‘Rutgers legitimized me as an artist’

Kevin Goetz came into Mason Gross School of the Arts “like raw clay” then molded a successful career as the consummate movie strategist.

Singing, dancing, acting. Performing was all Kevin Goetz did as a child—all he loved, all he ever wanted to do.

In elementary and high school, he spent summers in the 1970s at theater camp in East Brunswick with the city’s beloved drama teacher Elliott Taubenslag, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Rutgers in the 1950s.

“Before I was even double digits, I was on the stage in East Brunswick, and Elliott used to say, ‘Alright, all kids on stage,’” says Goetz, who went on to earn his bachelor of fine arts in acting from Rutgers in 1984. “I would head right for downstage center, find my light, and I knew where I was—and I was home.”

But as it turned out, Goetz later found joy and success behind the scenes, where he became a renowned film industry expert in using focus groups to best position movies for broad appeal and ultimately for financial success. As founder and CEO of Screen Engine, a global research and strategy firm, he oversees a worldwide team that partners with all the major film studios, television networks, streaming platforms, gaming publishers, and other lifestyle brands.

Best-selling author of Audience-ology, a 2021 book which explains the test-screening and audience reaction process in Hollywood, he recently published How to Score in Hollywood, a guide to making commercially successful movies before even a frame of film is shot.

“My thesis in the book is that every movie, if made and marketed for the right price, should make money,” says Goetz, who also hosts an immensely-popular filmmaking podcast, Don’t Kill the Messenger. “We try to mitigate that risk early on, sometimes even beginning at the twinkle in the eye of the idea.”

Throughout his career, he has tested more than 5,000 film titles, significantly impacting how movies are made, marketed, and released. At the 37th American Cinematheque Awards in February 2024, Goetz received the esteemed Power of Cinema Award for his vast contributions to the entertainment industry, along with Dame Helen Mirren, who also received an award for her lifetime achievements. 

‘One of the best acting conservatories in the country’

As a high school senior, Goetz started his own dance and acting school in East Brunswick, encouraged by demand from aspiring stage parents eager for their children to follow his lead and break into television commercials and theater. His school’s success soon earned him recognition from the local Chamber of Commerce, which honored him as its youngest member and waived his membership dues.

As high school graduation grew near, Goetz was set on seeing the neon lights of Broadway as a triple threat, armed with his talent in singing, acting, and dancing. He purposely orchestrated a light senior year for himself so he could focus on going into New York City to audition and shoot commercials.

“I didn’t have a burning desire to go to college,” he says. “The plan was to go right to Broadway to be a star. That was my absolute, 100 percent intention. I just wasn’t that interested in a formal, four-year education.”

But his parents and Taubenslag were very interested in college for him, so Goetz acquiesced, on the condition that he would go to a theater school.

“I knew they wanted me to go,” he says. “It meant something to them, and I somehow knew it was the right thing to do.”

Hearing about the fledgling Mason Gross School of the Arts, which had just opened in 1976, Goetz traveled a mere 30 minutes to New Brunswick to audition for admission, joined by Taubenslag’s son Mike and another classmate. All three were accepted.

“The fact that three people from East Brunswick got in, when only two dozen were chosen in total, was astounding,” Goetz says. “I fell into what I did not know was one of the best acting conservatories in the country. I had no idea. And it was so close to my house. What are the odds of all of that coming together, that confluence? I believe now it was divine intervention.”

Goetz auditioned for William Esper, a nationally renowned master acting teacher who started the acting program at Mason Gross. Though Esper was a titan in the acting profession, having trained notable actors like Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Mary Steenburgen, Goetz had no idea who he was. (Goetz now contributes to the endowed scholarship at Rutgers named after Esper.) 

Esper was impressed that Goetz had some professional work under his belt—he was already in “all the unions” and had done some television commercials and professional theater—but warned him that if he were to enroll in the program, he would not have time to work in the city while in school.

“I’m rolling my eyes thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, sure,’” Goetz says. “But Esper was absolutely right. It was beyond intense. This was serious training. I can’t tell you just how much it transformed me, transformed my life.” 

The Life of a Theater Student at Mason Gross

Goetz says he put his complete confidence in his professors, who were “world-class instructors.” As a result, his experience at Rutgers legitimized him as an artist and reframed his perspective on the craft of acting as an art form. 

“I came in like raw clay,” he says. “I just gave myself over to my teachers, and that was a smart thing to do. Martin Waldron, the greatest voice teacher ever. Loyd Williamson, the greatest movement teacher ever. Another master acting teacher, Kathryn Gately, became my second mentor. They were incredibly formidable and demanding, and I’d kill for them.”

For four years, he and his fellow theater students had to be in class at 8 a.m., often having been up until 2 a.m. rehearsing. They had to be prepared for acting, movement, voice, fencing, makeup, set design, and theater history. And at Mason Gross, each year, students had to be invited back for the next year. 

“The pressure was enormous,” he says. “They wanted students who were going to give their blood, sweat, and tears. And even if we did, if they didn’t believe you had the right temperament for the Meisner technique that was being taught, or the passion, drive, and staying power to forge a career in the business, you were out.”

Goetz says he absolutely loved that “hard, tough love.” 

“If you were kicked out of class for being late, or for yawning, or because you didn't know who the so-and-so theater legend was, that’s part of the learning,” he says. “A lot of my peers, including the ones who were successful, thought young people shouldn’t be treated like that. I was like, ‘Bring it on!’”

Finding His “And”

After graduating from Rutgers in 1984, Goetz went to New York City and worked as an actor for a few years before moving to Hollywood to focus on television and film. Meanwhile, to help pay the bills, he got one of several “survival jobs” with a company that tested pre-released movies for recruited audiences. After only a few months of working lower-level jobs at the firm, he quickly gained a reputation as the best focus group moderator in the movie business.

“Little did I know that job was going to change the course of my life,” he says, through a process he calls finding your “and”—recognizing that seemingly disparate skills can ultimately become a unique strength.

“I was this and that, I was a hyphen this, a hyphen that, and it got me to where I am today,” he says. “There are no mistakes. They’re all there to inform you where you’re going and who you’re going to be as a professional. I’m an artist and an entrepreneur. That’s what I was always meant to be.” 

Today, as a researcher, marketing strategist, audience advocate, and a creative force, Goetz has analyzed audience reactions to movies ranging from Fatal Attraction, Titanic, Forrest Gump, and Mission Impossible to Despicable Me, Barbie, Wicked, and Sinners. The results: recommendations for changes to everything from addressing pacing issues to alleviating confusion and even shooting new endings.

Thanks to Rutgers

Perhaps the greatest lesson Goetz learned at Rutgers is gratitude. At the end of his sophomore year, he had just given an exceptional final performance, and he received his year-end evaluation, which drew great praise from the faculty. The stars were finally aligning for him. His grandmother, whom he adored, had just entered remission from cancer, and he was about to head off to Europe to go backpacking for the summer.

“I cried, it was so beautiful,” he says. “I walked out on the quad right in front of Nicholas Music Center toward the parking lot. I looked up at the clear, moonlit night. I remember saying, my life is perfect. I walked to my ’71 Chevy Malibu, and there, sitting on the windshield was… a parking ticket. Boom: brought right back to reality. But the clarity of the gratitude that I had for those five minutes is something I’ll never forget.”

Gratitude is what motivated him in 2012 to make the largest single gift from any Mason Gross alumnus to the school, naming the Kevin Goetz Studio for Theater and Dance. He also has provided for the school in his charitable trust. 

As the school’s commencement speaker in 2016, he told the graduates, “If you refuse to grant other people the power to render the final verdict on your talent, you can do things you never imagined possible.”

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