The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks

As mentioned on the back of the book, it wouldn’t be surprising if LaPorte struggled getting tables for lunch in Hollywood from here on out after the dirt she dished on the Dreamworks crew. First off I’ll say that I am a huge fan of Hollywood related non-fiction, especially the behind the scenes business stuff, so this was right up my alley. I find it very intriguing to see the politics behind why some projects get greenlit, while other languish in development hell forever.

The Dreamworks founders, Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, declined to be interviewed for the book so there is no official words from them, but with all of the press coverage, court reports from lawsuits and the like, there was no shortage of information to be shared. LaPorte also says that she interviewed hundreds of people in creating the book, and while second hand accounts can’t always be given the most weight, it did provide for good entertainment.

The ongoing story for Katzenberg was all about his rivalry with Disney after being unfairly fired. He spent the better part of a decade trying to find a way to surpass Disney in animation, and to his credit he turned Dreamworks Animation into a juggernaut, even if it wasn’t free of drama.

The ongoing story for Spielberg was this feeling that this is a man-child of sorts, who was brought into the Hollywood machine young enough, and given everything he ever wanted for so long, that he never really had to learn what it was like not to get things his way. His partners always seemed to be catering to his artistic needs, certainly an unlikely situation for any artist to find themselves in.

Geffen seemed more interested in screwing over his old enemies than in actually achieving anymore success himself. He was already a billionaire when they started the company, so there wasn’t the financial of career motivations as there were for the other two founders.

I really enjoyed this book, and would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the inner workings, and politics of Hollywood. If you’re interested in buying it you can check it out here on Amazon:

The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks

Hey Garrett,

The type of program you should do really depends on what your goals are.  Different programs have different advantages/disadvantages.

If you go to a shorter program like NYFA of LAFS you will be finished in a year and you can get out there and start working or putting together your own projects right away.  You can (hopefully) start making money sooner, and you don’t have to spend money on tuition/expenses over the course of a full degree program.  These types of programs will get you the technical skills and practical experience so you know how to use the different equipment, but they are pretty light on the theoretical stuff.

If you go to an actual college or university to do a film degree you will have to wait a while before you finish, and it will be a while before you start actually using any equipment.  They will give you a much more intensive theoretical background on film theory, story structure, literature etc.  An advantage here is that there are lots of alumni connections available compared to shorter more technically oriented programs.  Costs are a major concern with this type of program, and the duration will keep you out of the workforce for quite some time.

You need to be clear with yourself what you want to achieve in film, and whether this is really something you want to do because unless it’s something you are really passionate about, there are other professions with more security, better pay, and a lot less stress.  If you’re in it for the money, quite frankly you have a better chance of becoming rich studying business and entrepreneurship.  If you’re not deterred by the ridiculously rigorous work you will inevitably have to do for little to no money at times, then you’ll want to look at these places as options (I have listed just a few, there are of course many many more):

Shorter, more technical schools:
-NYFA (New York Film Academy)
-LAFS (Los Angeles Film School)

Longer, degree programs:
-NYU
-Columbia
-USC
-UCLA
-UofT (Texas)
-FSU (Florida State University)

Another option of course is to just teach yourself by doing it, pick up Robert Rodriguez’s book “Rebel Without a Crew” for inspiration.

There is no easy answer to this unfortunately.  This business more than almost any other actually, is about grinding it out if you want to be a success.  If you are willing to stick it out longer than the other guy, and continually improve yourself, you have a good shot.

All the best,

Emmet Gibney
FilmSchoolStudent.com

I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t give you my opinion yet, but from the conversations I have had with Josh and Jeremiah I can tell they know their stuff, and one of the biggest things I have noticed from my conversations with them is that they get the fact that you aren’t just born good at this stuff, you need to put in lots of time. They told me how they have shot so many bad shorts, and written so many bad scripts before they started to get better.


I think that attitude is going to take these guys places, because if you have the full understanding that you need to grind it out to make it in this business, I’m convinced you can make it. I’m actually really excited to see where their careers head, I think they could end up making some waves in Hollywood someday, and if you buy their first DVD then you’ll have helped them do it! So buy their DVD now : )

Howcast has a program for filmmakers called “Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program” where you can basically look for assignments to shoot, edit and upload. If you’re lucky and your video gets a lot of views, they’ll share the revenue from the advertising with you. I haven’t had much time to look into this program in much depth, but if you’re a starving artist it might not be such a bad way to get some cash and have some opportunities to work on your reel.

Every film starts out as an idea in someone’s head and it just takes a bit of hard work to have that idea materialize. There is no shortage of people wanting to work on an independent film project, from film school students to aspiring actors and directors of photography. You can even start with a crew of your friends if you feel so inclined. By creating your own project you can learn so much about yourself and about the industry even if it is on a small scale with a tiny budget. It is about quality of work and one project will lead to another and to another. By taking creative control you can even decide what characters you would like to play.


I recently had a wonderful experience working with my dear friend Mike Villiani on his short film Dear John that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in. He has always been very proactive and I am so proud of the fact that he doesn’t just hope and dream, he just does it. Mike is brilliant when it comes to writing. He will write himself into every film because he can. He has the ability to cast himself or he can hold auditions until he finds an actor perfect for the role he has in mind. He can choose the crew he feels he will work best with. He finds the editor and chooses the soundtrack. He also has to raise the money in order to be able to pay for the production costs. He makes every decision so in the end the film is his baby. He will look back on it, probably with slight disgust because he is always trying to improve on what he has done. He can investigate his performance as an actor and decide how to grow for future projects. If I had the ability to wear all of Mike’s hats I would but I am not quite that talented. I was just lucky he cast me in the film to play opposite him.

I cannot tell you how easy it was to act with a friend. We had so many laughs and we could decide which lines were working and which weren’t. There was no rush so we learnt constantly along the way. The entire project went swimmingly but I had no idea how the movie would turn out. I have faith in Mike so I know whatever he creates will be interesting to say the least. He is going to enter Dear John into as many festivals as he can, cross his fingers and hope for the best! It was an amazing experience not to mention a ridiculous amount of work but in the end it feels so good to say I just did it! So don’t be scared, get off the couch, call up your industry friends and decide to own your career. JUST DO IT!!!

“Just like Scarlet, Epic has changed completely. Throw out everything you thought before. We’ll reset the deck at the same time we announce about Scarlet.”


I’m very curious to see what they are intending to do now with these cameras, and specifically where the price points are going to be.  I doubt I’ll be in the market for the Epic, but if the Scarlet is anywhere near where they originally said it would be in terms of what it can do and what it will cost, then I may want one : )  Does anyone have any thoughts as to what they might be doing?