Kathleen Kennedy not leaving lucasfilm

I would argue it’s the release. Star Wars isn’t marvel

 

I don't see why Kathleen Kennedy gets no credit whatsoever for the success of 'The Mandalorian'. If she gets the blame for the presumed failures of the creative forces behind the ST why shouldn't she get some accolades for 'The Mandalorian'?

 

Becuase Filoni. Probably.

 

Because a lot of people can only think in black and white terms, and KK is the bad guy.

 

Also ...Probably sexism is involved in a lot of it too, let's be honest here.

 

I don’t think it’s everybody who is mad at Kennedy. You can legitimately be mad at Kennedy for the ST. Without it being related to sexism. I do think there are some people who will be mad at any female involved in Star Wars. But I don’t think it’s the majority.

Also on being the president of Lucasfilm. Everyone here knows that Lucas was not the president for almost a decade before he even sold the company right? That was another business oriented person. I doubt a “creative” will ever be there again. The president of Lucasfilm should be connecting the right people or moving people in the right direction. And on this last bit I think Kennedy has down a great job.

 

I would like to see at the head someone who has their own experience in writing and directing, not just as a producer. Lucas was that kind of person.

When a person, in addition to running a company, had personal experience of directing and writing, he sees a more complete picture of filmmaking. Kennedy is limited in this regard.

 

Oh yes, KK, who has produced for some of the most beloved directors of our times, doesn’t have a ‘complete picture of filmmaking.’ What’s an example of a full-time producer who was once a director and writer? Normally they like to continue the latter if that’s their experience.

 

Steven Spielberg is a prolific director and prolific producer (& sometimes writer). Ridley Scott is a prolific director and prolific producer. If a person himself had experience in directing, then this expands his vision, rather than when he was only a producer all his life. George Lucas was just that.

They are not only producers but directors as well. Those. they see a broader picture of production aspects. For example, Kennedy husband (Frank Marshall) had a similar experience.

Kathleen Kennedy was just lucky to meet Steven Spielberg one day. He became a merit of her "great filmography" 90% of her work was directed or EP by Spielberg. Without Spielberg's guidance, she's not that good.

 

You do realize that there is a difference between being an executive producer and a producer, yes?
A producer actually handles the day-to-day stuff and finances. An executive producer is all over the place, ranging from a creative role for which you couldn't really find another form of credit, to creative lead, general advisor, or simply as honorary credit due to importance in early development. In general, the executive producer will either have contributed to financing the movie, or had a hand in developing or securing the rights to a property. E.g. if Spielberg buys the rights to something, and then hands the project to other people to get it done, with very little input beyond that, he would still be executive producer, and have done next to nothing when it comes to actually producing the project.

Lucas was executive producer on some movies he basically had no involvement in beyond bailing someone out financially.
Spielberg has not been in the actual role of producer at any point in time, as far as I know. He is however heavily involved in securing and developing projects. If you look at all his credits, it becomes rather clear that he is not actively involved in all those projects while also doing the movies he directs, because that's far more work than there is time available. If you look at his company, you will also realize that while he is the chairman, he is neither the CEO nor the president of production. If Spielberg isn't filling that role in his own company, and neither did Lucas, why are you expecting these sort of people to run Lucasfilm now?

It's also funny to state that Kennedy got "lucky" to have met Spielberg. Because apparently it couldn't possibly be that she was just that good at what she was doing that Spielberg continued to work with her...
The idea that one highly talented person involved somehow means that everyone else is just lucky and benefits from the genius lacks logic from start to finish.

I'd also say that the idea of needing to have experienced everything to be good at something isn't something that works out. If that were the case, why are there great headcoaches in sport who never really played their respective game, while former sports great often fail badly as a coach themself?
You don't need to have much experience at working creatively to fil lthe role of running the show. Your role is to make the work-process run well. For that you need to understand what makes a production run smoothly, which isn't something you need to have worked in all other roles before.

When you move beyond that, to the role of president, you are less involved in the day-to-day finances of a project, but you are also even less involved in creative decisions. There is no need at all for such a person to offer much creative input. This is exactly the type of role you give to someone with lots of experience in actually producing movies, and not at all the role you give to someone who is mainly a creative person, as said person generally has little idea about the financial sides and the means required to keep everything running, as that is what the producer is for. You'd basically force a person to do something he knows little about, while removing him from a role that he is good in. There is no benefit at all in that.

 

Firstly, you’ve missed the point that the person who would theoretically take her place would be President of LFL. None of the people you pointed to would be willing to take that job because they wouldn’t be able to direct anymore. So who is this person who you think should take her job?

Secondly, you’ve got to love armchair filmmakers telling KK what she does or doesn’t know about filmmaking and that she’s not good without Spielberg. What would you know about that?

I wasn’t satisfied with the ST, and some of that blame does her laid at her feet, but the idea that one of the most successful producers of all time is only successful because she’s ‘lucky she met Spielberg’... well.

 

I really don't think of Kennedy as a creative force, and I mean that as a good thing. She's a producer and businesswoman, and she excels at that--that's why Lucas handpicked her in the first place. She picks others to be the creative visionaries, and that, again, is a good thing.

 

I'm glad she's staying. It means an adult will be running things. SW should be (to paraphrase Rian Johnson) about more than just smashing action figures together. .

 

Brass tacks, the LFL brand is doing really well, Mandalorian is consistently a huge draw for DisneyPlus and Rise of Skywalker still made a billion dollars which is a mouth-watering sum for studios right now (the last billion dollar grosser for quite a while now). Solo was an aberration and Iger admitted the release date was crummy. Kennedy will leave either when she wants to or she actually greenlights a bunch of projects that bomb.

I do however agree with the gripe that Kennedy / Disney axed Clone Wars off the bat basically the first week they were there (was definitely too pricey for them to continue considering how much Lucas threw at it) but hey we got closure/expansion on TCW via Rebels and Mandalorian and a Clone Wars final season eventually and Bad Batch looks like Clone Wars Part II, moreso than Rebels. So that's them kinda admitting they done goofed.

I do wish LFL would just surprise drop Detours somewhere just to see what the heck it was.

 

On Detours there was a rumor by someone although I don’t know how trustworthy it is. Nobody was calling the person out on Starwarsleaks that Detours might get released to Disney plus at some point.

There is literally no downside to releasing detours

 

I don't think most would dispute that KK knows how to get movies made. The big question I have is how can someone so competent at their job have allowed LF's most prized movies for it's most valued property go through without something as simple as a planned story arc? How could you just hand off the reigns from one director to another without some amount of oversight for their planned changes? Sometimes smart people do really stupid things.

 

I have no problems with Kathleen Kennedy as a producer for most of the films she has been associated with. I just had a problem with how she and (let's be honest) the Disney Studios suits had handled the Sequel Trilogy.

 

I think Kathleen Kennedy is a hit and miss when it come to Star Wars, but I am nervous about the future of Star Wars and worried if Star Wars fails under her watch, Disney will allow it to happen.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that she’s done almost zero publicity for the show. She’s doesn’t even appear in the hour long Disney Gallery documentary. She’s not out in front of it the way Favreau and Filoni are.

 

Filoni and Favreau have been the driving forces behind TM but KK was one of the principal people to put those two together along with Iger. Iger doesn't get any credit for bringing Favreau across from Marvel either so KK isn't alone there.

 

Iger isn't overseeing The Mandalorian and a zillion other Star Wars (and non-Star Wars now, too) projects internally at Lucasfilm.

Kathleen Kennedy is.

 

Sometimes I think Kathleen Kennedy is more political than caring about the Star Wars mythology.

I have seen interviews with her when a reporter asks about Star Wars she answers questions nothing related to Star Wars.

 

I think KK cares more about star wars then people realizes.