February 22, 2006
Project Jay Tonight!
No one needed any more reasons to watch Project Jay, the one hour special about the season one winner of Project Runway, Jay McCarroll, but after reading Virginia Heffernan's assessment in the Times, we Can. Not. Wait. Saying that if he were better-looking, he'd be stupid and die of AIDS? His disdainful family and Heidi Klum's pregnancy-induced indecisiveness? Just living in Park Slope? And that hat is so great. Oh, Jay, we miss you from this season. The best two hours of TV tonight is from 10PM-midnight on Bravo - Project Runway reunion followed by Project Jay.
Here is Jay's website. Our only question is, why didn't Jay take the $100,000 prize? Does anyone know? And we loved it when he won Project Runway and his interview with Donny Deutsch.
|
I assume he didnt take the money 'casue it meant being banana republic's bitch, er, apprentice for a year.
I have no idea why he didn't take the money, but my assumption, when I first heard it, was that he might possible have not "owned" the designs that he made while he was indentured to Banana - That while he got 100K, if his line took off, they would be reaping most of the benefit/financial reward.
That makes sense, though it's less sexy/salacious than I had hoped. ("For the $100,000, you'll have to design crap for a year!")
There is an interview in the 2/16-22 issue of TONY with Jay and it mentions he wants to "strike his own licensing deal"
And then..when he's asked:
TONY:Why didn't you take the prize money?
JM: I can't talk about any of it, but it's nightmarish, kind of. I've opted to take other avenues. Use your imagination.
I love Jay!
He didn't take the money because he opted for a rep and (I think) some licensing deals which - if they worked out well - would have made him more money than the $100K. I didn't watch the episode, so I don't know how his business is doing, but I think it was a smarter move overall.
As a CPA who has worked with scores of actors, designers, and entertainers, my intuitive response would be he made a bad decision. The lack of biz sense for some artistic folks is astounding, but it does make for great fodder.
Many have speculated he didn't take the $100K because of some restrictive aspect of the contract. Its known that Klum's production company owns the rights to all of the designs from the show, so I presume the objectionable portion of the contract has to do with licensing, but who knows. More likely is he simply lacked the vision to realize the exposure would be worth far more than missing out on a few dimes.
Jay has mentioned his "sustainable career" in virtually every interview I've read in the last year, but why pass up the momentum that seed money would have provided? He's a great t.v. personality, but his attitude about his career is so infantile. At some point his 16th minute will be up. Then he'll have to sweat his way up like the rest of the world.
Time will tell, but it was just a dumb move IMO.