George Lucas wasn’t supposed to change the rules. He was just supposed to deliver the movie and get out of the way. That’s how Hollywood worked in the 1970s—studios called the shots, directors followed orders, and merchandising was a footnote no one cared about.But Lucas had other plans.Long before Star Wars became a license to print money, Lucas pulled off one of the ballsiest moves in entertainment history. He gave up a director’s salary in exchange for two things studios thought were worthless: sequel rights and merchandising. That trade would go on to generate over $40 billion.This article is about the making of one of the most successful movie franchises in Hollywood history. But more so, it’s about how Lucas built his empire brick by brick, sometimes out of pure stubbornness, and rewrote the Hollywood playbook without asking for permission, securing his place as one of the most important filmmakers of all time.Lucas the Indie FilmmakerLucas didn’t come out of USC with a golden ticket. He came out with student films that looked like nothing else being made at the time—abstract, non-narrative, and obsessed with visuals over dialogue. One of his short films, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967), was experimental enough to feel like an art installation. But Lucas wasn’t trying to fit in. He was obsessed with the mechanics of storytelling—how to build tension with a camera move and compress time through editing. At USC, he met future collaborators like Walter Murch and was mentored by Francis Ford...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today