Real-life resilience - Back to the Future

This week’s newsletter dives into the idea of what it takes to make something truly special. If you find it interesting, please forward to a friend or colleague.

Each week I focus on stories of real-life resilience, always with an added perspective on how we can implement these ideas to improve our own resilience. To put these ideas into practice, find more here.

It’s rare to meet someone who hasn’t seen Back to the Future. A fun adventure built on the notion that our parents had entire lives before we came on the scene.

But it nearly never got made.

If you remember the movie, you’ll remember the critical scene to get Marty back to the future relied on so many tiny details being absolutely perfect. The lightning strike, the clock tower, the speed of the Delorian, the connection of the electrical wire, the exact time the car crosses the threshold!

It was the same for the movie. So many tiny pieces had to fall into place for it even to get made.

And it all started with rejection.

The writer (Bob Gale) and director (Robert Zemeckis) shopped the film script around to every film studio in LA twice, and no one wanted to touch it. They counted 40 rejections in total. People told them that time travel movies don’t make money, that it wasn’t raunchy enough, and it was too sweet for the rebellious 80s youth.

The only person who encouraged them to keep going was their friend Steven Spielberg, who had read and loved the script. But, even with Spielberg’s endorsement, that wasn’t enough. They still needed a studio behind it.

After so many rejections Zemeckis realized that he needed to boost his Hollywood credibility. He shelved the script for a year and focused on directing a film called Romancing the Stone. Fortunately, that was a big hit, and suddenly all the studios were calling to see what Zemeckis wanted to make next.

As Spielberg had been the only one to show previous interest, they invited him to be a producer and Universal Studios put the budget together. However, the studio was on a deadline and the movie had to be made in a matter of months.

Zemeckis and Gale wanted Michael J Fox to play Marty McFly, but he was working on the extremely popular show Family Ties and wasn’t available. They looked at Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen, but in the end they went with actor Eric Stoltz to play the main character. However, after 5 weeks of filming, Zemeckis realized that Stoltz just wasn’t right for the role. They had to release him from the film and 5 weeks of work (and millions of dollars!) went down the drain.

They knew they needed Michael J Fox, so they went back to the producer of Family Ties and begged him to let Fox play Marty. He agreed, but only if it wouldn’t interfere with the filming of his popular TV show. Fox would have to work on Family Ties from 10am-5pm each day, then drive over to the BTTF film set to film from 6pm to 5am! Then he would go back home to sleep for a couple of hours, then back to Family Ties for a 10am start.

Amazingly, the film was finished on time, and was released in the summer of 1985. It hit #1 for 11 weeks straight, beating Rambo, The Breakfast Club and The Goonies that year. The budget for the first film was $16m and the total franchise has since brought in over $1B!

Ideas to put into practice.

There is a wonderful quote from actress Lily Tomlin: “The road to success is always under construction”.

Resilience requires this too. Not everything will be perfect on our journey, and the road is always being built as we go. Each tool we have is another brick to help us get there.

Some of the key ideas from this story are:

Community. Zemeckis and Gale had been friends with Spielberg for a decade before the film got made, and they relied on Spielberg’s encouragement to keep going. In fact, Spielberg’s belief in the script was the only reason they didn’t completely shelve the idea. Sometimes we just need others to help remind us that we’re on the right track.

Rejection is OK. Every rejection teaches us something. The script had to be rejected over 40 times to end up with Spielberg. Rejection should be embraced if it means we are learning and getting closer to a better solution.

Adaptability. It was the hardest thing for Zemeckis to release Stoltz from the film, but it had to be done. Often, we have to be prepared to let go of the things that are not helping and, no matter how difficult it may seem, we have to find new ways to move forward.

Hard work. Resilience is our ability to ‘handle hard better’. Think about what Michael J Fox had to put in for the film to get made on time. It was an enormous effort from him, and also the entire crew to work overnight to accommodate the schedule. And without that effort, the film may never have been made.

With stories like this, I often wonder how many amazing ideas never come to life because we give up, we can’t adapt, or we don’t have the right people around us.

Until next time, stay resilient friends!

Carre @ Resilient Marketing Minds