Spielberg: Launch your Career
Filmmakers strive for a hit so successful that they are granted complete artistic control of future projects. Few succeed. A notable exception: Steven Spielberg. After early success with The Sugarland Express, Spielberg’s star is rising. His next project: Jaws. He is 27 years old.
Filming is a disaster. The mechanized shark malfunctions, untested in salt water. Ocean conditions are unforgiving. Jaws is the first major film to be shot on the ocean, and unanticipated problems crop up every single day. Loaded with expensive equipment, the boat begins sinking at the wrong time. The crew scramble to save gear. A reel of film is retrieved from the water. The production is challenged in every way a production can be challenged. Frustrated cast and crew call the film “Flaws.” A 55-day shoot turns into a 159-day nightmare. Young Spielberg’s rising star is falling.
Until Jaws hit theaters.
The movie:
Over 67 million moviegoers. Critical acclaim from critics and fans alike. A global sensation; the highest grossing film of all time. The “summer blockbuster” is born.
27-year old Spielberg shakes the very roots of the industry.
His lesson: Be uncompromising in the quality of your early work, which establishes momentum for the career to follow.
The faster a rocket leaves the atmosphere, the further it goes. You must approach your career with the same mindset.
In the early years, work twice as hard as you think you should. Family first, in everything always. You steal no time, focus, or attention from your loved ones. All other times—you are at the grindstone. Others can spend their early years in worthless pursuits of leisure. Your time is invested in your future. You’ll be over a horizon they will never see.
These benefits compound over your entire career. Whether 20 days or 20 years in, start now. Like saving for retirement: it is never too late to begin.
Your knowledge, skills, work ethic, toughness, tenacity, and humility will define those sacred early years. Invest in each fully. Accolades of early success fuel confidence and momentum. They stay with you. They belong to you. They are part of you.
Results of Spielberg’s extraordinary career launch:
The Sugarland Express
Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Raiders of the Lost Ark
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Color Purple
The Goonies
Empire of the Sun
Always
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Hook
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
Amistad
Saving Private Ryan
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
War of the Worlds
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Lincoln
In Spielberg’s own words:
“You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can’t even imagine dreaming.”
Launch strong. You will get there.
Mark Joseph Huckabee
