So often out of Hollywood, we hear horror stories about backstabbing liars, creepy accountants and general unpleasantness. How about a nice story about Michael Sheen?
Sheen isn’t what I would call a Hollywood A-lister, but he has been in some impressive movies and TV shows; Underworld, The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Damned United, Tron Legacy, Masters of Sex and, unfortunately, some of the Twilight movies.
In 2021, Sheen announced he was to become a ‘not-for-profit’ actor. This means he pledged to use all the money he earns for good causes. The Rock earns $50 million a movie, OK, he puts a lot back into other movies, but it doesn’t cost $50 million to live. I manage on about £40 a week and scrounging from the bins behind my local pub.
Sheen comes from Wales and has always been proud of where he comes from. Port Talbot, a town in Wales that had a huge steel blast furnace, where most people worked. When it closed, it left a lot of people wondering how they would cope financially.
Debt Acquisition
At the time, banks and financial institutions seemed to be taking advantage of most people. Sheen met a lady in a Port Talbot café and heard the story of many steelworkers “in tears” as they struggled to make ends meet.
He knew he couldn’t pay off everyone’s debt in one go.
Instead, Sheen set up a Debt Acquisition Company. People’s debt can be bundled into one bundle and sold off from one company to another. These are usually sold off at a lower price, even though the debt stays the same size to the person who owes it.
Taking £100,000 of his own money, Sheen set up a company and purchased the debt of 900 people from around the Port Talbot area. The bundle he bought was initially worth over £1 million.
Sheen himself has said that the system is “bizarre” and he doesn’t really understand how it works, but “it seemed a good thing to do”. Honestly, writing this article, I still don’t know how it works, I just know Sheen saved a lot of people a lot of debt.
Helping Others
Sheen said he didn’t have the money to help everyone, but he wanted to make something sustainable. Setting up the debt acquisition company meant he could purchase people’s debt and then just release it.
He said that he never knew whose debt he purchased, and he still doesn’t. His company was set up with a name that had nothing to do with him, so it was all done in secret, until now.
Initially, Sheen thought that it would be a little work and very helpful. It turns out that it would be more than he bargained for because he was trying to keep it all secret.
“I thought I would only work on this for a few weeks or a month or something, and it turned into two years, because we had to do it secretly.”
While setting up the company, it seemed like such hard work and he nearly gave up. As the steelworks was preparing to close, this is when he met the lady in the café.
“The woman who worked at the cafe we were filming in told me the story of the men sitting on every table in tears, who were losing their jobs.”
“And I just thought – then, it really hits home, I just thought anything I can do [to help]”.
A Huge Help
In total, 2,800 people were going to lose their jobs because of the plant closure. In total, Sheen has helped over 900 people with their debts across Wales. He said that because a lot of people aren’t comfortable with discussing money, some may not know their debt is gone.
There is a documentary on Channel 4 (in the UK) this week all about what happened. I’m going to watch it, as it seems fascinating.
I saw this story and thought I had to share it, as it was just good news for a change. There are some people out there, working in Hollywood, who are good and kind people. Sheen seems to be one of them and good for him.
Side Note: Micheal, if you ever read this, I owe £67 to a guy called Steve. He said he’s going to break my legs if I don’t pay and I would like to avoid that, I use my legs a lot. Thank you in advance.