Inside Pixar's Leadership

Anyone who reads this blog knows I have the utmost respect for Ed Catmull and his approaches to leadership of a creativity company.  Ultimately he trusts the artists to do the right thing and he values people.

In this interview, I love that he talks about picking people and pushing them outside their comfort zone...so they will rise to it. I have been both sides of the picking and being picked and it's a great way to get creativity and innovation out of your employees.  

I also love how he handles post mortems.  First of all he values a post mortem as a tool to better production.  5 things you would do again vs. the 5 things you would not do again.  How awesome!  He speaks on protecting the dynamics of leadership you have built while listening to what is not working.  It's important to him to get the honest answers from his employees in order to fix the problems.  To do this, you need a safe environment or else the resentment and distrust will fester.

One of my favorite quotes from the talk is below:

"They don’t want to walk in and embarrass themselves, they don’t want to say anything stupid, they don’t want to offend anyone, so these personal pressures and responses start to emerge. So I do see it happen, and it happened fairly recently, and I walked out, and I knew they weren’t honest. So then you call them in, maybe two or three people, and say why didn’t you say what you thought. And it’s a personal thing. So we have to change the dynamic.  When we have something tricky and that’s holding things back, we have to have a four person or five person meeting, where the dynamics are different. And sometimes where things are actually going pretty well, then you want to have a room of 25 people, see how it works, and let them express themselves and have them grow. But if you have 25 people in the room some of them then start to perform, rather than participate. So there is this balance, what is the state of the thing… we need to have honesty, we want to have honesty, but honest is a buzzword. Its one of these things we hear, everyone nods their head on, ‘it’s all true’, [but] the gap between the abstractions and where people actually do it is enormous. And people fill it in with all sorts of crap."

Here are some more posts I have made of Ed's talks online

Pixar - A Human Story of Computer Animation

CG Talk at Stanford

Pixar's Superhero Shakes up Disney

I also found another quick interview with Mr. Catmull

Pixar - A Human Story of Computer Animation

[Recorded May 16, 2005]
Brad Bird, Writer/Director, The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios, Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President, Pixar Animation Studios, Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of four centers of computer graphics excellence (Altamira, Pixar, Lucasfilm, New York Tech) and a Microsoft Fellow, Andrew Stanton, Writer/ Director, Finding Nemo, Pixar Animation Studios , and Michael Rubin, Moderator, Author of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution.

Wowsie Wow...I heart Ed Catmull. Mr. Catmull, I would love to buy you a beer at Siggraph this year...please look me up? And, for anyone who hasn't seen the series Brad Bird talks about in this movie called - Family Dog (possibly my most favorite animated pilot ever) - go to my posted link below on the series.

Family Dog Post

Ed Catmull Speaks

Ed Catmull talks about the business of CG at Stanford.
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.”

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.

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.

Give it a listen...

John Carter Of Mars at Pixar

For a lot of people, this would have to be the most exciting news of this year. IESB.net chatted to John Lasseter and Ed Catmull briefly at the world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Ed and John wouldn't give up much information, however, Ed said that it will be different to other films Pixar has done as it is based on the book. He also said they had only just started working on it as they just aquired the rights. J

To watch the video interview and read more, click here.

Pixar Moving Into Live Action

'Ratatouille' has its own French accent

By Glenn Whipp, Film Writer

Article Launched: 04/28/2007 10:18:32 PM PDT

The past two years, Brad Bird, the Oscar-winning director of Pixar Animation's "The Incredibles," has been watching as one talking-animal animated movie after another has come and gone in theaters.

Frankly, he's a little annoyed because he knows you're thinking his new film, "Ratatouille," is just another "wisecracking critters movie." Yes, "Ratatouille" does follow a mouse who does indeed talk, but Bird says, "About one minute into this movie, people are going to see it's not only different from all those other movies, but different from anything that Pixar has ever done."

"Ratatouille" follows a rat named Remy who fancies himself not only a gourmand but also aspires to be a gourmet chef. So he takes up residence in one of Paris' top restaurants to learn from the best, which, of course, puts him in the line of fire.

The French may let dogs into restaurants, but rats are another matter.

"It's whimsical, with — I don't know how to put it — a slightly European sensibility," Bird says. "There's more of a fairy-tale vibe. It feels as close to classic, old Walt Disney-era movies as you're ever going to get."

Bird was planning to follow "The Incredibles" with a live-action film. But Pixar execs John Lasseter, Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull weren't happy with the way "Ratatouille" was developing and asked Bird for help. Animation hadn't started, but it was late in the game. Bird kept the premise but wrote a new script from scratch.

"They did the same thing with 'Toy Story 2,' " Bird says. "It's an adrenalized situation, to be sure, but I did it because of my belief in the company."

As for that live-action film (possibly an entry from the "John Carter of Mars" series?), Bird says it's next, and it will be for Pixar.

"The company is evolving into a place where all kinds of movies, not just animated ones, can come out," Bird says.

Full Article...

Back to Hand Drawing for Disney

Just got back from lunch with friends and everyone is a BUZZ over more changes at Disney - Cinematical is reporting the story below...but doesn't cite a source...

Back to Hand Drawing for Disney

Posted Dec 19th 2006 9:00PM by Jennifer DeFilippo
Filed under: Animation, Disney, Newsstand

Pencil. Paper. Have you two met? I think the better question may be directed to the animator -- do you remember how to use them? I remember when Toy Story came out in 1995 -- it was huge! It broke barriers being the first full-length computer animated film. It was exciting and quickly became the thing to do; seemingly making hand drawing the thing of the past. Disney animation is now putting a stop to the CGI addiction and returning to a more traditional drawing plan.

This change, just announced today by John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, will take place in Walt Disney Co.'s Burbank studios, leaving Pixar to exclusively work onCGI projects. There isn't a specific answer to why the change happened, but one rumor centers around Chris Sanders who is responsible for Lilo and Stitch and the upcoming film American Dog. Lilo and Stitch, if you can remember, was hand-drawn -- and was a huge success. Perhaps they're hoping the same hand-drawn success with American Dog.

I do think it's nice to know that there is an effort being made in preserving this art form. I often times get worried with how great technology has become that we get further and further away from our origins. Being a bit of a technology dunce I don't understand the steps necessary in making a CGI film but I do fondly reminisce about the making of Steamboat Willie. I still vividly remember watching how they drew out the story to create the film. It was exciting seeing the characters come to life right off the page. I find relief knowing that there are many films to come made in that same historical way ... and I'm sure many animators are relieved too.

Layoffs for Disney

This is a week old but the Animation Guild's blog reports there may be some layoffs coming soon for artists at Disney Feature Animation. This is unfortunate seeing how work this summer and fall seems to be slow and lacking for all animators.

October 9th, 2006
Big meetings today at Disney Feature Animation. Ed Catmull, Andrew Millstein, and Ann Le Cam rolled out the animation division's new blueprint for feature animation employees in the hat building's first floor theatre, talking about changes that will be coming... Feature Animation will be undergoing some downsizing. When "Meet The Robinsons" wraps up, the division will be casting employees for "American Dog," the next animated feature on the production calendar. Some of the staff that doesn't roll onto that picture will be given sixty-day notices, and at the end of those two months, laid off. Artists who talked to me understand that some of their peers -- and maybe them -- will be looking for work other places after the first of the year. "It's kind of the way of the entertainment industry, isn't it" one sighed. "Nothing's forever." The mood around the hat building was subdued, but many staffers were glad that upper management called them into meetings and told them what was up. "What I like about Ed Catmull is he doesn't beat around the bush," another said. "He tells you what's going on, even when the news isn't great. It's better to know than not." A few employees told me they thought Feature Animation would be stronger after the layoffs were over. But wherever I walked on the first and second floors, things were, ahm, somber. And the oncoming changes were the prime topic of conversation.

thanks to the TAG blog

Frog Princess brings 2D back to Disney

Rumors have been spreading the past few months that Disney is starting up a new 2D division again with the help of John Musker, Ron Clements and Eric Goldberg.

The Frog Princess

Image is by Scott Gustafson and has nothing to do with the Frog Princess Production

Variety reports that the new project, "Frog Princess," will be overseen by John Musker and Ron Clements, who left the studio shortly after "Treasure Planet" bombed at the end of 2002, grossing just $38 million domestically. In their Disney heyday, Musker and Clements demonstrated their ability to spin a popular tale around a female protagonist with 1989's "The Little Mermaid." They also worked on such traditionally animated Disney musicals as "Aladdin" and "Hercules."

The question here is, can traditional animation draw the crowd lost to CG animated films these days. Will the medium stand up to the bombardment of eye candy driven CG films? Only if the story is tight. Pixar principals Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, who now run Disney's feature animation operations, are interested in exploring Disney's pioneering 2-D tradition. And thankfully with Lasseter at the helm of story development on this project, 2D might have a chance to return to Disney. One of Lasseter's first initiatives following Disney's acquisition of Pixar this year was to "woo" Musker and Clements back into the fold. However, Walt Disney Feature Animation is tight lipped these days and has adopted Pixar's PR strategy, refusing to comment on any projects until the studio is ready to announce them.

More on The Frog Princess can be found in this article

Ed Catmull: Pixar 's Superhero, Shakes Up Disney

Angie here...
I saw Ed Catmull speak at NATE (National Animation Technology Expo) in 1995 and he was all excited about this new thing called Nurbs. Crazy huh? I knew back then what he was talking about was going to be huge, but had no idea what a profound influence this man had and was going to have on animation.

Read this article in the LA Times about Ed Catmull!

Ed believes that you should always hire people who are smarter than you...
ummm, do these people exist in his case?