Word: robinsons
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Robinson's affinity for pictures began at age 8 with an Ansco camera; he went on to become an Army photographer. With a bankroll of $40,000 from later work as a still photographer, he bought his first business, a bankrupt Baltimore company that removed shipping wax from imported autos. Over the ensuing years, he bought and expanded a Subaru distributorship and developed commercial office space. "In 1987 I looked at the economy and said it's time to be out of the automotive business. I sold my distributorship, lightened up on my real estate and moved to Hollywood...
Unlike some passive investors who have got fleeced in Hollywood, Robinson put his own sweat behind his equity and teamed up with veterans like Joe Roth, who has since gone on to head 20th Century Fox Films. Robinson's new company, named after the 1943 Preston Sturges film The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, scored a hit in 1988 with its first effort, Young Guns. The company went on to produce such other moneymakers as Major League and Pacific Heights, as well as a dud, Coupe de Ville, which took in only $5 million at the box office...
...maturity in business, Robinson is a kid when it comes to movies. He wants them to have heroes. "People admire honesty, integrity and bravery," he says. "We don't need to step down; we need to step up. I may make a movie I won't take my child to see, but I'll never make a movie that I wouldn't take my mother to see. If I make a movie and Hitler's in it, he's the bad guy, and I promise you he will...
...Robinson is a demon for details, beginning with a movie's script. "A lot of companies start with an imperfect script, which is like drawing a road map while on a trip," he says. Other steps get just as much scrutiny, from choosing a director to arranging a sound track. "You don't know how good your movie will be, but you can avoid making a bad one," says Robinson. He tries to avoid the movie industry's all-consuming politics. "People don't go to the movies to see pitches and deals, they go to see good films...
...Robinson's roots keep him grounded. He spends two days of each workweek at his Baltimore offices, which handle his trucking, port-servicing and real estate interests. Married for 27 years, he talks to his five children daily and says his offspring must gain business experience before coming to Hollywood. But Robinson does harbor at least one more fantasy: to be born again as a cinematographer. Whoever said there were no second acts in American life...