The president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios addressed BYU students and faculty Thursday, [March 27, 2008] in conjunction with the formation of the BYU Center of Animation and the premier of "Pajama Gladiator."

Ed Catmull's address, "What Goes Wrong Behind Blockbuster Movies," used examples from the history of Pixar to explain how high-quality workers, not creative ideas, is the key to a studio's success.

"We are in the job of doing something new," Catmull said, referring to feature-length computer animated films. "Our measure is not whether we avoid different things. It's how we respond to things when they go wrong."

To illustrate, Catmull spoke of the making of "Toy Story 2." Through most of the production, the team had internal problems. As a result, the film suffered. Nine months before the movie's release, Pixar requested to start over with a new crew, even though it was a daunting task.

"We just had an idea that was a good idea and we put a team on it and they screwed it up; they couldn't do it," Catmull said. "And we put a great team on it and they fixed it. It's absolutely clear the issue for us has nothing to do with finding that idea. It's all about putting together a team that works well together."

Part of making a good team, Catmull said, was creating an "open door policy" between employees. He said communication should not be confused with structure, meaning all employees should be able to communicate without feeling one department is superior to another.

Catmull also emphasized the importance of doing the best one can. He mentioned how Pixar was told to make "Toy Story 2" second-class and release it to video for a large profit.

"The problem is [Disney's] sequels weren't very good," Catmull said,. "We realized, as we went through with this, the very concept of [doing] 'B-work' was bad for our souls."

In a press conference, afterward, Catmull praised BYU's animation program.

"BYU has an extraordinary program here," he said. "The quality of students coming out of BYU is the best in the world."

Pixar has been involved with BYU for many years, working on school productions and hiring many graduates.

"Pixar has supported our program for a long time," said Brent Adams, head of the new animation center. "Their one of the reasons we've been successful."