Jeffrey Katzenberg Plans on Living Happily Ever After | Fast Company.
This is a nice interview with JK, our main head honcho at Dreamworks Animation.
The first time I ever spoke to Jeffrey was when I was applying for a job at Dreamworks. I was actually still living in New Zealand finishing up on The Lord of the Rings. I believe it was a saturday morning, and I was at home showering before heading in to work. I heard the phone ring & my wife poked her head in the bathroom to say “There’s a call for you.”
“Who is it?” I asked, massaging shampoo into my hair.
“Jeffrey Katzenberg?” She said.
I nearly slipped in the tub and cracked my skull.
“WHAT?!?!”
“Yeah, some guy named Jeffrey Katzenberg. Who is he?”
“KATZENBERG? JEFFREY KATZENBERG CALLED HERE?”
“Yeah.. and he is….”
“KATZENBERG! SPIELBERG! GEFFEN! DREAMWORKS! SKG! KATZENBERG!” I sputtered and slipped and rinsed and threw on a towel and somehow managed to answer the phone. “Mr. Katzenberg.. *squeek* Hello sir, how are you…”
We spoke for a bit about the company, what Dreamworks was doing, how exciting it is here, and other things. I think the conversation lasted all of two minutes, but in that time I was immediately impressed with Jeffrey’s passion for animation, his excitement about the studio, and I knew I wanted to work here.
I’ve been fortunate to have been in meetings with Jeffrey a few times in my nearly 6 years at Dreamworks, and have to say that even though it’s nerve-wracking at times (he IS the big boss, after all), he’s always been really engaging, intelligent, honest, and 99.9% of the time completely correct. I really value his notes and love the dedication he has to his staff.
Anyway, the article great read & really gives some good insight into his head. Enjoy!
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