Director John Stevenson took the stage at DICE 2011 for his Monsters, Muppets and Movies discussion, and proudly announced to the packed room that it would be, “The simplest and sh*ttiest presentation you’ll see all day.” Funnily enough, it ended up being one of the best speeches I have ever seen.
Stevenson, with a “bunch of crappy notes and handwritten cards,” and “cheap ass powerpoint, with no fancy audio/visual bollocks,” proceeded to recount his passion-filled journey from aspiring, 19-year-old artist who managed to get a job working for Jim Henson on The Muppets Show by hanging out on the show’s set longer than any other applicant (i.e loving the Muppets more than anyone else), to becoming director of the massively successful animated sensation Kung Fu Panda.
The main thread of his presentation was love. “It’s all about love. Everything else is just details,” Stevenson mused. Passion for your work, no matter what project or assignment you might be given, will always separate you from the pack, and will ultimately lead to the best possible creations.
The entirety of Stevenson’s presentation was worthy of dissection and discussion, and we will have the video up for you soon, but in the meantime, here are some snippets to get your own creative juices bubbling:
“My goal became to do the best I could no matter what I was doing.”
“Nothing is original. Everything has been said before by much smarter people than me. I just stole it and am spewing it back out to you.”
“The job is to fall in love. If there’s no love in your work, no one will touch it, you won’t inspire anybody, and it simply won’t be the best work you are capable of.”
“Good enough isn’t good enough.”
“At the end of the day, it might not be Citizen Kane, but it might be the Citizen Kane of toilet paper ads.”
Comments
Displaying 1–8 of 8
midori_fox
This was a great speech! It would be awesome to meet him in person.
I downloaded this in case its ever taken down.
bertklein
Love your article!
We just released a feature documentary that is being distributed on dvd by Indiepixfilms on the life of David Klein-the forgotten founder of Jelly Belly jelly beans Its an amazing true story that has to be seen to be believed It is the Social Network with candy we were just written up in USA Today we d love for you to review the film This film really is truly inspirational for anyone who has had major ups and downs in life. It is directed by Costa Botes(Forgotten Silver). Candyman is also playing on the Doc Channel.
Candyman the David Klein Story is directed by Costa Botes(Forgotten Silver),exec produced by Eddie Schmidt(This film is not yet rated) and features Weird Al Yankovic.
website and trailer is at http://www.candymanfilm.com
Bert Klein
Producer
MiraiMi
If only I could've seen it live....
Nerdi_Master
I loved this speech, I hope it stays on the site forever cuz I could watch it over and over. I needed something like this in my life because I intend to get into the video game business and hearing such an inspiring message was sort of a revelation.
SquallLionhart25
this was very inspiring i learned about one of my personal heroes Jim Henson. Thanks for posting this.
wolfman2010
Quite inspiring... reminds me a bit of 'The Last Lecture'. The message is great, and even the profanity is well used.
Xsess
His speech was amazing! Thanks for posting this!
Mykel_the_archangel
Fantastic presentation. Great stories and messages.
Displaying 1–8 of 8
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