Lynne's Diaries -- Part 1: All I Need is an Idea

In Part I, I visited George Lucas on his first day of writing the script. For George, that day represented the first step in starting a project that will consume his life for the next 10 years. His primary concern that day was the effect that a new Star Wars movie would have on his children's lives when the movie is released. We also discussed how different his world is now compared to 1975 when he wrote the original Star Wars. George said that in the mid-70s he would "eat, sleep, and breathe film." He worked around the clock and survived on candy bars. He had a single focus - making a movie that few people understood much less believed in. Today, his life is dramatically different - he has three children; he oversees a non-profit educational foundation and runs four large companies. It is impossible for him to immerse himself solely in that galaxy far, far away. He must constantly be able to switch his mind from Tatooine to issues at the office.

George writes on loose-leaf paper clamped in a red binder with LUCAS written in black magic marker on the front. He has written all his scripts in this binder starting with American Graffiti. He said he could probably work faster on his computer but perhaps it is superstition that keeps him writing in that binder. You'll notice as you watch the video segment that we've included a few shots of George's first few script pages bearing the title, "The Beginning." This was George's working title at the time. It is not the title of the film.

The binder contains pages of back-story that he developed when writing the first Star Wars. These pages consisted of mostly notes and outlines. He said that he would probably stick fairly close to these original ideas. He estimated that he had about 30-40% of the story developed including the major action sequences but this was minor compared to what lay ahead. He now needed to write dialogue and develop personalities for the characters he'd been carrying around with him for the last 20 years. He needed to create new planets that have unique cultures with their own architecture, vehicles, objects and art work relevant to their ways of life. And, he had to work through complicated plot issues, which would result in a three-act screenplay that ends with the beginning of "Star Wars: A New Hope."

Although the writing process is one of the most difficult phases of production for George, he did admit that he was looking forward to getting back to the Star Wars world. Now, through advances in technology, he can go places and create characters that would have been impossible before. Technology is a major reason he felt that now was the time to start making the prequels. Once he saw ILM's work with the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, he knew he could create the environments and creatures he had in mind for Episode I. For instance, R2-D2 could barely move in the original trilogy, but now George can take the little guy anywhere!

Please enjoy the video and check back for more diary segments. Coming soon, I'll take a visit to the Skywalker Ranch Art Department.