James Hulme
Introduction to Management Course # MGMT 3110-004 20864
Professor: Mr. Michael Scales
March 20, 2007
George Lucas is a smart entrepreneur and businessman, a talented storyteller, director, movie editor, photographer, race car driver, billionaire, draftsman, writer, and inventor who had a clear vision of the future of the film industry. He also has a knowledgeable business attitude for creating an empire extending over thirty years. The success of many of our popular Hollywood directors today is directly linked to George Lucas and his talent to create a new environment for how films are directed and produced. How did he manage, with little initial income, to accomplish his goals and become a millionaire and beyond at an early age?
George Lucas grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s watching cartoons, action-adventure series, and Country Westerns on black and white televisions. During his leisure time away from his father, he enjoyed reading and collecting comic books. It is from the love of these comic books that his successful “Star Wars” series began to take shape in his mind. His love of fast cars brought him to the world of car racing, but after almost dying in a car crash, he settled for just photographing them (Woog 16).
Although he did not really like to go to school, he did enjoy writing and started an elongated, hard-working career in filmmaking because he found it to be interesting. It allowed him to be an artist and to write stories that he hoped would help him connect with others, especially children (Woog 19). He learned from whoever he came in contact with. He believed in his projects, and he was willing to take a chance (Kline 66).
During most of his childhood, George Lucas was a lonely person who did not get along with his father. When making a film, he used his creativity to tell about detailed plots and profound characters in several different aspects and he used his father’s stationery business for ideas for design techniques (Woog 16).
His own company, Lucasfilm Ltd., gave him the ability to be a successful manager, using such styles and theories as organization, intellectual capital, ethics/morality, and decision making to achieve most of his goals in life. His company continues to be a “trendsetter” today using current computer technology to interconnect video games and movies (Fost 4).
When he decided to write “Star Wars,” he wanted to create a story, based on an adventure in time that children would enjoy. During the decade of the 1970’s, children were exposed to a variety of horror films. It is important to him to let children know “all was not bad in the world (Kline 56).” He was quoted in an interview saying that, “a whole generation was growing up without fairy tales” (Kline 53).
George Lucas’s first successful film, released in 1973, was “American Graffiti,” which was a nostalgia film about teenagers having to make decisions in their lives that would change their future. His story tells us that,”we all have to accept change because things do not always stay the same (Kline 22).” It reflected on his thoughts about his own life in the 1960’s when the country was in a violent turmoil over the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.
Many of the youth of that day were worried about being drafted and having to fight and perhaps lose their life in Vietnam. Vietnam was the longest military conflict (1965-1973) in United States history. Thousands of Americans lost their lives in the various conflicts. The country was divided, and there were constant demonstrations going on around the country to bring our battling soldiers home.
“American Graffiti” takes place on one obscure night in 1962 when the only focus for the characters was love of fast cars, musical soundtracks of the songs of the ’60’s, and cruising to “pick up” girls (Woog 21). The movie was a huge success because audiences related to a time before the war when everything was simplistic and decision making and growing up were the only worry for teenagers (Universal Studios 1).
The movie cost seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars to make, but when it finally reached the box office, George Lucas found out that he was now a millionaire (Kline 33). First, he repaid back the money he borrowed from people. Then, he never spent the money he earned from this film on frivolous items, but rather lived modestly spending little of the wealth on himself. Lastly, he made wise investments in land, savings bonds, municipal bonds, and in companies that were on the cutting edge of technology in the film industry. He shared this wealth with the people who had made him successful and a well-known movie figure (Woog 38). Most importantly, though, he became “one of the most sought-after directors in the world (Supershadow 1).
During the filming of “Star Wars” he employed an eager workforce from the younger college generation who were leaving college with an ability to be innovative and needing a chance to succeed in the job industry; Lucas gave them that chance (Kline 53). He provided the tools and guidance necessary for this film to be a story about good versus evil and let us believe that anyone has the power to change his destiny if he believes in himself (Clarke 4). To read one of his quotes about his films, he once said their message is, ” don’t listen to everyone else, discover your own feelings and follow them… “You may have to overcome a lot of fear and get up a lot of courage, sometimes to do even the simplest things, sometimes to just get up in the morning…. ” you can do it”; “you can make a difference”; “Dreams are extremely important,” you can’t do it unless you imagine it (Woog 12).”
Hollywood had been using special effects to tell a story, but George Lucas’ innovative approach to using these special effects would dominate the film industry for decades (Woog 9, 10). He discovered new technologies along the way to bring to life real characters and storylines that would forever stay with his target audience that ranged from teenagers to college students to the older generation who came to see his popular films in New York and Los Angeles (Kline 24, 25).
To accomplish his special effects goal, he used a managerial strategy that he would use repeatedly. He created his own company whenever he needed to solve a problem during filming. In this case, his company improved on a new computerized camera system with a memory to make pictures “look more authentic” , and he manufactured these cameras. This camera was developed by him, along with several of his employees, and he used it in different backgrounds and foregrounds. What was unique about this strategy is that George Lucas shared this camera with others in the film industry (Kline 62).
To be fiscally responsible and to keep within the film’s budget, he chose relatively new actors who would work for smaller salaries, but whose creativity he appreciated (Kline 62). He always wanted to be in control of his storyline. He did not like other people changing his stories. Whenever possible, he chose the locations for shooting his films carefully, often outside the United States in such countries as Tunisia, England, and Norway (Woog 62, 63). To save money and “try to be authentic” , he even used clips from aerial photographs from World War II and the Korean War to duplicate scenes for the “Star Wars” episodes (Baxter 175).
When he signed the contract for “Star Wars” in 1975, he decided to cut his salary by fifty-thousand dollars and asked for the merchandising and sequel rights (Carmichael 1). When he thought “Star Wars” would not be a success, he decided that he should control all publicity, insisting on forty percent of the profits from it. He decided he would create toy merchandise to accompany the opening of the film (Woog 59). He is currently the second-largest shareholder of Hasbro Inc. who has the license to manufacture the “Star Wars” action-figures (Palmer 2).
This proved to be a brilliant business move for George Lucas. By using the skills and intellectual capital his father had taught him in his youth, his idea for games and toys, turned out to be a profitable business. The “Star Wars” series grossed more than any other film in movie history. Also, the franchise business begun by Lucas was the biggest ever in Hollywood (Woog 59).
He began to work on the sequels to his “Star Wars” adventure, and financed “The Empire Strikes Back” himself with loans totaling thirty million dollars (Carmichael 2). Again, he managed to gain total control of everything pertaining to “Star Wars” (Woog 69). He was the only director who could “see the future” in the merchandising business, and because he believed in “Star Wars,” he took advantage of the opportunity. He was once quoted as saying, “You just have to be stubborn and bullheaded, and move forward no matter what you’re up against (Kline 35).
His company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), a division of Lucasfilm, which began in 1975, included a motion-controlled camera that “simulated flight” and launched the techniques needed to experiment with creating miniature models that look big and in movement (Clarke 6). From the success of this company came, Skywalker Sound and a THX digital surround sound system for home and public movie theatres. Another company, Lucas Arts Entertainment, introduced video games (Carmichael 2).
George Lucas decided to re-release a special edition of the “Star Wars” trilogy. The films earned over four hundred and seventy-five million dollars at the box office. The original version of “Star Wars” was released on DVD in May 2006 (Supershadow 8). George Lucas has earned well over two billion dollars in salaries and five billion dollars from his companies (Kline, 217).
Even after he stopped making movies and was considered retired, he has been thinking about producing a fourth sequel to “Star Wars.” In December 2006, he was named Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena and led the parade as the “Star Wars” theme was being played in order to “honor” him (AZ Central 1).
On March 16, 2007, New York City has honored the fans of “Star Wars” by introducing a mailbox with R2-D2 insignia on it, and the post office will create a new stamp named after him on March 28, 2007 (NY Daily News 1). In addition, he continues to contribute to educational causes and created the George Lucas Educational Foundation which recently donated one hundred seventy-five million dollars to the University of Southern California’s Cinematic Arts and Film School, which is one of the oldest and largest film schools in the country, (Woog 23), where he had graduated (Newsvine 1).
George Lucas’ father instilled in him the importance of a ” hard day’s work for a fair salary (Baxter 42).” His responsibility toward others, self-discipline, persistence, and care led him to use his income wisely. It was important to him to create cameras and special effects which made his characters seem real to many people. He was confident he could make the film industry better by creating, not just science fiction films, but master films about how dreams or fantasies can come true while setting a pictaresque example in the minds of everyone, especially children. He did and will continue to do what makes him happy. We have not seen the last of George Lucas or his imagination.
Works Cited
“American Graffiti.”
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Universal Studios
Universal Studios 18 March 2007.
Baxter, John.
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Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas.
New York: Avon Books, Inc., 1999.
Carmichael, Evan. “George Lucas’ Success Story.” 10 May 2006.
- 25 Feb. 2007. Carmichael
Glasgow Access
Clarke, Gerald. “Great Galloping Galaxies!” 23 May 1983.
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Time Magazine
25 Feb. 2007. Clarke Gerald Clarke
Fost, Dan. “Star Wars’ Creator Sending His Troops to the Presidio: George Lucas’ Empire Moves Into the Future.” 12 May 2005.
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The San Francisco Chronicle
“George Lucas Donates $175 Million to USC.” 20 Sept. 2006.
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Newsvine.
19 Mar. 2007. Newsvine
Kline, Sally, ed.
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George Lucas: Interviews.
Conversations with Filmmakers Ser. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1999.
Palmer, Brian. “Hasbro’s New Action Figure.”
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Fortune Magazine.
21 June 1999. Vol. 139, Issue 12; 189-192. Academic Search Premier.
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EBSCOhost.
Richard Stockton Coll. Lib., Pomona, NJ. 10 Feb. 2007. Palmer Brian Palmer
“Sending Mail? Use the Force!: R2-D2 Boxes Land in City.” 16 March 2007.
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New York Daily News.
New York Daily News. 18 March 2007. New York Daily News NY Daily News Sending Mail?
“Star Wars’ Creator George Lucas Named Grand Marshal of the 2007 Tournament of Roses.” 19 Sept. 2006.
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Associated Press.
AZ Central. 25 Feb. 2007. AZ Central Tournament of Roses
“The History of Star Wars.”
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Supershadow.
18 March 2007. Supershadow
Woog, Adam.
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People in the News: George Lucas.
San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc., 2000.
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