The Pixar Touch - history of Pixar

Walt Disney Co. chairman and The Pixar Touch

Thanks to the magic of Google Alerts, I recently noticed a short article about Pixar's success story by the chairman of the Walt Disney Co., John E. Pepper, Jr. A couple of passages sounded oddly familiar. It would be peevish of me to say anything more, so I'll just reproduce those bits along with excerpts from a certain book:

From John Pepper's “If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It” (July 1, 2009) --

Lasseter had been fired from his dream job at Disney which he took coming out of college. Catmull had been turned down for a teaching position and ended up with what was called a dead-end software job at Pixar [sic]. And Steve Jobs had endured humiliation as he was ejected from Apple, the company he had co-founded.

From The Pixar Touch (2008), p. 8 --

Lasseter had landed his dream job at Disney out of college--and had just been fired from it. Catmull had done well-respected work as a graduate student in computer graphics, but had been turned down for a teaching position and ended up in what he felt was a dead-end software development job. Alvy Ray Smith, the company's co-founder, had checked out of academia, got work at Xerox's famous Palo Alto Research Center, and then abruptly found himself on the street. Jobs had endured humiliation and pain as he was ejected from Apple Computer, the company he had co-founded. . . . 

-- From Pepper: 

The Pixar story brings to mind this observation of the economist Joseph Schumpeter: successful innovation “is a feat not of intellect, but of will”. Schumpeter believed that few individuals are prepared for “the resistances and uncertainties incident to doing what has not been done before”. Those who brave the risks of failure do so out of non-economic as well as economic motives, among them “the joy of creating, of getting things done, of simply exercising one’s energy and ingenuity”.

-- From The Pixar Touch, p. 9:

The odysseys of these figures, and of Pixar as a whole, bring to mind the observation of the maverick economist Joseph Schumpeter that successful innovation "is a feat not of intellect, but of will." Writing about the psychology of entrepreneurs in the early twentieth century, a time when the subject was unfashionable, he believed few individuals are prepared for "the resistances and uncertainties incident to doing what has not been done before." Those who braved the risks of failure did so out of noneconomic as well as economic motives, among them "the joy of creating, of getting things done, or simply of exercising one's energy and ingenuity."

I'm glad he liked the book, I guess.

A director's life

Top sign I need a vacation: during my dream last night, I was actively noting changes and tweaks I wanted to make to improve it.

-- Lee Unkrich, director, Toy Story 3

Visual Effects Society award to Ed Catmull

The Visual Effects Society announced today that Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, will receive the Society's George Méliès Award at its next annual awards ceremony in February.

The VES is an organization of visual effects professionals working in film, television, commercials, music videos, and videogames. The George Méliès Award recognizes individuals who have “pioneered a significant and lasting contribution to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.”

John Lasseter won this award a few years ago. Ed's recognition is well deserved, and maybe overdue, considering his direct role in several key innovations in computer animation (including in digital special effects) and his leadership role in many, many others at Lucasfilm and Pixar.

Toy Story 3

At the end of Toy Story 2, Woody and Buzz accept that Andy is going to outgrow them someday and leave them behind. In Toy Story 3, due next summer, that day will finally come. From Ed Catmull at the Cannes Film Festival:

Woody, Buzz Lightyear and their plaything pals are coping with abandonment issues in the new "Toy Story" sequel.

Next year's "Toy Story 3" has the gang learning they have reached their shelf life as the young boy who owns them grows up and goes off to college.

. . .

"It feels like the summation of a trilogy," said Catmull, adding that the filmmakers had hit on a big emotional finish to "Toy Story 3."

Sidenote: During the Eisner era, the Walt Disney Co. had its own version of Toy Story 3 under development, without Pixar's involvement, at an in-house computer animation studio in Glendale, California known as Circle 7. That film, and the development of other non-Pixar sequels to Pixar films, was scrapped in early 2006 when Disney announced its agreement to acquire Pixar. Disney spent some $26 million on those films before abandoning them.

More on Up

Interesting comments on Up from Mark Mayerson and Cartoon Brew.

Pre-production and production art from Lou Romano.

Storyboards via the Character Design blog.

Up

Pete Docter's second feature film, Up, lifts off tomorrow. A few destinations for the curious:

The Pixar Blog and animator Michael Sporn have collected some advance reviews.

Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal is in the minority so far with his lukewarm-to-negative review in which he describes "an unshakable sense of 'Up' being rushed and sketchy, a collection of lovely storyboards that coalesced incompletely or not at all."

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a fun, well-reported bio of the local boy turned director. (Thanks to Upcoming Pixar.)

Also: "The Docter Is In."

Lasseter Family Winery

Is the recession of '08-'09 a good time to launch a line of fine wines? John and Nancy Lasseter will soon find out: Their venture, the Lasseter Family Winery, is now open for business.

Walt Disney Co. analyst conference call

Coincidentally, Disney's next earnings conference call is also scheduled for May 5. To hear the webcast of President and CEO Bob Iger and CFO Tom Staggs answering questions from Wall Street analysts, head to this page at 4:25 pm EDT. These webcasts by public companies are a nice side effect of the SEC's Regulation FD (the FD stands for "fair disclosure").

Expect at least a question or two about the concerns of some that Up won't connect with family audiences and that Disney Consumer Products has had a tough time lining up merchandising tie-ins. 

One of the things that amused me when I worked on The Pixar Touch was hearing a veteran Pixar executive describe how, in 1994, all the major toy companies pooh-poohed the merchandising possibilities of a forthcoming movie called Toy Story. Things worked out a little differently. So we'll see.

Paperback

The softcover edition of The Pixar Touch goes on sale this Tuesday, May 5. I got my box of author's copies a couple weeks ago--always the most fun part of the writing process. I think Zack Wagman and his colleagues at Vintage Books did a nice job with it. 

Tickets to advance screening of Up

If you can't wait for the theatrical release on May 29 ...

If you can't wait for the screening at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13 ...

How about seeing Up on Saturday, May 2, at Pixar?

Yeah, the $275 ticket price is more than you'll pay at the multiplex. But it goes to charity, if that's any consolation -- and I can promise you that Pixar's large screening room, just off the atrium, is a very cool place to watch a movie.

Ticket details here.