Internal Issues at Lucasfilm Revealed in New Hollywood Insider Book
A new behind-the-scenes book, Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood by Maureen Ryan shed light on some of the issues facing Lucasfilm in recent years, mostly where its streaming shows are concerned. While not as scathing an exposé as the one that covered shows like her takedowns of toxic set environments on LOST or Sleepy Hollow, she revealed that there are still issues to be examined at the house that built Star Wars.
The first anecdote covered in the sections dedicated to Lucasfilm concerns a source known by the pseudonym Emma, who was hired to work on expanding Lucasfilm’s existing IP with a spin-off of some kind. Emma worked with a person at Lucasfilm (who is given the pseudonym Derek), who she believed did not understand the assignment despite being well-connected within the film and television industry. Emma noted that despite her hopes to make an impact on the project in question, she was mostly hired to “babysit” Derek as he put out subpar scripts and contributed to a chaotic set environment. It was indicated that this is one potential example of the issues that have happened behind-the-scenes at Lucasfilm with problems being brought to the company’s attention but not sufficiently acted upon.
Another anecdote concerns someone under the pseudonym of Christopher, who indicated that the pursuit of making movie-quality television shows often come at the expense of television writers. While Christopher does not appear to be a Lucasfilm employee specifically, he expressed concern that directors and producers from movies have taken the reins of these sort of projects. Case in point, Emma noted that one Lucasfilm showrunner (presumably Derek) dismissed concerns about micromanagement of a writer just because of their status as an executive. Emma also had concerns about budgets at Lucasfilm, as it seems that the company is willing to overspend on projects instead of approaching them with a fiscally-sound mindset, with the budget on one project doubling and potentially further increasing following her departure. Despite that approach stemming from confidence following the success of The Mandalorian, it may no longer fly in 2023 with Disney tightening budgets on their projects going forward.
Lastly, author Maureen Ryan expressed concerns at a lack of diversity behind the cameras on Star Wars films, despite heavy emphasis on the part of the shows to give women and people of color the director’s chair or the writer’s pen. Every single Lucasfilm movie since the acquisition of the company by Disney has been directed by a white man, and one of the only projects set to be directed by a woman – Rogue Squadron by Patty Jenkins – has been shelved, while another project – an untitled movie directed and written by Taika Waititi, with a story co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns – has only received intermittent updates. It’s worth noting that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy noted that Rogue Squadron is still very much a project that they would like to do, but it seems unlikely that Patty Jenkins will direct it at this time. The big exception remains Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s movie that will see the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey. And even though there is a much greater amount of behind-the-scenes diversity and opportunity for writers and directors, they are at the whim of the showrunners; Emma, in particular, felt that Derek was able to screw up because he was a white man, whereas someone else in his position would be put in proverbial director jail.
Ultimately, this indicates that like many companies, Lucasfilm has issues that are in need of fixing. With any hope, some of these issues have either been addressed or soon will be, as outside pressure will likely force the company’s hand in some fashion.
For the full story, check out Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood, now available to purchase.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
