Michael Uslan, the originator and executive producer of the Batman film franchise, shared his extraordinary journey of persistence. After acquiring the rights to make a dark, serious Batman movie, he was turned down by every single studio in Hollywood. Executives called him crazy, insane, and nuts — one rejected him because their musical 'Annie' hadn't done well, reasoning that both Batman and Annie came from 'the funny pages.' Another turned him down because 'Robin and Marian' (a film about Robin Hood starring Sean Connery) hadn't performed — simply because both titles contained the word 'Robin.' From the time he bought the rights, it took ten full years for the first Batman film to come out, where it then broke one box-office record after another.