Over the years, you've seen a great deal of change in technology, both in terms of piracy technology and in terms of the actual technology used in the creation and distribution of films. How do you see the evolving relationship between Silicon Valley, the technology community and Hollywood?
I think it's becoming more cooperative. I don't think there's any question about that. We had a meeting in California just a couple of weeks ago with some of the top information technology people in the country sitting down with the movie people. It was a very wholesome and, I thought, revelatory discussion. So I feel very comfortable about that. I think it's going to evolve on a higher plane and with a cooperative effort.
Many of the most popular movies, such as "Shrek" and certainly the Pixar films, are really as much technology products as they are Hollywood products at this point.
You mean movies?
Yes.
I disagree with that. A movie has to have a story. A movie is a dramatic narrative. You use technology to enhance the story, but the reason why, for example, "Shrek" and others like that -- "Toy Story," the Pixar films -- are so great is because they are great stories.
So whether you tell it by animation, digital technology or plain 35-millimeter film, the story is the thing. How you compose that story, the dramatic narrative. Technology is not a story. Technology is an enhancement of a story.
You've seen the studios themselves become more technologically sophisticated in the sense that they're using those kinds of tools. Besides the issue of copyright and piracy, how do you see the technology world and -- as you say -- the storytelling world drawing together? Are these ultimately becoming one industry?
Well, I think the movie industry is visual storytelling. It is what it is. You use every piece of technology you can, you use everything you can to tell your story, but that's what it's all about. You can't break it down by technology and story. The story of how you tell that story is the key to an entertaining dramatic narrative. There's no question about that.
There are a lot of epics that come out that are full of digital morphing and all this digital magic, and they don't do well every now and then, because the story's not there. People don't believe in what you're trying to tell them. So I see the movie staying exactly how it is, which is: you tell a story visually, and whatever technology you have, you use it.
Talkback
I grew up in West Haven ,Ct and there was a Jack Valenti who lived there. I have always wanted to know if this was the the same Jack Valenti who worked with the Motion Picture Assoc of America. In one of the articles, I noted that he was born Sept 5, 1921. He had one sister who was my age; we were born in 1929. They were a very nice family and this is just curiosity on my part. I would appreciate an e-mail back. Thank you. Sincerely, Germaine Grady