The Katzenberg Memo, Part 16

In January 1991, Jeffrey Katzenberg, then the head of Disney’s motion picture divisions, wrote a memo that ended up being circulated throughout Hollywood. Even though it is 21 years old, it is remarkably relevant to the current movie business. For example, the United States was in a recession as we are today. The movie industry was confronted by numerous financial challenges tied to technological advances and cultural shifts, also as we are today.

The last few weeks, I have been posting the entire memo in excerpt form. If you have any interest in screenwriting or working in the film business, you should read it. Why? Because it gives you a wide-open view of how studio executives think. After all, any script you write and circulate in Hollywood doesn’t exist in a vacuum, rather it funnels through a system, one that operates based upon the business principles and practices of studio heads like Katzenberg. This is the last entry.

Today: Passion

Passion

And, as long as we’re making rules, here’s just one more: Everyone here should feel a passion for making movies.

Like other businesses, we manufacture a product that is sold to the public. Unlike other businesses, the product we manufacture can not be held, worn, driven or played with. But, even though it is totally ephemeral, the best of our output has come to be something that consumers will treasure for years and years.

Since we want the final result of our efforts to inspire a sense of passion on the part of our consumers, it is imperative that we feel an equal measure of passion in its production.

Any successful movie should stir emotions in its viewers, making them laugh, cry, shriek or simply be moved by what they are seeing on the screen. This is pretty powerful stuff to achieve by projecting some light on a wall.

It’s magical for the audience and it should be magical for us.

The fact is that there is no natural momentum for a movie. It is not an orderly production process from design to assembly line to wholesale to retail.

Movies only result when there is a collective passion that moves it forward past one hurdle after another. One important ingredient in this collective passion is undeniably the talent. But it’s often a sporadic ingredient, as actors, directors and writers are seldom involved in a project from beginning to end. What’s more, their passion is sometimes restrained by their natural fear of failure. Therefore, passion needs to consistently come from us at the studio.

Passion is the only word that can explain why one would choose to burrow through 10–15 scripts every weekend on the chance of uncovering something great. Passion is the only word that can explain why one would spend a 60-hour week at a studio and then, for fun, on the weekend go see three movies. Passion, however misdirected, is the only word that can explain why a lot of otherwise rationale individuals would get caught up in the blockbuster mania that has engulfed our industry to such lemming-like effect.

This is a special business to be in. And people on the outside sense it. That’s why they not only love to go to the movies, it is why they have become fixated on the inner-workings of the industry. They want to know how to make the magic. As much as “Entertainment Tonight” and its ilk can be irritants as they accelerate the blockbuster mentality, the mere fact these programs exist is a recognition of the specialness of what we do.

So, let’s go back to the drawing board and get back to basics. And, as we do, let’s not be afraid to admit to others and to ourselves, up front and with passion… that we love what we do.

Here’s the money quote from this excerpt: “Movies only result when there is a collective passion that moves it forward past one hurdle after another.”

Absolutely true. There has to accrue enough passion among enough people who have the power to generate a ‘yes’ from The Powers That Be to move a project along. Any project starts off with negative energy because a studio is predisposed to say no… even though sometimes they have to yes. Getting to that yes is a sisyphean effort on the part of a whole lot of people.

And more than not, that process starts with a script.

Question: Does that project you are working on right now have what it takes to generate the type of passion necessary to move Hollywood buyers? To suck them into your story universe, pick up on the movie you see in your story, then pick up on your passion as exhibited on the page?

Each of us has to hold ourselves up to that high standard: A script that will generate passion for it on the part of Hollywood types. A script agents, managers, producers, execs, actors, directors and all the rest will fight to get made.

Because getting a movie made is a real bitch.

To read Part 1 of the Katzenberg memo, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

Part 3, go here.

Part 4, go here.

Part 5, go here.

Part 6, go here.

Part 7, go here.

Part 8, go here.

Part 9, go here.

Part 10, go here.

Part 11, go here.

Part 12, go here

Part 13, go here.

Part 14, go here.

Part 15, go here.

To read the entire memo, go here.

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