Here is what I received from Pete Docter, one of the most influential and important people at Pixar, the best animation studio on the planet.Transcript follows. Many thanks to Adam for allowing us to feature his letter. Be sure to check out his blog, Disney, etc.
Recommended Reading: The Art of Up.
Transcript
10.17.08
Hey Adam!
First off, let me apologize for taking so long to respond to your very kind letter. Things are pretty nuts around here. You had asked for an autographed photo of me; I don't really have anything like that, not being famous. But here is a drawing of me for you.
[Illustration]
I'm sure you can see the resemblance.
You are sure right about the importance of a good story in movies. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of work (and rework, and rework and rework) to get it right. And even then quite often we're not 100% pleased.
As John Lasseter likes to say, our films don't get finished, they just get released.
Hope you enjoy "UP" next year!
Pete Docter
17 comments:
What a wonderful response! In these days of selling everything from autographs to hair, a response like this is so very generous and genuine!
very cool, looks like the letter was written with a tombo brush pen, well used i might add.
just because the hand-rendered image was sent doesn't cheapen the message. this is more of a pure artist's rendering. nothing fancy-foo-foo. raw and untouched. i would love to have something like this from frank lloyd wright ... sketchy and loose. hooray for the untouched medium!
Very creative
I just watched UP again on Blu Ray, one of the most memorable animated films I've ever seen.
Actually, the John Lasseter quote about films being released is a common adage in Hollywood, and is true about most films, not just Pixar's
That's cool!
actually, i think it's a variation on a famous Leonardo da Vinci quote:
"art is never finished, only abandoned"
Pixar makes the best movies. Monsters inc was awesome
Now that's a nice letter from a great director. Monsters, Inc. and Up! are really great movies. The Pixar mind set of filmmaking is an artist's one not a movie business one. And the people running the business understand this perfectly. That's what distinguishes their approach from the majority of the crowd.
Didn't know about "Letters of Note" prior to this. It's a very interesting blog.
I blogged about this letter and the blog
[ http://www.the-constant.com/pxflmfinshd/ ]
as they allow for another perspective on the thinking process of these letters' writers.
This is a common phrase among any kind of media production, from films to music albums.
thats pretty cool he wrote that to you. I could only hope to get something half as cool from an idol of mine.
Movies aren't released, they escape.
Great Professional, Great Company, Beautiful people, Beautiful films. Thank You JL AS SJ PD EC BB and everyone else at pixar.
In a world of ignorance, that reply is one of the best ever! That would make my year!
This is really awesome, and it is great to see when people in society take time out of their day to do something simple like this that makes others so happy.
"Our films don't get finished they get released" comment really made me think they don't care what they put out there. I'm glad folks liked Up, though. Nice letter regardless.
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Thanks!