"Making games is 10 times harder than making films." Danny Bilson, Chair of USC Games, has spent 50 years doing both: The Rocketeer, The Flash and Da 5 Bloods on screen, then The Sims, Medal of Honor, Harry Potter and James Bond at EA, and Saints Row and Darksiders at THQ. He explains what makes games the harder craft, why he quit EA mid-project over a Bond game that broke his heart, and why the studios behind his biggest successes never invited him back.

Danny co-wrote The Rocketeer with Paul De Meo and ran The Flash for CBS in 1990, then spent the 2000s running franchises at EA before becoming EVP Core Games at THQ. He co-wrote Da 5 Bloods for Spike Lee. Today he chairs USC Games, teaches the next generation of writers, and is writing an unannounced AAA extraction shooter.

In this conversation:

• The Rocketeer, page to screen. Finding Dave Stevens' comic in the bins at Golden Apple, the free option Stevens gave two broke B-movie writers, Jim Cameron's tip-off that opened the door at Fox, and the opening weekend against Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves that killed it.
• The EA years. A card dropped on a script, fixing The Sims, demoing the first Harry Potter game to the author in black and white after an Edinburgh blizzard, and sending a driver for Viggo Mortensen's Elvish dictionary.
• THQ. Saints Row III, Darksiders, uDraw, and executives who don't play.
• Writing now. The unannounced AAA extraction shooter, the two things every story needs, and what he tells his students at USC.
• The sequel that never happened. The Rocketeer follow-up he, Paul De Meo and Dave Stevens planned but never got to make, and working with Oliver Stone and Spike Lee on Da 5 Bloods.

Watch the video version with full chapters on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S9X6Ct97UIk

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 — Introduction

3:20 — Why sequels dominate film and games

5:17 — "They don't want the old voice": locked out of The Flash and The Rocketeer

12:40 — How The Rocketeer got made: Jim Cameron's tip and Dave Stevens' free option

25:23 — Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the opening weekend that killed it

28:47 — A card dropped on a script: EA, fixing The Sims and the franchise years

36:18 — Quitting EA over the Goldfinger vs Dr. No game

41:23 — Demoing the first Harry Potter game to the author in black and white

46:53 — Nightfire, Judi Dench and Viggo's Elvish dictionary

56:14 — The THQ years: Saints Row III, uDraw and executives who don't play

1:01:23 — The unannounced AAA extraction shooter and the two things every story needs

1:07:42 — Da 5 Bloods: Oliver Stone, Spike Lee and the Milius seminar

1:28:22 — Write the movie you want to see the most

Connect:

Danny Bilson LinkedIn | USC School of Cinematic Arts

Pete Bell: LinkedIn | Instagram

Purpose Made is hosted by Pete Bell, gaming industry consultant and interviewer of the people who shaped the games, films, and culture you love.

Know someone who's shaped games, film, or culture? Pitch a guest: https://purposemadepodcast.co.uk/guest-pitch

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Topics Covered: Danny Bilson, The Rocketeer, franchise IP, game development, screenwriting, EA, THQ, Da 5 Bloods and more.

This podcast was produced by Purpose Made.

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