John Goldstone: The Genesis of a Film Producer

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." — Albert Schweitzer.

Introduction:

In the late 1960s, John Goldstone began producing his own films. But he had gained invaluable experience working in film production since 1961 with producer Joseph Janni and director John Schlesinger on their collaboration for four films “A King of Loving” “Billy Liar” “Darling” and “Far from the Madding Crowd” where he learnt the fundamental roles of being a producer from screenplay writing to production to editing that prepared him for the many challenges of putting together his own film productions.

Early Career:

Goldstone got his start in film production in 1961 as a production assistant on "A Kind of Loving," adapted from a best-selling novel, the first feature film directed by John Schlesinger that was part of the British new wave that had exploded in the late 1950’s with a whole new generation of directors, writers and actors. Impressed by his diligence on that production, Goldstone became producer Joseph Janni's personal assistant in London for the next seven years, during which time he learned everything that he could about creating film ideas and the practical steps of bringing them to production and to the cinema screens.

During those seven years, Goldstone worked with Janni on John Schlesinger’s subsequent films “Billy Liar” adapted from a hit stage play, “Darling” an original screenplay that won an Academy Awards for its writer Frederic Raphael and for leading actress Julie Christie and “Far From The Madding Crowd” adapted by Frederic Raphael from the classic Thomas Hardy novel starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Peter Finch and Terence Stamp. Contemporaneously director Joseph Losey reimagined the popular comic strip character “Modesty Blaise” with Italian star Monica Vitti, Dirk Bogarde and Terence Stamp and Janni gave director Ken Loach his first film to direct “Poor Cow” adapted from a novel that was the start of a fifty-year directing career for Loach. The extraordinarily varied experiences that Goldstone enjoyed over those seven years gave him the confidence to embark on his own productions.

First Productions:

While working with Joseph Janni, Goldstone produced a 40-minute film "Scruggs" written and directed by first time director David Hart that starred Susannah York, Ben Carruthers, George Coulouris, and Eleanor Fazan. Finding the funds and overseeing its production and distribution, gave Goldstone a unique first-hand experiences from which he learnt some of the realities of the whole film making process. Taking the film to the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 gave him an insight onto the commercial realties of selling films to international distributors that just a few years later would show him the additional skills he had that would greatly enhance his producing career.

Goldstone's first full feature and first real challenge as a producer was "Three Sisters" Anton Chekhov’s play adapted for the screen by the legendary Moura Budberg and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier based on his groundbreaking, award winning National Theatre production. Assembling a stellar cast that included Alan Bates, Joan Plowright, Derek Jacobi Ronald Pickup and Olivier himself, Goldstone recreated for the cinema the Josef Svoboda original set designs on the stages of Shepperton Studios and found funding from British and American distributors. Producing his first film with Olivier, one of the greatest actors and directors of all time, gave Goldstone the confidence of his abilities to take his next steps into projects that would prove to present even greater challenges but would establish him as an internationally successful film producer.

Conclusion:

While John Goldstone's early years on film productions of the 1960’s and the opportunities that they presented him taught him the many parts of filmmaking, his willingness to learn and adapt became so very important to him as his career developed. He learned his moviemaking skills from the very best by working with a brilliant director John Schlesinger and highly skilled producer Joseph Janni on complete and varied projects like “A Kind of Loving”, "Billy Liar" "Darling" and "Far from the Madding Crowd" so that when he felt ready to produce on his own, he knew he too had to put together the very best writing, directing and acting talent that he could possibly find.