I had coffee on Friday with Michael Slane, a creative director at Exopolis, an uber-hip L.A.-based design agency, and the conversation got animated when the subject of TRON came up. Slane, like many artists of his generation, was profoundly influenced by the film. This phenomenon first came to my attention about ten years ago — 15 years after the film’s original release, when I casually mentioned to Mike Goeddeke of Belief Productions in Santa Monica, that I’d worked on TRON. You’d have thought I told him I had invented the internet, or Doc Martens. “You worked on TRON?” Goeddeke, himself a graphics genius, asked, getting all googley-eyed. “I love TRON.” From that day on, I’ve worn my participation in the film as a special badge of honor.

I began my career as TRON’s publicist, telling the world stories about Flynn, Yori, the Recognizers, the Light Cycles, the MCP and the birth of something called “Computer-Generated Imagery” (CGI). Somewhat to my surprise, I’m still telling them. So are my friends and colleagues from the film. But I think all of us would agree that the telling of those stories does not matter half as much as the fact that we’re still living them. The TRON experience has informed and guided us throughout our careers. For me personally, GameChangers has a lot of TRON in its genetic code.

The film business is an ephemeral occupation. You come together with the objective of making a worthy motion picture, the focus — on the game of feature filmmaking — is intense, and the group mind arises from that focus. The focus wanes somewhat during post-production, as new players join the scene, editing out most of the original team. By the time the film premieres it has become a new scene altogether, focused on a high-energy game called “Opening the Film” that involves players from marketing and distribution, and only a handful of the film’s original team. The cast-and-crew screening is a celebration of the scene you shared. “How you doing?” “How’s your baby?” “What are you working on?” “Good to see you.” “Let’s keep in touch.” And then for the rest of your life, you never see those people again.

TRON was different. Many of those who shared the experience keep in touch. And the focus was so intense, the game so deep and new, that the effects reverberate 25 years later. The TRON artists became a who’s-who of animation directors that includes Roger Allers (The Lion King), Brad Bird (The Incredibles), Chris Wedge (Ice Age) Bill Kroyer (FernGully — The Last Rainforest) Jerry Rees (The Brave Little Toaster)…and of course it has been well-documented that John Lasseter got his first burst of CGI mojo in the TRON animation trailer before heading north to form Pixar with Steven Jobs. With contributions from great artists and technologists like Larry Elin, Richard Taylor, Harrison Ellenshaw, Judson Rosebush, Wendy Carlos, Moebius, Syd Mead, Peter Lloyd, Frank Serafine, John Scheele, Tom Wilhite and many others, the production howled with creative energy.

So what was it like to work on TRON? It was intense. It was focused. It was chaotic. It was tremendous fun, and terribly difficult, and wildly energetic. And ultimately, it was like the greatest improvised performance ever.

Director Steven Lisberger and producer Donald Kushner initiated the performance and got it funded with a compelling compilation of concept art, a script by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird and a test shoot that electrified those who saw it. The performance’s themes — videogames, the dawn of CGI, the fight for control of intellectual property — were relevant and strong. The players who supported the scene each brought different talents and personalities to the performance.

The TRON team, from Lisberger, to Gabby the air conditioning guy on the film who turned out to be a whiz on Galaga, were GameChangers. They took up the new tools of technology and changed the game by improvising. There was no formula. It was 100% original, and yet still somehow ‘familiar’ to the audience because of the powerful metaphors in play. As Richard Taylor, who with Harrison Ellenshaw supervised the film’s visual effects, said at the time “It’ll remind you of something you’ve never seen before.”

For me, TRON marks (everyone has their own time stamp) the beginning of the Networked World in which business operates today. The reasons for its enduring popularity with a significant demographic and the wealth spun out of it — especially when you add up Pixar’s value to Disney — hold valuable lessons in improvisation for anyone in business:

Your brand’s themes are more important than its narrative. The story told in TRON was, umm…they kept hiring writers who kept fiddling with dialogue and tone, and the story suffered, in my opinion. But the film’s (read: brand’s) themes were so strong and metaphorical that the audience connected with it on a level that transcended narrative. When it comes to branding your business, narrative comes after the fact; themes, by contrast, get expressed moment to moment in largely unscripted scenarios, and for this reason should be top-of-mind for everyone in an organization.

The stronger the focus, the better the collaboration. With most business projects, you cannot break new ground like TRON did. But you can create focus by finding a game that’s fresh and engaging for players and audience alike.

Be patient. TRON did not set the boxoffice on fire upon its initial release, but its flame continues to burn bright for a generation of designers who regarded it as a call to action, and for fans who comprise the core audience for anything TRON-branded. The best improvisers I’ve seen — both onstage and in business — do not get antsy for a quick payoff, but spend their energy and talent laying the groundwork for bigger payoffs later in the performance. It’s a bonus when both happen, but a GameChanger knows not to get impatient, and that the first obligation is to engage the audience and bring them along for the ride. John Lasseter went along for the CGI ride because of TRON, and today Pixar is worth what to Disney? $5 billion? $10 billion? TRON, it turns out, is still one hell of a ride.

Tags: Belief Productions, Bill Kroyer, Bonnie MacBird, Brad Bird, Chris Wedge, Disney, Donald Kushner, Exopolis, Harrison Ellenshaw, Ice Age, John Lasseter, Michael Slane, Mike Goeddeke, Moebius, Peter Lloyd, Pixar, Richard Taylor, Roger Allers, Steven Lisberger, Syd Mead, The Incredibles, TRON, visual effects, Wendy Carlos

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 9:24 am and is filed under Games, Group Mind, Initiations, Networked World, Themes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.