A true pioneer in the animation industry, Ed Catmull openly and honestly shares insights along his journey to being the head of both Pixar Animation Studios and Disney Animation Studios in his new book Creativity, Inc. In a recent interview with Nightline, we get a brief history of computer animation, an overview of Catmull’s new book and even a short tour of Pixar studios (including the famed secret office, the “love lounge”).
The six-minute video from Nightline can be watched below, but it should be noted that one part of the interview contains an inaccurate piece of dialogue. The voiceover states that Pixar won their first Academy Award for Luxo, Jr. when in fact the first win for the studio was for Tin Toy in 1988.
UPDATE:
An additional video featuring Ed Catmull discussing Creativity, Inc. was also on Good Morning America and can be seen below. The interview also touches on the Toy Story 2 fiasco which almost saw the complete deletion of Pixar’s first sequel (this is also discussed in greater detail in Creativity, Inc.).
Great video! Thanks for posting that, wouldn't have found it otherwise! It's cool to see a bit more of Ed Catmull and his personality since you don't seem to see him on film very often. Seems like a brilliant guy, very inspiring. I'm not sure if he gets enough credit since, like it said, he's not really a household name and most people don't seem to know who he is. I wish more people knew that he's one of the reasons why these amazing films exist!
The people behind the scenes never get as much credit as they should. But in the case of Ed, I think he's happy not being strongly in the spotlight – I obviously don't know this to be true, but he just strikes me as such a humble guy that he's willing to let others have the fame. It's probably what makes him such a great leader as well – he really spends the time to give credit where credit is due!
I agree 100%. Nicely said! And yah you're right, Ed does seem so humble and I like that. He's a good model on how to deal with success.