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"You really need to have some substance behind it to do a story that spans three films. You need to not only deliver the entertainment value, the roller coaster ride, and the laughs, but if you're going to ask people to stay around for three movies, you have to feel like there's something thematically significant that you're going to explore."
―Mike Stenson[src]

Mike Stenson is president of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, for which he supervised all aspects of film development and production. Before joining the company, he was an executive in charge of production at Walt Disney Pictures, responsible for many Bruckheimer films, including Armageddon, The Rock, Crimson Tide and Dangerous Minds. Mike Stenson served as one of the Executive Producers of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

Biography[]

Early life and career[]

Born and raised in Boston, Mike Stenson graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in economics and a Master of Business Administration. After his undergraduate stint, he started as a production assistant in New York and worked for two years in independent film and television as an assistant director and production manager before returning to Boston to complete his graduate education.

After completing business school, Stenson moved to Los Angeles, where he began his tenure at Walt Disney Studios in Special Projects for two years before moving into the production department at Hollywood Pictures as a creative executive. He was promoted to vice president and subsequently executive vice president during his eight years with the company, overseeing development and production for Hollywood Pictures as well as for Touchstone Pictures. In addition to the many Bruckheimer films, Stenson also developed several other films and nurtured them through production, including Rush Hour, Instinct, Six Days, Seven Nights and Mr . Holland’s Opus.

While at Disney, many filmmakers attempted to woo Stenson away from the studio, but not until 1998 did he entertain leaving. With his newest position at the helm of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Stenson spearheaded Bruckheimer's plan to expand the company’s film production schedule.

Pirates of the Caribbean[]

"We told Gore, the good news is, we have a great franchise, a great story, and great writers. The bad news is, you already have start date, there is no script to read, and we need you to commit."
―Mike Stenson[src]

According to Mike Stenson, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio wanted to do a feature film version of Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, having "sang the theme song the first time we met." Elliott and Rossio worked very closely with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and executive producers Mike Stenson and Chad Oman, as they were instrumental in developing the story. Along with Bruckheimer, Stenson praised for director Gore Verbinski. "Gore’s combination of visual style, technical expertise and humor made him our first and only choice as a director. He said yes the first meeting as well."[1]

Following the unexpected success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Mike Stenson returned as an Executive Producer for the back-to-back sequels Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, completing the Pirates trilogy.[2][3] He also returned for the two stand-alone sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides[4] and Dead Men Tell No Tales.

PotC films[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

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