How to Get a Job at Pixar

Here is a link to a short film explaining how to get job at Pixar. It’s a barely-disguised publicity piece for Monsters U but that’s a small price to pay for what is a genuinely helpful interview with Dan Scanlon, and Kori Rae, respectively the Director and Producer of Monsters U.

In summary, here’s their checklist for getting hired at Pixar:

1. Be completely obsessed with animation
2. Be completely obsessed with animation 
3. Tell stories, write stories, invent stories. Understanding storytelling. 
4. All personality types can be animators. Shy, outgoing, it doesn’t matter. BUT, you have to be able to act and give a performance in your work. 
5. Pixar want collaborators – people they can work with. So be a team player. 
6. Want to be a producer? Most Producers start at pa’s – production assistants. You learn how the departments work by starting at the bottom, and working your way up. 
7. Draw a lot, even if you’re a CG animator 
8. Practice a lot.  
9. Don’t give up – it is never too late to re-invent yourself
10. Be completely obsessed with animation

They might have added, of course, be a US Citizen. For those folks not lucky enough to be born in one of the 50 States of the Union, getting a work visa is your biggest challenge.

The only way to overcome that hurdle, in practice, is to win the Visa Lottery (you can apply here). Or, you can marry an American, or even win a couple of BAFTAs.

---Alex