netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Leadership Style at Lucasfilm : Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and American Graffiti. It has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
The creator of the Star Wars Saga and Indiana Jones series, George Lucas is also the critically acclaimed director of American Graffiti and THX 1138, as well as the producer of a myriad of independent films. In 1971, Lucas formed his own film company, Lucasfilm Ltd., in San Rafael, Calif. In 1973, he co-wrote and directed Graffiti, which won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. Four years later, his Star Wars broke all box-office records and set new standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound. Lucas continued the Star Wars Saga as storywriter and executive producer with The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983. He returned to directing in 1999 with Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which was the first major live-action film to be projected digitally. Three years later, Episode II Attack of the Clones broke new ground as the first major movie shot using entirely digital media. In 2005, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith concluded the live-action Skywalker arc, but Lucas continues to explore the "galaxy far, far away" as executive producer on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the first project from Lucasfilm Animation. Set between Episodes II and III of the live-action saga, The Clone Wars brings Star Wars to TV in weekly installments.
In 1981, he created the classic adventurer Indiana Jones, and co-wrote and executive-produced the successful series consisting of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a trilogy that won eight Academy Awards. Later, a television series — The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — used the iconic character's early adventures to examine historical events of the early 20th century. Nearly 20 years after Indy rode off into the sunset in Last Crusade, Lucas brought the man in the hat back to the big screen in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for which he wrote the story and served as executive producer.
Lucas has also served as executive producer on such widely varied films as Willow, which was based on his original story and directed by Ron Howard; and Tucker: The Man And His Dream, directed by Francis Coppola. As executive producer, Lucas's films also include Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha (1980); Mishima (1985); Latino (1985); Howard the Duck (1986); Labyrinth (1986); as well as 1994's Radioland Murders. He is currently executive producing Red Tails, a fictional story inspired by the historic and heroic exploits of America's first all black aerial combat unit.
At the recent World Business Forum in New York, we had the opportunity to talk to George Lucas about his role as a leader and the interplay between trust, salaries and company culture.
Lucas, as most people are aware, has been a defining force within the mainstream movie business, if not on our cultural heritage as a whole; rare is the person who does not instantly recognise the theme music of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. His understanding of the business side of movie-making is equally renowned; his company Industrial Light and Magic fathered the digital effects revolution, and his early decision to keep and exploit the merchandising rights to Star Wars was not just personally profitable, but also defined a new business model for the industry.
We decided to talk to Lucas about a lesser known aspect of his work, namely his role as the leader of LucasFilm, the now 2,000 person big organization he founded in 1971 on the outskirts of San Francisco. What is the relevance of Lucas’ experience for managers outside of Hollywood, in regular companies all over the world?
According to Lucas, a core element in managing people is the issue of trust, which influences the remuneration systems. Lucas pointed out that in his organization, even the top talent do not get very high salaries. Instead, from early on, the people who worked for Lucas would earn a regular salary – but would then also partake in the profits, should the movie succeed. Referring to his second movie, Lucas explains:
American Graffiti cost 1 million dollars to make, and made more than 100 million dollars. So after the fact, I took a part of the profit from the movie and gave it to all of the actors and the people who had worked on the movie. And they all became millionaires. I can’t afford to pay a lot of money in advance – but if it pays off for me, it pays off for you. I have done this with all the movies I have produced since.
Lucas’ choice is an interesting counterpoint to the high (and possibly excessive) salaries that many CEOs make, and according to him, it has made LucasFilm into a very flat organization. But what is perhaps more significant is that this profit sharing is not governed by contracts – in direct contrast to the regular (and distrustful) way companies typically deal with their employees. As Lucas mentioned,
Our way of operating creates a much more normal atmosphere than in companies where it is all about the HR department, the legal department, contracts – a place where everybody always fights with each other. You have to convince people that they can trust you, that you are on their side and have their interests at heart. We have managed to make this work in our relatively big organization because people know that we care about them. It is very simple, almost rudimentary, but it works.
There are probably some prerequisites for operating like Lucas, though. One is that LucasFilm is a private company, and as such, the top management is not subject to the whims of the stock market – an external influence that has likely forced many a CEO to do things they may not have condoned personally. And crucially, in a sense, it requires a George Lucas: a person with a track record of integrity, who leads the company over a long time, and who becomes the ultimate repository of the trust of the employees. People trust other people; they don’t trust a faceless Board of Executives whose members shift from year to year, or a CEO who is only in charge until he gets a better offer.
If Lucas were to hand over his ownership to someone else or, God forbid, step out in front of a speeding hovercraft – a particularly terrible scenario for those of us who still hope to see a ‘Star Wars Episode 7′ one day – would the company be capable of continuing like it has up until now? We, for one, hope so.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and American Graffiti. It has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
The creator of the Star Wars Saga and Indiana Jones series, George Lucas is also the critically acclaimed director of American Graffiti and THX 1138, as well as the producer of a myriad of independent films. In 1971, Lucas formed his own film company, Lucasfilm Ltd., in San Rafael, Calif. In 1973, he co-wrote and directed Graffiti, which won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. Four years later, his Star Wars broke all box-office records and set new standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound. Lucas continued the Star Wars Saga as storywriter and executive producer with The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983. He returned to directing in 1999 with Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which was the first major live-action film to be projected digitally. Three years later, Episode II Attack of the Clones broke new ground as the first major movie shot using entirely digital media. In 2005, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith concluded the live-action Skywalker arc, but Lucas continues to explore the "galaxy far, far away" as executive producer on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the first project from Lucasfilm Animation. Set between Episodes II and III of the live-action saga, The Clone Wars brings Star Wars to TV in weekly installments.
In 1981, he created the classic adventurer Indiana Jones, and co-wrote and executive-produced the successful series consisting of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a trilogy that won eight Academy Awards. Later, a television series — The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — used the iconic character's early adventures to examine historical events of the early 20th century. Nearly 20 years after Indy rode off into the sunset in Last Crusade, Lucas brought the man in the hat back to the big screen in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for which he wrote the story and served as executive producer.
Lucas has also served as executive producer on such widely varied films as Willow, which was based on his original story and directed by Ron Howard; and Tucker: The Man And His Dream, directed by Francis Coppola. As executive producer, Lucas's films also include Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha (1980); Mishima (1985); Latino (1985); Howard the Duck (1986); Labyrinth (1986); as well as 1994's Radioland Murders. He is currently executive producing Red Tails, a fictional story inspired by the historic and heroic exploits of America's first all black aerial combat unit.
At the recent World Business Forum in New York, we had the opportunity to talk to George Lucas about his role as a leader and the interplay between trust, salaries and company culture.
Lucas, as most people are aware, has been a defining force within the mainstream movie business, if not on our cultural heritage as a whole; rare is the person who does not instantly recognise the theme music of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. His understanding of the business side of movie-making is equally renowned; his company Industrial Light and Magic fathered the digital effects revolution, and his early decision to keep and exploit the merchandising rights to Star Wars was not just personally profitable, but also defined a new business model for the industry.
We decided to talk to Lucas about a lesser known aspect of his work, namely his role as the leader of LucasFilm, the now 2,000 person big organization he founded in 1971 on the outskirts of San Francisco. What is the relevance of Lucas’ experience for managers outside of Hollywood, in regular companies all over the world?
According to Lucas, a core element in managing people is the issue of trust, which influences the remuneration systems. Lucas pointed out that in his organization, even the top talent do not get very high salaries. Instead, from early on, the people who worked for Lucas would earn a regular salary – but would then also partake in the profits, should the movie succeed. Referring to his second movie, Lucas explains:
American Graffiti cost 1 million dollars to make, and made more than 100 million dollars. So after the fact, I took a part of the profit from the movie and gave it to all of the actors and the people who had worked on the movie. And they all became millionaires. I can’t afford to pay a lot of money in advance – but if it pays off for me, it pays off for you. I have done this with all the movies I have produced since.
Lucas’ choice is an interesting counterpoint to the high (and possibly excessive) salaries that many CEOs make, and according to him, it has made LucasFilm into a very flat organization. But what is perhaps more significant is that this profit sharing is not governed by contracts – in direct contrast to the regular (and distrustful) way companies typically deal with their employees. As Lucas mentioned,
Our way of operating creates a much more normal atmosphere than in companies where it is all about the HR department, the legal department, contracts – a place where everybody always fights with each other. You have to convince people that they can trust you, that you are on their side and have their interests at heart. We have managed to make this work in our relatively big organization because people know that we care about them. It is very simple, almost rudimentary, but it works.
There are probably some prerequisites for operating like Lucas, though. One is that LucasFilm is a private company, and as such, the top management is not subject to the whims of the stock market – an external influence that has likely forced many a CEO to do things they may not have condoned personally. And crucially, in a sense, it requires a George Lucas: a person with a track record of integrity, who leads the company over a long time, and who becomes the ultimate repository of the trust of the employees. People trust other people; they don’t trust a faceless Board of Executives whose members shift from year to year, or a CEO who is only in charge until he gets a better offer.
If Lucas were to hand over his ownership to someone else or, God forbid, step out in front of a speeding hovercraft – a particularly terrible scenario for those of us who still hope to see a ‘Star Wars Episode 7′ one day – would the company be capable of continuing like it has up until now? We, for one, hope so.
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