Hone

Chapter 6Chief System Designer

 

One of us had his first job as the assistant manager of a now bankrupt Canadian video store chain. We know, we know – it sounds like the setup for a bad '1990s stoner flick. But the truth is, those long shifts surrounded by thousands of movies carried an important lesson. With little else to do between customers (and there weren't that many), the days were spent consuming film after film. Unintentionally, a cinephile was created – someone who would marvel at how a tangle of words in a screenplay could be alchemized into pure magic. Steve was that accidental cinephile, at least for movies between 1980 and 1999.

Cinema is an artform whose great products are truly more than the sum of their parts. Think about a movie like Sideways – on the surface, a film following two generally unlikeable middle‐aged men road‐tripping to wine country shouldn't be a movie. But the authenticity of the location, the dialogue in the screenplay, and the performances of actors like Paul Giamatti and Sandra Oh created three‐dimensional characters that audiences could connect with. Equally memorable are the duds. Consider Ishtar – a movie that came out amid high anticipation only to become one of the biggest flops of all time. Despite featuring two highly paid, award‐winning lead actors (Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty), the film became more known for its cost than its quality. Abundant resources alone can't rescue a poorly designed film.

Over time, Steve started to notice ...