Jan Pinkava

I'm pitching to John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter and Joe Ranft, the head of story, and Ed Catmull, the head of the studio. These are just the early concepts for a film. One of the ideas was, oh, this is a story about a rat who wants to become a chef. Everyone laughs. Everyone gets it. You're sold. The idea had come to him at home while he and his wife were in the kitchen.

You know, how can a rat become a chef? You can immediately see the central problem of the story right there. It is obviously a disaster. And it's going to be funny if you can make it work. But the making it work part would be difficult. We were developing this film for quite a while. You're working on story, you're working on designs, characters, scenes, environments, and so on.

You know, how can a rat become a chef? You can immediately see the central problem of the story right there. It is obviously a disaster. And it's going to be funny if you can make it work. But the making it work part would be difficult. We were developing this film for quite a while. You're working on story, you're working on designs, characters, scenes, environments, and so on.

You know, how can a rat become a chef? You can immediately see the central problem of the story right there. It is obviously a disaster. And it's going to be funny if you can make it work. But the making it work part would be difficult. We were developing this film for quite a while. You're working on story, you're working on designs, characters, scenes, environments, and so on.

We did several versions of the story reel. Story reel is drawings edited with sound and music to basically be a movie you can watch in the form of drawings. That's how an animated film is prototyped. It's a way of making the movie before you've made the movie, because in animation, you do not want to cut animation out.

We did several versions of the story reel. Story reel is drawings edited with sound and music to basically be a movie you can watch in the form of drawings. That's how an animated film is prototyped. It's a way of making the movie before you've made the movie, because in animation, you do not want to cut animation out.

We did several versions of the story reel. Story reel is drawings edited with sound and music to basically be a movie you can watch in the form of drawings. That's how an animated film is prototyped. It's a way of making the movie before you've made the movie, because in animation, you do not want to cut animation out.

Yeah, and because you're creating everything. You're making a whole world come to life artificially. Every blade of grass, every gesture of the character, somebody has put a lot of work into it. This film had a longer gestation period. By the time it was made, it was six years into it.

Yeah, and because you're creating everything. You're making a whole world come to life artificially. Every blade of grass, every gesture of the character, somebody has put a lot of work into it. This film had a longer gestation period. By the time it was made, it was six years into it.

Yeah, and because you're creating everything. You're making a whole world come to life artificially. Every blade of grass, every gesture of the character, somebody has put a lot of work into it. This film had a longer gestation period. By the time it was made, it was six years into it.

We worked on it, had a bunch of versions in making a movie like that. It goes up and down. You're continually changing. One of the wonderful things that everyone should remember and understand is that Pixar didn't happen because of computer graphics. Pixar happened because of story.

We worked on it, had a bunch of versions in making a movie like that. It goes up and down. You're continually changing. One of the wonderful things that everyone should remember and understand is that Pixar didn't happen because of computer graphics. Pixar happened because of story.

We worked on it, had a bunch of versions in making a movie like that. It goes up and down. You're continually changing. One of the wonderful things that everyone should remember and understand is that Pixar didn't happen because of computer graphics. Pixar happened because of story.

At least half the effort on any one of these movies, at least half, is story, story, story, story, and making sure that the thing that's being made is an appealing, engaging story with characters that you care about that really makes sense to an audience. We got into the character development and the designs and the environments, the kitchen, being in Paris and so on.

At least half the effort on any one of these movies, at least half, is story, story, story, story, and making sure that the thing that's being made is an appealing, engaging story with characters that you care about that really makes sense to an audience. We got into the character development and the designs and the environments, the kitchen, being in Paris and so on.

At least half the effort on any one of these movies, at least half, is story, story, story, story, and making sure that the thing that's being made is an appealing, engaging story with characters that you care about that really makes sense to an audience. We got into the character development and the designs and the environments, the kitchen, being in Paris and so on.

And it involved also some fabulous experiences of research. That's a thing that Pixar is famous for, getting in-depth research to feed the process of making the movie authentic. We ended up going twice to Paris to dine in the finest restaurants and meet with the chefs. The artist has to suffer, right? You have to do your work.

And it involved also some fabulous experiences of research. That's a thing that Pixar is famous for, getting in-depth research to feed the process of making the movie authentic. We ended up going twice to Paris to dine in the finest restaurants and meet with the chefs. The artist has to suffer, right? You have to do your work.

And it involved also some fabulous experiences of research. That's a thing that Pixar is famous for, getting in-depth research to feed the process of making the movie authentic. We ended up going twice to Paris to dine in the finest restaurants and meet with the chefs. The artist has to suffer, right? You have to do your work.

We spoke to a bunch of people with different attitudes to rats. For instance, I remember the national president of the Rat Fanciers Association of the United States, the people who like to keep rats as pets. She was wonderful. She was really insightful and knowledgeable about who rats are as characters, real rats.