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Jamie Johnson: The Rich Man's Michael Moore

Jamie Johnson: The Rich Man's Michael Moore	325 Views
posted on Friday, August 22, 2008

THE RICH MAN'S MICHAEL MOORE
WHY AN HEIR CONTINUES TO DOCUMENT -- AND ANGER -- THE WEALTHY
By Robert Frank
The Wall Street Journal
February 23, 2008

Original Link

Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, used to be an accepted member of the New York elite, with a trust fund, a top education and loads of old-money friends. Now, thanks to his film career, he's not as welcome.

"I'll walk into a social event where there are a number of people who I grew up with and they'll treat me apprehensively," says Mr. Johnson, 28.

His relationship with his family, especially his father, has also cooled. "There was a sense that 'If you go too far with these [films], you won't be welcome in your own home,'" he says.

Mr. Johnson is getting used to being an outcast among the upper class. After the 2003 release of his first film, "Born Rich" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Rich>, which looked at the lives of the silver-spoon set, and now his second, "The One Percent" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Percent>, which focuses on the American wealth gap, Mr. Johnson has become the rich man's Michael Moore -- a trust-fund populist who's not afraid to attack the wealthy and powerful. While his wealth has helped him gain access to the people he's filming, it's also carried personal costs. He has learned the hard way that the biggest betrayal for the rich is to talk publicly about their riches.

"I think most wealthy people want to live with this myth of equal opportunity and equality in this country," he says. "I don't think they want to question their right to this wealth."

The films have generated their share of controversy. "Born Rich," which featured several of Mr. Johnson's childhood friends talking about everything from drugs to prenuptial agreements, sparked a lawsuit and accusations from a few of his friends that Mr. Johnson portrayed them unfairly.

"The One Percent," which is running on Cinemax until April 1, has spawned its own mini scandal. After Warren Buffett's adopted granddaughter, Nicole Buffett, spoke to Mr. Johnson on camera about her views on money, Mr. Buffett sent her a letter stating that she was not legally his granddaughter.

The most personal casualty of Mr. Johnson's cinematic class crusade is his relationship with his father, James Loring Johnson. Jamie Johnson is the great-grandson of J&J's founder. After three generations of family scandal and feuds, Jamie's father turned to a quiet life of reading and painting landscapes. Throughout "Born Rich," Jamie pursued his dad, Roger-and-me-style, asking him about the family's wealth. His father, adhering to old-money codes of conduct, demurred.

Yet while making "The One Percent," Jamie made a surprising discovery. Decades earlier, his father had helped fund a documentary about apartheid and economic unfairness in South Africa. His father refused to talk about the film, although Jamie learned about it from his mother and got a copy. His mother told him that his father was reprimanded for the film by Johnson & Johnson and by members of his family. His father never made another film.

"The fact that a reprimand was all it took to completely push him off that path says something about how fearful he must have been," Jamie says.

"It is true that I did have strong feelings about the injustices of apartheid," says the elder Johnson. "But it was complicated with the company and it was a different time and, you know, this is uncomfortable."

The conflicts play out in "The One Percent," as Jamie follows his father from the croquet court to family meetings asking about the film and his family's wealth. His father tries to answer his questions on several occasions, but eventually gives up, walking out of one interview with his head in his hands saying, "I can't take any more. It's too much for me."

Brian McNally, the Johnson family's financial adviser, chastises Jamie on camera for his behavior.

"You're behaving like a little arrogant trustafarian," he tells him.

Milton Friedman, the famed economist, was equally impatient with Mr. Johnson's questioning. During his on-air interview -- among Mr. Friedman's last before he died -- he accuses Mr. Johnson of advocating socialism and abruptly ends their talk.

Mr. Johnson insists he's not opposed to wealth -- including his own. Wealth, he says, has given him a great education, freedom, chances to travel and, best of all, the resources to do films about wealth. He says that while his documentaries are profitable, they wouldn't pay for his lifestyle.

Yet with "The One Percent," Mr. Johnson wanted to show how the rich have gone too far. Through interviews with economists, policy experts and environmentalists, Mr. Johnson argues that today's wealthy have become an increasingly isolated elite. He says rather than using their wealth for good, they have used it to restructure the economy, lower their taxes, cut social programs for the middle and lower classes, and amass ever more wealth.

Mr. Johnson says finding willing subjects for "The One Percent" was difficult, and not just because of his reputation. He sent out more than 100 letters to wealthy people asking for interviews and most said no or failed to reply. Even George Soros, the billionaire financier who often argues against inequality, refused.

"We have an aristocracy in this country that has convinced everybody else that they don't exist," Mr. Johnson says.

Rejections by his fellow elites won't be a problem for his next film, however. Says Mr. Johnson: "My next projects are fictional."

In Jamie Johnson's film "The One Percent," Nicole Buffett talks about how lucky she is to be a Buffett. "I feel very fulfilled and happy in my life," says Nicole, the adopted daughter of Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett's son.

Warren Buffett, however, wasn't pleased. Shortly after Nicole appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to talk about the film, Mr. Buffett sent her a letter saying that, while he was proud of Nicole and her achievements, "...I have not legally or emotionally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin."

Nicole is the biological daughter of Mary Buffett (with another man), who married Peter when Nicole was 4 years old. Peter and Mary divorced but Peter adopted Nicole when she was 18. Warren Buffett declined to comment.

Nicole says she spent almost every Christmas with Warren Buffett between the ages of 4 and 11 and often went to his home in Omaha for spring break. Susan Buffett, Warren's first wife, who died in 2004, named Nicole in her will as one of her "adored grandchildren" and left her $100,000. She added that Nicole "shall have the same status and benefits ... as if they were children of my son, Peter A. Buffett."

A source close to the family says Nicole spent "very little time" with Warren Buffett over the years but that he paid for Nicole's school and living expenses until she was 28. Nicole says that Mr. Buffett's reaction may have reflected his philosophy about wealth. "Sharing my experience as a Buffett was stepping outside the box," she says.

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Q&A: JAMIE JOHNSON ON ''THE ONE PERCENT''
By Lacey Rose
Forbes Magazine
February 20, 2008

Original Link

For most of the moneyed class, an inquiry into their wealth elicits silence and cringes. Not so with 28-year-old Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. For the Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker, wealth is the focus of his life's work.

In Johnson's first documentary, Born Rich, he exposed how 10 children from families like the Trumps and the Newhouses spent their time -- and their fortunes.

Now he turns the camera on his own family in The One Percent. Johnson's documentary, which premieres on Cinemax Feb. 21, offers a rarefied view of the scandalously secretive world of "the one percent," a small segment of the U.S. population that owns roughly 40% of the country's wealth. Through a series of interviews with high-profile figures like Bill Gates Sr., U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and economist Milton Friedman, Johnson explores the disparity of wealth in America.

Johnson spoke to Forbes.com about the making of his film, growing up among the super wealthy and why money is a topic he won't keep quiet about.

............

Forbes.com: What inspired you to make this film?

Jamie Johnson: I was reading a lot about inequality in America and the growing wealth gap. And looking around, I was seeing my own family's wealth increase and the vastly wealthy families around me had a lot more wealth, a lot more capital and you could see them spending more money. I just thought, "What an interesting topic to explore on film."

Forbes.com: You got your own father, as well as other phenomenally wealthy people, to talk to you. How did you get these folks to open up about such an intensely private topic?

Jamie Johnson: It wasn't easy. A lot of patience -- there was a lot of waiting around. I think there's something in people where they often want to describe their personal experiences, but when it's regarding wealth, they're obviously very guarded. They're very worried about how people are going to react to what they say. So it took time to write letters and reach out to people but eventually I collected an interesting list of names.

One of the more interesting moments when I was pursuing subjects for this film came when I was reaching out to Adnan Khashoggi, who is a Saudi arms dealer and had been the richest man in the world. I went back and forth with his former assistant for a year before I ever got to interview him, and finally his assistant said to me, "The chief" -- that's what he calls Adnan -- "is in Paris, and he'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

Forbes.com: So you hopped on a plane?

Jamie Johnson: Yup, I had to jump on a plane and get over there.

Forbes.com: I imagine you'll have critics who will call this "rich boy's guilt." What do you say to them?

Jamie Johnson: That both liberal and conservative economists agree that there is a growing wealth gap, and that it's a problem. Of course, they have different solutions to solving that problem. I believe that it's important to get this topic of conversation out there; it's important to get wealthy people to think about this and think about solving this problem. They are the most influential people in our society and therefore, they should be working on treating this and coming up with a solution. So no, I don't see it as rich boy's guilt, I see it as we have a legitimate problem out there and most people in my position aren't willing to recognize it as clearly as I think they should and therefore, I'm trying to force the subject on them.

Forbes.com: So what's your solution? What do you propose we do about this growing disparity?

Jamie Johnson: That's a great question. One of the interesting things that happened along this journey for me was that I thought that Ph.D.s and the specialists I interviewed on the subject would have specific answers and they'd say this is what we need to do to solve the problem. But they didn't. It's an incredibly messy subject.

The most interesting answers? Some people would say, "Listen, we need to tax the rich more than we are. They're getting richer and richer and they're pulling away from the rest of society, isolating themselves and creating this tension between classes." They'd also say, "We need to provide better social services. We need things like higher standards for education and higher standards for health care. Those are things that help a society grow and help a middle class grow, which is what we need more of in this country."

Forbes.com: You'll have people like Milton Friedman, who you've included in the film, who will argue there's nothing wrong with this accumulation of wealth; that it's a product of capitalism. What do you say to that?

Jamie Johnson: Interestingly, Milton Friedman did say that the growing wealth gap was bad for society.

Forbes.com: Sure, the gap itself, but perhaps not that accumulation of wealth.

Jamie Johnson: He has a different solution for the problem. He believes what you have to do is cut taxes, take regulation out of the economy and allow families like mine to accumulate as much wealth as they possibly can so that it can trickle down into the hands of people in the middle and lower classes.

Forbes.com: Who is the intended audience for your film? And what do you hope they take away from it?

Jamie Johnson: I think this movie really is for everyone. I think people are deeply fascinated by wealth and this film opens up a window into a world that you normally don't get to see. I also hope that wealthy people see this film and think, "Maybe I need to make some sacrifices here; maybe I need to take greater responsibility; maybe I need to think about the inequality in America instead of just thinking about increasing the size of my fortune."

Forbes.com: And what did you learn from making this? Your takeaway?

Jamie Johnson: I learned that not talking about and not dealing with the subject doesn't solve the problem. And if you see what's happened in this country over the last 25 to 30 years, we've had these conservative economic policies and relatively low taxes on the rich, and look what's happened: the wealth gap is growing. What we're doing now isn't working, so I think we need to think about reevaluating the problem and coming up with some real solutions that are actually going to make a difference.

Forbes.com: In your first documentary, Born Rich, you talk about a moment in the fourth grade when you discovered you weren't like everybody else: You were rich. Do you recall that realization?

Jamie Johnson: I remember I was in grade school, the fourth grade, in a free reading period in the library. Someone in my class found a copy of the Forbes 400, a list of the richest people in America, and my dad's name was on it. The kids freaked out and said, "Come look at this." Everyone in the class came running over, including the teacher. That was my first experience with it -- it was kind of a surprising and overwhelming way to learn about your family's wealth.

Forbes.com: At 28 years old, you've launched a career by getting people to talk about a topic that, in many circles, is considered taboo. How do you do it?

Jamie Johnson: Well, you have to be patient. I've always found that I personally love to observe things and I'm good at observing things. So that's one way to approach it. If you sit around with someone and let them explore and sort of patiently wait around for them to open up, in a way they like to share -- in a way, I think it feels good. They've been told for so many years [that they can't talk about money] and there's such this culture of fear about talking about money among the wealthy that once they finally start, they begin to almost enjoy it. Afterward, they may regret it, but while it's happening, I think there is some sort of pleasure about releasing that information for the first time.

Forbes.com: Why is it so important for you to get this topic out there and discussed?

Jamie Johnson: Well, in my own family, my father would always say, "Don't talk about money." He was raised with these old-money, waspy traditions that say you should be secretive about your wealth. In my own upbringing, I always thought, "Why? Does that make any sense? We have this money and we have this affluent lifestyle, why try and live this lie publicly?" It makes absolutely no sense and I don't think anyone is better off as a result of it. So that was one of my ambitions in this: Just to kind of get wealthy people to start living more honestly with their wealth.

And the other thing is that there's a lot of inequality in this country, and when people see my first documentary, Born Rich, they have these reactions to the characters. They see this elitism, this excessive privilege and this snobbery -- and I don't think we want more of that. And in the second film, The One Percent, they see that we have this growing wealth gap. Nobody wants more inequality in this country and nobody wants more division between classes. So talking about it, getting the subject out there, trying to think about solutions, is all going in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

Forbes.com: In both of your films, you've made a point of showing just how uncomfortable your subjects are with the topic and the films you were making. How have these folks reacted to the final products?

Jamie Johnson: You've seen my father's reaction in the films: He freaks out, he really hates it. Many times he just throws me out of the room or kicks me out of the house. And then there are the characters or subjects in my films. I was sued at one point and there are a number of other people in those films that feel that I was a traitor to the affluent class in some way -- that I betrayed them.

Forbes.com: So you're not part of that same social circle anymore?

Jamie Johnson: Well, not entirely. I have a number of friends that are from that circle, but I find there is a suspicion of me among certain wealthy people now. Every now and then when I ask a question, something completely innocent just because I'm curious, people say, "What do you want to know for? What is this about?" And my response is usually the same, which is that I ask everyone to sign a release before I put them in my films.

Forbes.com: So what's next for you? Is there another film in the works?

Jamie Johnson: Fiction. I'm interested in these themes of power, wealth and inequality and I hope to work them into fictional films. I think you can do a lot with fiction, and in some cases you can say even more in fiction than you can in straight-up documentary journalism. So we'll see exactly what the future holds, but I'm looking forward to continuing to make films.

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"The One Percent" On HOBO