A reliable rule of thumb: In Hollywood, the developer is never the hero.
The developer-as-villain has a long and distinguished history in popular films. Director Frank Capra, a pioneer in establishing the trope, used it twice, in You Can’t Take it With You (1938), which hinges on a rapacious businessman’s efforts to snatch a home from a reluctant seller, and most famously in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), the holiday classic that airs Sunday night on NBC.
