I was sitting at my personal computer, working on a story about Pixar (I was putting together a promo piece for the Cartoon Art
Museum‘s annual “Spend the day at Pixar Animation Studios” benefit in December) when I learned
that Steve Jobs had passed away. Which — given that this one man played such a huge part in the development & creation of personal computing and Pixar — was doubly coincidental, don’t you think?
Anyway … Given that Steve had been battling pancreatic cancer for
years now, this news wasn’t exactly unexpected. Especially given Jobs’ decision
to step down as chief executive of Apple Inc. back in August, ceding control of
the world’s largest technology company to Tim Cook, his long-time lieutenant.
But even so, this sad event still sent a seismic shock rolling through the technology & entertainment communities.
Over the next day or so, you’re going to read a lot of
stories about how this Silicon Valley icon help transform the world of personal
computing and music by guiding the development of the iPad & the iPod. Not
to mention turning the mobile phone into a genuine sort of status symbol with
the introduction of the iPhone.
Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011)
But as for me personally, the thing that I’ll remember most
about Steve Jobs won’t be for anything that he helped invent or design. But –
rather – for the chance that he took.
To explain: Pixar Animation Studios actually started out life
as the Graphics Group at Lucasfilm, that division of George Lucas’ film
production company which handled CG-heavy effects scenes like the Genesis
Effect sequence in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and the Stained Glass Knight
sequence in “Young Sherlock Holmes.”
But in spite of all the obviously spectacular pieces of computer animation that
the Graphics Group had turned out since its inception in 1979, given the time & costs associated with producing computer animation back in the early 1980s, this division of
Lucasfilm was something of a money pit. And since George Lucas was (at that
time, anyway) dealing with some serious cash flow issues in the wake of his divorce from wife
Marcia, he had no choice to but to try & find a buyer for the Graphics
Group.
A copy of the $5 million cashier’s check that Steve Jobs gave to George Lucas to purchase
Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group
Enter Steve Jobs. Who – in 1986 — not only paid George
Lucas $5 million but also agreed to pump $5 million of capital into this
fledgling computer animation operation. Which had recently been renamed Pixar, Inc.
But here’s the thing. Steve didn’t believe that he was buying an
animation studio. What Jobs thought he was purchasing was this sort of high-end
hardware company which was then supposed to sell Pixar Image Computers. But as
the short films that John Lasseter & Ed Catmull created to help demonstrate
what the Pixar Image Computer was capable of began to garner more & more
attention on the festival circuit, Jobs suddenly found himself in the animation
business.
To his credit, Steve stuck by John & Ed as their innovative animation operation produced several award-winning shorts while it also burned
through tens of millions of his dollars. Some will tell you that Jobs only hung
in there because he was looking to recover all of the cash that he’d poured
into Pixar Inc. Which is why Steve would periodically try and find a buyer for this then-deeply-in-the-red operation.
But in the end, Steve didn’t sell. Jobs hung in there for
five very expensive, very stressful years until Pixar finally signed a $26
million dollar deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce three
feature-length computer-animated films. Mind you, it wasn’t ’til “Toy Story”
opened in November of 1995 and then went on to gross more than $350 million
worldwide that Jobs’ patience (or was it stubbornness?) ultimately paid off.
It would be nice (at this point in the story, anyway) to say that Steve
Jobs’ relationship with the key creatives at Pixar was always pleasant &
stress-free. But truth be told, Jobs periodically made life difficult for John
Lasseter and Ed Catmull. Sometimes by insisting that they cut Pixar’s payroll
(which means that some pretty talented people were let go during the early,
early days of this computer animation studio). Other times by giving John &
Ed unwanted story notes when it came to “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life.” Hell, I’ve
even heard that Jobs (who was known for insisting that the Mac, the iPad and the
iPhone all have clean sleek looks) tried to give Lasseter & Catmull
architectural advice when it came to the design & layout of Pixar’s Emeryville campus.
But Steve … He was also smart enough to recognize that when
something ain’t broke, you don’t fix it. Which is why – as Pixar Animation
Studios began cranking out hit after hit after hit – Jobs eventually stepped
back and basically left Lasseter and Co. alone. Preferring by then to just bask
in the positive recognition which came from being that smart, stubborn guy who
helped to make Pixar possible.
And that – in the end – is how I’ll personally remember
Steve Jobs. Not as the man who brought simple, easy-to-use, well-designed
computers to the world (which – trust me – given that I’m such a technological
idiot, I really, really appreciate). But as the guy who hung in there. Who didn’t cut
and run when Pixar was bleeding money in the late 1980s.
That took courage. The same sort of courage that Jobs showed during his very public battle with pancreatic cancer.
So let the others talk about Steve’s legacy of innovation when
it comes to technological breakthroughs. Me? I prefer to remember him as the
guy who took a chance on Pixar, Inc. And then — through smarts & stubbornness — helped John Lasseter & Ed Catmull take computer animation to infinity and beyond.
The entire JHM staff wishes to extend its heartfelt
condolences to the friends & family of Steve Jobs during their time of
sorrow.