The Katzenberg Memo, Part 9

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.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting the entire memo. 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.

Today: Kids Movies Aren’t Just for Kids

Kids Movies Aren’t Just for Kids

Too often, people think there are two broad categories of films: adult movies and kids’ movies. Consequently, creative executives think there are two kinds of stories to develop: adult stories and kids’ stories.

This is wrong and, especially at this company, dangerous thinking.

Our Disney franchise is of incomparable value. But it didn’t get that way by making “kids” movies. It got that way by making “family” movies.

But this, too, is a misleading term. It summons up images of movies that can only be enjoyed by Ozzie and Harriet and David and Ricky sitting in a row together sharing popcorn.

A “family movie” doesn’t mean a movie that can only be enjoyed by the whole family together. It means a movie that can be enjoyed by the family individually. “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” was a success because it was funny to an adult even when the children didn’t come along. “The Little Mermaid” was a hit with late night date audiences. And, the movie that will be the biggest film of 1990, “Home Alone,” didn’t achieve that status without parents getting as much a kick out of its story as did their children.

These films didn’t talk down to the kids. They let everybody in on the fun.

When we consider our roots, we should keep in mind the deep roots of this company which have earned such enormous trust from the general public. Walt Disney put it best when he said, “I do not make pictures for children, at least not just for children. I won’t play down to them. I’ll temper a story, yes. But I won’t play down, and I won’t patronize.” He made movies for the kid that exists in each and every one of us.

This may be the single most prescient observation in the Katzenberg memo because it forecasts the concept of four-quadrant movies and a certain outfit known as Pixar. Indeed it’s probably fair to suggest the studio brought this sensibility to the development and production of The Lion King, Disney’s first animated movie to come from a completely original story and a project with which Katzenberg was intimately involved.

A “family movie” doesn’t mean a movie that can only be enjoyed by the whole family together. It means a movie that can be enjoyed by the family individually.

If you write family movies, this is a good quote to put up at your desk.

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.

To read the entire memo, go here.

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