There's a great quote from Ed Catmull in Leslie Iwerk's "The Pixar Story" documentary where Ed talks about all this ... I paraphrasing here but it's something along the lines of "John's going down for his third meeting as Disney tries to lure him back. He's got the choice of working for them or staying up here and working for this company bordering on bankruptcy. He decides to stay with this company bordering on bankruptcy."

Actually there are a number of very successful filmmakers, producers and others who have left Hollywood for the Bay Area, including Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Pixar's directors, Chris Columbus, Clint Eastwood, Philip Kaufman, Walter Murch -- even Hitchcock had a certain affinity for region.

You can find out more by getting ahold of a DVD copy of "Fog City Mavericks," a documentary about NorCal/Bay Area filmmakers. It's also aired on Starz.

Here's the direct quote from Ed Catmull:

"John (Lasseter) is being asked for the third time to come down to be a director at Disney or he can stay up in Northern California with this company that's bordering on collapse because they're losing money. He stays up here with this company border on collapse."

I appreciate that this book points out that Steve Jobs wasn't the "visionary genius" that believed in Pixar from the beginning. That he actually tired to shut them down multiple times.

Pixar is great NOT because of Steve Jobs, but because of Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and the rest of the creative and brilliant minds at Pixar.

Amen, Jedited.

Jedited,

Steve Jobs trying to sell Pixar for every penny he had invested in it and trying to shut them down are very two different things. I've ordered the book from Amazon but haven't received or read it yet, so I don't know if Price documents any time where Jobs seriously threatened to pull the plug ...

It would surprise me to learn that because I'm sure that a struggling Pixar (which as Jobs said, the smart ones look at what the company was doing and go look at that potential)  would have been more valuable than a shuttered, bankrupt company. Jobs is pretty damn smart on business matters.

I know Jobs tried to sell Pixar a number of times, but the important part of the story is that he kept the company afloat after buying into Ed and John's dream to create the world's first CGI animated feature. It was a gamble, but the odds were on his side. That patience paid off in spades. He made a boatload of money with a wildly successful IPO and then a aircraft carrier load of money and Disney corporate clout with the deal he made with Bob Iger.

Actually... Jobs is kind of an idiot when it come to running a company.  Ever read the Apple Story?  

What Steve Jobs excells at is selling the public on a really great idea and/or product.  It's sometimes refered to as marketing.  He is a visionary.  He's extremely creative and has a keen eye for equally creative employees.  But as far as being a corporate genius... not so much.  

Seiously, go pick up a copy of The Apple Story.  Its a great read and should give the Pixar crowd some background on everyone's favorite iCEO.

I have a correction.  

I actually pulled the book off my shelf to make sure of the title.  It's not the Apple Story.  It's Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer by Owen W. Linzmayer.

Thanks Original 19 ... I'll add the title to my long list ...