sTEVE STARKEY
Breaking & Entering
The Education of a Film Producer
How does one learn to become a film producer? Steve Starkey followed a circuitous and rather unlikely path that started with no job prospects or film-related experience that eventually led to working alongside some of the most influential directors of his generation, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. A witty and engaging storyteller, Starkey recounts how he broke into the film business by sneaking onto the lot at Universal Studios and landed his first job as an electrician doing set lighting. He then relocated to the Bay Area and was hired as a production assistant at Lucasfilm, a small but growing company, fresh off of Star Wars. While running errands, he moonlighted in the editing room and became the assistant editor on both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
His stories about being an associate producer on Amblin’s TV series Amazing Stories offer insights into the directorial styles of Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and many others. As an associate producer of the Robert Zemeckis films Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Back to the Future II and III, Starkey and a vast talented crew of artists and technicians tackled and ultimately perfected groundbreaking techniques to create movies that changed cinema. After prepping Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, Starkey was asked by Robert Zemeckis to produce the film Death Becomes Her, the first in a long line of popular and award-winning features that they made together.
Entertaining and enlightening, Breaking & Entering is a book about taking risks, being resourceful, working hard, working harder, and pursuing a dream. It’s a book for anyone who ever sat through a movie and wondered how in the world could I get a job as a film producer.
I have worked with Steve for nearly 30 years, but many parts of the story he tells about becoming a producer still surprised me. In his enjoyable memoir, he illustrates that breaking into the film business is not for the faint of heart. After knocking down the door to Hollywood, it took a lot of hard work, passion, and perseverance to finally reach his goal. His insights are laced with humor and are a delight to read.
ROBERT ZEMEKIS
Producing is problem solving and Starko is one of the best. His journey to become a producer is both crazy and inspiring, and his passion and enthusiasm helped create some wonderful movies.
FRANK MARSHALL
Breaking and Entering is more than “the education of a producer,” as the subtitle says. It is a valuable and extremely entertaining blueprint - for anyone interested in the film business -on how to think like a producer, act like a producer, and be a producer. Steve Starkey went from crashing on the floor of my apartment when we were in college to become an Oscar-winning legend in the film world. This book shows how and why.
PETER GETHERS
