On how American Zoetrope functions

We say, 'We think you are a talented, functioning person, and we are hiring you because of your abilities, and whatever you come up with, we're going to take.' If we make a mistake, it will be in picking the wrong person. What we're striving for is total freedom, where we can finance our pictures, make them our way, release them where we want them released and be completely free to express ourselves. That's very hard to do in the world of business. In this country, the only thing that speaks is money and you have to have the money to have the power to be free. So the danger is — in being as oppressive as the next guy to the people below you. We're going to do everything possible to avoid that pitfall. But if we fail, it's another saga in the history of man...

— George Lucas

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "We say, 'We think you are a talented, functioning person, and we are hiring you because of your abilities, and whatever you come up with, we're going to take.' If we make a mistake, it will be in picking the wrong person. What we're striving for is total freedom, where we can finance our pictures, make them our way, release them where we want them released and be completely free to express ourselves. That's very hard to do in the world of business. In this country, the only thing that speaks is money and you have to have the money to have the power to be free. So the danger is — in being as oppressive as the next guy to the people below you. We're going to do everything possible to avoid that pitfall. But if we fail, it's another saga in the history of man..." in the context of "On how American Zoetrope functions" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "George Lucas" (Quotes, 1970s, Interview with Judy Stone (1971): Interview with Judy Stone in The San Francisco Chronicle (23 May 1971), later published in Eye on the World : Conversations with International Filmmakers (1997), and George Lucas: Interviews (1999) edited by Sally Kline ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
George Lucas

About George Lucas

George Walton Lucas Jr. (born 14 May 1944) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur, most famous for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies.