Sotiris wrote:SWillie! wrote:You just answered yourself. Katzenberg micro-managed at Disney in the late 80s, early 90s, and what does he have to show for it? A string of movies that most consider some of the best animated films of all time. Then he moved to Dreamworks and lightened up. And what does he have to show for it? A string of movies that is incredibly inconsistent, with a few big hits, and a few MAJOR bombs.
That wasn't the result of micro-management but of "a perfect storm of people and circumstances". Let's not forget Roy E. Disney, Howard Ashman, and other creative forces at the studio that time. It was not a one-man show. That's why Katzenberg alone when he founded DreamWorks could not replicate the same artistic and commercial success as Disney's "second golden age". You cannot attribute Disney's success to Katzenberg's micro-management.
Katzenberg did not change his management style when he founded DreamWorks but he's only "lighten up" the last 4-5 years which has created a better working environment and the studio is gradually producing higher-quality product than before.
And it's not just an issue of micro-management anyway; its about overall working conditions. Especially at Disney, there are long hours, low pay,
constant lay-offs, very few projects in development etc. If everything is great at Disney then why are so many artists are abandoning Disney for DreamWorks?
First, I never said everything was great at Disney. I'm not trying to pretend like it is.
Second, I also never said that the golden age happened
because of Katzenberg and Katzenberg alone. But again, you're refusing to look at it from a management perspective. While Katzenberg was there, he micro-managed. And while the true reason the films were spectacular was the creative force behind them, Jeffrey also sees the fact that "I did things this way, and it turned out great. Now at my new studio Dreamworks, I'm going to do the same thing." But then a few years down the road, he sees that that form of management isn't working with the creative force that he has at Dreamworks, and so now he has been forced to change the way he does things. It's the basic concept of "if it's not broken, don't fix it." Katzenberg has had to fix it, because it DID break... but only after he started Dreamworks.
Lasseter, on the other hand, has no reason to change the way he does things... at least not yet. He has done things
his way from the very beginning... whether you or I consider that tyrannical is of no consequence. The mere fact that so far, Pixar has put out hit after hit after hit allows JL do keep doing things however he sees fit -
because it's working.
One day, Pixar will put out a movie that doesn't do a ridiculous amount at the box office. When that day comes, people will look at Lasseter and say "why didn't this work? You've always made it work in the past? What happened?" And Lasseter will probably have to start changing the way he does things. But until that day comes, nothing will change. To think otherwise is just false hope. Again, it's the suits' mentality of
if it's not broken, don't fix it.
About the overall working conditions, I absolutely agree. It's sad that things are the way we hear they are. I hope they change sooner than later. You're making me out to be the bad guy, when the only difference between the way we feel about the whole scenario is the fact that I'm looking at it through a realistic lens, and you're looking at it from a creative lens. Like I said, if I could have things different in my little perfect world, I would. But that's simply not going to happen.
And
Divinity - First, of course we're talking about finances. That is, after all, what makes a movie a "success". When quality is good but money is bad, it creates a cult classic. Not a "success." And no, that's not an exaggeration. If you add up the box office of every movie made in each studio's history, then divide by the number of movies the studio has made, you will find that Pixar has the highest average. So from an average perspective, Pixar is the most successful studio of all time.
If that's not good enough for you, then look at the first twenty years of each of the big studios. Once Disney became a financial success with Snow White, the studio started off... okay. Pinocchio didn't do very well, Fantasia BOMBED, Dumbo did well, Bambi did horrible. Then of course there was the war. So obviously Disney didn't do nearly as well as Pixar has in the first twenty years. It's unfair to compare twenty years of Pixar with 80 years of Disney. If you're going to do that, then of course Disney is more successful. But that's called weighted judging.
So, what else do we have besides Disney? Dreamworks of course... but their first twenty years have been all over the map, so it's really no comparison money-wise (read: success-wise). And then there's Don Bluth, Sony, Blue Sky. It's hard to put Ghibli in the same comparison, just because it's so different. Like you said, quality wise it's up there with Pixar (at least in the majority opinion)... but it's really hard to compare them success-wise, simply because I'm not sure how the box office in Japan would convert to US b.o. in order to be comparable.
So, based on both the average box-office wise of the studio's history, and the first twenty years straight-comparison... Pixar is the most successful animation studio of all time. It's pretty much agreed upon within the industry. I know Pixar isn't YOUR favorite, Divinity, but that's besides the point.
SO to pull everything together... if Pixar is (let's just say arguably so that opinions don't get in the way here)... if Pixar is arguably the most successful animation studio of all time, why would the people in charge of said studio (aka Lasseter) change the way they have done things thus far?
They wouldn't. They'd be stupid to. In a perfect world, creativity would come first. But in this world, money comes first. It's unfortunate, but it's true.
You just can't compare Lasseter whose studio produced great animated movies to Walt who revolutionized not only the animation or the film industry but the entertainment industry in general.
