Franchising and Hollywood have at least one thing in common; sometimes the best scenes are created by accident. As a kid I remember watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was the first “Big Film” for me. Jaws was fresh on my mind every time I jumped into our pool the summer of seventy five, but Raiders was the first film that made me feel movie making had changed forever, it was just a giant film to me, absolute monster. The one scene that made such a huge impression on me was actually very simple. Amidst the special effects and rich location shots, the one very low budget scene where Indy calmly shoots the worked up swordsman was unforgettable to me. You may be surprised to know that scene was an accident, more about that in a moment.
Starbucks is also an accident of sorts. In 1971 the company was founded by a passionate trio who extolled the virtues of fine coffee making. A decade later they had four modest stores in Seattle. One early morning in 1981, Howard Schultz, the VP of an east coast houseware company noticed that a special Swedish drip coffee maker they imported was being sold by those four small Seattle stores in greater quantities than Macy’s moved in all fifty states! A plane ride later and a few restless nights, he was convinced that the market was ready for gourmet coffee on a grand scale. Who knew that tracking coffee maker sales could lead to a net worth of over 1 billion dollars! What if he did not get on that plane, what if he switched companies without investigating Starbucks, was it all an accident? Back to Harrison Ford.
Raiders was a Paramount film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The “Swordsman” scene was going on day two as told by Michael Eisner, who heard the story first hand from Spielberg. I heard the story from a friend who was at a motivational conference where he heard Eisner discussing how small things can lead to great things, still with me? My friend told me that Eisner was having a very difficult time discussing the stomach problems of Harrison Ford to his motivational groupies who had paid to hear him speak. As Eisner retold the story, on the final day of the swordsman shoot, Harrison had a major stomach problem and he was very busy running to the washroom between takes. The scene called for Harrison to get into a very elaborate fight scene with the swordsman. Short on time and very short on enthusiasm from his star Harrison Ford, Spielberg says to the prop man, “Give Harrison a gun and just shoot the guy”. Cut, print next! Franchisor tip* Make the most of your accidents, some of your big breakouts can happen when your plan takes an unexpected turn. Great moviemakers and Franchisors go with what they have to work with. If you are short on time and over budget, try the unexpected and move on.
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