BEHIND THE CURTAIN Inside Big Entertainment Companies
Apr 16, 2017
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Inside Big Entertainment Companies
HistoryFREDERIC MARKUS
UBISOFT
ANGEL STUDIOS (ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO)
DISNEY
LUCASARTS
EPIC GAMES
FEERIK GAMES
From The Outside
• Big Companies• Politics• Big Money• All About Money• Money Money Money• Money against creativity
Always Two Sides
• It’s more fun to talk about what is wrong.
• The good parts are always remembered as time goes by...
• The here and the now are critical to create, innovate and enjoy what you do.
So What Is Behind The Curtain?
• Core Values.
• Sorry No pictures.
• Yes it is a secret.
Diplomas Do Not Count
• Hire on past experiences.
• References.
• And insane interview processes (ie: 12 hours, 12 interviews, gates all the way up).
• Your speciality didn’t matter, you could participate in anything.
• SPEAK ENGLISH!
Make
• Makers.
• People do things, with their hands, at work, outside of work.
• “I can’t” not accepted. Find a way.
• Model shop with ILM.
Learn
• Courses.
• Constant education.
• Inside and Outside.
• Walt Disney used to drive his employees to courses himself.
Champions
• Not only are they all incredibly talented.
• But they all are kind and great listeners.
• And they are very, very hard working people.
• Screaming is a very strange behavior, never accepted, never won a debate.
Horizontal Management
• Can speak to anyone anytime.
• No notion of a boss (Pas de ‘Patron’).
• Never mentioned, never felt.
• Best example: I was asked to fire my own boss if I wanted to and I did it.
Money?
• Money was never the goal.
• Great experiences always was.
• Money is a side product.
• Industrial Light & Magic.
Fast
• Decisions are immediately applied.
• Including hiring AND firing people.
• People are used to this and everyone is always fully aware of the possibility.
Legacy
• Celebration of the past.
• But not to the detriment of moving forward.
• Amazing museums.
• Utmost respect to what has been done, even failures.
Confidentiality
• Absolute secrecy.
• No one would talk about what they were doing, not even in front of a beer, or a few beers.
• It is a natural behavior, not just reglementation.
Core DNA
• Incredible diversity.
• Many, many countries represented. No preferences whatsoever.
• No French touch, no American touch, no Chinese touch, no German touch...
• I believe this is one of the keys to global success.
• Human values are common all around the world.
Self Organize
• Decide your own team structure.
• Set up your offices the way you want to.
• Dynamic environments, from open spaces to ‘war rooms’.
• The Giant Curtains Office of Disney Imagineering.
Innovation?
• Yes there is creativity.
• Yes there are strokes of genius.
• BUT there is PROBLEM SOLVING!
• Incredible limitations from nature itself.
• Hyper sensitivity to commonly accepted issues.
• Compassion.
• Many innovations are invisible. You know when you MAKE.
• How can you find solutions if you are unable to see problems?
SO?
• Yes, criticizing big companies about politics and money is easy.
• Keeping your eyes and ears open is harder.
• I believe we are here to entertain. And yes, we do need to be entertained. Life is NOT easy...
• Our mission is to bring MAGIC to people, to be open, to be generous.
• Bullet points are only bullet points.
• Find your own way.
www.FEERIKGAMES.COM
www.FEERIKGAMES.COM