Wealth & Money Quote by Roger Corman

Corman is quietly repudiating a pose that has always haunted low-budget art: the preemptive shrug. In the world he came up in, diminishing your own film was a kind of armor. Call it disposable, and no one can accuse you of failing at seriousness. Better yet, you flatter the gatekeepers by conceding you were never trying to make anything that mattered. Corman refuses that dodge. The line "If I took the assignment" is telling: he frames filmmaking as work, not romantic destiny, and that professionalism is the point. The ethic is craft-first, ego-last.

The subtext is a defense of the so-called cash-in that built entire ecosystems of American culture. Corman's cheap sets and tight schedules weren't just budget constraints; they were a discipline. When you can't hide behind resources, you either sharpen your instincts or you get exposed. His insistence on "best shot" reads like a moral claim: exploitation doesn't have to mean contempt. You can make genre product and still respect the audience, the crew, and your own standards.

Context matters, too. Corman became synonymous with fast, profitable movies, and later with launching careers. That pipeline only works if the leader treats even "minor" projects as worth doing well. He's not romanticizing grind culture; he's drawing a boundary between commerce and cynicism. Make money, sure. Just don't use money as an excuse to stop trying.