Zach Baker: Story-Driven

Animation Guild president Kevin Koch visited the screenwriting seminar mentioned Saturday that involved Andrew Stanton and others. Very much enjoyed seeing his report.

By the way, I happened upon the site for that conference when I was looking for a picture of Joe Ranft for Wikipedia’s article on the legend among story men. I wrote the first draft of it when I was at Luxoflux on the sad day when the news of his death circulated. I was displeased that there was no entry on Wikipedia for reporters or the like to refer to, so I wrote one. But I couldn’t find a picture of him that meets Wikipedia’s strict terms for publication. I think one of the press-release photos from Toy Story 2 or Finding Nemo might qualify, but if anyone reading this has a personal photo of him to put on Wikipedia, let me know. Email zach at this domain, naturally.

Anyway, I’m really enjoying the bits from Andrew Stanton’s talk. I’ve listened to the incredibly fantastic interview with him on Spline Doctors like six times (it really is animation gold!). I keep meaning to go over this fascinating interview as well as Clay Kaytis’s fascinating interview with Glen Keane and pick apart every detail. Someday.

Live, in person, one day only! Can’t miss that right? Unfortunately, I’m doing that right now! Not often I find out about a great event as it’s going on. But at the Marriott near LAX, the ”Pixar Storytelling Event” is going on. It’s sponsored by one of the screenwriting magazines I used to pick up now and then at the newsstand when I lived in Burbank. But anyway, it’s got all kinds of people from Pixar (not just directors) and I can imagine it’s quite a learning and appreciation experience for all involved.

I can’t quite decode the website but it looks like they might get around to releasing the sessions on DVD. That’s quite a hint for anyone who’s wondering what to get me for a Christmas present. Hey, what else are weblogs for anyway?

Normally, Microsoft Windows works somewhat until it’s inevitably hobbled by viruses, spyware, registry logorrhea, countless startup programs out of your control, security programs, DRM helpers and the detrius of program installations. Now Microsoft has a new way to speed its users towards the reduced functionality they’ve come to expect.

Windows is not the old new thing, Windows is the defective functional thing. Windows is simply embodying its own story in a new, overt way.

I was confused at first when I read this article about the $900-million deal between Google and MySpace. Wait, Google is paying News Corp. (MySpace’s owner) the $900 million and they’re not even buying the website?

But it turns out that this is an interesting deal. Google is basically paying for the right to advertise on MySpace and profiting on the ad sales.

It’s like syndication in reverse. Syndication, in the TV sense, is where stations go buy shows out in the marketplace. They often come with some ads already in place, and then the local station put in their own. Ever wonder why Wheel of Fortune has a long section of miniature ads for things like jelly, er, Polaner All-Fruit? Those are the spots that come with the show.

So the basic pattern is that distributors pay for content and sell ads. In the Google-MySpace deal, MySpace provides the content and distributes it all by themselves, and Google is effectively buying a block of advertising and reselling it. So instead of selling the TV show to stations, it’s like the stations create the show and sell a big block of advertising to a single buyer, who then goes around and sells it in tiny pieces.

I like the philosophy Google has here - buy the technology, rent the content, sell the advertising. This could be a promising way for startup websites to raise long-term money without selling their equity.

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.