The "harder" the prep, the "easier" the production...and vice versa. Or at least that's always been the underlying understanding, for me anyway. Love the Braintrust and even more so love its implementation.
I think the most important part of it all, is that you have to have full buy in from those participating, which leads to the necessary element of trust within the group. There are people who pay lip service to the ideas espoused here, but it takes a special kind of person to be able to actually do it. And that's not to say if you don't have that chip, you're done. It's something that can be learned if you're willing to be open, listen, and do the work. It's just a muscle that needs exercising, especially if it's not a mentality that comes naturally to you.
1000%! And you're right about the special kind of person being able to pull this off- Ed Catmull was that type. What's astonishing is how open he is about the mistakes made along the way in formalizing the Braintrust, the barriers, and why there has to be constant vigilance in ensuring that the candor of the Braintrust is not poisoned.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Pixar has been stumbling more since he left in 2019. He really found a way to keep the culture thriving for longer than most film companies have.
Great stuff here
The "harder" the prep, the "easier" the production...and vice versa. Or at least that's always been the underlying understanding, for me anyway. Love the Braintrust and even more so love its implementation.
I think the most important part of it all, is that you have to have full buy in from those participating, which leads to the necessary element of trust within the group. There are people who pay lip service to the ideas espoused here, but it takes a special kind of person to be able to actually do it. And that's not to say if you don't have that chip, you're done. It's something that can be learned if you're willing to be open, listen, and do the work. It's just a muscle that needs exercising, especially if it's not a mentality that comes naturally to you.
1000%! And you're right about the special kind of person being able to pull this off- Ed Catmull was that type. What's astonishing is how open he is about the mistakes made along the way in formalizing the Braintrust, the barriers, and why there has to be constant vigilance in ensuring that the candor of the Braintrust is not poisoned.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Pixar has been stumbling more since he left in 2019. He really found a way to keep the culture thriving for longer than most film companies have.