Let ’s say you ’re make a grownup movie and you want to verify it ’s supported by merchandise . Who ya gon na call?Well , for Ghostbusters , one option is Jamie Stevens . An executive vice president at Sony Pictures Entertainment , Stevens overseesworldwide consumer productsfor Sony Pictures film and tv , as well as help PlayStation with its licensing in North America .
So basically Stevens is one of the people who say “ Yes , you’re able to make that Ghostbusters toy ” or game or shirt or wassailer oven , whatever the case may be . And with multiple newGhostbusters filmsand show presently on the horizon ( and a few in the rearview mirror as well ) , we thought it might be fun to get Stevens on the headphone to learn more about what blend into thisincredibly cool problem . How early in the cognitive operation does she make for with filmmakers ? What does she know about thenew products ? And how does the studio apartment decidewhat ’s worthy ofGhostbusters and what ’s not ? All that and more below .
This interview has been edited for length and clearness .
Image: Hasbro
Germain Lussier , io9 : Obviously , Ghostbusters is a franchise that has been with Sony forever . Tell me when you get with the company and what your opinion toward the enfranchisement were ?
Jamie Stevens : I have been with the companionship for six years and I was a huge Ghostbusters lover my entire life history , [ since ] the first one . And actually , it was an award for me to be able to play on the enfranchisement . Such an adorable , long - incline franchise . And for quite a while after the first and second movies , we were a trivial dormant in terms of content , and now obviously as we ’re moving forward [ there ’s much more . ] We ’ve really looked at this — because it ’s such an iconic enfranchisement — as something that we want to keep developing new content for , because there are those of us , like me , who saw it when I was a kid who now have kids and family who we want to inclose it to . Not only the original , but looking at it in an all - young , unlike style .
io9 : So when you ’re dealing with something with that kind of gravitas to it , in your opinion , what are the most important things to keep in idea when thinking about the way that people are going to digest the franchise ?
Examples of some Ghostbusters costumes.Image: Sony
Stevens : I think we have to keep the franchise relevant and it really starts with the lover . We want to know what they ’re into , what ’s cut , and develop production that form of lean into what the fan require .
io9 : Okay . Yeah , but you also have to pull fresh fans , right ? Because I ’m 42 class old and a toy aggregator , so the things I ’m buying are n’t at the same Leontyne Price level as things for young children . So tell me a little fleck about kind of balance what a sports fan like myself would want versus , like you said , younger kids to keep the franchise alive .
Stevens : That ’s a really good full stop . We have a mix of licensee who direct all of our different lover groups . So it ’s interesting . Hasbro is our toy partner . They have products specifically develop for kid , but then they also have collector Cartesian product . in high spirits - closing product for those collectorswho really want to just purchase them and sometimes not even spread out the package and hang on to them . So what we seek to do is really , because we are a fan nucleotide that really go to zero to 100,we cover all of the age group . We endeavor to verify that we ’re signing on licenses globally that target all of those fan . Even apparel . We have great hooey for kids . We do a wad of fashion collaboration for somebody who ’s a little bit more voguish and fashionable . Obviously our costumes every single yr do really well . Families love to primp up as Ghostbusters . And so we really look at , do we have something for every fan and diversity in cooperator ?
The Ghostbusters cookbook.Image: Sony
io9 : So does that fall into sport when looking for partners ? Does a partner necessarily need to have that kind of vast breadth ? Or can a company only make collector items or only kid items and still make Ghostbusters ?
Stevens : Well , it calculate on how other deals are done . Typically if you have a master miniature pardner , there are class that are ironed out . So we work within what our contract is and we work with our plaything partner — in this case , Hasbro — to do that . And then any other chance that we have that are within that contract that we want to do . Like this yr , we just launched a cookbook and we have television games , we have plate decor , stationary … it really is all about the fan at the end of the daytime .
io9 : Do you ever vex about oversaturating the market ? With natural action human body , we call them “ peg warmers , ” which is never a effective affair , so how do you check that to not overdo it ?
Ghostbusters: Answer the CallImage: Sony
Stevens : We knead very closely with our licensees to make indisputable that we are trying to put together programs that just have the right level of products in the market place . And it really depends on if there is depicted object . Like if there ’s a picture releasing we have it off that we want to put more ware in the marketplace than if it ’s a clip when there ’s not a movie departure . Or on Halloween , we typically impale . So we verify that we have relevant products in the marketplace for the sports fan . And again , it ’s all kind of in avail to the devotee . But we also want to make trusted that that we ’re not overflooding the markets and we sour really closely with our licensee to get that veracious .
io9 : Tell me a petty act about the procedure of working with licensees , be it old one or signing up new ones .
Stevens : Well , we ’re orbicular . So if there ’s a licensee that ’s interested in working with us , we will see if they ’re a fit for our concern . We are invariably get postulation for raw licensees , but we evidently want to ensure that they ’re the right fit , especially for the lover , and that there is innovation and quality and that they understand how to bestow the franchise to life .
Kids’ Ghostbusters costumes.Image: Sony
io9 : So what would make you say no to somebody who wants to be a pardner ? Is it that they just might not have the good kind of vision as you do ?
Stevens : Yeah . They may not have the right variety of vision . They may not have the depth and largeness . They may not fit a need that we have . There are a lot of reasons why we might say no . And there are a lot of reasons why they might say yes . We may have a recess marketplace . We may have too many licensee in a specific class and feel like we have that category covered . But we always take the chance if we see something that is unique and interesting . It ’s something that we always seek to crop out , even if we do a test or it might be something that we say , you know what , the timing is not aright now , but it might be in a yr or two .
io9 : Now , Ghostbusters has been very interesting for the retiring few years , especially during your prison term there . Sony judge a whole novel guidance withthe 2016 film and it did n’t experience up to outlook . And then I think that probably gave rooter at least — do n’t know about the executive level — a little piece of trepidation going into the new moving-picture show , which really did very well . read that , I ’m queer when you have those two dissimilar sides of a franchise , do you have to reassess ? What does that do to your job coming off of a dissatisfactory movie financially to a movie that is potentially a novel franchise dispatcher ?
Stevens : Actually , the previous movie financially was not that … I cogitate it was more in the finish and the media , the backlash , but financially it was not bad . We puzzle out very closely , and the studio did , with Ivan Reitman and then obviously Jason Reitman . And it was really time , we think , to reboot the enfranchisement . But we wanted to do it in a way that brought us back to what the original franchise was about , and it made the most sensation to have Jason direct it . Ivan was remove the torch . And Jason is an amazing storyteller and just the fib of , you know , it going from a male parent to a son , which is really what the flick was about really made a lot of mother wit .
io9 : Right , but in term of licensing , because I mean , I do n’t remember seeing a long ton of merchandise for the Feig celluloid …
Stevens : There was a stack of merchandise . There was a lot of merchandise .
io9 : Oh okay .
Stevens : Because , look . Everyone was excited . It was a different iteration of the franchise . Everyone was excited for the franchise . And we did have a caboodle of products in the marketplace . But , you know , again , I suppose it ’s about right - size . And everyone was very excited that a fresh plastic film was coming out . The other thing is , we continually have a strong dramatic play that by all odds spikes around Halloween , and we have a nice continual business on the classic product .
io9 : In the past year , Ghost Corps [ the companionship name in charge of Ghostbusters ] have announced multiple projects coming out . There’sa Netflix show , an animated picture , a resilient - action movie . And obviously , you ca n’t talk to particular on any of that , but how early does your squad get involved ?
Stevens : Our radical actually is in all likelihood the first group outside of production who greenlit the moving-picture show . And actually , we get demand even before it ’s greenlit . And we ’re really golden because we have a big relationship with Ghost Corps ; we had a great family relationship with Ivan and he appreciated what we did for the rooter , and Jason experience the same way . Jason calls himself the original Ghostbuster fan .
io9 : Right .
Stevens : And he loves all the product . He loves the toy and he wants to function very ahead of time with us . So , on the [ next ] film , we ’ve been talking about it since before the last movie was relinquish . What do all the different iteration face like ? How can we progress the enfranchisement ? How do we make thing potentially more toy - ettique and make products for the fans while staying true to the inwardness story ? So we get involved very , very early and I think that ’s a really important thing and it ’s really important , on something like this , to have a very close , collaborative human relationship with the filmmakers .
io9 : Is there ever pushback conk out in the other direction ? I always think of the famous story that George Lucas put the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi just so they could make toys of it . I’m not sure that ’s actually rightful , but that ’s a hypothetical example hoi polloi use of licensing and merchandise influencing the filmmakers . I ’m rum , in footing of Ghostbusters , have you Guy ever said , “ Can you do this ? ” And they say , “ That does n’t outfit . ”
Stevens : Yes , we have . We tattle about a lot of things . Sometimes there are things that are trending that just may not ultimately fit in the plot line . I think the important thing is , when you squeeze anything and it ’s not unfeigned to the DNA of the IP and the dealership , I call back fan can suss out and smell that . It has to really be a part of the DNA of the enfranchisement .
io9 : Yeah , that makes gumption for certain . So , without losing your job , how deep are you into working on new projects ? How long have you been exercise on them , have you determine sample , can you say anything in a broad sense about future Ghostbusters project ?
Stevens : We are very involved with all the projection that Ghost Corps is working on .
io9 : Okay . There you go
Stevens : And the filmmakers and the showrunners keep us very much in the loop on all of it .
io9 : And last affair , just in universal , where do you see the time to come of the Ghostbusters brand in terms of licensing , and how delirious are you about what ’s to amount ?
Stevens : I ’m very emotional about the future of the brand . We have a lot of new content in the line . The thing for me that makes my occupation a little easier is we have million of fans all over the human race who love Ghostbusters and carry on to enjoy the franchise , whether it ’s the original moving-picture show or the new depicted object that we have come out . So I ’m really excited to continue working with the film maker to order those stories and fetch those story to life through innovative and fun products .
Want more io9 news ? Check out when to expect the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about James Cameron’sAvatar : The Way of Water .
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