Aaron Levie and Jeffrey Katzenberg
Aaron Levie and Jeffrey Katzenberg at BoxWorks

SAN FRANCISCO–Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg kicked off the keynote session of this year’s BoxWorks conference with a bang. Sitting down with Box CEO Aaron Levie, Katzenberg riffed on his firing from Disney, pointing out that the company was doing very well, right when he was sent packing by Michael Eisner.

That firing happened in 1994, and led to a phone call from Bill Gates as well as the relaunch of Katzenberg’s career with Dreamworks, which came with a big investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

katzenberg44When Levie asked Katzenberg about what Dreamworks is doing now, the media exec said that he sees a great opportunity for the company in short-form video content designed for mobile devices. In his view, expanding the reach of video content represents a growing market for Dreamworks and a new opportunity for the company to boost its revenue.

In addition, the company is focusing on interactive experiences that can allow kids to experiment with creating animations on mobile devices without needing experience with 3D animation programs or artistic skills.

“Imagine if we could put into the hands of kids, Po the Panda, in the form of a character they can animate themselves,” he said.

With the rise of new technology, Levie asked why there isn’t a “Moore’s law for films,” that would lead to the release of more animated features. Katzenberg said that between the size of the market for animated features and the talent pool available to Dreamworks, it isn’t really feasible for the company to do more films a year. But Levie wasn’t satisfied with his unwillingness to budge, asking if he wanted to be known for “Katzenberg’s Law.”

“I have a law: my law is more is never enough,” Katzenberg said. “I need more.”

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