Needham: MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE FILM QUOTE
IS FROM "GRAND CANYON," BY STEVE MARTIN'S CHARACTER,
AND IT'S "ALL OF LIFE'S RIDDLES ARE ANSWERED IN THE MOVIES."
I'M COL NEEDHAM,
AND I'M THE FOUNDER AND C.E.O. OF imdb.com.
I HAVE SEEN OVER 8,600 DIFFERENT MOVIES,
AND I KNOW THAT FROM MY IMDb VOTE HISTORY.
SO WHAT DO MOVIES MEANT TO ME?
I JUST LOVE FILM.
IT CAN INSPIRE YOU.
IT CAN CHALLENGE YOU.
I JUST LOVE THE ADVENTURE THAT IS WATCHING FILM.
THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THAN KIND OF BEING PULLED
INTO THE STORY BY THE REACTIONS OF THE AUDIENCE.
THE FIRST FILM THAT I EVER SAW
WAS "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS."
I WAS 4 YEARS OLD, AND I WON A COMPETITION,
AND THE PRIZE WAS TWO TICKETS TO GO AND SEE THE FILM.
SO WE WENT IN A TAXI TO THE BIG CITY TO THE BIG CINEMA.
AND IT'S -- I THINK IT'S MY EARLIEST MEMORY,
AND IT'S OBVIOUSLY, DEFINITELY MY EARLIEST FILM-GOING MEMORY.
BY THE TIME I WAS 13,
I WAS SEEING SO MANY FILMS,
I WOULD LOSE TRACK OF WHICH ONES I'D SEEN
AND WHICH ONES I HADN'T.
I ALSO HAD AN INTEREST IN TECHNOLOGY, AS WELL.
SO KIND OF CREATED A LITTLE DATABASE
JUST OF ALL THE FILMS THAT I HAD SEEN, NOTHING ELSE.
EVERY TIME I SAW A NEW FILM, IF IT WAS ON A VHS TAPE --
AS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN THOSE DAYS --
I WOULD REWIND THE TAPE,
AND I WOULD TYPE THE MAIN CREDITS INTO MY DATABASE.
SO, RIDICULOUSLY GEEKY THING TO DO.
IN 1985, FOUND MYSELF ONLINE IN A FILM DISCUSSION GROUP
WITH FILM FANS FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD.
SOMEBODY SAID, "WOW, THESE FILES ARE GREAT,
BUT WOULDN'T IT BE GOOD IF WE HAD A DATABASE TO SEARCH THEM?"
SO I PUT TOGETHER SOME SOFTWARE,
AND ON THE 17th OF OCTOBER, 1990,
THE FIRST VERSION OF IMDb WAS PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET.
NEVER DID I IMAGINE THAT TYPING THAT INFORMATION IN
WOULD LEAD TO WHERE WE ARE THE IN THE FILM INDUSTRY TODAY.
IT'S BEEN A COMPLETE SURPRISE. [ CHUCKLES ]
ALL RIGHT.
AND NOW THIS IS WHERE WE KEEP ALL OF THE MOVIES.
SO THERE'S A 100 TERABYTES OF DISK SPACE THERE.
ALL THE ORIGINAL DISKS ARE UPSTAIRS IN THEIR FLIGHT CASES,
1,000 DISKS PER CASE.
I'M VERY FORTUNATE
IN THAT I'VE GOT A NICE HOME CINEMA SET UP HERE.
I'D ALWAYS PREFER TO GO AND SEE A MOVIE IN A THEATER,
SO THE HOME CINEMA REALLY IS THE --
IT REALLY IS THE BACKUP.
YOU REALLY CAN'T BEAT SEEING A FILM WITH AN AUDIENCE.
MY INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ACADEMY MUSEUM
BEGAN WHILE ON A TRIP TO L.A. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO.
I WENT AROUND THE LIBRARY, AS IT STANDS AT THE MOMENT.
IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE.
THE ACADEMY HAS SUCH A TREASURE TROVE
OF ARTIFACTS AND INFORMATION
AND, YOU KNOW, JUST BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIEWS
THAT KIND OF SHOW YOU ALL OF THE MAGIC
AS TO HOW SOME OF OUR MOST BELOVED FILMS ARE MADE,
AND SOME OF THE PROPS
AND SOME OF THE COSTUMES FROM THOSE FILMS.
AND SO THE MUSEUM WILL PROVIDE A GREAT PLACE
FOR FILM FANS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
TO COME AND EXPERIENCE ALL OF THE THOSE ARTIFACTS.
THERE'S JUST SO MUCH MAGIC AND HISTORY
AROUND SOME OF THESE THINGS.
SO I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE PRESERVE THESE
FOR -- YOU KNOW, NOT JUST FOR THIS GENERATION OF FILM FANS,
BUT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, AS WELL.
PEOPLE WHO COME TO IMDb, THEY -- THEY LOVE FILM,
AND SO WE THAT -- THAT OUR USERS WILL LOVE
THE CONCEPT OF THE ACADEMY MUSEUM
AND GET BEHIND IT
AND JUST HELP TAKE IT OUT TO PEOPLE -- PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.