Lucasfilm BTS Problems Revealed In Bombshell New Book

Jan 07, 2024

Maureen Ryan's Burn It Down explores the problems in Hollywood - and reveals the behind-the-scenes issues affecting Lucasfilm and Star Wars as well.

Star Wars may be a trailblazing transmedia franchise, but Maureen Ryan's new book Burn It Down shines a light on major problems at Lucasfilm that certainly need to change. Lucasfilm and Marvel are two of the most important studios in the world, trailblazers who set the pattern for all their would-be rivals. They've flourished, in part, because of a significant change in Hollywood since the MCU was launched in 2008. Intellectual Property - IP - now dominates. Movies and TV shows are greenlit because they are part of existing franchises, or because they involve characters with strong brand recognition, not necessarily because of a compelling vision.

The launch of Disney+ meant Disney needed a constant stream of original content to draw in viewers, and Lucasfilm and Marvel are at the heart of that corporate strategy. The Mandalorian premiered alongside the release of Disney+ in 2019, and since then Star Wars has become a massive transmedia franchise, with stories leaping from one medium to another. Lucasfilm's Dave Filoni has benefited the most; the upcoming Ahsoka Disney+ TV show will see the character he co-created with George Lucas himself star in her own series, and he's now confirmed to be working on a movie tying all the threads from The Mandalorian era together. On the surface, it all looks like a great success story; but Maureen Ryan's Burn It Down points to many significant problems hidden behind the PR machine of a major studio.

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A journalist best known for her work with Vanity Fair, Ryan cites a number of anonymous sources throughout her book. One, who she calls "Emma," was recruited to work on a project expanding Lucasfilm's existing IP; although Emma found the working environment to be generally professional and appropriate, she soon found the job to be deeply frustrating. She'd been brought in to work for "Derek," described as "a well-connected man who, in her opinion, didn't know what he was doing." According to Emma, Derek "reliably generated chaos, subpar scripts, and other problems." Emma had been hired believing she would have real creative influence, but she ultimately concluded she was a glorified babysitter.

Ryan successfully preserves the anonymity of her sources, meaning it's impossible to guess which specific project is being described here, although other comments from Emma suggest this is probably one of Lucasfilm's Star Wars TV shows. What makes this particularly sad, though, is that Ryan really only cites this as a typical example of what goes on behind studio doors. Executives back the people they believe are creative. Even when they acknowledge the complaints, nothing changes. It's a sobering glimpse of an industry still reluctant to change after the scandals of the last few years.

The move toward IP-driven stories has changed the power dynamic at Hollywood, and according to Ryan, this is particularly true at Lucasfilm (and Marvel Studios). One industry insider, named "Christopher" by Ryan, describes the pursuit of IP as "a concerted industrywide effort that is being made to take power from writers. With the advent of streaming, directors and producers of these shows - they're from [movie] land, so they present themselves as being familiar with big budgets and dealing with big talent - feature-level actors and directors. They're pushing out the writers from the decision-making process." Ryan is careful to qualify that this is Christopher's view and that other sources she spoke to didn't entirely agree with the strength of his assessment. Still, this quote surely needs to be placed in a very different context to Ryan's book - that of the WGA writer's strike.

The advent of streaming has changed the balance of power in Hollywood, and writers are the ones who have lost out. Marvel and Lucasfilm in particular have tended to view their Disney+ TV shows as simply long-form movies, hiring people with cinema experience to helm them. But the big screen and the small screen are entirely different beasts, and the result has been patchy at best, with frequent complaints of pacing problems and "filler." Some showrunners, such as Andor's Tony Gilroy, have flourished in this new context; he's openly celebrated the joy of being able to tell a different kind of story, exploring different narrative techniques. Others, however, appear to have struggled a great deal.

Part of the problem, of course, is that TV shows no longer exist in isolation. Because a given series is part of a larger IP, executives are understandably concerned about the impact on an overarching brand. This has resulted in a culture of micromanagement, with executives holding the real power in their productions. Emma recalls executives taking over the creative decisions at Lucasfilm; "An executive even once said, 'Well, I'm the showrunner,'" she noted. "That's how they see themselves."

Lucasfilm's recent announcements mean there's a real risk this problem worsens, particularly in The Mandalorian era. The various Disney+ TV shows set in this period are now weaving together, with the studio planning for these separate stories to culminate in a movie by Dave Filoni. There will be even more narrative pressure, meaning there is a greater risk than ever before of micromanagement.

Ryan's Burn It Down challenges Hollywood on the subject of diversity, asking just how deep this supposed commitment really is. Her criticism of Lucasfilm is particularly cutting:

"As of 2018, after more than four decades of the franchise's existence, the roster of writers and directors in the Star Wars live-action feature film realm was entirely white and more than 90 percent male. in 2020, Patty Jenkins was hired to direct a Star Wars film titled Rogue Squadron, but that project has been in development for a long time and, as of this writing, shows no sign of going into production. Taika Waititi is working on a Star Wars movie with Scottish writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, but fans might not see it until 2025 or beyond - if it gets made, that is. As far as I can determine, as of the middle of 2022, no woman of color has written, cowritten, or directed a live-action Star Wars feature film."

There are signs of improvement, but these are frequently qualified, and all too often the diverse hires wind up overshadowed. Ryan points to the example of The Book of Boba Fett, in which Robert Rodriguez served as both executive producer and director, but all episodes were written by Jon Favreau (with Filoni co-writing one). This, again, tallies with Emma's experience as she remembered her experiences with Derek; white men had "an extreme degree of freedom to fail. As a woman in this business, you're held to such a high standard, and I'm sure people of color feel the same way. And yet the system is completely designed, whether consciously or not, to punish you for mistakes and to reward anyone who looks like a white guy." Emma's observations are more general, but they're notable for coming straight after a section of Burn It Down that focuses on Lucasfilm.

"Inclusive cast lists and director rosters are good things," Ryan observes, "and they are more likely to be found at the big IP factories these days. It's heartening that those directors and actors are getting work. But imagine if the lead creatives on each film or TV project, the 'head writers' or whatever you want to call them - the people who are overseeing the architecture of the stories and character arcs - were a far more inclusive group. Just imagine." She points to an example that will no doubt be very controversial indeed for Star Wars fans; the Ahsoka Disney+ TV show. This stars Rosario Dawson, who describes herself as "multiracial," and yet it is still helmed by Dave Filoni.

It's easy to defend this example. Dawson plays the character Ahsoka Tano, and Filoni has essentially been a custodian of that character since he co-created her with Lucas. But this is precisely the point; every case can be defended as unique, as an example where it's simply so very appropriate for a white man to be the one in charge. Diversity, as praiseworthy as it may be, winds up relegated to the second tier. And in an industry where that second tier is increasingly stripped of power, something real and valuable is lost as a result. Ryan's example is an uncomfortable one, but she has a point.

Ryan's mysterious source "Emma" recalls being told Lucasfilm didn't particularly care about going over-budget. Emma initially found that difficult to believe, "but I saw it up close - that it doesn't matter how many mistakes are made or how incompetent some people are. Our budget doubled, and I'm sure it went up after I left. I've never seen anything like it." Ryan is, again, careful to note this is just one person's opinion. Still, she points to Lucasfilm's confidence in Star Wars, and Emma herself notes the success of The Mandalorian reinforced an internal corporate belief the company can do no wrong. "Your overconfidence is your weakness," Luke Skywalker told the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, and that appears to be the case with Lucasfilm.

Again, though, it's important to place this in a developing context - this time the context of Disney's financial issues. In February 2023, there were reports Disney was "ramping up" Star Wars movies again - reports that proved correct, given a staggering number of announcements made a few months later at Star Wars Celebration. But there was a catch; Disney's financial woes meant even Lucasfilm would face much stricter budgetary constraints. "Lucasfilm may ramp up, but it will have to abide by the same fiscal discipline as the rest of the company," one insider told The Hollywood Reporter. Ryan's book hints this will be a major culture shift at Lucasfilm, but hopefully, it is one that will benefit the studio.

All in all, Ryan's book Burn It Down offers a cutting critique of the culture of Lucasfilm. Perhaps the saddest thing of all, though, is that none of this is particularly surprising. These accounts don't feel like a revelation, and Lucasfilm doesn't stand out as unique in Hollywood for these failings. Instead, it's just a typical studio, one focused on IP with some seriously flawed dynamics that really need to change. Star Wars has often been a trailblazing franchise, and Lucasfilm's current transmedia approach is bold and imaginative, but in this it's just following the trend. It can be far more - and it should be, too.

Tom Bacon is Head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage. Although he's now dedicated to Star Wars content, he's a lifelong fan of several other major franchises including Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon. A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.