A ‘zigzag’ path to Lucasfilm
The film and media studies major worked numerous part-time gigs before landing a job with the company that produces Star Wars.
After graduating from the University of Rochester with a film and media studies degree, Steve Blank ’07 had his future planned. “I was going to be a movie editor,” he says. “I love taking all these different pieces and putting them together into a complete whole story.”
But his plans didn’t match his luck—or the economy.
A global financial crisis was in its early stages when Blank left Rochester. That’s when he entered what he calls the “zigzag” portion of his career, working nearly two dozen odd jobs over three years. “Physical labor, a mail room, answering phones, data entry, and countless others,” he says. “Sometimes a job lasted 24 hours, sometimes two months.”
A few marketing gigs whet his appetite for the industry, so he visited a temporary employment agency to pursue something more long-term. He found a position at a real estate firm. “I did it for eight months and hated every second,” he recalls, “but I gave it everything I could.”
Blank finally talked with his boss at the time. “I told him that I love marketing, but this isn’t the right industry for me. He looked me in the eyes and said ‘Well, my wife is executive vice president of programming at TV Land. Do you want to talk to her?’”
Which is how Steve Blank began the journey that has led to his current role as director of franchise content and strategy for Lucasfilm, one of the world’s leading entertainment production studios.
“I’m part of a 16-person creative team responsible for managing the development of all new stories for Star Wars or Indiana Jones across all franchise platforms,” says Blank, who works in San Francisco. “This includes video games, animation, publishing, parks, immersive experiences, and beyond.”
There’s no shortage of story ideas for the two legendary franchises. “Our team is there to help develop those stories, determine what stories are best and on which storytelling platforms, and then manage the continuity,” he says.
Climbing the ladder of success
Blank grew up in Brooklyn and chose Rochester, about 300 miles away, because of its signature flexible curriculum.
“I’ve never been a fan of being told I have to do something,” he says, “and every college was like, ‘When you get here, you have to take these 74 courses before you can focus on your major.’ Rochester gave me the freedom to choose.’”
Blank says the variety of classes he took at Rochester gave him the skills he uses today as a creative executive. “Some of the most influential lessons that defined how I articulate and read a story came from the English and film courses I took,” he says. “I took a science fiction course, a detective course, a French New Wave cinema course, and more, and those have paid dividends working in genre-fiction storytelling. I took a directing course and an acting course through the theater program as well, and those helped me more better understand live production elements.”
The job at TV Land was as a freelance marketing coordinator. Blank’s role came to a close after six months, but the experienced opened the door to his next gig in the marketing department at Nickelodeon. One of his proudest accomplishments was helping to launch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which became a major television hit in 2012 and spawned a top-selling action figure brand.
He started at Lucasfilm in 2014 as senior manager for franchise marketing and helped kick off the animated TV show Star Wars Rebels. He then joined the story group in 2015 and has been in his current position since 2018.
Finding stories that touch the soul
Blank says working for an established franchise like Star Wars has its challenges—and its rewards.
“Star Wars has been around for almost 50 years, so there are a lot of stories out there,” he says. “The responsibility is to make sure we’re still telling great stories so people can continue to love and enjoy the series for another 50 years. The priority is always going to be, how do we tell a good story? And how does it fit into Star Wars?”
And what characteristics make the best stories?
“I would say any good story that can touch someone’s soul—even if it’s not everybody’s soul—is a good story,” he says.
And although Blank’s own story features an unorthodox path to his current influential job, he believes college students shouldn’t be afraid of the zigzags their own careers might take.
“Just because you’ve started in one place doesn’t mean that’s where you have to end up,” he says. “You can find other things and use what you’ve learned in creative and different ways. Trust me. It can lead you to better things than you ever anticipated.”
