The Pixar Touch
It鈥檚 a rags-to-riches story, a classic example of the cream rising to the top. And it鈥檚 as entertaining and heartwarming as, say, a Pixar movie. It鈥檚 The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company, and its topsy-turvy, roller-coaster plot has all the thrills of a ride at Disneyland.
In this unauthorized account of Pixar, journalist David A. Price paints the most complete picture yet of the little studio that could. He talks to scores of insiders, Pixar colleagues and members of the 鈥渇raternity of geeks,鈥� true believers in the potential of the pixel to revolutionize animation.
With the precision of a technical writer and the sensitivity of an artist, Price spins the story of the Pixar vision, its achievement, and its art. His ability to turn geekese into plain-old English is a real gift to the reader.
The Pixar idea took root in the fertile imagination of Ed Catmull, a soft-spoken, former Mormon missionary, who entered grad school at the University of Utah in 1970.
Price writes, 鈥淣ow and then in history one finds a time and a place that seems to be charmed, where talent has assembled in a way that appears to defy all laws of probability.鈥� Such a place was Salt Lake City in the late 1960s and early 鈥�70s.
Specifically the U. of U.鈥檚 groundbreaking computer graphics department, which incubated a dazzling array of dreamers, designers, and eggheads (many of whom are still dazzling us today on our flat-screen TVs, Game Boys, and multiplex screens.)
Catmull graduated with dreams of converting the world to digital. The problem was, there were no jobs available in a field that didn鈥檛 yet exist. After a few years scuffling for work, Catmull shelved his dreams and took a 2-D programming job in Boston.
Meanwhile, in California, young John Lasseter had idolized the great Disney animators since the age of 5. In 1979, after acing his classes at Disney-affiliated California Institute of the Arts, he was recruited as a junior animator for his boyhood idols.
But his dream job proved to be more of a nightmare, as most of the old guard had retired and the dispirited department seemed rudderless without Walt Disney鈥檚 involvement and inspiration (the Disney founder had died in 1966).
Lasseter鈥檚 attempts to convince the department that the future of animation was digital were met with scorn and, after less than four years on the staff, he was fired. 鈥淚t was like my heart was ripped out,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淭his was not what I always dreamed Disney was.鈥�
By 1983, Catmull was back in the dreaming business at George Lucas鈥檚 Lucasfilm in northern California, employing digital graphics to create special effects for the 鈥�Star Wars鈥� movies and other Lucas projects. Learning that the talented Lasseter was available, Catmull hired him immediately, beginning a partnership that today, two decades later, is responsible for all creative output at Disney.
On the block for a mere $5 million
The only problem was, at the time, Lucas wasn鈥檛 at all interested in animation and was having major financial troubles. So in 1986, the computer graphics group was shopped around. It found no takers until the infamous, recently terminated Apple cofounder Steve Jobs rode in on his white horse (or black, depending on one鈥檚 point of view) to snap up the talented crew for a paltry $5 million.
Pixar鈥檚 savior would prove to be a pain in the saddle with his confrontational style, but as a fellow visionary, he saw their massive potential. Jobs demanded, however, that Pixar become a viable, moneymaking business, and quickly.
After many years spent experimenting and creating short, but amazing digitally animated films and television commercials, the company had failed to turn a profit. Far from it 鈥� they had burned through $50 million of Jobs鈥檚 fortune.
Then, in 1991, Disney, with ambitious, big-thinking CEO Michael Eisner at the helm, finally decided to take a chance on one of Lasseter鈥檚 ideas: a digital animation about toys that come to life.
The rest is history. 鈥�Toy Story鈥� was a megahit the world over and placed Disney back atop the animation pedestal, where it still reigns today.
Sold again for $7.4 billion
In 2006, Disney came to its senses and ponied up a whopping $7.4 billion to acquire Pixar 鈥渁s the crown jewel of the Walt Disney Co,鈥� installing Lasseter as Disney鈥檚 chief creative officer and Catmull as president of the combined studios.
Price calls Pixar鈥檚 story 鈥漚 triple helix of artistic, technological and business struggles.... It shows how small things, done well, can lead to big things.鈥� In the case of Pixar, really big things: like four out of the 10 highest-grossing animated films of all time.
John Lasseter said it best. 鈥淨uality is a great business plan. Period.鈥�
John Kehe is the Monitor鈥檚 design director.
