'X-Men: First Class' Producer Simon Kinberg's Meteoric Rise

The producer of X-Men: First Class, the origin story of the Marvel mutants recounts his own origin story -- from breaking in to Hollywood while still in film school with his script, Mr. and Mrs. Smith -- to morphing into a producer of big studio movies. For years Simon Kinberg's been a go-to script doctor and along the way he learned the ropes of producing. He talks of modeling his career after mentor, Akiva Goldsman -- himself a writer of films like A Beautiful Mind, who's become a prolific producer. The two worked together on Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where Kinberg cut his Hollywood teeth. Now his company, Genre Films, has an overall deal with 20th Century Fox and he's producing a number of films, including the new Neill Blomkamp (District 9) film, Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, which he's producing with Tim Burton. He says that despite his meteoric rise he wasn't one of the filmmakers who made movies in grade school. In fact he wanted to be a novelist. He also shares his key to making a successful pitch to executives.

Today's Banter Topics:

- CBS's Les Moonves sells ads on the Fall premiere of Two and a Half Men at an increased rate, calling it the TV event of the Fall

- Relativity Media may break from hedge fund backer

- Top filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Jon Favreau join others to back the National Association of Theater Owners against some studios' plans to release films early via video-on-demand

Banner image: (L-R) Actor Michael Fassbender and director Simon Kinberg on the set of X-Men: First Class. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox