Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull: A 30-minute Summary

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This is an Instaread Summary of 'Creativity, Inc.' by Ed Catmull.

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Chapter 1

Every Sunday, as a kid, Catmull watched on TV The Wonderful World of Disney, where Disney explained how they made their animations and incorporated technological breakthroughs into their work. One day, Catmull had a life-changing realization: a good animation was measured by whether or not the character on the screen made you believe it was a thinking being. He decided he wanted to become an animator and create emotional characters.

Catmull graduated with a double major in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Utah. In his graduate program he met professor Ivan Sutherland, a pioneer in computer graphics and director of the computer graphics program. The program was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the creators of the first computer network, ARPANET, which would later evolve into the Internet. ARPA was developed as a response to the threat of the Soviet Sputnik satellite, the first of its kind. The U.S. felt threatened by Soviet technological advancements and they developed ARPA to stay up with the Soviets. To Catmull, the lesson to be learned from this was when the competition gets smart, you need to get smarter. Catmull found enormous inspiration in the computer graphics program, not only from the technology he was discovering but also from his fellow students. The collaborative and creative atmosphere he experienced there was something he later tried to emulate at Pixar.

In 1972, Catmull made his first animated film, a digitized model of his left hand. Hand became a reference for state-of-the-art computer animation.

Professor Sutherland came up with the idea of an exchange program with Disney. Disney would send an animator to the University of Utah to learn about new technologies, and the university would send one of their students to learn about storytelling. Catmull was sent to propose....

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Management

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2014

About the author

With Instaread, you can get the summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

Reviews

[Bilal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ed Catmull shares the lessons he’s learned about engendering, fostering, and sustaining creativity in the context Pixar, a for-profit corporation, over the course of several decades as its leader. His insights stand in distinction in that he contends one cannot reduce the task of creativity in a group context to bite-sized slogans like “focus” or “empower each individual”, etc., rather he believes that creativity is a complex ask that requires constant checks to find what things are impeding it, and similarly it requires combining many individual practices to let it foster and grow. I was particularly struck by his thoughts on “protecting the new” and on watching out for the “hidden” forces that can derail creativity. He discusses these and a few other concepts in detail with several examples for exposition. On a more fundamental level, his insights as exhibited by the Pixar experience are an exposition of how creativity works in general, and which is described beautifully by Andreas Wagner in Life finds a way: What evolution teaches us about creativity. Ed’s method of exploration and analysis of the Pixar experience is like life’s evolution: wide, deep, repeat.

[Arun Murali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book several years ago but never got around to finishing it. I wish I had. This was a fun book to read, first and foremost because of the great stories of Pixar films and the journey they went to in order to become the classics they are. For business leaders, Ed Catmull walks us through the developments of principles key to the success of Pixar, stories of lessons learned that shaped the strategies taken to succeed, and the ups and downs that feel oddly comforting for those of us who have ridden on the corporate roller coaster. For Steve Jobs fans, this is another in the many stories of amazing successes he had that also allow us a perspective of him we don't commonly get. If you are a fan of Pixar and an organizational leader of any sort, this is a terrific and fun read.

[Andrew McJorrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good summary. Can be used as a primer before tackling the actual book.

[Jared Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pixar movies have continued to set the standard for excellence. While there are some less than stellar movies in their collection, their duds are way outweighed by their stars. Catmull is one of the creative forces behind every Pixar movie, and reading this memoir by him was incredible. All of Catmull's advice was inspirational, and it was great to read this condensed review.

[Tracey Rebello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic awesome read .... great inspiration!.... Must read book!.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great combination of Pixar's history intertwined with its president's perspective and advice on leading a creative business.