Former studio executive Ned Tanen died on Monday (January 5th). He was staff at two big studios, Paramount and Universal. My favourite Tanen story is recounted in Dale Pollock's outstanding, albeit, unauthorized, 1983 biography on filmmaker George Lucas: Way back in 1973 Universal test screened American Graffiti to a youthful -- therefor target -- audience in Westwood (if memory serves me), California to see if what Lucas was taking forever to edit would make any waves in the marketplace. This day turned out to be a legendary event in the legend of test screenings. The audience went wild for American Graffiti, so much so that Lucas would gage any film premiere of his own movies against how high the bar was set by this one. However, there was one dude in the audience who not only went against the prevailing opinion of the few hundred souls, but outright hated it. Hated it. (Double dangling.) Dude Tanen: Important executive who was supposed to be won over but was not; just the lesser audience members were. But they did not count. At the end of the screening was Tanen screaming his displeasure. Several other important movie people were there, including Francis Ford Coppola, and they were stunned by the young exec's hate-on for Graffiti.
Tanen admitted years later that he had always been a manic depressive sort. More movie executives could use this cynical view... but American Graffiti went on to clean up in its eventual release, earning back many, many times its cost. Called "profitability" in the movie business.
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