Pixar Case Study
In 1975, Ed Catmull put together a team of people who formed the basis of what Pixar has become today. The group was hired in 1979 by Hollywood director George W. Lucas and developed as a graphics division for LucasFilms (Shamsie, 2001). This continued until 1985, when Catmull finally turned to Steve Jobs with the view to making full length feature films using computer animation. After more than a year of negotiations, Steve Jobs then purchased the graphics division and renamed it Pixar Animation Studios (Shamsie, 2001). A three year film contract with Disney was negotiated in 1991 which resulted in the movie Toy Story being released in 1995 (Shamsie, 2001). Toy Story became the top grossing movie of the year and won an Oscar, after which Steve Jobs decided to take the company public (Shamsie, 2001). After this success, Steve Jobs and Disney came to a merger agreement under which Pixar would receive an equal share of the profits, equal billing on merchandise and on-screen credits and guarantees that Disney would market Pixar films as they did their own (Shamsie, 2001).
Part of this merger agreement included that Steve Jobs would have enough control over the companies so that Pixar's differentiated culture and work style would be protected (Rafi, 2011). Ed Catmull has continued to be instrumental in the company’s operations and is responsible for ensuring all technological advancements will also help to increase the creative side of movie making (Shamsie, 2001). At Pixar, it is seen as very important to get the storytelling perfect before production even begins and this has meant that production is slow and the company has not been able to release more than one movie in a year (Shamsie, 2001). Problem
The pace of production is a continuing problem for Pixar. In an attempt to increase production, employee numbers have been more than doubled and John Lasseter, Pixar's 'Vice president of the creative', is supervising other directors taking over some of
Part of this merger agreement included that Steve Jobs would have enough control over the companies so that Pixar's differentiated culture and work style would be protected (Rafi, 2011). Ed Catmull has continued to be instrumental in the company’s operations and is responsible for ensuring all technological advancements will also help to increase the creative side of movie making (Shamsie, 2001). At Pixar, it is seen as very important to get the storytelling perfect before production even begins and this has meant that production is slow and the company has not been able to release more than one movie in a year (Shamsie, 2001). Problem
The pace of production is a continuing problem for Pixar. In an attempt to increase production, employee numbers have been more than doubled and John Lasseter, Pixar's 'Vice president of the creative', is supervising other directors taking over some of