I’ve been watching “The Movies that Made Us” on Netflix. So far I’ve watched the episodes on Back to the Future and Pretty Woman.
What’s remarkable is how close both of those major blockbusters and possibly timeless movies were never made.
The hurdles and setbacks were only overcome by persistent people behind the scenes who stuck with the project and backed it, sometimes pleading for the movie to be made.
Persistent people who knew that the script, an actor, whatever the stumbling block was, had potential.
It’s hard to imagine Julia Roberts having to beg someone to be in a movie with her because she was an unknown but so it was.
It’s hard to imagine Back to the Future almost never being made because no producer liked it. Or that Michael J Fox had to do work on both Family Ties and the movie.
Other than the persistence, the other things that helped these movies make it to the finish line and be made was openness and flexibility of the original writers to make changes to get it over the line.
Pretty woman’s writer allowed his story to be changed from a dark story about a sex worker and a Wall Street billionaire where both end up alone into the romantic comedy that it’s know for today.
Back to the future changed the ending to the famous clock tower lightning scene to get the budget down enough to have Michael J Fox.
Most importantly, neither of these blockbusters were made alone. The creative energies and ideas of many went into making two wonderful movies the success that they are.
One of the amazing things of Pretty Woman is that what was filmed didn’t really match the script so the editor had to piece together the daily edits to make the movie.
I believe we can garner some truths from these movies about dynamic and enjoyable therapist careers.
No matter how good you or your ideas are you need:
- guidance and support,
- people who back you,
- openness to different ideas and change,
- help for the things you can’t do,
- the flexibility to do what it takes to make your creative idea something that can change the lives of others rather than burrowing down or getting narrow on “your way”.
What if they’d never reworked the end of Back to the Future so they could get Michael J Fox?
What if they’d stuck to a dark and gritty version of Pretty Woman, with Julia Roberts picking up her $3,000 from the sidewalk?
Some of the magic of both would have been lost and I doubt I’d be writing this post about these two movies.
Your amazing career is there.
Dig deep. Be curious. Learn from others.
Get help for the stuff you can’t do.
Take guidance from people who dream big too AND have your back.
Most importantly, don’t play small – allow yourself to grow as big as you can grow.
If you want to grow your career book a mentoring session with me or try one of my courses
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