#38 Producer Kim Adams (Pixar, Google): Be Grateful, Fail Fast and Embrace Discomfort

Basic Brainheart

In today's episode, producer extraordinaire Kim Adams shares her story. Her interpersonal sensibilities and organizational superpowers have become legendary and I'm honored she spent an hour of her time reviewing her career so far and the lessons learned. About Kim: Kim Adams most recently was the Head of Production at Emmy Award-winning Oculus Story Studio, a team at Oculus that focused on narrative virtual reality content. Before Oculus, Kim transitioned into VR at Google Spotlight Stories, where she produced Rain or Shine with partner Nexus Productions, and Special Delivery, with Aardman Animations. From 2009-2013, Kim was a Producer at Pixar Animation Studios, where she played an integral role in the creation of Pixar Canada. Adams led the creation of Pixar’s “Toons” / Short Film division, heading a team of 125 across two companies in two countries. She worked very closely with John Lasseter in producing Toy Story and Cars short-form content. Partnering with eight new directors, she produced 13 short films while shepherding the development of a multitude of additional Pixar shortformat projects. Previous to Pixar, Kim served as a visual effects producer on several films including Apocalypto, where she was on location in the jungles of Mexico for seven months. She also worked at Asylum Visual Effects on films such as Master and Commander, which was nominated for an Oscar for visual effects. Kim began her journey in the industry working her way up the editorial ranks on major feature films with such Academy Award winning masters as Walter Murch and Francoise Bonnot. Her first job in the industry was as an intern at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. Music provided by bensound.com.