Why Spielberg’s dreams work
Steven Spielberg is not only a gifted film director, he’s a phenomenal entrepreneur. During his youth, he probably never imagined he would become one of America’s most powerful figures. And it certainly didn’t happen over night. Spielberg’s storytelling skills are unquestionably innate; his business skills were developed over the years as he worked for various studios.
He learned from Universal Pictures honchos Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg the art of the deal. Partnered with producer (and nascent film industry titan) George Lucas and Paramount for “Indiana Jones.” Founded Amblin Entertainment and produced numerous film and television projects. Formed a lucrative franchise, “Back to the Future,” with his former protege, Robert Zemeckis.
All of this culminated in 1994 with the creation of DreamWorks SKG, a major studio he co-founded with media moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.
Recently, Spielberg’s entrepreneurial insight has become more and more evident, especially with the success of DreamWorks’ “Disturbia,” an iTunes generation thriller that, surprisingly, topped the box-office for three weekends in a row. Spielberg clearly took a risk, and it payed off more than the studio analysts could ever have anticipated.
See also his relatively new relationship with former Bruckheimer team member Michael Bay. Spielberg is executive producer of Bay’s next event flick, “Transformers.” Although “Transformers” is an instant draw for the twentysomethings who grew up watching the 80s cartoon series, producing a feature film based on it is still a risky move; kids today have never heard of it, and if you recall, Bay’s last film, “The Island” (also a DreamWorks production), was a massive flop.
What Spielberg has done with Bay is remarkable. Look at Bay’s unimpressive repertoire of films. This is the guy who gave us the “Saving Private Ryan” meets “Titantic” bomb, “Pearl Harbor,” “Bad Boys II,” and “Armageddon.” But Spielberg obviously saw some potential in Bay, and perhaps found something of a kinship with a fellow grown-up kid. I think we can safely predict that this partnership will pay off.
So, overall, a few key things to learn from Spielberg as an entrepreneur:
1) The importance of risk-taking
2) The importance of strong, lasting relationships
3) The importance of trusting your instincts
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I’m not sure, but have kids today actually not heard of “Transformers”? I mean, it’s certainly not as popular as it was back in the late 1980s, but there is still a current cartoon (“Transformers Cybertron”) that seems to be doing well enough, so there must be a market for it somewhere.
As for Michael Bay, I agree about several of those past titles, but “The Rock” and “The Island” (despite the latter one being a flop) were both great films! And, yes, I did work on “Transformers”, but I’m not biased when I say that from what I know (but can’t reveal) of the script and the filming, Michael Bay was a great choice to direct. The movie’s going to be exactly what it’s meant to be, a rockin’ sci-fi popcorn action thriller that I’m very much looking forward to seeing.
Some kids today may have heard of it, but it’s not the same pop culture sensation it was in the 80s. Today it’s something else — Sponge Bob maybe?
Yeah, I have to admit I liked “The Rock” and “The Island” also.