Pursuits

The GDP Walks the Red Carpet

What happens when Hollywood directors explain debt reduction

A Bee’s Invoice, by Adrian Grenier — *A Bee’s Invoice*, by Adrian GrenierCourtesy We The Economy

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Joel Stein

October 23, 2014 at 7:01 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the October 27, 2014 issue of businessweek.

Since the recession, a tiny media industry has been dedicated to educating us about the economy: NPR’s Planet Money podcast, Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, and the Freakonomics blog, podcast, and book sequels. On Oct. 21, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen joined the party as his Vulcan Productions released a series of 20 shorts called We the Economy. Curated by director Morgan Spurlock, it features the work of filmmakers Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), John Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Steve James (Hoop Dreams), and Adrian Grenier (er, Adrian Grenier), among others.

The five- to eight-minute films are being shown on Netflix, Amazon.com, Funny or Die, iTunes, AOL, Hulu, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Allen “really wanted something that helped consumers think about unemployment or inflation or debt—things they see every day and don’t really understand,” says Carole Tomko, Vulcan’s general manager.