John K. comes across as an angry lunatic online. He wants to make great cartoons the way the mid-century masters did and that puts him as a man out of time. He ties his own noose for a lot of folks by having deadline issues, drag through the mud politics, and pitches that ring with misogyny. However, if you cut through the perceived arrogance, he knows the craft like few people alive and has a lot of great things to say..that people love or hate..but can't help but learn from:

John K on executives.

The executives never come to the obvious conclusion that a normal sane person would, that when a new show comes along that destroys the previous religious beliefs, that the reason for the success is the person who made the show.

The thinking he describes, and the psuedo-science of trend watching, exists in every industry that we've worked in; publishing, animation, advertising, and interactive. If you want to be successful in any of them, you presumably have to recognize the person-with-title...the person with cash flow...who picks the right creative for the right project and racks up the successes by giving the creative's freedom and a sense of ownership.

Stay away from the person-with-title who thinks they ARE the creative.

Labels: animation