A money shot is a moving or stationary visual element of a
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
,
video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
,
television broadcast, or
print publication that is disproportionately expensive to produce or is perceived as essential to the overall importance or revenue-generating potential of the work.
Origin and cinematographic senses
William Safire identifies the use of the word "''money'' as a modifier meaning 'powerful, decisive'"
as far back as 1949 ("money hits" in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
), and possibly to 1890 (a "money player" in
billiards
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...
). By 1977
the phrase had entered American usage as
slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
for the
cum shot
A cum shot is the depiction of human ejaculation, especially onto another person. The term is usually applied to depictions occurring in pornographic films, photographs, and magazines. Unlike ejaculation in non-pornographic sex, cum shots typ ...
in a
pornographic film: that is, a shot of the male actor
ejaculating outside his partner. This is the filmed moment that the audience has paid money to see.
According to Steven Ziplow, author of ''The Film Maker's Guide to Pornography'' (1977), "There are those who believe that the
come shot, or, as some refer to it, 'the money shot', is the most important element in the movie and that everything else (if necessary) should be sacrificed at its expense."
In her book ''Hard Core'',
Linda Williams argues that the money shot is not simply desired in and of itself, but proves to the audience that the sex is real.
In contrast, film critic Jane Mills (2001) contends that ''money shot'' was "originally mainstream filmmakers' slang for the image that cost the most money to produce,"
and only later transitioned to mean the image desired by the audience, the image that ''makes'' the money (and thus, finally, to its pornographic connotation).
In its broader cinematographic sense, a money shot (also called a ''money-making shot''
) is a provocative, sensational, or memorable sequence in a film, on which the film's commercial performance is perceived to depend.
The scene may or may not be a
special-effects sequence, but may be counted on to become a selling point for the film. For example, in an action
thriller, an expensive special-effects sequence of a dam bursting might be considered the money shot of the film. Many filmmakers read a
script and look for the most dramatic or climactic moment — the money shot — in the proposed film.
Even though the costs or technical challenges of filming such an impressive scene may be huge, producers and directors will do whatever it takes to get that shot completed.
Extended senses
More broadly, the term ''money shot'' can refer to any notably dramatic or emotional footage.
* On a television
talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
, the ''money shot'' may be a visibly emotional scene, such as a guest's tearful confession of a previously well-kept secret or their dramatic retelling of a traumatic experience.
* In
broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
, the ''money shot'' which grabs or holds viewers' attention may be a photograph of a person in an unusual, noteworthy, tragic, embarrassing, or incriminating situation, or thrilling footage of a disaster such as a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
rolling into a city. A money shot is typically one that would be difficult to set up or anticipate in advance; therefore amateur footage is disproportionately represented among money shots.
* In
surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...
, the phrase ''money shot'' often refers to the specific image or footage in which the perpetrator commits the act; that is, in which the perpetrator is caught
in flagrante delicto.
Compare ''
smoking gun''.
* In broadcast or
print journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
, the ''money shot'' may be a photograph that in itself drives an important percentage of the sales of the publication. The pursuit of titillating photographs of celebrities in unusual or embarrassing situations is known as
paparazzo journalism. In print journalism, the
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography rewards the production of unique and iconic photographs.
* In an even broader metaphorical sense, the ''money shot'' in a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
three-pointer shooting competition is the fifth and last ball in the rack, which is worth twice as many points as any other ball.
Conversely, Rich Evans of
Red Letter Media coined the term "
coupon
In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product.
Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods
or by retailers, to be used in ...
shot" for a movie's planned "money shot" that turns out to be anticlimactic or otherwise poorly executed.
References
{{Sexual slang
Film and video terminology
Cinematic techniques
Pornography terminology