How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity

[JoshBowman]

Is this in any way connected to the speech he gave at SIGGRAPH?

[Sparty]

Great find Firefox. Great info, very inspiring.
Thanks! =)

[mim-Armand]

Thank you Upinder for sharing, that was a great article! really like to work on Pixar someday thought! lol! ;

mim, :)

[Abarsai]

Wow, Awesome article! It's amazing how thought out and objective they profess to be. My teachers all maintain that Pixar has sold their soul to the devil. lol

[aaraaf]

I wonder what the cross roads looks like that they would go down to... Probably fit right into Red's Dream...

Great article.

I remember reading a long while ago about some of Pixar's time management in regards to dealing with artists and thought that they just really had it together even then.

[animaxforever]

really nice article...thanx

[berniebernie]

Pixar has a cereal bar. How else did you think it worked ?

And by cereal bar I don't mean the snack/powerbar.

[jcatlanta]

a great view on the business side of Pixar and how it plays in keeping the creative atmosphere. Thanks!

[mosconariz]

Firefox, you're not just a very good browser but a nice cgtalk user, thanks 4 the info!

[Larry_g1s]

Thanks for the link, Pixar's my favorite!

[depleteD]

amazing link

[Pthomas]

Thank you! - good hunting!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9E_5wi1FZVA/SLXaqBl49FI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/LQz8N5YjJVk/s320/wall-e.jpg (http://patrickthomas3d.blogspot.com/)

[Lunatique]

In most companies there are idealists with talent and passion like Ed Catmull, but too often they are a tiny minority and their voices are completely drowned out by the apathy of their co-workers, or ignored by the vision-less executives that only look at one thing--the bottom line. Just about all of us have been there--bringing up our concerns and suggestions only to have it shot down without even a hint of serious consideration. Many people eventually turn to freelancing because they are tired of being the idealist in a ideal-less company.

One thing I have often thought about is the difference between the means and the end, and which you relate to more defines who you are in the grand scheme of things.

For some people, the means is the product, and the end is the money. They want to produce products to make money, and the money is what defines them as people. If they could spend as little money as possible to produce something that will make money, regardless of the quality, then they have succeeded.

For the other people, the means is the money, and the end is the product. They need money to produce products that will make them proud, because making the product is what bring them joy and fulfillment. The money they make goes back into making better and more innovative products that will bring them more joy and fulfillment. People in this camp will never allow themselves to try to make money by making products they are not personally proud of.

Most conflicts in most companies come from the war between the two camps--the money people and the creative people. Pixar is the ultimate example of an utopia, and it's a miracle that it even exists, because by default the world is pretty much run by the money people. This is why when the creative people triumph, it's so inspirational, because the creative people stand for idealism, while the money people are all about the bottomline. Of course, this is all a gross simplification, and there are often other complex issues involved, and often people don't just fall into one camp or the other, but have varying degrees of both in them.
(http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?OPERATION_TYPE=CHECK_COOKIE&referer=/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp&productId=R0809D&TRUE=TRUE&reason=freeContent&FALSE=FALSE&ml_subscriber=true&ml_action=get-article&ml_issueid=BR0809&articleID=R0809D&pageNumber=1)

[FabioMSilva]

very interasting read.

on the final sentences i saw "reviving walt disney animation studios". does this means the 2d animation films ? i knew there was going to be a new disney 2d film but wasnt it canceled. it would be good to see one of those for a change. i miss them.

[L33tace]

Walt Disney have a new animation site - http://www.disneyanimation.com/index.html

[mim-Armand]

In most companies there are idealists with talent and passion like Ed Catmull, but too often they are a tiny minority and their voices are completely drowned out by the apathy of their co-workers, or ignored by the vision-less executives that only look at one thing--the bottom line. Just about all of us have been there--bringing up our concerns and suggestions only to have it shot down without even a hint of serious consideration. Many people eventually turn to freelancing because they are tired of being the idealist in a ideal-less company.

One thing I have often thought about is the difference between the means and the end, and which you relate to more defines who you are in the grand scheme of things.

For some people, the means is the product, and the end is the money. They want to produce products to make money, and the money is what defines them as people. If they could spend as little money as possible to produce something that will make money, regardless of the quality, then they have succeeded.

For the other people, the means is the money, and the end is the product. They need money to produce products that will make them proud, because making the product is what bring them joy and fulfillment. The money they make goes back into making better and more innovative products that will bring them more joy and fulfillment. People in this camp will never allow themselves to try to make money by making products they are not personally proud of.

Most conflicts in most companies come from the war between the two camps--the money people and the creative people. Pixar is the ultimate example of an utopia, and it's a miracle that it even exists, because by default the world is pretty much run by the money people. This is why when the creative people triumph, it's so inspirational, because the creative people stand for idealism, while the money people are all about the bottomline. Of course, this is all a gross simplification, and there are often other complex issues involved, and often people don't just fall into one camp or the other, but have varying degrees of both in them.

That's right Lunatique, and you have to take yourself to other side abit to succeed I think in either side; nice point, :)

m,

[FabioMSilva]

Walt Disney have a new animation site - http://www.disneyanimation.com/index.html

thanks

looking forward to rapunzel/frog prncess and king of elves =)

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