From the Inspirational Thought Unit
I'm two episodes into Light and Magic which is a six part docu-series on Disney+ about the creation of ILM. I'm just loving every gosh darn minute of it.
As a special effects history buff, there's a lot of this that is a retread for me, but it's so great to hear the interviews with guys like Joe Johnston and John Dykstra. And it's fascinating to see art and stories all in context with each other swirled into the mythic history of the creation of Star Wars.
However, what I haven't been able to stop thinking about is the only reason Star Wars got greenlit was because George Lucas made a successful comedy film: American Graffiti.
Up to this point Lucas had only made edgy student films and dystopian sci-fi. All of it promising, but none of it really successful. He was issued a challenge by his peers: go make a comedy film George. One for the people and not for you.
So Lucas made a coming of age comedy that celebrated cruising culture and hot rods. It was a solid success. Instead of making more comedies he decided to take a wild swing and make a sci-fi opera. The rest is history.
My big takeaway from this is:
People want to make their Star Wars without making their American Graffiti first.
No one would've given Lucas the money or the resources needed to make Star Wars after THX-1138 bombed. Lucas wouldn't have had money to build ILM if he didn't have American Graffiti money. It took what looked like a sidequest or a detour for him to actually accomplish what he wanted to do.
I don't know what your "Star Wars" project is, but stand back and take an objective look at what you have in front of you and as my friend put it: “Figure out what you can make right now and make that.” (Thanks Kohl)
-Jake