WHAT IF you could send your life back to rewrite? Super producer Peter Guber thinks you can, and he's making the case for it in an innovative course he's developed through UCLA's film school.
The course, called "Navigating a Narrative World," is the product of long experience and not just a theory. Guber, former head of Sony Pictures and the producer of such megahits as "The Color Purple," "Rain Man" and "Batman," has spent a lifetime (and made a very good living) telling stories.
He understands the power of narrative and its ability to shape the stories we tell each other and, more important, the ones we tell ourselves. As Joan Didion wrote, "We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, June 21, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 32 words Type of Material: Correction
Jodi Guber: A photo caption with the Cause Celebre column in Friday's Calendar section misspelled Jodi Guber's name as Jodie, and misidentified her as producer Peter Guber's wife. She is his daughter.
"I wanted students to recognize the power of narrative," he said. "Storytelling is not frivolous entertainment. It's an inspirational and professional tool that can bring life into focus."
Clearly Guber is on to something. When the course began in April, it was scheduled for an ordinary-size classroom, but when 250 students -- from a range of formal disciplines -- signed up, it had to be moved to a lecture hall.
The lineup of guest lecturers reads like a talk show host's dream. (After all, Guber -- who hosted the class along with UCLA Film School Dean Robert Rosen -- knows how to book talent.)
They called in HBO Films President Colin Callender, studio exec Toby Emmerich and Oscar producer and Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gilbert Cates to discuss storytelling through television, film and theater. Apache storyteller Dovie Thomason talked about the historic roots of narrative.
Lawyer and political commentator Susan Estrich told the class that the most successful politicians have powerful life stories and know how to tell them. (Perhaps that explains why voters have warmed to both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.)
Wired magazine Editor Chris Anderson and Borders Chief Executive George Jones talked about business narrative, while Los Angeles Times Book Review Editor David L. Ulin discussed storytelling in long form. Spiritual writer and motivational speaker Deepak Chopra talked about how people can maintain wellness by visualizing health.
W magazine Editorial Director Patrick McCarthy, Variety Editor Peter Bart and The Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning automotive columnist Dan Neil discussed how news narrative affects everyday life. TV producer Mark Burnett discussed how it affects his specialty, reality shows.
