Rumor has it Disney investors and toy manufacturers are down on Pixar's next feature Up because it isn't commercial enough.
Perhaps Wall Street would not care so much if Pixar seemed to care a little more. The co-director of “Up,” Pete Docter — who also directed “Monsters Inc.” — said in a recent question and answer session with reporters that the film’s commercial prospects never crossed his mind. “We make these films for ourselves,” he said. “We’re kind of selfish that way.”
John Lasseter, a co-founder of Pixar and now Disney’s chief creative officer, routinely says in interviews that marketability is not a factor in decisions about what projects to pursue. Instead of ideas that feel contemporary, he aims for stories that are rooted in the ages.
“Quality is the best business plan” is one of Mr. Lasseter’s favorite lines.
One of the reasons Pixar is among the world's most admired companies is one of the common threads among almost all the great companies I admire: their mission in life is not centered around making money.
I have nothing against profit as that is what keeps the bills paid and the dream alive. But the way to build something great is to set out to do something great. Pixar didn't start their company thinking that they should make movies that could be spun into franchises or spawn toys. Their mission was to tell great and timeless stories. It's why thirty years from now, people will remember Toy Story movies but find the Shrek franchise to be dated.
At Amazon.com, Wall Street continually questioned Amazon every time it pushed off profitability to invest in new business lines, new geographies, every time Amazon returned its gains in gross margin to its customers in the form of free shipping or steeper product discounts. If Amazon had listened, they would have achieved profitability sooner, and they'd also be a fraction of the force they are today.
Go to work each day with your sole focus as making money and your soul shrinks a little bit every day. You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming back to a job like that. Life is too short.
Posted by eugene at April 6, 2009 11:48 PM