Wisdom and foreshadowing from a decade ago
John Lasseter, Pixar chief creative executive, speaking on a Charlie Rose interview on why animators would choose to work at Pixar:
Pixar is a place more than anywhere else in the world that they can get creative satisfaction. We try to give these artists a project that they can be proud of for the rest of their careers. That’s one; that’s a big thing - I know, cause I’ve worked in a lot of places where I was working on kind of garbage, and it’s hard to work. Secondly, in working with these people, I try so hard, even if it’s the smallest task, to give them a little bit of creative ownership, let them figure out how to do it; I don’t tell people how to do it, so that is a really important reason. And the most important thing, is that at Pixar we have a lot of fun… and I think it shows in the film.
I think that can easily be extrapolated to the entire creative industry. Lasseter’s a brilliant guy.
As an added bonus, a quote from that Apple/Pixar guy in the same (1996) interview:
Charlie: Am I going to come back and interview you in five years and find out you’re in some in other business and you’re not in the entertainment business and you’ve found some other well to go fish in?
Steve: Y’know, I tend to stay where I start until someone kicks me out.
