Pete Doctor & Mary Coleman on the Secret Recipe

Everyone holds hands and jumps out of the airplane with the promise that they’ll build a parachute before they hit the ground.”

Pete Doctor, Pixar

[laughs] So true. It’s funny because I get calls from producers down in Hollywood asking for the secret recipe. And I always say it’s really hard work, and committing to slog through the bad times. Trusting that if we stick with it and support each other we’ll get there. There’s no short cut for getting it right. We’re willing to keep going back to the drawing board, put it up, look at it, throw it all away and start over. We’re willing to do that over and over and over again. It’s not always fun—despite the images of us all riding around on scooters.

On every project, there’s a point where we think we’ll never crack it. We really despair. We think the story sucks. And that’s when everybody does the hand-holding and commits to making it better.

It’s never been easy. I’ve been here twelve years and there’s never been an easy one.”

Mary Coleman, Pixar