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The Long Way Around

The Forgotten Story of How Pixar Almost Went Bankrupt

Apr 10, 202658 min9,210 words(46 min read)
If you only read one thing
  • 1This episode needs a real edit pass before re-publishing. Three major pacing issues, including a 9-minute tangent.
  • 2The Steve Jobs material is strong but lost in the noise — pull it forward and cut everything else by 25%.
  • 3Your best line is at minute 47. Way too late. Tease it in the cold open.
  • 4No iTunes ID was set, so listener themes are unavailable. Add it before publishing the next one.

Shareable moments

8

The best lines and clips — ready to copy, caption, and post.

Best for: This episode has great clips trapped inside a long, meandering structure. Cut the episode in half and re-publish — there's a strong 25-minute show in here.

  • 1
    Clip22s

    Steve Jobs lost more on Pixar than he made on Apple

    Steve Jobs lost more money on Pixar than he made on Apple's IPO. He was personally writing checks every month for years just to keep the lights on.

    Opening hook

    Steve Jobs lost more money on Pixar than he made on Apple's IPO.

  • 2
    Clip15s

    Microsoft passed on Pixar

    Pixar tried to sell themselves to Microsoft. Microsoft passed because they didn't think computer animation had a future.

    Opening hook

    Pixar tried to sell themselves to Microsoft. Microsoft passed.

  • 3
    Clip14s

    Half the Toy Story render farm caught fire

    They had a render farm built out of 500 used Sun workstations. Half of them caught fire during Toy Story.

    Opening hook

    Half the Toy Story render farm caught fire during production.

  • 4
    Counterintuitivelate

    Steve Jobs lost more money on Pixar than he made on Apple's IPO. He was personally writing checks every month for years just to keep the lights on.

  • 5
    Counterintuitivemiddle

    Pixar tried to sell themselves to Microsoft. Microsoft passed because they didn't think computer animation had a future.

  • 6
    Storylate

    They had a render farm built out of 500 used Sun workstations. Half of them caught fire during Toy Story.

  • 7
    Insightlate

    Ed Catmull said the only reason Pixar survived was that nobody at Disney understood what they were doing well enough to shut them down.

  • 8
    Storymiddle

    The first Toy Story render took 800,000 machine hours. They started rendering before the script was finished.