For Episode 10 of The Speakeasy, we sit down with Elizabeth Walker, Director of Marketing and Publishing at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Lucasfilm. Elizabeth joins us to unpack what it really takes to manage an IP as culturally significant as Star Wars in an era of fragmented audiences and rapid technological shifts. We explore the "mosaic" of modern storytelling — how a story evolves from a single piece of IP into a cross-generational franchise spanning film, series, games, toys, and immersive experiences.
0:00: Introduction
01:00 Why being okay with failure is the key to innovation.
4:00: What does it actually take to build a franchise?
6:00: How do you grow an iconic franchise without losing its core fans?
8:50: The secret to keeping your IP cohesive across films, series, games, and merchandise.
12:00: The steps to avoiding franchise fatigue.
14:00: The challenges translating IP into immersive experiences
19:30: How do you measure success on emerging platforms?
27:00: Why knowing what platform to choose is as important as the story itself.
35:15: What does it take to build and sustain a franchise for generations?