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Media Relations

Batman returns!

IU alumnus Michael Uslan gives a lesson in the business of moviemaking

It wasn't quite like Bruce Wayne traveling to the icy peaks of the Himalayas in Batman Begins to learn how to fight like a superhero. Nonetheless, it was pretty intense when a group of Indiana University telecommunications students met earlier this semester with IU alumnus and celebrated movie producer Michael Uslan to learn about the challenges of developing major Hollywood motion pictures.

Uslan, who is best known as the architect behind Batman's renaissance on the silver screen, will return to Bloomington this Saturday (May 6) to address IU Bloomington's graduating class. As one of his frequent visits to his alma matter, he taught a three-day, intensive seminar in March to seniors on the business of producing movies. "(The course) was totally immersive," he said. "Between Friday morning and Sunday evening, we had 20 to 21 hours of class. On the syllabus, I told them if you have any plans socially, forget them. And I told them there would only be three grades: A, C and F. But the kids were totally terrific."

On the first day of the seminar, the students, dressed in suits and ties, were treated as if they were vice presidents of a studio production company. On the final Sunday, they switched roles and acted as producers pitching movie ideas to the head of a major studio, played by Uslan. During the entire process, they learned how to develop ideas for movies and how to judge the commerciality and marketability of Hollywood films.

Uslan said the experience in these areas of moviemaking is invaluable. "The trouble with most film schools is that they turn out graduate students with a great aesthetic and technical grasp of film, but without any idea of how the business works. You must market yourself."

In his conversations with students, Uslan impresses upon them the need to make a commitment to an idea, to stick to that idea and to endure the challenges they will face bringing it to fruition. He is a living example of the patience that aspiring moviemakers must possess if they want to succeed in such a competitive environment. After coming up with the idea for the definitive Batman movie as a student at IU in 1975, he waited four years to acquire the rights to the character and another 10 years after that until the premiere of Batman, starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton. "After we acquired the rights to Batman," Uslan said, "I thought people would be lining up at my door. From that moment it took another 10 years to get the movie I wanted made."

Fortunately, he grew up in a family environment that was supportive and stressed the importance of persevering through life's struggles. "My mother taught me that you've got to believe in yourself and when you make a commitment, you stick to it," Uslan said. "Then you've got to endure … This is what you've made a commitment to, now you have to see things through."

He hopes his experiences help others who might follow in his footsteps accomplish their goals. His core message, he said, is to "take something you're passionate about and make it your work. If I can do it, there's no reason they can't do whatever it is that drives them."

To read more about Uslan, go to the announcement of this year's commencement speaker at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3286.html.

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