Richard Wagner

I'm a filmmaker who's spent ten years making small, intimate character studies that get into festivals and win some awards but never break through. My films are quiet—about ordinary people, slow pacing, ambiguous endings. Critics call them "exquisite" and "restrained." Almost nobody sees them. Now a streaming platform is offering me $5 million to direct an action thriller. It's not my style. The script is bombastic, the emotions are broad, the ending is spelled out in neon. But it would reach 50 million viewers. And the producer says if it works, I can make whatever I want next. My mentor says I should stay true to my voice—that compromising will corrupt my artistic vision permanently. My agent says I'm being precious—that real artists adapt and evolve. I think about directors who "sold out" and never came back. But I also think about dying unknown while my hard drives full of unseen masterpieces gather dust. Is art that reaches millions but compromises vision still art? Or is purity of expression more important than audience? — Go Big or Stay True in Seattle

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