#326 How to Make a Masterpiece | Pete Docter

We’re all creatives, whether we think of ourselves that way or not. In so many aspects of your life, from planning your future to planning a meal to curating your social media, you need to be able to both envision and then execute. And how you work with your mind in these moments is key. Today, we are going to hear from a master creator -- the mind behind brilliant Pixar movies such as Inside Out, Up, and the recently-released Soul -- about how to run a creative process at the highest possible level. (I have a six-year-old, and, in my opinion, one of the worst parts of the job of being a dad is sitting through insipid children's entertainment. But the aforementioned films have been both thrilling and moving to consume, for both me and my son.)

My guest today is Pete Docter, who directed all three of those films. He is the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar. He is also a meditator and a practicing Christian whose films are each motivated by a big, pressing question he is posing to himself about his own life. In this conversation, he takes us inside the making of his films, most notably Soul, for which he and his team had to invent a coherent metaphysical scheme to explain both the afterlife -- and the before. We also talk about how his spiritual practices support his storytelling endeavors, and how to power through the pain, frustration, and embarrassment of trying to make something truly original.

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Where to find Pete Docter online: 

IMDb Page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0230032/

 Social Media:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/docterpete?lang=en
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petedocter/?hl=en

Movies Mentioned:

• Soul, co-directed by Kemp Powers
• Inside Out, co-directed by Ronnie Del Carmen
• Up, co-directed by Bob Peterson

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Joe Grant
• Isaac Asimov on Creativity
• Ed Catmull’s Creativity, Inc.
• Joe Ranft
• Brad Bird

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