Dreamworks Scales Back Production

An interesting article over in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, regarding Dreamworks and their change in production philosphies.



So DreamWorks has a new motto for its business going forward: Slow down. The company has decided to add a year to the production of its films.

"We've been racing to the finish line and that has meant compromising on story telling sometimes," says DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. There's a strong financial incentive, he adds: "If we improve our box office performance by 10 percent, it adds $100 million pre-tax profit to the company."

The studio has been making other changes, too. It has overhauled its top team after its problems in 2005, when it had to restate its earnings estimates twice because of miscalculating how many "Shrek 2" DVDs it would sell. That episode resulted in an informal SEC inquiry, which was later dropped. The Glendale, Calif. company also has has unified its production systems and streamlined its corporate structure.

Regardless of what you think the true motivation is behind this revamped schedule, it makes sense. The market is too flooded with barely-above-average CG films right now, and scaling back production to add time to the baking process, is good no matter how you slice it.

The one thing that does worry me about the article is Dreamworks apparent focus on sequels. With the exception of "Toy Story," Pixar has created a forumla of consistently making money without making sequels. That's not to say that Pixar's formula is the only one in the lab, but it seems to be working quite well for them, while at the same time keeping fresh and new ideas at the forefront.

The Post Gazette Article