Tour notes - Pixar part 9: Pixar University

I neglected to define a term used earlier in this incredibly long series about my tour of Pixar. I think I have easily spent more time recounting the tour than it actually took to experience. Oh well....

Every employee at Pixar is entitled and encouraged to spend 5 or so hours per week at something called Pixar University. It is there that they learn about various aspects of film-making - drawing, making maquettes, editing, storytelling, even learning 3d. This is true whether you are an animator, a modeler, an IT guy, an accountant, or the guy who maintains the grounds.

They don't want anybody to be divorced from the creative process. Because that will kill the creative environment, one person at a time. So they don't want their accountants to say "I am an accountant at Pixar." They want them to say "I am a filmmaker at Pixar, and I also have some accounting responsibilities." Because the reality is - everybody is involved in making that movie.

A core philosophy of Pixar is that everyone has a voice, and every employee should feel free to communicate with ANYONE there. Because all of the employees are trained filmmakers, they all have a role in evaluating the movies and giving their input. In fact, they have found that getting an outsider's perspective is critical to evaluating the work. It's easy to look at the work from an expert's point of view and forget that the target audience is not an expert. Opinions from someone who doesn't know how to do what you do are incredibly valuable.