and run a youth center. He also lent his name to the Foreman Grill and became the face of the product at around this time for the same reason.

* 1960s crooner Music/JohnnyMathis confessed he did the famous theme song to Trans Lux's ''The Mighty Hercules'' cartoon series purely for the cash plus residuals; nothin' wrong with that!

* Creator/JohnCarradine may well be the patron saint of this trope. On the stage, he played Hamlet. On the screen he played, well, damn near ''anything'', with a filmography ranging from all-time classics to some of the worst movies ever made. He wasn't just in [[BMovie B-movies]], he appeared in Z-movies like ''Film/RedZoneCuba'', ''Vampire Men of the Lost Planet'' and ''Film/FrankensteinIsland''. And his son Creator/DavidCarradine definitely followed in his footsteps.
* Creator/JackieChan admits that he did appear in a porno film to get by several years before he became famous.
** He originally did his own stunts because it meant he brought home a little more money every week. Over time this became his trademark, proving Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
** It's also the reason he continues doing big-budget Hollywood movies, despite not really getting the "American humor" and accusations by the Chinese community that he's "selling out" by playing the funny Chinese man. The massive salary enables him to fund his Asian movies as well as continue his charitable work. He has said he prefers the indie Hong Kong dramas that he works on, such as ''Film/ShinjukuIncident'', which his Hollywood films help pay for.

* It's pretty much why Creator/JessicaChastain lent her voice to ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'':
-->There was a couch I wanted to buy and I had no time in my schedule to do another film. I was doing so much press last year[[note]]for ''Film/TheTreeOfLife'', ''Film/TheHelp'' and ''Film/TakeShelter''[[/note]], thinking, "How am I going to pay my rent?" Also, I had to buy a new couch. My agent said, "I don't know if you're interested, but they're having auditions for an animated film..." [[AwesomeDearBoy I've always wanted to do an animated film...]] So I went in and auditioned and then I got the call that I got the part. [[RuleOfThree And I got the couch!]]

* Creator/JoanCrawford, for much of her life, was an in-demand actress who reigned at the box office. However, after she got fired from ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', originally intended to be the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane'', no one can deny that her film choices later in life were less motivated by the need for fame and more influenced by cold, hard cash (which was apparently caused by her star power fading and her being ousted from the board of Pepsi, formerly run by her deceased husband). This would explain why she went from dramatic leading roles to appearing in various B-grade horror films produced by Creator/WilliamCastle or Herman Cohen, as well as appearances in several short-lived television series -- although she did also appear in the most [[AllStarCast guest-star laden]] episode of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' ("The Five Daughters Affair"). In particular, she only did the film ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' because her house had a mortgage and her children were in school.

* After the media circus surrounding the domestic dispute between him and his wife, John Wayne Bobbit took part in numerous side-hustles to pay off his legal and medical fees, often involving a large amount of AdamWesting. He formed a band called The Private Parts, acted in two porn films, and even made an appearance on ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw WWF Raw is War]]'' as part of a feud between Wrestling/ValVenis and [[Wrestling/TakaMichinoku Kaientai]] (wherein he helped save Venis from having his own privates severed by Mr. Yamaguchi).

* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'': Want to know how the movie was filled to the brim with blues and soul royalty? ''The artists needed the money.'' We may think of Music/ArethaFranklin, Music/RayCharles, and Music/JamesBrown as legends today, but they and their peers saw their careers decline in the 1970s as disco became the dominant urban music genre. Many of them had a resurgence in popularity in the '80s due in no small part to the film's success.

* While most of the films Creator/PatrickStewart does is because [[DoingItForTheArt he just loves acting in general]] and has as much fun doing a goofy popcorn film as a serious drama, even he had a time in his career where he's admitted to taking roles just to pay the bills. Before ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Stewart took a role in ''Film/{{Lifeforce}}'' to pay for the replacement of a broken bay window at his house. He also took on a role in ''Film/WildGeeseII'' because he just had an expensive maintenance job done in his kitchen. When Stewart once recollected about accepting an award in Britain, he stated that, while with other British stage actors, he was asked the same thing repeatedly about his Hollywood experiences -- "How much do you get paid?"

* Creator/DannyGlover has over 100 credits on his resume, and most after 1998 (''Film/LethalWeapon4'', ''Film/{{Beloved}}'', voice roles on ''Westernanimation/{{Antz}}'', ''Westernanimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' and ''WesternAnimation/AlphaAndOmega'') seem like they were chosen only to get a paycheck.

* Creator/JosephCotten obviously had the same motives as Creator/LaurenceOlivier when he began taking roles in a bunch of tawdry {{Exploitation Film}}s in his later years, but going from ''Film/CitizenKane'' and ''Film/TheThirdMan'' to ''Film/LadyFrankenstein'' and ''Guyana: Cult of the Damned'' is quite a drop-off.

* Creator/JoanCrawford, for much of her life, was an in-demand actress who reigned at the box office. However, after she got fired from ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', originally intended to be the SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane'', no one can deny that her film choices later in life were less motivated by the need for fame and more influenced by cold, hard cash (which was apparently caused by her star power fading and her being ousted from the board of Pepsi, formerly run by her deceased husband). This would explain why she went from dramatic leading roles to scenery-chewing in various cheap horror films produced by Creator/WilliamCastle or Herman Cohen, as well as appearances in several short-lived television series -- although she did also appear in the most [[AllStarCast guest-star laden]] episode of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' ("The Five Daughters Affair").
** ''This Woman Is Dangerous'' she only did because her house had a mortgage and her children were in school. She later disowned it.
** In the latter part of her career she starred in a string of B-horror movies because she needed the money, lamenting that they were a far cry from the days when she made thousands a week as an in-demand actress. As Neil Deagle of ''Bad Movie Night'' explained about ''Trog'' (her final film), "It's really sad to see such a huge star (like her) be consigned to the Z-grade abyss of films like this. But, hey, a girl's gotta eat."
** Though often cited as Crawford's lowest moment as an actor, ''Trog'' is in some ways an inversion: the director was a personal friend of hers and she did the movie more as a favor to him than in need of a paycheck. She was paid very well for the movie too, and a good portion of the budget was spent to ensure she had her own wardrobe van.