logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2024
1h 38m

Steven Spielberg

David Senra
About this episode

What I learned from reading Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride. 

----

Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders

You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you.

 A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: 

What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs?

Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas) 

How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent?

What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?

Get access to Founders Notes here

----

Join this email list if you want early access to any Founders live events and conferences

Join my personal email list if you want me to email you my top ten highlights from every book I read

----

Buy a super comfortable Founders sweatshirt (or hat) here

----

Episode Outline: 

Whatever is there, he makes it work.

Spielberg once defined his approach to filmmaking by declaring, "I am the audience."

"He said, 'I want to be a director.' And I said, 'Well, if you want to be a director, you've gotta start at the bottom, you gotta be a gofer and work your way up.' He said, 'No, Dad. The first picture I do, I'm going to be a director.' And he was. That blew my mind. That takes guts."

One of his boyhood friends recalls Spielberg saying "he could envision himself going to the Academy Awards and accepting an Oscar and thanking the Academy.” He was twelve.

He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own.

Spielberg remained essentially an autodidact. Spielberg followed his own eccentric path to a professional directing career. Universal Studios, in effect, was Spielberg's film school. Giving him an education that, paradoxically, was both more personal and more conventional than he would have received in an academic environment. Spielberg devised what amounted to his own private tutorial program at Universal, immersing himself in the aspects of filmmaking he found most crucial to his development.

At the time he came to Hollywood, generations of nepotism had made the studios terminally inbred and unwelcoming to newcomers. The studio system, long under siege from television, falling box-office receipts, and skyrocketing costs, was in a state of impending collapse.

When Steven was very discouraged trying to sell a script and break in, he always had a positive, forward motion, whatever he may have been suffering inside.

In the two decades since Star Wars and Close Encounters were released, science-fiction films have accounted for half of the top twenty box-office hits. But before George Lucas and Spielberg revived the genre there was no real appetite at the studios for science fiction. The conventional wisdom was science-fiction films never make money.

Your children love you. They want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? We have a few special years with our children, when they're the ones who want us around. So fast, it’s a few years, then it's over. You are not being careful. And you are missing it.

----

Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders

----

I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Up next
Jul 3
#393 The Marketing Genius of the Michelin Brothers
Your family asks you to take over a failing factory in a remote part of France. This “family business” comes with a stack of unpaid bills, a small team of workers who haven’t been paid in months, and a banker refusing to extend any more credit. You cut every unprofitable product ... Show More
55m 7s
Jun 23
#392 Michele Ferrero and His $40 Billion Privately Owned Chocolate Empire
You take over the family pastry shop and transform it into one of the most valuable privately held businesses in the world. Your father dies young. Your uncle does too. Everyone is relying on you and this keeps you up at night. You insist on differentiation and refuse to make me ... Show More
55m 10s
Jun 13
#391 Jimmy Iovine
You grow up in a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn. You drop out of college. Your dad is your best friend but you don’t want to work the docks like him. You’re determined to “do something special.” You get a job sweeping the floor at recording studio. You get fired—twice. You’ll do ... Show More
57m 20s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
Steven Spielberg, director
Steven Spielberg is the most successful director of his generation and the highest-grossing director of all time: his films have taken more than $10 billion worldwide. From Jaws to E.T. and Jurassic Park to Schindler’s List, his storytelling has captivated audiences around the wo ... Show More
36m 15s
Jan 2023
"Steven Spielberg"
Let’s all go to the movies… with Steven Spielberg. We fall in love with Doctor Zhivago, indulge in some tainted lamb, and build a lucky sand castle. In the words of Steven Spielberg, “I have to tell the story; it’s in my marrow.” Please support us by supporting our sponsors! 
1h 5m
Jan 2024
Ernie Cline - The Man Who Saw The Future
Ernest Cline is the visionary best-selling author of Ready Player One, Ready Player Two, Armada, and the upcoming Bridge to Bat City, as well as the co-screenwriter of the blockbuster movie Ready Player One directed by Steven Spielberg, and co-founder of Readyverse Studios. Cline ... Show More
1h 17m
Oct 2023
Pixar Co-Founder Ed Catmull On The Art & Science Of Creativity, How To Do Your Best Work, Bring Out The Best In Others & Lead
Every once in a while there’s a generational thinker that emerges from the most unlikely of places. Someone capable of straddling the complexities of new industries without losing their grasp on historical and cultural perspectives. A person willing to forge new paths in new ways ... Show More
1h 44m
Oct 2022
Robert Mckee on the Power of Storytelling
Ryan talks to Robert Mckee about his new book Action: The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game, the importance of showing not telling, how to tell a great story, and more.Robert McKee is the most sought after screenwriting lecturer around the globe. He has dedicated the l ... Show More
1h 8m
Jul 2019
Talent Agents for the Digital Age with Steven Galanis
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I’ve always had a side hustle no matter what it was.” –Steven Galanis  Steven Galanis’s career has spanned from options trader, to film producer, to now CEO and Co-Founder of Cameo, a platform where fans can book personalized video shout outs fr ... Show More
49m 5s
Sep 2023
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks is one of the few actors who has succeeded enormously in just about every part of the silver and small screens: he’s written, directed, and produced; done summer stock theater, sitcoms, blockbuster movies, prestige TV, Broadway, and worked more than credibly in both dra ... Show More
2 h
Jun 2024
How to tell a story and other advice for filmmakers and creators with Director Jon Amiel
In today’s episode on Gateways to Awakening, I speak with my friend Jon Amiel, a distinguished director, writer, and producer with a remarkable career in theatre, film, and television. After spending a decade rising from fringe theatre to the Royal Shakespeare Company, Jon transi ... Show More
53m 22s