Agee and Gates received $200,000 in royalties when the movie premiered, and though they still receive annual residual checks, that is not enough for them to live on. Much of Agee’s income comes from speaking engagements at schools, where he surprises the students by walking out immediately after they have watched the movie. Agee does a dozen or so engagements per year at a few thousand bucks a pop, but he also makes a lot of speeches for free. “I do that because of my dad,” he says. “He always told me my story is there for a reason. You never know who’s going to be inspired to do something great.”