Helping Elon Musk Own His Story

St. Louis, MO – January 14, 2024 - A billionaire can become a trillionaire if they are STORYSMART® about investing in their own storytelling.   It is true. It is all about investing in professional storytelling you own and can monetize.  

Allow me to use the example of helping Elon Musk own his story.  It is great template for others.

I’ve always been fascinated by Musk. His story – like many other Billionaires – is compelling and remarkable. He has accomplished a lot in his life, isn’t afraid to take on big challenges and doesn’t seem to care about risking his wealth.

Musk's trailblazing approach has rewarded him financially. According to the most recent Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world.

While I would love the opportunity to help Elon Musk get STORYSMART® with our cinematic storytelling services, I expect he already has his own A-team in place.

In the event he doesn’t, I’m happy to schedule a free no obligation storytelling consultation to tailor a plan specifically for him because I could see a lot of opportunity to develop storytelling projects that reward him financially and otherwise.

Now, while I await an X direct message or Skylink satellite call from Mr. Musk, I’ll take a few minutes to outline a best-practice storytelling strategy.  While we are laying this out for the world's richest man, this template could be used by any other discerning billionaire interested in having their story launch them to trillionaire status like a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Starship rocket to mars.

The Distinction Between a Story & Storytelling

The first step is recognizing the distinction between a story and storytelling. You simply don’t have a story without storytelling. To many people assume they already own their own story. Public figures quickly realize that isn’t the case.

Just ask the Royal Family about the Crown on Netflix.

Sure, you have your own account of your life, but your memories aren’t a story until you share them in the form of a story. We tend throw the word “story” around so much that I’m afraid we have debased the currency of the word. Comparing an Instagram “story” to the Crown on Netflix or Romeo & Juliet is tragic joke of Shakespearian proportions.

Everything isn’t a story.

A video isn’t necessarily a story. A blog like this isn’t a story. Books aren’t all stories. Not all stories are books. A story can be shared many ways, but it has key elements to be labeled a story.  

A story has characters, a plot, and something at stake that has an audience care. Great stories have universal themes. They make us care. They make us feel something deep inside. The best stories stay with us forever.   

Your personal reflections aren’t a story. Your memories aren’t a story. If you write your memories down in a diary you may well be on the path to sharing it as a story, but even that raw diary isn’t really a story in the classic sense. It is a diary. It certainly could be edited into a book you share with the world, but for our purposes it isn’t a story until a storyteller works their magic.

Now that diary is potentially very valuable.  It is your storytelling source material. You own it. The same goes for your memories or personal accounts if you take the time to record them or share them in some form, written or otherwise. If you engage someone to help you record them, be sure to secure a work-for-hire agreement so you own it.     

Your source materials are extraordinarily valuable assets that should be preserved, curated and used in developing your storytelling. In the hands of a gifted storyteller like Steven Spielberg or Lin Manuel Miranda, well heck – who knows what is possible.   

Great stories are made into great stories by great storytellers. The fact that something is based on a true story doesn’t change that. The storytelling source materials can ensure that the story is based on a firm foundation, but without a great storyteller behind the wheel you probably won’t get a great story.  

 

The Biggest Mistake Everyone Makes

In my work, the one mistake I see everyone make is failing to recognize the value of their own assets when it comes to storytelling. That is why we advocate for investing in preserving your heirlooms, memorabilia, photos, videos, documents, and other personal assets in an archive while investing in digital preservation within a digital asset management system (a digital archive).

I suspect Elon Musk has written a lot of things over the years. He has likely taken thousands of photos. I suspect Musk has documents, photos, videos, super 8 or 16mm films he hasn’t organized, preserved, or digitized. He should.

Elon should be preserving everything from his childhood to now. And he should build a workflow to preserve what he is doing now. Like him or not, his life story will be worthy of a museum and countless stories that will be shared.

If Elon isn’t doing anything of the sort to preserve his storytelling assets, he wouldn’t be alone. He might think as a public figure, he has too many photos and records to choose from in crafting a story. But that assumption would be a huge mistake.

Most of the images of Elon Musk are owned by others, rather than him. That acts as an impediment to telling his story. It is a common problem with public figures. Getty owns a lot of photos, but the actual celebrity doesn’t. 

When you hire a photographer to take your photo, make sure you do it as a work-for-hire agreement. Own the images. Grant the photographer a limited portfolio license. If you don’t, then the photographer owns the copyright on the image and they can limit your use.

Something as common as wedding photograph is a prime example of my point. The photographer owns the image and most often licenses it to their customer for limited purposes.  They don’t have cart blanche to use it for everything and anything without paying the photographer again.

If Elon Musk was doing a documentary film about himself and included a wedding photo in the film, he could be sued by his photographer if he didn’t own the rights for that use.

It isn’t uncommon for billionaires to be sued, so much of our work for highly accomplished individuals starts with developing bullet proof licensable storytelling source material the client owns they copyright on. It is the best investment a famous individual can make.

So here is what a best practice path forward looks like.

 

1.       Hire A Storytelling Professional With A Hollywood Franchise Mindset

Elon’s first step should be to engage a company like ours on a confidential work for hire basis to manage the work that needs to be done following a Hollywood Franchise model.

The scope of work should include a detailed work plan and shared understanding of deliverables including preserving, protecting, and sharing Elon’s story in the way he wants.

At STORYSMART®, we specialize in cinematic storytelling following a Hollywood Studio “story franchise” mindset that is precisely designed to help highly accomplished clients like Elon Musk make the most of their story by being smart.

What that means is we help you control everything like a Disney, Paramount or Sony might if they were developing a story. It is about controlling your rights and being smart about licensing and monetization.

When we say “franchise,” we are referring to storytelling worlds like Star Wars, the Minions, or the Walking Dead. It isn’t just about one story, it is about controlling all of the storytelling derivatives. Merchandising. Spinoff stories. Publishing.   Video Games. Broadway shows. You name it.   This isn’t a new concept. It is essentially the business side of show business. 

Like any other highly accomplished individual, Elon Musk has the ability to build a story franchise around his story if he is smart about it and approaches it with a Hollywood Franchise Mindset.

It doesn’t stretch my imagination much to envision Elon being a hit broadway musical, an engaging documentary, a A-List star-driven Biopic film, kids cartoon series or name everything X immersive video game.   All of that is possible, when you approach your story with the mindset of owning and investing in the storytelling.  

 

2.       Develop Your Storytelling Source Material By Preserving Your Narrative 

Elon should share and record his narrative.  This is the most basic - and I suggest overlooked - practice we should all undertake if we want to share our story.  Record your narrative by engaging someone to conduct a detailed interview.  

The heart of cinematic storytelling lies in the depth of the narrative. That starts with preserving your narrative through extensive on-camera interviews of you and others you want.

So Elon should invest in getting his personal story down, as well as getting interviews with others such as family, friends and colleagues who have a unique point of view of his story.  

This is a core strength of our business.  STORYSMART® excels in conducting detailed interviews with the client and relevant individuals the client identifies to extract every significant detail about their story.   Great stories include rich behind-the-scenes detail that can only be gathered by those with first-hand accounts. Too often these accounts are simply lost to history.

We strongly advocate that our clients invest in preserving those accounts by engaging someone to conduct detailed on camera interviews.  Hire a gifted journalist who will do their homework in advance and come prepared to ask good questions.  Don't overlook the importance of having someone who makes you enjoy talking to and who makes you feel comfortable on camera.

These interviews serve as the cornerstone for creating storytelling source materials, ensuring a comprehensive and authentic representation of the client's life.

We conduct all these interviews on camera with a Hollywood-Quality production crew to ensure that the quality is enduring. We transcribe all interviews. The client owns the copyright on all of it. We can even file copyrights with the USTPO for an added layer of protection.   We also careful about maintaining confidentiality and securing appropriate consents throughout to ensure ownership.

 

3.       Intellectual Property Protection 

In the realm of storytelling, intellectual property is paramount. The entire Hollywood industry business model is founded on owning story IP. Elon should be smart about this too.  It is important to protect your intellectual property.

STORYSMART® adopts a robust strategy to copyright protect every piece of content, including transcripts of interviews and the raw video footage.

This proactive approach safeguards the client's intellectual property rights, ensuring they have complete control over their story and its usage.

 

4.       Preservation of Personal Memories in a Physical & Digital Archive

Elon should invest in preserving his memories with a professional archive.

At STORYSMART® we strongly advocate having our clients preserve their entire collection of personal memories through the creation of a keyword searchable digital archive that is linked to a physical archive where items are carefully stored like museum assets.

A meta-data rich digital asset management system ensures that photos, videos, documents, and memorabilia are not only protected but also readily accessible for future storytelling endeavors. We work with the most respected archivists in the industry who can help you organize your collection.

Our archive partners employ a team of fully trained archivists and image technicians that utilize a wide variety of state-of-the-art scanning and digitization equipment approved by the National Archives and Smithsonian Institution with the ability to adhere to strict FADGI guidelines. 

Our partners specialize in high speed/high-resolution image capture digitization workflows that have attracted signature archival collections from around the US, including a variety of public figures ranging from Bon Jovi and Oprah Winfrey to Billy Graham and the Robert F. Kennedy library.

 

5.       Engage Professional Storytellers – Filmmakers, Screenwriters & Ghostwriters

Elon should hire the best professional storytellers to develop his storytelling. He should demand and expect excellence no matter how the story is being told – whether it is a documentary, a biopic film or a memoir.

We formed STORYSMART® to help clients do exactly this.

We believe it isn’t how, but who that matters when it comes time to undertake any storytelling.   Great stories demand great storytelling.

Hire the best to tell your story in the most amazing way possible.  

While hiring a great ghostwriter is relatively easy in the world of publishing, the same thing doesn’t really exist in the world of Hollywood storytelling.   How do you get the best screenwriter? The best director?   

To elevate the storytelling experience, STORYSMART® collaborates with professional storytellers. This could involve producing a Hollywood Quality Documentary film with an accomplished director, hiring an award-winning screenwriter to develop a script for a live action movie, or engaging a ghostwriter for an autobiography or memoir. We specialize in tailoring storytelling options to the client's preferences ensures a diverse range of engaging narratives.

The key for Elon or any other billionaire or discerning client, hire the best storyteller available. Be selective. Pay them well and make sure it is a work-for-hire.    

 

6.       Monetization and Value Enhancement

Elon should recognize that storytelling is an asset.  The value is driven by the investment. A great storyteller can take a story to a whole new level.

At STORYSMART® we know that by investing in the storytelling process, we increase the overall value of our client’s core asset – their story. This strategic approach not only respects the client's intellectual property but also maximizes the potential for financial gain through various distribution channels.

When you are smart about organizing your story and ensuring you have rights on all the key assets, you can engage licensing professionals to help you maximize monetization and increase the value of your core assets. The metaverse is a real opportunity for celebrities to broker licensing deals.   The investment in compelling storytelling is how Hollywood turns a simple story into a global franchise the opens the door to incredible revenue opportunities.

Minions is a 2015 animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is a derivative story spin-off (prequel) to Despicable Me that came out in 2010. While the franchise has grossed billions at the box office, the real value comes from merchandising. The Wall Street Journal says the franchise may be Hollywood’s mightiest thanks to all of monetization and value enhancements the franchise has spun off in the world of merchandising.  

 

Conclusion

Elon, as you embark on the journey of immortalizing your story, remember that the process is as significant as the end result. Find a trusted professional who has a Hollywood Franchise Mindset to guide you. Make sure they demand excellence at every step of the process. You deserve nothing less.  

While I recognize that our emphasis on intellectual property rights isn’t for everyone, I suspect that you or any other highly accomplished individual will.

I will say this.  I know you and they should.   That is why I founded STORYSMART®.   We are fixing a big problem that exists for so many individuals like you who won’t recognize it until it is too late. 

I’ve seen it play out so many times that my heart breaks.  You shouldn’t have to trade owning your own story with having it told well. You should have some control over your own story and be able to get excellence without giving that up.  

I’ve seen Hollywood exploit people. I’ve seen an individual sell their story to a studio and be turned into a villain within their own story. I’ve seen others tell the story well, but the person whose story is being told doesn’t get a dime.      

That isn’t right, is it?

At STORYSMART® we ensure that you have the final say in how your story is presented and monetized.  That is how it should be. This level of control is especially crucial for highly accomplished individuals who want to shape their legacy on their terms.   

If you share our commitment to demanding excellence and aspire to craft a legacy that reflects the brilliance of your journey, we are here to guide you through the art of cinematic storytelling.

Here's to capturing your extraordinary story in a way that leaves an enduring impact on the world. Reach out if you would like our help.

About STORYSMART®

Hollywood storytelling is renowned for a reason. Nothing is more enduring than a beautiful film that brings a story alive on screen and in our hearts. Great stories deserve nothing less than the best in cinematic storytelling.   That is why STORYSMART® empowers discerning clients like you to have your story produced by some of the best filmmakers in the industry while retaining your intellectual property rights.  STORYSMART® functions as a high-end ghostwriting service specializing in cinematic story or Hollywood Studio that works exclusively for you providing story preservation, story development, film production, licensing and monetization services.  You deserve to own your story produced as an unforgettable Hollywood quality film.