A Career Sequel

Film Exec Teaches Business of Blockbusters

By Emily Freehling The questions that consume groups of students on a Tuesday evening in Woodard Hall are the kinds of details that can make or break multimillion-dollar motion pictures: Does a film about Formula 1 racing, 2013’s Rush, stand a chance in a country where NASCAR is the dominant motorsport? Is there a way to make the coveted 18- to 24-year-old demographic excited about 1999’s The Hurricane? Does the title October Sky really tell a potential audience much about this 1999 film about Cold War-inspired amateur rocketry? The movies were released in the past, but this is September 2018, and the individuals discussing them are students in Marketing Movies, a first-of-its-kind class in the College of Business. The class is the brainchild of Dan Wolfe ’84, who created this group assignment to introduce students to lessons he learned during a career of movie marketing that included 25 years at NBC Universal. In the 10 minutes he’s given the groups to … [Read more...]