George Lucas based American Graffiti on his teenage years in Modesto in the early 1960s. Universal greenlighted the movie after six other studios had rejected it. Lucas and co-producer Gary Kurtz were given a very small budget. When a third co-producer, Francis Ford Coppola, joined the project, lo and behold, the budget was increased!
Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars, American Graffiti, The Empire Strikes Back, dies at 78
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/g...rs-1202954316/