About The Film

SHINE is a collaborative film project born from the efforts of more than 100 volunteers. On May 6, 2009, 400 entrepreneurs gathered in Seattle's largest film production studio to tell us why they work long hours, for low pay, facing great uncertainty.

We took the most compelling stories and conducted dozens of additional interviews, in search of the larger story about entrepreneurship in an economy where, by some estimates, as much as 90 percent of all new jobs are being created by small, entrepreneur-driven businesses. Along the way, we discovered that many cherished beliefs about entrepreneurship are in fact myths:

Myth: Most entrepreneurs make a lot of money.
Reality: Most entrepreneurs make less money than the average employee.

Myth: Most entrepreneurial ventures take a lot of capital to get started.
Reality: Most businesses are started with $25,000 of an entrepreneurs savings.

Myth: 90 percent of all new businesses fail within a year.
Reality: Half of all businesses last 5 years.

From a toothless cowboy poet to an entrepreneur who sold his business for $500 million, SHINE introduces you to the people at the heart of the American Dream.