Collaborative Filmmaker

Ron Howard Shares His Viewpoint On Movie Making

Ron Howard returned to the School of Cinematic on Wednesday February 28 with a jovial request to refrain from asking about Fonzie’s hair or Aunt Bea’s apple pie, and shared his viewpoint on what it means to be a collaborative filmmaker with a group of graduate students from the school’s production and writing divisions. Over the course of two hours in the Ron Howard Screening Room at the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, a casually dressed Howard, introduced by Division of Film & Television Production Chair Michael Taylor, peppered his advice with career anecdotes and began the night offering his point of view on how collaboration shifts from those he calls “the gatekeepers”—agents, managers and executives—to the people involved in making a film to finally, its affect on the entire movie making process.

A group of graduate students from the school’s production and writing divisions gathered to hear from Ron Howard on February 28.

  “Collaborating doesn’t mean directing by consensus,” Howard said. “I always prepare intensely, and then share my ideas so that at each phase I can create a safety net and an environment where a better idea can emerge. Then I’m ready to grab it.

“It’s not about just rallying the troops just to get them to do what you want to do,” he added. “It also means opening yourself up enough to say, ‘Here’s what I believe the movie can be. What do you think?’”

  Though he grew up in the 60’s on a television set, Howard told the audience that his discovery of the real power of ideas and analysis of stories stemmed from his time at USC, saying that his classroom experience helped him understand the medium as an art form.

“The great thing about film school today is that you’re learning the vocabulary and understanding the movie making process on all levels,” he added.

In addition to recalling his filmmaking weekends during his Happy Days tenure to the events that led to his first directorial feature, Howard shared stories about working with such illustrious actors as Don Ameche and Wilford Brimley on 1985’s Cocoon, and conveyed the importance of recognizing that collaborators, on any level, are “really the first audience for your ideas. It’s important to run what you think by them to head off any potential problems.”

Before the roundtable ended, Howard touched on topics ranging from what it means to block a film, to his preference for having a film’s writer on set so he “can avoid those fantastic awkward moments when the dialogue just doesn’t fit.” 

Division of Film & Television Production Chair Michael Taylor and Ron Howard.

During the night, students also asked the director’s opinion on subjects such as how the advancement in visual effects would influence him in making his 1991 feature Backdraft today, as well as sought his opinion on balancing personal and professional obligations.

“Don’t be frightened to have frank conversations with studio executives,” Howard added. “Those that want to hear more are the ones you want to engage, and the ones who’ll share their passion for the idea. It’s something I continue to find more and more rewarding as I go along.”

An Evening With Ron Howard was organized by Division of Film & Television Production Chair Michael Taylor, Director of Alumni Relations, Justin Wilson, and Visiting Associate Professor Michael Uno.