Remembering Steve Jobs: The Man Who Helped Shape Pixar
In the wake of the death of Steve Jobs, there have been many excellent obituaries that have covered his legacy with Apple, but less attention has been paid to another company he helped catapult to the forefront of its field: Pixar. Jobs wasn't the man who wrote, directed or animated any of the great films Pixar has given us over the last 16 years, but he was there at the company's beginning, giving them the financial and inspirational support to get running. Without him, none of the company's great creative forces -- John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton -- might have been able to do what they did.
In February 1986, Jobs decided to purchase Lucasfilm's computer graphics division, which was called the Graphics Group. They weren't a creative entity at the time: In fact, Graphics Group focused on hardware and sold computers to the U.S. government. Animation was just a way to entice new customers to buy their computers. As part of that process, Lasseter came up with a short film called "Luxo, Jr." The two-minute film was pretty primitive -- just the story of two desk lamps that were father and son -- but Lasseter's ability to imbue the computer-animated characters with personality eventually led it to being nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short.
For Jobs, "Luxo, Jr." suggested a future for this company, which had been renamed Pixar. While we think of Jobs now as an innovator and marketing genius, it's important to remember than when he acquired Pixar he had recently been canned from Apple. (As Jobs later recalled about his firing, "What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I was a very public failure.") Pixar was his chance to reinvent himself and much as it was a way to reinvent a company from one that specialized in hardware to one that told stories.
From there, he turned it over to Lasseter and his team. And while Jobs was known for being a perfectionist, Lasseter recalled in a statement released after Jobs' death that he trusted the creative personnel to do their job:
Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply 'make it great.' He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity and love of life has made us all better people.
Meanwhile, Jobs took care of the business side, working with Disney to ensure that Pixar got favorable terms in their long-running partnership. But he also valued quality as much as profits: He backed Lasseter's belief that Pixar shouldn't just pump out sequels to their popular films but should instead make sure they were equally good. Jobs didn't give us "Toy Story" or "Wall-E" or "Finding Nemo," but he made sure that the people who could would be able to. All of us who have loved those films owe him some thanks.
Steve Jobs: 1955-2011 [The Cutline]
Steve Jobs Died: Why Pixar Will Be Hit Hardest [International Business Times]
Pixar: Steve Jobs' Greatest Accomplishment [BNET]
Pixar's First Animated Short Is 25 Years Old Today [The Projector]
