An Interview with Paul Ens, Director of Lucas Online
by Adam May,
Features Editor
Paul Ens is Lucasfilm's Internet Guru, or, as he is formally titled, the Director of Lucas Online. Having started out as an Internet scooper himself, Ens knows the ins and outs of the business from both sides of Skywalker Ranch's gates. For the launch of starwars.com's new, official store, StarWarsShop.com, Ens agreed to subject himself to Galactic Hunter's notorious interrogator. What follows is a transcript of the interrogation.
Will StarWarsShop.com have cooperation from Hasbro to receive its shipments directly from Asia, like the big box stores have, or will StarWarsShop.com be on the level of other online e-tailers, which process through Hasbro's warehouses in the U.S.?
Obviously, our brand new store isn't planning to supplant the volume of the Wal-Marts of the world, particularly in the first few months! :) The answer is somewhere in between. Being Lucasfilm, we will have some special consideration with Hasbro and other licensees that we'll utilize when it makes sense for all parties.
Is there any chance of StarWarsShop.com receiving key items (from
Hasbro and other licensees) before they appear at the usual retail
outlets?
We've been talking about it, but "having it first" is a perishable benefit that isn't as important to most collectors in the long term as the two strategies StarWarsShop.com is primarily interested in...
a) Creating and supplying exclusive products that our fans want
b) Kind of the reverse of your request... providing a place where all of our fans can go to find a full range of Star Wars products that are either sold-out, or never arriving, at your local retailer. We hope that StarWarsShop.com becomes a real problem for scalpers.
Will StarWarsShop.com have access to convention exclusives and other sought-after pieces that aren't available elsewhere?
Most definitely. We have some pretty good announcements coming soon.
Will StarWarsShop.com seek out customer input, via polls or other
methods, to pass on to manufacturers for future product consideration?
Yes. That's one of the benefits of having the new shop be a sister-site to starwars.com. We have that large audience base to tap in to. You can also expect to see Lucasfilm and Lucas Online staff at some of the big conventions.
I also think that fan sites -- collecting-based ones in particular -- are great sounding-boards. As I mentioned before, getting some of those "long-dreamed-never-realized" collector desires to market is one of our mandates.
Like Hasbro's own Once Upon a Toy toy store at Walt Disney World in Florida, will StarWarsShop.com sell items that are exclusive to other retailers?
Yes, that's part of the plan.
Will StarWarsShop.com import items available only in Asia or Europe for the American market (e.g. Kubricks, Kotobukiya, etc.)?
Yes, this is something I personally am thrilled about. For example, some of our initial offerings include metal sculptures from the Compulsion Gallery.
The old Official Fan Club store had everything under the sun, from
towels to pewter figurines. What lessons were learned from their
experiences, and what items would be too esoteric to carry?
I wouldn't look for Jar Jar tongue candy at StarWarsShop.com. :) But seriously, I think the lessons we've learned from previous online licensees have more to do with managing inventory levels than the breadth of the offering. Obviously, the more focused we are, the easier this is to do. Our store will be begin with a little over 200 different items. At it's "peak", the old store had many times more than this.
Will there be any special offers or discounts to Hyperspace members through the store? Will StarWarsShop.com offer discounts on Hyperspace memberships with the purchase of product from the store?
Yes, but nothing I can announce just yet.
Will StarWarsShop.com be partnering with Hasbro for any exclusive figures or product? If so, would you care to give your old pals at GalacticHunter.com the scoop?
Yes, we will. I do like to save my scoops for the nice folks over at starwars.com, though. Sorry! ;)
Finally, will a Lucasfilm subsidiary be in charge of this venture, or
will an outsourced company actually run the store day-to-day?
Everyone in charge of this venture are direct Lucasfilm employees.
We also managed to sneak in some questions about Ens' other big venture, Hyperspace, starwars.com's paid subscription site that routinely features content and news that could only come from deep within the Ranch.
How successful was 2003 for Hyperspace?
I like to answer this question from two perspectives.
My personal primary task on Hyperspace was to make sure that people who subscribed felt they got more than their money's worth of enjoyment from it. From all ways that we can measure customer satisfaction, we overachieved. Those who try it, really like it.
The other take is from a pure numbers perspective. We had a few projections, but we really had no idea or fixed expectations. It's also really easy to forget that Hyperspace began in June, so we really had only half of a year. That said, we have already greatly exceeded our expectations in capturing a huge percentage of the active Star Wars fan base. Compared to similar online content subscriptions, our numbers for ramp-up and growth rate are right up there with the industry best.
Paying for online content is still in its infancy. I'm very curious to see how this all evolves in the coming years.
Is there anything you really hoped to feature on the site that you're
fighting for in 2004?
I'm more "glass half full" on this front. There was a lot of stuff we fought for in 2003 that I never, ever expected to actually get, but we did. We've had to raise the bar a few notches beyond the original plan for 2004. My one small 2003 regret is that we never could align schedules for webchats with Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor. We have a few more chances, though.
Getting straight to the focus of Galactic Hunter, what can we expect
from Hyperspace as far as coverage of the collectible corner of the Star Wars universe in 2004?
I'd like to throw that question back at you. Obviously, the launch of StarWarsShop.com and the Hyperspace member benefits there is our main collector initiative. However, most of our collecting-type activity has been in the free starwars.com realm. What are we not delivering that the collector community would be willing to pay a little something for?
Is there any chance Mr. Lucas will send Stephen Sansweet out of town so your crew can break in and offer fans a virtual tour of his museum?
That's a good idea! :)
Has there been any conflict between Hasbro and starwars.com as far as the unveiling of new figures? The timing always seems to be slightly out-of-sync on one side or the other.
Admittedly, our choreography on this is hit-and-miss. The difficulties seem to stem primarily from the time zone differences (east coast vs. west coast) and the unbelievably small web teams both at Hasbro and Lucasfilm. Personally, I find the unpredictability of it all to be a good thing in keeping you fans on your toes!
What exactly is the relationship going to be between Hyperspace and the Official Star Wars Fan Club? Are there any cooperative efforts in the works?
Yes. More later.
Can we expect Hyperspace to pull out all the stops for future events
like Celebration 3, Star Wars Weekends, and future Toy Fairs?
Hyperspace will be very, very active at Celebration III. We've been struggling with how to plus-up the already great Disney's Star Wars Weekends, but we're definitely integrating further there as well. Toy Fair is a hard one as what that show means is in a bit of a flux for the industry and our key partners. Stay tuned.
Do you expect [for Hyperspace] to be the first outlet to break key news to the fan community like the title of Episode III and the first glimpses of the movie's action figures?
starwars.com debuted the titles for Episode I and Episode II, didn't it? However, I've learned that when it comes to Internet resourcefulness to never "expect" any of it.
Are there any plans to eventually offer high-end, original Star Wars
content (along the lines of original Clone Wars or other EU cartoons or short films) at Hyperspace?
There are plans, yes.
Do you plan on adding more staff members to Hyperspace in order to accomplish more than the fan sites basically give away for free? How do you keep up with people who, by their very nature, are obsessed fanatics?
It's not starwars.com's mandate to "compete" with fan sites. Fan sites fill a wonderful niche that an official site would never want to... rumor, speculation, tangentially-related subjects, dissenting opinion and the like. Fan sites have the luxury of not having to be true, or accurate, or fall within plans, or even do what's best for Star Wars in the big picture. That is blessing and curse together. It's interesting that you say "give away", because often it's not really theirs to give.
Sooner or later, EVERYONE learns the story of the movie. Sooner or later, EVERYONE finds out what products are in the store and what they look like. Ultimately, the timing of this info doesn't have long-term value. If it did, Lucasfilm would just post the movie script while George [Lucas] is working on it and put everyone else "out of business".
Our Hyperspace philosophy is completely the opposite. Hyperspace is official and Hyperspace has access. Hyperspace strives to create experiences that no fan could ever engage in without it. Without it, no fans could have lived vicariously day-by-day on set through Pablo Hidalgo, or now week-by-week at ILM. Without it, no one could have wasted their day watching George Lucas on the webcam create his film live-as-it-happened. Without it, hundreds of classic trilogy pictures would remain never-seen-by-fans, sitting in a drawer somewhere.
It's not about more, it's about access.
Obviously you and your colleagues are aware that Hyperspace-exclusive content makes its way to file-sharing services rather quickly. Is this a concern?
It's obviously a concern, but it puts us in good company with the entire recording and motion picture industry.
Have the fan sites been cooperating in order to keep such content
relatively exclusive for members?
I'd say generally yes.
What can we look forward to in 2004 (from Hyperspace AND starwars.com, respectively), as we approach the release of Episode III?
There's the obvious... classic trilogy DVD tie-ins, trailers for Episode III, the web documentaries, exclusive interviews and the like. The twists we have planned will need to remain a surprise, for now.
Do you think that Hyperspace will continue and flourish after Episode III, or is this a one-off project?
This is most definitely not a one-off project. Look for very solid confirmations of this to roll out in coming months online, at [San Diego] Comic Con this summer, this fall and next spring.
Will Star Wars maintain a serious presence on the Internet after the
sun has set on the film epic?
Yes. See [my previous answer]. It's all tied together.
You ran a fan site before LFL stole you away to lord over its online
empire. What are the big differences you've encountered as an
on-the-payroll employee of the people you used to scoop and annoy?
There are probably a few articles I could write on the subject. The main difference that comes to mind at this moment is that when operating a fan site we tried to run as far and as fast as we could each and every day, but with no idea what direction we'd run tomorrow. At Lucasfilm, I'm running a marathon and I know the course.
What do your friends and family think of your rather unique job and
success story, having gone from Internet scooper to Official Internet
Overlord?
My family doesn't quite "get" my job. All they know is that when they describe it, other people find it extremely exciting.
Do you still hang out with people who are major fanboys? If so, how do you deal with the obvious nagging, interrogating, haranguing, and drooling that you're bound to get from them?
I hang out with major fanboys less than I used to. With Star Wars constantly at work, it's nice to spend the evenings and weekends with people who keep forgetting how many films are left to make, and in what year the next one will come out.
The nagging, haranguing and drooling from my closest and longest-term friends is still great fun in small doses. I love wearing my Episode III crew jacket.
What top-secret stuff can you tell us about Episode III? C'mon, we
won't tell a soul. We promise!
One of the main characters ends up switching sides. Shhhhh.
C'mon, Mr. Lucasfilm Big Shot! You've got the dirt, so spill it! No?
OK. fine.
So what do you hope to see happen with the Star Wars property as a whole after Episode III?
My greatest hope for Episode III is that the public leaves it hungry for more Star Wars.
Thanks to Adam Pawlus for assistance.
