Zach Baker: Story-Driven

What superlatives can you say about John Lasseter and Pixar that haven’t been used already? All I need say is that this is a director and a group of artists who are truly story-driven and it shows.

Here are some interviews for those of you who also aspire to be story-driven in what you create:

• First, for those not up to speed, Entertainment Weekly gives an overview of Pixar circa 2006. (Bonus: at the end, John picks five of his inspirations when making Cars. I love hearing what works have excited and inspired people who make great works themselves.)

• LA Times on the details behind Cars (Sidebar on the new Pixar/Disney relationship)

• In Fortune, John Lasseter gives his story himself (Sidebar interview with Bob Iger on Pixar)

I have to give a lot of credit to Bob Iger for his observation on Pixar:

One thing that you detect right away is there is not an ounce of cynicism in Pixar’s films. And in a world that I think is more cynical than it should be, that’s pretty refreshing. I think it’s a critical ingredient to the success of Pixar’s films. It’s one of the reasons why people love them, and not only as much as they do but for as long as they do.

That’s not a revelation, but it’s something Bob Iger thought was important enough to focus on in a business magazine article when he easily could have praised a dozen other things about Pixar. It seems to be something that truly has value to him.

To me, this is yet more evidence that he is a guy who really gets it, is enthusiastic, has a definite critical opinion and focuses in on the right things. Those are the things you see in great animation directors like John Lasseter and Walt Disney, but they’re also the skills you want from any leader of a creative enterprise. No wonder Steve Jobs likes him.