DS, signed twice [once in printed block letters] “George W. Lucas, Jr.,” one page, 8.5 x 11, December 31, 1973. Lucas files his annual confidential statement with the Director’s Guild of America. In addition to signing, Lucas has indicated that he has worked in a non-DGA capacity as a writer, estimates his 1974 directorial earnings at $100,000 [the maximum amount he was required to report; the actual total, including continued earnings from American Graffiti, was in all likelihood considerably more], and provides his home address in San Anselmo, California. The year 1973 proved to be a seminal turning point in Lucas’s life. With the release of his second feature-length film, American Graffiti, on August 1, Lucas was instantly catapulted into the forefront of the Hollywood film industry, together with such influential up-and-coming colleagues as Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin. The film was an instant smash success, garnering five Academy Awards and eventually earning some $115,000,000 in North America alone—nearly 150 times its original budget. The film came to be recognized as an all-time classic and in 1998 was enshrined among the AFI’s Hundred Greatest American Films at Number 77, ahead of such classics as Frankenstein, Modern Times, and Patton. Of more immediate import to Lucas’s career, however, was the fact that the film’s outstanding performance at the box office afforded him the clout to begin production on his magnum opus, the Star Wars saga—whose screenplay he completed in first draft just months later, in May 1974. A touch of mild handling wear, otherwise fine condition. A scarce and significant memento of one of the most influential filmmakers in history! R&R COA.
