In the process of putting together a business plan for my
Entertainment Business Master of Science degree through Full Sail University,
I’d like to look at two experts in the area of entertainment business: John
Lasseter and Brad Bird. Though they may not be your typical business plan
experts, their experience speaks for itself.
John Alan Lasseter (born January 12, 1957) is an American
animator, film director, screenwriter, producer and the chief creative officer
of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and DisneyToon
Studios. He is also the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney
Imagineering. Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney
Company. After being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation, he
joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on CGI animation. The Graphics Group of the
Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986.
Lasseter oversees all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive
producer. He directed Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2
(1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011). In 2006, Disney bought Pixar and since
2007, Lasseter also oversees all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' (and its
division DisneyToon Studios') films and associated projects as executive
producer.
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird (born September 24,
1957) is an American film-maker, known for both animated and live-action films.
Milt Kahl, one of Disney’s legendary Nine Old Men, mentored him. He graduated
from the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Tim
Burton. Soon after that, Bird worked as an animator for Disney. He left to
direct his first animated feature, The
Iron Giant (1999), and rejoined Lasseter at Pixar in 2000, where he
developed his second picture, The
Incredibles (2004), and his third picture, Ratatouille (2007). In 2011, Bird transitioned to live-action
filmmaking with Mission: Impossible –
Ghost Protocol. His latest film, Tomorrowland
(2015), starring George Clooney, was released in May 2015.
The key component to a great business plan, according to
Lasseter, is quality. When he
returning to Disney in 2006, he told everyone, “Quality is the Best Business
Plan" (Grover, 2006). Everything Lasseter does, he does well…the best
quality he can achieve. This is something I want to bring to the work I do. I
want to develop a business plan that exudes quality.
The key component to a great business plan, according to
Bird, is creative ideas. Though he
would agree that quality is important, the right ideas are what gives the story
life. He said, “No matter how much money you throw at an idea, if
the concept is flawed in the first place, you end-up with high quality but dull
movies -- which had helped cause the decline of the Disney Animation studios” (Sutton,
March 2009). As Bird described his brief career at Disney, "I went to
Disney at a time where they were doing really beautiful quality of really boring
ideas. That was right after the great
masters had left and I basically got fired for, quote, rocking the boat"
(Sutton, March 2009).
These two key components, quality and creative ideas
are very important when considering a business plan. I plan on implementing
them in my plan as I charge forward the next two months to complete this
Entertainment Business Master of Science degree.
References:
Grover, Ronald (March
10, 2006). "The Happiest Place on Earth – Again". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 6, 2016 from: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2006-03-09/the-happiest-place-on-earth-againbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
On John Lasseter
(2016), Retrieved March 6, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseter
Retrieved March 6,
2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Bird
Sutton,
Bob (January 4, 2009). McKinsey's Most
Popular Interviews of 2008: Brad Bird and Mitchell Baker. Retrieved March 6, 2016 from:
Sutton, Bob (March
14, 2009). "Quality is the Best Business Plan," Pixar's John Lasseter. Retrieved March 6, 2016 from:
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