Beware of being blinded by your own success.
Edwin CatmullRead
We encourage our people to build their ideas from scratch, and we give them the resources - and, crucially, the candid feedback - that are required to transform the first wisps of a story into a truly compelling film.
Interpretation
Encouraging creativity and providing essential support leads to great storytelling in film.
This quote emphasizes the importance of nurturing creativity and innovation within a team. By empowering individuals to develop their ideas from the ground up, and by providing them with both the resources and honest feedback, it is possible to refine raw concepts into excellent works of art, particularly in the context of filmmaking. The collaborative atmosphere fosters growth and success, illustrating how guidance and support are vital in the creative process.
In practice
In a workshop on filmmaking, this quote can be used to inspire budding filmmakers.
Beware of being blinded by your own success.
I started off life at Pixar with interesting technical problems. But as time has moved on, I found that the social and management problem was far more complex and interesting.
We need business leaders who have a respect for technical issues even if they don't have technical backgrounds. In a lot of U.S. industries, including cars and even computers, many managers don't think of technology as a core competency, and this attitude leads them to farm out technical issues.
A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Our decision-making is better when we draw on the collective knowledge and unvarnished opinions of the group.
It is only by trying new things that we can hope to create products that are original. Don't just say those words; act like you believe them.
The trick is, in everything we do, there are things we love. And sometimes the things we love get us stuck. And it's only if we let go of some of those things that we free the movie up to become greater.
Ideas alone can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
I saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial not as an object placed into the earth but as a cut in the earth that has then been polished, like a geode.
Don’t underestimate this gift of finding a place in the writing world: if you really work at describing creatively on paper the truth as you understand it, as you have experienced it, with the people or material who are in you, who are asking that you help them get written, you will come to a secret feeling of honor.
I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world. Without them the rest [of the world] are not getting to know the whole story.
Comedy is a reflection. We create nothing. We set no styles, no standards. We're reflections. It's a distorted mirror in the fun house. We watch society. As society behaves, then we have the ability to make fun of it.
great writers are indecent people they live unfairly saving the best part for paper. good human beings save the world so that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal. if you read this after I am dead it means I made it.
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