Founder connections
- Michael OvitzRead and used for film packagingOvitz read Crichton's rough draft and describes using it to assess the film package: dinosaurs reduced the need for an expensive star, and Spielberg had the skills to make it. He sent the book to Spielberg. The later catalog edition is not his draft.Source
Summary
Michael Crichton’s thriller imagines a park where cloned dinosaurs become a paid attraction. The promise of a scientific breakthrough turns into a struggle for survival when the experiment goes wrong. The story brings biotechnology, commercial ambition and the dangers of trying to control living systems together.
Why read it Our view
Read it alongside Michael Ovitz's account of turning the draft into a film package. He describes assessing the story's attraction, limiting the need for an expensive star and choosing Spielberg for the technical and storytelling work. This is a documented case of evaluating intellectual property and assembling the people needed to make a product. The novel is not a management manual, and the source does not show that reading it caused business success. Ovitz's draft differs from this later catalog edition.