Ed Catmull talks about the business of CG at Stanford.
Why do successful companies fail?
Why do successful companies fail?
Finding good ideas or finding good people?
Which works better for a company?
Catmull says, "If you give a good idea to incompetent people, they will ruin it. If you give a bad idea to a great team, they will fix it."
His main motto is:
The difference in a successful company
and a failed one is "the people."
This reminds me of a famous Andrew Carnegie Quote:
"“Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory.”
Which works better for a company?
Catmull says, "If you give a good idea to incompetent people, they will ruin it. If you give a bad idea to a great team, they will fix it."
His main motto is:
The difference in a successful company
and a failed one is "the people."
This reminds me of a famous Andrew Carnegie Quote:
"“Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory.”
There is virtually no profit margin in CG or Visual FX. Certainly no profit like selling booze or a diamond. We do it because we love it. We work hard and long hours on complicated and problematic shots. So...every time I have led a team on a show, I have valued every single artist. I try to bring fun things to the production to break things up, eliminate the stress, make people laugh and remind people they are an important part of the production. Once, I even brought a pinata in the shape of one of the characters we were animating. Let's just say the candy was powder when they were done.
I have also observed many studios treat their employees like dispensable assets that can be replaced on a whim. Hiring practices of underbidding a show and low-balling artists to get a warm body in a seat and slamming them with 6 months of work to be completed in 30 days. This is not a way to build a company and certainly not, when 75% of your staff is freelance.
I have also observed many studios treat their employees like dispensable assets that can be replaced on a whim. Hiring practices of underbidding a show and low-balling artists to get a warm body in a seat and slamming them with 6 months of work to be completed in 30 days. This is not a way to build a company and certainly not, when 75% of your staff is freelance.
Catmull makes many great points on structure and systems in this presentation necessary to build a great company. The points he makes are/were true for PIXAR, but ALSO apply to any company big or small going through the growing pains of moving into maturity.
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