November 20, 2025 • 53 mins
Some careers read like a straight line. This one is a map of brave detours, timely breakthroughs, and the stubborn belief that story and technology belong together. Vicki Dobbs Beck—VP of Immersive Content at Lucasfilm and ILM—to unpack how a kid from Kirkland, Washington, rode a love of books and big ideas to help launch ILMxLAB and push real-time storytelling into the mainstream.
We trace the arc from a palm-tree dream of Stanford to an unlikely first win at ILM: drafting the company’s first business plan by interviewing senior creatives and stitching their wisdom into direction. From there, the conversation travels through Lucasfilm’s early experiments in location-based entertainment and the visionary but early Lucasfilm Learning, where a mystery about disappearing ducks introduced project-based, no-single-answer learning—an immersive idea before VR could carry it.
When real-time rendering finally hit cinematic quality, the door opened for ILMxLAB. Vicki breaks down the creative-operational engine behind XR: align high-fidelity media with interactivity and give audiences agency without sacrificing story.
If you’re building a creative career, rethinking education, or chasing the edge of immersive tech, this conversation will change how you plan and how you dare. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves story and innovation, and leave a review.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (00:00):
I think that passion is absolutely core to
being successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And when you think about it,all of this creative work is
really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
(00:21):
And that's, I think, when whengreat things happen, when magic
happens.
Jen Coronado (00:27):
Hi, welcome to everyone is.
I'm your host, JenniferCoronado.
The intent of this show is toengage with all kinds of people
and build the understanding thatanyone who has any kind of
success is successful becausethey're a creative thinker.
So whether you're an artist ora cook or an award-winning
journalist, everyone hassomething to contribute to the
human conversation.
(00:48):
Because everyone just is.
I have known Vicki Dobbsbeckfor a long time.
She is currently the VP ofImmersive Content for Lucasfilm
and Industrial Line Magic, andhas held various strategic
planning roles with the companyover the years, but I'm less
interested in the jobs she'sheld over the years and more
interested in how she processesinformation because I love
(01:11):
Vicky's brain.
And I want to talk about whatled her to what she's doing
today.
And I'm going to ask you a veryinitial provocative question.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Where did you grow up?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (01:23):
I grew up in Kirkland, Washington, which was
not well known when I grew upthere, but it became the home of
Costco.
Jen Coronado (01:32):
We talk a lot about Silicon Valley, but
Seattle was also a hub fortechnical innovation right
around that area.
So what was it starting therewhen you were growing up there?
Or was that even a thought?
But like what was the mainindustry?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (01:45):
Kirkland was actually an old town.
And it was kind of a very basicmiddle class town.
But and actually we had adrive-in theater about uh a mile
from where I grew up.
And that drive-in theater gottorn down, and that's where the
(02:05):
first Microsoft offices were.
And then it just expanded fromthere.
They expanded um into otherbuildings nearby, and then into
Bellevue, and then eventuallyinto Redmond.
And of course, now they'reglobal.
Um, but that was happening whenI was growing up.
So it started that um thattransition to a much more tech
(02:28):
focus, I think probably while Iwas in high school, I would say.
And then, you know, it becamealso the home, as I said, of
Costco, as well as um, I thinkit was cost cellular.
So for a pretty small town, ithad a lot of very what became
very big companies.
Jen Coronado (02:49):
Why do you think that is?
What do what do you think aboutthat environment made it ripe
for that?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (02:54):
I really have no idea other than the fact that
it probably wasn't veryexpensive.
Um, it wasn't very expensivereal estate.
It wasn't as expensive as, forexample, Bellevue, which was
next door, or you know, downtownSeattle.
Um, it was a nice little town.
And so I think people may havejust, you know, decided that's
(03:16):
where they were gonna set uptheir offices as a result.
Jen Coronado (03:19):
Yeah.
Isn't that interesting how thathappened stands and look what
grows out of it, you know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (03:24):
Exactly.
I mean, I I went to a highschool that was in a district
that included Mercer Island anduh Bellevue, Newport.
All of these are very, very umhigh-end, you know, areas.
And um our high school was justsort of like I said, it was
(03:46):
very, very middle class.
Um, but it was interesting tobe in a district that had such a
diverse um sort of uh reallylike socio um economic
diversity.
Jen Coronado (04:04):
And what and what did your parents do when you
were growing up?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (04:08):
My my um parents were both in in
medicine.
Um my dad started out as uh apediatrician and um my mom was a
nurse, and then when I was inhigh school, I think, or just
going into college, my daddecided that he wanted to make a
(04:29):
big change, and so he heliterally went um back into
residency and became a cardiacanesthesiologist, and um that
that kind of specialization hassort of since disappeared.
People, you know, who areanesthesiologists now generally
do lots of different kinds, butmy dad very specifically did
(04:52):
open heart surgery.
Wow.
And then my mom um got hermaster's in public health, so
she had a lot of um, she wasn'tjust a practicing nurse, but she
was also an administrator.
Of course, I didn't go anywherenear medicine, um, nor did my
siblings.
Jen Coronado (05:11):
Why not?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (05:13):
Actually, it's a really, really hard um
profession.
And I hate the sight of bloodor um or knives or anything like
that.
So it was it was a pretty easydecision.
Well, tell me about yoursiblings too.
How many, how many do you have?
Um, well, I have a a brother umwho's living, and then I had a
(05:37):
sister who passed away um almost30 years ago.
Jen Coronado (05:42):
Yeah.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (05:43):
Um and that was tough because you know, when
you have two parents who are inthe medical profession and then
you lose one of your children,um, you know, she died from
complications of childbirth.
That's a really, really toughthing to to live with when
you've dedicated your whole lifeto saving others and then you
(06:05):
know, one of your own uh you'renot able to save.
Jen Coronado (06:09):
Yeah, I know you're very close to your
sister, so I'm very sorry aboutthat.
Yeah, what like what were thethings for you for you did you
don't like knives, you don'tlike blood.
So no serial killing ormedicine for you.
So what like what were thethings for you as a kid that
were super interesting to you?
Because you're such anintelligent and uh a pursuer of
(06:31):
knowledge.
What like what were the thingsthat that really fascinated you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (06:36):
You know, I loved doing a lot of different
things.
I did ice skating, I didgymnastics, I did ballet, I did
quite a bit of ballet.
And I also loved to write.
And so I would write creativestories and then I would hire a
friend to do illustrations forme because I couldn't draw.
(06:57):
Um and, you know, I reallyliked school.
Actually, I was good in schooland I I liked school, but um, I
think my favorite class wasEnglish.
Oh, yeah.
What did you like about it?
What appealed to you?
I liked the writing and I likedthe reading.
Yeah um and I actually stayedin touch with my high school
(07:19):
English teacher until he passedaway, um which was probably 15
or so years ago now.
But that was really interestingto stay in touch with somebody
for probably 40 years.
Jen Coronado (07:34):
That's great.
And I know that you you stillon occasion write, but I wonder,
Vicky, for you, like what werewriters that were really
influential to you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (07:42):
I think it was a combination of the writers
and the genre that they wrote.
Um, so I was a big C.S.
Lewis fan.
I've read all of his works, butI was initially captivated by
Chronicles of Narnia.
Yes.
And I think I I heard them.
(08:03):
Um, they were read to me uh forthe first time, and then I've
probably read all of them, youknow, four or five times over
the the many years.
So that's kind of that'sprobably one of the most
influential writers for me.
Jen Coronado (08:18):
I remember as a little kid, I I love I loved
reading series.
Like I read all the NancyDrews, like every single of
them, you know.
But I agree with you, like theChronicles of Narnia, like I
would sit in my closet as alittle kid and hope that some
sort of wardrobe would open upand you'd end up, you know, in
(08:39):
Narnia.
So exactly.
Oh boy, I dreamed I dreamt ofthat.
Yeah.
Turkish delight.
What is it?
I need it, you know.
Yep.
That kind of thing.
So you went through highschool, you were a good student,
you um then where where fromhigh school?
What what happened after that?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (08:57):
The irony is is uh so I went to Stanford, but
um, I grew up in the Seattlearea, and my both my parents
went to University ofWashington, and almost all the
people I knew went to Universityof Washington.
But when I was um younger, um Iloved to watch college football
with my dad.
Now every once in a while I'dget to go to one of the games.
(09:19):
Um but as a in that process, Ihad this huge crush on um Jim
Plunkett, who was the uh he wasthe quarterback for um first
Stanford team.
And and and you know, so Iwould see like those those
things they do at the um, youknow, where they show this the
(09:42):
campus, etc.
And it had palm trees.
And I was like, I really wantto go to Stanford.
And my dad said, well, if youwant to go to Stanford, you've
got to work really, really hard.
And so I did.
But I mean, uh the reason Ichose Stanford was it had palm
trees and Jim Plunkett, notnecessarily that that's a very
18-year-old girl decision.
(10:04):
Well, yeah, except I was like12 at the time.
Oh, wow.
Jen Coronado (10:08):
So you decided that early?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (10:10):
Yeah.
I hate it when people say Ican't do something.
And so I decided, you know,when I was 12 that I wanted to
go to Stanford, and I went to myhigh school counselor, and he
told me, I think you should, youknow, set your sights somewhere
else.
No one from this high schoolgets into Stanford.
(10:30):
And I just couldn't believethat he would say that to me.
And the other irony is thatyear, three people from my class
got into Stanford, um, whichwere we were probably some of
the first kids to go to Stanfordfrom our high school, but three
in one year after, you know,the counselor trying to steer me
(10:51):
away from that.
Jen Coronado (10:53):
Maybe he inspired all of them to go to Stanford
because he said, no, no,nobody's gonna do that.
Exactly.
You can't do that.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (10:58):
Yeah.
And and then I I I got toStanford and I was pretty
overwhelmed.
I felt like I just wasn't assmart as everybody else.
And the first thing thathappened when I got there is,
you know, I I met all these uhnew people, several of whom are,
you know, my lifelong friendsnow, but they had all come in
(11:19):
with AP credits.
And I never we didn't have wedidn't have um AP programs at at
high school.
I didn't even know what theywere.
And so, you know, one of myreally close friends who lived
across the hall, you know, shecame in, she was halfway through
her freshman year uh giving herAP credits.
It took me really my freshmanyear to kind of build up my
(11:42):
confidence and believe that Icould hold my own with uh all
the students there.
And I think that was a reallythat was a really pivotal
moment.
Jen Coronado (11:50):
I want to go back to something you said earlier,
which is I can't stand it whenpeople tell me I can't do
something.
Why is that?
Where does that come from?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (11:58):
I really grew up believing that, you know,
sort of where there's a will,there's a way, and that anything
was possible.
And so when people tell youcan't do something, it's it's
basically in direct conflictwith that.
That you know, the older I'vegotten, obviously there are some
things that are no longerpossible or um or maybe never
(12:23):
were, but I really believed whenI was growing up that I could
do anything if I put my mind toit.
Jen Coronado (12:30):
So funny you say that I have this tattoo on my
arm and it says, I dream ofthings that uh never were, and
to ask why not, which is youknow, uh OG Bobby Kennedy quote,
with uh uh drafting off aGeorge Bernard Shaw quote.
So it's it's great.
You can't have things happenunless you believe in
(12:51):
possibilities.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
You have to dream.
Yeah.
So you got you you built yourconfidence in in your in your
freshman year.
And what started to happen foryou there after you felt like,
oh, I finally belong in thisplace?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (13:05):
I I think that, you know, one of the
things that was really importantis I made some very close
friends who are still my friendstoday, um, my closest friends.
And um I I didn't have a reallygood idea.
I I majored in internationalrelations.
Um well, actually, I should goback.
(13:26):
So I started my first idea wasthat I was gonna major in
Egyptology.
Okay, where did that come from,baby?
Well, because I loved, I lovedreading, you know, like like
Indiana Jones-like stories.
I just for me, it was, youknow, definitely the romantic
(13:46):
dream of discovery and umexploration.
My parents are like, no, we'renot sending you to Stanford to
become an archaeologist.
Um, so my next idea was arthistory.
Then it went English.
And they're like, you know, whydon't you choose something
where you can actually get ajob?
They were really afraid that Iwas going to go to this very
(14:09):
expensive school and not be ableto get a job.
So I ended up choosing aninternational relations because
it's essentially a liberal artsdegree.
You know, it's a mix ofhistory, political science, uh,
language.
And so, in effect, I didn'treally have to make much of a
decision because it was sort ofa little bit of everything.
Well, there was a moment when Iwas graduating um where I
(14:32):
thought I wanted to be in theCIA.
Again, this sort ofromanticized like three days of
the condor.
You were gonna be an analyst?
Yeah, I wanted to be ananalyst, and then, you know, and
then I wanted to be caught upin a three days of the condor
stuff, you know, type umadventure.
Yeah.
Uh but I didn't do that.
(14:52):
I got a job.
And um, I kind of like exploreda couple of different things.
I started out in retail, Ireally didn't like that.
I did some real estatesecurities, I didn't really like
that.
So I decided to go back tobusiness school.
And the main reason for goingback to business school is I
(15:13):
feel like it's sort of like youget one shot, like one get out
of jail free card, I always callit, where you can make an
industry switch.
And because I didn't I didn'tlove business school.
Um I actually did everything Icould to sort of try to find
other things to do while I wasat business school, which was
(15:33):
also at Stanford.
So I took creative writing, um,I took some some more Italian.
Um, you know, I kind of didwhat I had to do to get my MBA
and then supplement it with morecreative kinds of classes and
activities.
Uh, I did some theater and myundergraduate was much more
(15:59):
foundational, pivotal than myMBA, except for the fact that by
getting my MBA, I I was able tomake a pretty radical career
shift.
Jen Coronado (16:11):
Yeah, it opens doors for sure.
But I hear I hear so much inlike what you're talking about,
Vicky.
You you tried English, youtried art history, you tried
other things, and then you go toyour MBA and you're like, I'm
doing Italian and I'm doingtheater, and you feel like it
feels like you're alwayssupplementing yourself with
something creative to like keepkeep whatever your job target or
your education target is going.
(16:31):
Do you think that's an accurateassessment?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (16:34):
I think it's very accurate.
And what what happened atbusiness school is um at that
time it was almost everyoneeither went into investment
banking or managementconsulting.
And I had a bunch of closefriends who were management
consultants.
You know, there there was thesummer job, and all, you know,
all the management consultingcompanies and investment banks
(16:56):
came to campus to interview.
I was interviewing withMcKinsey, and when they
interview you, they give you ayou know spontaneous case that
you're supposed to sort of talkthem through how you would
approach it.
They gave me a case about anauto manufacturer, and it was
(17:17):
very specifically aboutcarburetors, and I didn't even
know what a carburetor was orwhat it did, and I didn't really
care for cars.
So I started to try to talk myway through this, and I finally,
it was so miserable.
(17:38):
I s I just finally said, youknow, I think I should just save
both of us um the uhfrustration of trying to uh you
know sort of bullshit my waythrough this.
And and so I left the interviewearly.
And then my next interview waswith Bain and Company, and
(17:59):
that's where I had a lot ofreally close friends.
And and in fact, the person whointerviewed me was someone that
I knew quite well.
And he said, I gotta be honestwith you.
I you really strike me as avery creative person and a
person that gravitates towardthings that are much more
(18:22):
creative.
Um my advice to you is to get asummer job that's somewhere in
the creative space.
And if after that job, thatsummer, you still feel convinced
that management consulting iswhat you want to do, then we can
talk about a full-time jobafter you graduate.
(18:45):
It was the absolute best adviceI ever got because I did I did
end up working for San FranciscoBallet for the summer after
actually volunteering to work atILM for free and being turned
down.
Jen Coronado (19:01):
Let me just tell you really quickly.
I creative people always dothat.
They always do that.
They're like, let me give thisaway for free.
So continue.
Yeah, but then they turn youdown.
And you're like, wait, I'moffering my free services.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (19:17):
I I did feel honestly at San Francisco
Ballet, I did decide that Ididn't want to work for in
nonprofit arts management.
Um, there's just so manydifferent groups that um are
always vying for control andlots of you know different
(19:37):
constituencies.
So it was, but that said, Iloved being around dancers.
I loved being um in a in aperformance sort of setting.
I loved the um creativeaspects.
And so it was it was kind of arough, rough road to get there,
but it was it was definitelywell all worth it.
Jen Coronado (19:58):
Yeah.
And the thing uhnon-for-profits are uh at least
as far as arts, you talk aboutthe constituencies, it's
actually so political becauseyou're you're constantly kind of
hustling to keep theorganization going, and you
don't really and your revenueplan is please let me ask all
these people for money for moneyto keep us going.
Exactly.
Which makes it harder tobalance as opposed to having a
(20:21):
business plan that you'retargeting and you're gonna have
revenue, you know.
Yep.
So you offered to work for freeat ILM, but you ultimately
ended up working there with apaid gig.
What did that look like?
How did that come about?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (20:32):
You know, I stayed in touch with them
periodically through my secondyear in business school, and I
it looked like I was gonnagraduate without a job, um,
which was terrifying.
But about a week and a half orso before I was gonna graduate,
they called and said, Would youlike to interview?
We have a marketing assistantposition.
(20:55):
And I said, Sure.
I, you know, I would obviouslylove to.
And um they said, then thenyour interview will be on this
day at this time.
And I said, Um, I really,really want to be there.
Is there any other time we cando that?
Because um I have a a groupclass project presentation that
(21:19):
I have to give.
And they said, No, we're reallysorry.
It's sort of then or none.
And so I talked to my group andthey're like, you gotta do it.
And so they basically, theybasically covered for me, um,
did the presentation uh betweenjust the three of them.
(21:41):
And I had to figure out how toget up to ILM because I was down
in Palo Alto, I didn't have acar or anything.
It was I think it was like tookme like two and a half or three
hours.
I mean, because I had to takebuses and you know everything.
So I get there.
Keep in mind that this is avery, very entry-level position.
And I get there and theydidn't, they didn't really tell
(22:05):
me it didn't say ILM orindustrial light magic on the
door.
I was sort of wandering arounda little bit because I wasn't
quite sure if I was in the rightplace.
But when I finally get there inSan Rafael, uh there were like
15 people um interviewing me atonce, including the president,
(22:27):
all of the senior executives.
And and it and I was just like,oh my gosh.
I mean, of course, I just got,you know, was graduating from
business school.
I'm like, can you imagine howmuch this is costing um uh in
time for them to be allinterviewing me at once?
Uh it is something that's alittle bit a part of the um ILM
(22:47):
culture, though I will say I'veseen it over, you know, all
these years, is that there isthey like want a kind of
consensus point of view beforebringing someone in.
And so the, you know, you oftensee lots of people interviewing
one person.
Jen Coronado (23:02):
Yeah, I refer to it as the hippie mentality,
like, hey man, we gotta allcollaborate, you know?
Yeah, that sort of DNA from thethe origins of the company,
right?
Exactly.
So you had 15 peopleinterviewing you.
How did that interview look?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (23:18):
Like on top of everything else, a couple of
other things were happening.
First of all, they had uh onejob, which I eventually
discovered they had two peoplethey really wanted to hire.
Um, so they took the one joband split the salary in two,
which was already low.
Um, but the other thing thatwere a couple things that were
(23:41):
happening is the then presidentof Lucasfilm, whose name was
Doug Norby, he had decided thathe thought that they needed some
professional management in theuh organization, which I also
thought was kind of funnybecause it's like I had just
graduated from business school.
It wasn't like I had a wholebunch of um expertise, but that
(24:03):
that turned out to be helpful.
And the second thing was thiswas at a time when investment
banks were investing inHollywood, and everybody thought
it was well, it was terrible,actually.
You know, these were notcreative people who were trying
to run very creativeorganizations, and most of those
(24:25):
people had MBAs.
So, on the one hand, you know,Doug Norby wanted people with
professional management.
On the other hand, I reallydidn't want to tell anybody that
I had an MBA because it wasjust like the worst thing you
could possibly say within acreative organization.
So that was all kind of goingon.
So they were kind of curiousabout like, why do you want to
(24:48):
do this?
You know, why did you get yourMBA, that sort of thing.
And and what I had decided umafter the disastrous management
consulting episode the yearbefore, that I wanted to work
for a company whose product wasinherently creative.
That was my criteria.
I didn't really set out to bein media and entertainment per
(25:11):
se.
I mean, I looked at, you know,um, you know, the arts, wine,
fashion.
I looked at a whole bunch ofthings.
Yeah.
But I just kind of my patheventually led to ILM.
Jen Coronado (25:24):
And you you got that job that was split in two
where the salary was tiny tiny.
And this is the secret aboutthe film business that most
people don't know.
The people who get paid themost are Brad Pitt.
And everyone else gets paid,you know, just a living wage.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (25:39):
So you don't you don't go into this business
to make money.
No, I mean a few people do, butum, but I always tell people
like you you make differentchoices, and every choice has a
price.
And um I have loved, I've lovedmy career, but you know, I
(26:01):
definitely it's not a get richcareer.
Jen Coronado (26:05):
No, for sure.
And I know, I know when youwere you got into this role,
they also they they were askingyou to develop help develop a
marketing plan and a businessplan as a marketing assistant.
So uh what and now Vicky hasjumped all over and tried these
different things, and it soundslike you're like, Well, I you
can't tell me I can't do this.
(26:25):
So how did you go about doingthat?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (26:28):
Well, this is where I do think like I have
been throughout my whole career,I've been very opportunistic
just trying to figure out a pathforward.
You know, so um my boss at thetime, who was Rose Degnan, she
asked me if I do anything aboutdeveloping a marketing plan.
And I said, Well, I I dobecause I just graduated from
(26:50):
business school, but I don'treally know anything about the
industry.
Do you have a business plan?
And she kind of looks at mewith, you know, sort of blankly,
and I said, you know, somethingthat just like summarizes who
the competition is, you know,five years of financial
projections, trends, you know,strategic initiatives, et
cetera.
(27:10):
Well, nothing, nothing existed.
So I said, I'll tell you what,you tell me who to interview,
and I will interview them and Iwill write a first draft of a
business plan.
And even if I'm a hundredpercent wrong, at least it's
something tangible for forpeople to respond to.
So that's what I did.
(27:31):
And um, so I apparently wrotethe first official ILM business
plan.
Jen Coronado (27:36):
How did you process doing that, Vicky?
Like someone, you're you'rebasically a kid, you know what I
mean?
Um and you're like, I'll dothis, fine.
Like, where does uh that comefrom?
Where does that small how doessmall town Vicky get there?
You know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (27:52):
Well, one of the things I've learned over
these many, many years is theway my mind works.
And my mind is I'm a very bigpicture person, and I I like to
understand how things fittogether, but I also tend to
live in the future.
Like I'm always thinking likefive or 10 years out.
(28:17):
And that's both a strength anda weakness.
Um, the weakness is is whenyou're, you know, when you're in
like a management role or anoperational role or something
like that, it's hard for me tolive in the present.
And it's really necessary, um,I think to do a good job in in
(28:38):
certain roles to be able to livein the present.
So that was just an interestinglearning about myself.
But anyway, because I like tounderstand how they fit, things
fit together.
I like things to make sense.
I like to have a sense ofvision, like where we're trying
to go, why we're trying to gothere, is it worth going there?
Um and so I just I by talkingto, I don't remember how many
(29:04):
people I talked to, but I I wantto say it was probably eight to
ten people.
And you know, it it was anunbelievable opportunity when
you think about it.
Because I'm I'm talking toeight to ten of the uh most
senior people at ILM and justlearning from them, just sort of
(29:25):
like absorbing all of this umknowledge that they had gained
over many, many years, and thentrying to to fit all the pieces
together.
So it's like I was very lucky.
Jen Coronado (29:38):
It's like you went from getting your MBA to
getting your MFA.
Because you know, you'retalking to all these creative
people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know you bounced aroundwithin in the company.
Can and you ended up um how didyou drift between the different
different companies withinwithin the Lucasfilm
organization?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (29:57):
So so what happened is after I had
Apparently, did the first ILMbusiness plan.
They decided to sort of pluckme out of ILM and drop me into
all of these different areas ofactivity.
The way that Lucasfilm at thetime used to figure out like new
(30:18):
business opportunities is theyjust started doing it.
And then they were trying tofigure out if it actually made
sense.
So I literally was kind ofrunning around after all these
little pockets ofentrepreneurial activity to
figure out whether they weresustainable.
We did some really early, therewas location-based
(30:40):
entertainment that was using theum Evan Sutherland, you know,
simulation platforms forentertainment.
I mean, this would have been inlike very early 90s.
It was pretty technicallyadvanced for that time period.
Very.
And so the location-basedentertainment stuff that we were
(31:01):
doing was super, super cool.
It was way ahead of its time.
Similarly, you know, the laststop on my journey to all these
different little pockets ofactivity was Lucasfilm Learning.
And Lucasfilm Learning wastrying to do educational
multimedia for the schoolmarket.
I was not a, you know, not atechnologist, not an educator.
(31:24):
I had no experience.
But I was completely taken withthe vision and what they were
trying to do.
And it was really sort ofliving at that intersection of
storytelling, interactivity,high-fidelity media, such that
(31:46):
it was at the time, um, with awith an education lens.
But it was really project-basedlearning and story was quite
important there.
So we did a a prototype thatwas called Paul Parkranger and
the mystery of the disappearingducks.
See that title again?
Paul Park Ranger and theMystery of the Disappearing
(32:08):
Ducks.
Got it.
Okay.
But what was super cool aboutthat is that the way this
prototype came together is theyworked with, they took a
professional design team,obviously, on the Lucasfilm
learning side, and partneredeach of those team members with
a high school student.
(32:29):
And then together they weredeveloping a prototype for
middle grade kids.
So the high school kids hadjust come through middle grade.
They were the ones that decidedthat a mystery format was a
good one.
And they created the characterof Paul Park Ranger.
And so, you know, basicallywhat happens is you this is back
(32:51):
in the point and click era,too.
Right, right.
Macintosh point and click.
So you go into Paul's cabin.
Paul is gone.
He has left to go solve someother environmental mysteries,
and there's a message for you.
You know, so you click on therecorder, and you know, he tells
you that he needs your helpbecause um the ducks are
(33:13):
disappearing.
Every year, fewer and fewerducks are coming back.
And why?
Why?
What is wrong?
So, anyway, there was no, therewas no right or wrong answer.
It was the whole goal wascritical thinking and creative
problem solving.
You're supposed to develop atheory for why this was
happening and then support thattheory with all of the
(33:34):
information that was availablein Paul's cabin.
I just it it was it wasabsolutely a turning point in my
career.
I I became obsessed with thecombination, you know, being
able to bring these kinds oftechnologies together.
But as has been the case inmany times in my in my career,
(33:55):
timing is everything, and thatwas not the right timing.
Um we were about 30 years aheadof our time because what was
just slightly.
I mean, what was so interestingis the the the sort of
interface of Paul's cabin andthe way you clicked on things is
like absolutely perfect for VR,right?
(34:16):
You're now you're in the cabin,you can um literally access all
this information dynamically,but it just made me think, you
know, like none of that waspossible back then.
Jen Coronado (34:30):
Well, I have to ask the question because I know
Lucas Learning, you ended uphaving to to shutter it.
How there's not a lot of moneyin schools.
Is that is that something thatwas the problem?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (34:40):
Yeah.
That was the problem.
And it was uh not only is therenot a lot of money, but there
is a tremendous amount ofbureaucracy.
Uh now I don't know if it'sstill the same today, but but
back in like 90 to 92, if yougot adopted, which was the only
place there was money, um youhad to do updates and be
(35:04):
relevant for seven years.
And if you think about howfast, you know, our
understanding of the worldchanges, especially now, but
even then, it was just really,really hard to compete.
And and then you're workingobviously with these um, you
know, huge textbook publishers.
So we we were working more in,I can't remember what they call
(35:28):
it, but it it's it's the littlepool of money that doesn't go to
textbooks.
And then on top of everythingelse, quite frankly, the the
technology required to do theseexperiences was fairly
complicated to set up.
It was a computer-driven laserdisplayer.
And so even though we managedto figure out how to get grants
(35:50):
and other things to get thetechnology into the schools, uh,
there often wasn't enoughtraining or there was turnover.
And so that equipment sat inclosets.
And um, yeah, it was really,really sad.
But but one thing that wasinteresting about it, because as
I said, I wasn't atechnologist, I was an educator,
etc.
But I I was on the cusp ofgroundbreaking work.
(36:15):
And as a result, I became anexpert just by being in the
right place at the right time.
Jen Coronado (36:21):
Yeah, sounds it sounds like you've had a ton of
that.
I mean, so so um lookslearning, you had to you had to
close it.
And that's a terrible feeling,uh, particularly for people who
are on the doing somethingreally valuable because you're
helping children as well, right?
So what happened next for you?
(36:42):
What was the next how did Vickygo, oh well, what do I do now?
You know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (36:46):
Well, I was really, um, as I said, I was
very, very interested in what isnow called immersive
entertainment, but it could havebeen called that then, you
know, if if we had even knownsuch was the term.
I was really interested in thesort of the high-fidelity media
coupled with storytelling andinteractivity.
(37:09):
I was also really intriguedwith transmedia, so
cross-platform storytelling.
I put together a businessproposal for an edutainment
group.
So it would have beencross-platform, but but the you
know, the company is organizedin verticals, just like Disney
(37:30):
is.
Yeah.
And what I was proposing wasthis little sliver of
horizontal.
And it's really hard to dosomething that is, you know,
literally at odds with the umorganizational structure.
So I tried that, uh, it itdidn't go anywhere, but I
actually pitched a similar kindof idea to the Nature Company,
(37:55):
um, which was a specialtyretailer.
And I remember them, yeah.
Yeah, the idea was to develop aworld um and characters and
stories that we would sort ofintroduce kids through comic
book format.
Um, but then we'd do a wholeproduct line that that supported
that.
So, you know, somecharacter-based product and
(38:18):
world-based product and thatkind of thing.
And I had the chance to workwith um probably one of the most
innovative thinkers that I havemet.
He was definitely um one of thepeople that really, really
inspired me.
(38:39):
Unfortunately, again, timing iseverything.
Uh the, you know, the they callthem big box stores or
something, you know, the HomeDepots, et cetera, yeah, were
were just coming online and itreally sort of crushed the
specialty retail space.
Eventually they went out ofbusiness.
And um the the work that I wasdoing, you know, they they
(39:02):
essentially shut all of thatstuff down.
And I um then did independentconsulting, my biggest client
being well, Disney Company.
Jen Coronado (39:12):
Well, let me ask you, independent consulting.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
And how do you like thatthere's a hustle that has to
happen when you're anindependent consultant, right?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (39:20):
I there is, and and I it's not something
that I loved.
I'll tell you, there are thereare pluses to being a
consultant, which is it iseasier to distance yourself from
things that you don't believe.
You know, like like thecompany's gonna do what the
company's gonna do.
You can try to guide them in adirection, but if they don't
(39:41):
listen to you, then it's easierto, like I say, distance
yourself as opposed to being ininside.
And so thankfully, I got a big,big job, which was Disney.
Jen Coronado (39:55):
How do you do that?
How do you get that big job?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (39:57):
What's the what's the pitch?
It was lucky.
Um it's a little complicated,but when I left the nature
company, I was able to take allthe IP that we had developed
with me.
I I paid a nominal um sum inorder to have it, but I owned
all the IP, which was a um whichwas a concept called Teratopia,
(40:22):
Tales of Teratopia.
Um and it was an eco-fantasyadventure and it had characters
and everything.
So I actually somehow metsomeone at Disney who they were
setting up an educational umpublishing group, and they were
potentially interested inacquiring Teratopia.
(40:44):
And it got all the way up tosenior executive level.
And over the course of, Iremember it was like close to
Christmas, and I used to tellpeople, like, if they were
interested in teratopia, I said,if you have any kids around
that are between the ages of sixand twelve, let them read this
(41:08):
and see what they, you know,what they think.
And the senior executives didthat, and the kids that he
shared it with loved it.
I think it was ABC actually atthe time.
And Disney acquired ABC.
That's what it was.
And so Disney is like, we haveplenty of IP, we don't need any
(41:28):
new IP.
And so, but because of that,that sort of pitching process,
etc., I made the connectionsinside of ABC slash Disney.
And then they decided when theywere doing the educational
publishing that they wanted todevelop original IP that and so
they brought me in as aconsultant instead of acquiring
(41:50):
Teratopia.
Right.
But it was uh and I did thatfor about two years, and what
happened is what DisneyEducational Publishing was
trying to do was almostidentical to what I had pitched
at Lucasfilm, where it's thislittle sliver across a company
(42:12):
that is organized in verticals.
And I could see the notinvented here, you know, like we
don't want your creative, we'redoing our own over here.
And so I I saw the writing onthe wall.
I knew the same thing was gonnahappen and that had happened at
at Lucasfilm.
And so I ended up um going backto ILM and taking a full-time
(42:40):
job.
And then, you know, I was doingall kinds of strategic
initiatives, et cetera, uh,until I sort of landed in the
immersive entertainment space.
Jen Coronado (42:49):
So, like I remember you were you were
working on the CG side, you wereworking um planning there, and
then you moved over to in whatwas the president's office at
that time and working onstrategy there.
And then the idea of immersivecame around.
And suddenly I'm like, well,Vicki's over here, and now she's
over here.
Like she's shifted into a newspot.
(43:12):
How did that shift happen?
And were you like, wow, this, Ifeel like my life has led to
this moment based on what you'veexplored?
How'd that feel?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (43:21):
I I did.
I I will say that um I wastalking to somebody the other
day, um, a student, and I said,one thing that's interesting
about my career is out of youknow the the 34 years with um
with Lucasfilm, only two ofthose jobs actually had job
descriptions and titles.
It was the first one, themarketing assistant, and it was
(43:44):
the first one after I came backafter having you know working
with Disney, it was anoperations manager.
Every other role that I've hadhas been more um more
opportunistic and where I saw anopportunity and um created and
and a role was created in mostcases specifically for me,
(44:07):
meaning that if I was to movefrom point A to point B or role
A to role B, it's not like theywere gonna backfill that role
because usually it's becausewhatever the problem that we
were trying to address or theopportunity we were trying to
(44:27):
explore, it either, you know, iteither got resolved or it got
underway, and then somebody elsecould could take it from there.
So I had been waiting since theLucasfilm Learning Days to the
point where I thought that um,because in order to do the
interactivity, it had to bereal-time.
And based on the work that wasbeing done by the advanced
(44:50):
development group, where theywere combining the you know
talent from the games group withthe talent from ILM, they
created real-time content at aquality level that hadn't been
achievable before.
And I was like, I was like, nowthis is the time, this is the
(45:10):
time to do that.
And so initially I was sort ofsupporting it almost more,
almost in a more ad hoc way byvirtue of my role, you know,
leading strategic planning andinitiatives.
But um eventually, you know, wedecided to go ahead and
establish a division because wewere so convinced of the
(45:35):
compelling nature of what ADGhad done that we felt that we
could actually create a studioon top.
And so I was I was um a corepart of that uh launching the
new division.
Jen Coronado (45:46):
I've seen you you you get interviewed constantly
because of who you are and whatyou contribute to the industry.
And again, going back to whoyou are, because that's such a
valuable part of everything.
Um, and you've been at South bySouthwest, and I saw you were
interviewed uh recently fromeducational facility in in Texas
related to immersive stuff.
(46:08):
What are the questions thatyou're like, I really want to
answer this question, but nobodyever asks me that question?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (46:16):
Well, sometimes people have actually
asked that question of what Ithe way I respond is um is what
do I think it takes to besuccessful in a um or or what
has been required to besuccessful and to sort of chart
the course that I have.
(46:37):
I actually did a talk on this,you know, like what are the top
10, what's required in order tobe successful?
But what ultimately what Irealized is it kind of gets down
to three things in my mind, um,which are more personal
qualities than they are anythingto do with the industry itself.
Yeah.
(46:57):
And the first was resilience,being really like open to
change, not being afraid ofthings that are unknown or
unproven.
In fact, quite the opposite.
You need to sort of um embracethat.
But in that kind of space, whenyou're pioneering, etc., it's
(47:21):
always shifting, and you have tobe extremely open to adapting
your point of view as you learnmore and as more becomes clear.
So resilience, courage.
I think that in the last 10years, I I've had many, many,
(47:42):
many sleepless nights.
Um because we were trying to dothings that had never been done
before.
That was at the that was kindof like the core foundational
principle of ILMX Lab was tokeep pushing the boundaries.
But every time you push, youknow, there are moments when you
(48:02):
just have doubts and um youwonder if it's gonna work.
And, you know, am I gonna beable to make this business make
sense?
Is this gonna be, you know, uh,is what we're creating going to
have an audience, etc.
Um, and then the last one ispassion.
And I think that passion is isis absolutely core to being
(48:28):
successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And, you know, when you thinkabout it, all of this creative
work is really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
And um, and that's I think whenwhen great things happen, when
(48:52):
magic happens.
I think that passion is is isabsolutely core to being
successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And you know, when you thinkabout it, all of this creative
(49:14):
work is really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
And um, and that's I think whenwhen great things happen, when
magic happens.
Jen Coronado (49:25):
I also think you have to for creative people have
to do things for themselves inorder to bring their full self
to work, right?
Yeah.
What do you do for yourself?
Not much.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (49:38):
Um, just kidding.
But um, you know, you weretalking about writing, and I
used to write quite a lot.
I really loved fiction writing.
Um, I was especially, you know,interested in sort of the
thriller slash suspense genre.
And um ever since I started umhelped start ILM Max Lab, I
(50:03):
really haven't written at all.
So that's been 10 years of notwriting.
That's what I used to do toinspire myself creatively.
I think these days, um, well,of course, I'm I'm I'm going to
be retiring soon.
So I'm looking forward togetting back to some of um that,
(50:24):
you know, creative writing andreally just giving myself the
time and the freedom to trystuff in so many ways.
I feel like giving birth toILMX Lab was like my child.
You know, it was like um, andit it requires all of yourself,
(50:46):
you know, and what little I hadleft, you know, obviously I, you
know, I try to invest in myfamily and my husband and you
know, doing things that um thatkeep me connected to the present
and to everything that'simportant to me there.
But um yeah, it's been anamazing and exhausting and
(51:10):
inspiring all at once 10 years.
Jen Coronado (51:14):
Yeah, well, I look forward to you doing stuff for
yourself because you are animpressive individual who gives
so much to others that uh it'svacing time.
So thank you.
Um, my last question for you,and we ask this of a lot of
people uh on the podcast, iswhat does creativity mean to
(51:36):
you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (51:37):
It's a good question because there are
creative results from thingsthat you do, you know, films,
books, television, etc.
But there's also creativethinking and creative problem
solving.
And these are things that it'sit's it's really been very core
(51:59):
to me.
That's probably been my most umsuccessful creative endeavors
have been because of creativelythinking about what the
opportunities are and figuringout how to put the pieces
together.
And um, you and I have talkedabout this.
I I think that a lot of timespeople um are a little too
(52:22):
narrow in the way that they umdescribe what it is to be
creative.
And I think all of us have thepotential to be creative, and it
doesn't necessarily mean youcan draw or sing or write or all
those things.
It might just be how youapproach problems and
opportunities.
Jen Coronado (52:42):
Yeah.
Great.
Well, Vicki, thank you so muchfor spending time with us today.
We know you're you're verybusy, so we appreciate that.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (52:50):
Thank you.
It's very fun.
It's great to talk to you asalways, as it always has been
over the years.
Jen Coronado (52:55):
Oh, thanks, Vicky.
Thank you for listening toEveryone Is.
Everyone Is is produced andedited by Chris Hawkinson.
Executive producer is AaronDusseau.
Music by Doug Infinite.
Our logo and graphic design isby Harrison Parker, and I'm Jen
Coronado.
Everyone Is is a slightlydisappointed productions
production dropping every otherThursday.
So make sure to rate and reviewand like and subscribe.
(53:18):
Thanks for listening.
I think that passion is absolutely core to
being successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And when you think about it,all of this creative work is
really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
(00:21):
And that's, I think, when whengreat things happen, when magic
happens.
Jen Coronado (00:27):
Hi, welcome to everyone is.
I'm your host, JenniferCoronado.
The intent of this show is toengage with all kinds of people
and build the understanding thatanyone who has any kind of
success is successful becausethey're a creative thinker.
So whether you're an artist ora cook or an award-winning
journalist, everyone hassomething to contribute to the
human conversation.
(00:48):
Because everyone just is.
I have known Vicki Dobbsbeckfor a long time.
She is currently the VP ofImmersive Content for Lucasfilm
and Industrial Line Magic, andhas held various strategic
planning roles with the companyover the years, but I'm less
interested in the jobs she'sheld over the years and more
interested in how she processesinformation because I love
(01:11):
Vicky's brain.
And I want to talk about whatled her to what she's doing
today.
And I'm going to ask you a veryinitial provocative question.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Where did you grow up?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (01:23):
I grew up in Kirkland, Washington, which was
not well known when I grew upthere, but it became the home of
Costco.
Jen Coronado (01:32):
We talk a lot about Silicon Valley, but
Seattle was also a hub fortechnical innovation right
around that area.
So what was it starting therewhen you were growing up there?
Or was that even a thought?
But like what was the mainindustry?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (01:45):
Kirkland was actually an old town.
And it was kind of a very basicmiddle class town.
But and actually we had adrive-in theater about uh a mile
from where I grew up.
And that drive-in theater gottorn down, and that's where the
(02:05):
first Microsoft offices were.
And then it just expanded fromthere.
They expanded um into otherbuildings nearby, and then into
Bellevue, and then eventuallyinto Redmond.
And of course, now they'reglobal.
Um, but that was happening whenI was growing up.
So it started that um thattransition to a much more tech
(02:28):
focus, I think probably while Iwas in high school, I would say.
And then, you know, it becamealso the home, as I said, of
Costco, as well as um, I thinkit was cost cellular.
So for a pretty small town, ithad a lot of very what became
very big companies.
Jen Coronado (02:49):
Why do you think that is?
What do what do you think aboutthat environment made it ripe
for that?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (02:54):
I really have no idea other than the fact that
it probably wasn't veryexpensive.
Um, it wasn't very expensivereal estate.
It wasn't as expensive as, forexample, Bellevue, which was
next door, or you know, downtownSeattle.
Um, it was a nice little town.
And so I think people may havejust, you know, decided that's
(03:16):
where they were gonna set uptheir offices as a result.
Jen Coronado (03:19):
Yeah.
Isn't that interesting how thathappened stands and look what
grows out of it, you know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (03:24):
Exactly.
I mean, I I went to a highschool that was in a district
that included Mercer Island anduh Bellevue, Newport.
All of these are very, very umhigh-end, you know, areas.
And um our high school was justsort of like I said, it was
(03:46):
very, very middle class.
Um, but it was interesting tobe in a district that had such a
diverse um sort of uh reallylike socio um economic
diversity.
Jen Coronado (04:04):
And what and what did your parents do when you
were growing up?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (04:08):
My my um parents were both in in
medicine.
Um my dad started out as uh apediatrician and um my mom was a
nurse, and then when I was inhigh school, I think, or just
going into college, my daddecided that he wanted to make a
(04:29):
big change, and so he heliterally went um back into
residency and became a cardiacanesthesiologist, and um that
that kind of specialization hassort of since disappeared.
People, you know, who areanesthesiologists now generally
do lots of different kinds, butmy dad very specifically did
(04:52):
open heart surgery.
Wow.
And then my mom um got hermaster's in public health, so
she had a lot of um, she wasn'tjust a practicing nurse, but she
was also an administrator.
Of course, I didn't go anywherenear medicine, um, nor did my
siblings.
Jen Coronado (05:11):
Why not?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (05:13):
Actually, it's a really, really hard um
profession.
And I hate the sight of bloodor um or knives or anything like
that.
So it was it was a pretty easydecision.
Well, tell me about yoursiblings too.
How many, how many do you have?
Um, well, I have a a brother umwho's living, and then I had a
(05:37):
sister who passed away um almost30 years ago.
Jen Coronado (05:42):
Yeah.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (05:43):
Um and that was tough because you know, when
you have two parents who are inthe medical profession and then
you lose one of your children,um, you know, she died from
complications of childbirth.
That's a really, really toughthing to to live with when
you've dedicated your whole lifeto saving others and then you
(06:05):
know, one of your own uh you'renot able to save.
Jen Coronado (06:09):
Yeah, I know you're very close to your
sister, so I'm very sorry aboutthat.
Yeah, what like what were thethings for you for you did you
don't like knives, you don'tlike blood.
So no serial killing ormedicine for you.
So what like what were thethings for you as a kid that
were super interesting to you?
Because you're such anintelligent and uh a pursuer of
(06:31):
knowledge.
What like what were the thingsthat that really fascinated you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (06:36):
You know, I loved doing a lot of different
things.
I did ice skating, I didgymnastics, I did ballet, I did
quite a bit of ballet.
And I also loved to write.
And so I would write creativestories and then I would hire a
friend to do illustrations forme because I couldn't draw.
(06:57):
Um and, you know, I reallyliked school.
Actually, I was good in schooland I I liked school, but um, I
think my favorite class wasEnglish.
Oh, yeah.
What did you like about it?
What appealed to you?
I liked the writing and I likedthe reading.
Yeah um and I actually stayedin touch with my high school
(07:19):
English teacher until he passedaway, um which was probably 15
or so years ago now.
But that was really interestingto stay in touch with somebody
for probably 40 years.
Jen Coronado (07:34):
That's great.
And I know that you you stillon occasion write, but I wonder,
Vicky, for you, like what werewriters that were really
influential to you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (07:42):
I think it was a combination of the writers
and the genre that they wrote.
Um, so I was a big C.S.
Lewis fan.
I've read all of his works, butI was initially captivated by
Chronicles of Narnia.
Yes.
And I think I I heard them.
(08:03):
Um, they were read to me uh forthe first time, and then I've
probably read all of them, youknow, four or five times over
the the many years.
So that's kind of that'sprobably one of the most
influential writers for me.
Jen Coronado (08:18):
I remember as a little kid, I I love I loved
reading series.
Like I read all the NancyDrews, like every single of
them, you know.
But I agree with you, like theChronicles of Narnia, like I
would sit in my closet as alittle kid and hope that some
sort of wardrobe would open upand you'd end up, you know, in
(08:39):
Narnia.
So exactly.
Oh boy, I dreamed I dreamt ofthat.
Yeah.
Turkish delight.
What is it?
I need it, you know.
Yep.
That kind of thing.
So you went through highschool, you were a good student,
you um then where where fromhigh school?
What what happened after that?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (08:57):
The irony is is uh so I went to Stanford, but
um, I grew up in the Seattlearea, and my both my parents
went to University ofWashington, and almost all the
people I knew went to Universityof Washington.
But when I was um younger, um Iloved to watch college football
with my dad.
Now every once in a while I'dget to go to one of the games.
(09:19):
Um but as a in that process, Ihad this huge crush on um Jim
Plunkett, who was the uh he wasthe quarterback for um first
Stanford team.
And and and you know, so Iwould see like those those
things they do at the um, youknow, where they show this the
(09:42):
campus, etc.
And it had palm trees.
And I was like, I really wantto go to Stanford.
And my dad said, well, if youwant to go to Stanford, you've
got to work really, really hard.
And so I did.
But I mean, uh the reason Ichose Stanford was it had palm
trees and Jim Plunkett, notnecessarily that that's a very
18-year-old girl decision.
(10:04):
Well, yeah, except I was like12 at the time.
Oh, wow.
Jen Coronado (10:08):
So you decided that early?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (10:10):
Yeah.
I hate it when people say Ican't do something.
And so I decided, you know,when I was 12 that I wanted to
go to Stanford, and I went to myhigh school counselor, and he
told me, I think you should, youknow, set your sights somewhere
else.
No one from this high schoolgets into Stanford.
(10:30):
And I just couldn't believethat he would say that to me.
And the other irony is thatyear, three people from my class
got into Stanford, um, whichwere we were probably some of
the first kids to go to Stanfordfrom our high school, but three
in one year after, you know,the counselor trying to steer me
(10:51):
away from that.
Jen Coronado (10:53):
Maybe he inspired all of them to go to Stanford
because he said, no, no,nobody's gonna do that.
Exactly.
You can't do that.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (10:58):
Yeah.
And and then I I I got toStanford and I was pretty
overwhelmed.
I felt like I just wasn't assmart as everybody else.
And the first thing thathappened when I got there is,
you know, I I met all these uhnew people, several of whom are,
you know, my lifelong friendsnow, but they had all come in
(11:19):
with AP credits.
And I never we didn't have wedidn't have um AP programs at at
high school.
I didn't even know what theywere.
And so, you know, one of myreally close friends who lived
across the hall, you know, shecame in, she was halfway through
her freshman year uh giving herAP credits.
It took me really my freshmanyear to kind of build up my
(11:42):
confidence and believe that Icould hold my own with uh all
the students there.
And I think that was a reallythat was a really pivotal
moment.
Jen Coronado (11:50):
I want to go back to something you said earlier,
which is I can't stand it whenpeople tell me I can't do
something.
Why is that?
Where does that come from?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (11:58):
I really grew up believing that, you know,
sort of where there's a will,there's a way, and that anything
was possible.
And so when people tell youcan't do something, it's it's
basically in direct conflictwith that.
That you know, the older I'vegotten, obviously there are some
things that are no longerpossible or um or maybe never
(12:23):
were, but I really believed whenI was growing up that I could
do anything if I put my mind toit.
Jen Coronado (12:30):
So funny you say that I have this tattoo on my
arm and it says, I dream ofthings that uh never were, and
to ask why not, which is youknow, uh OG Bobby Kennedy quote,
with uh uh drafting off aGeorge Bernard Shaw quote.
So it's it's great.
You can't have things happenunless you believe in
(12:51):
possibilities.
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
You have to dream.
Yeah.
So you got you you built yourconfidence in in your in your
freshman year.
And what started to happen foryou there after you felt like,
oh, I finally belong in thisplace?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (13:05):
I I think that, you know, one of the
things that was really importantis I made some very close
friends who are still my friendstoday, um, my closest friends.
And um I I didn't have a reallygood idea.
I I majored in internationalrelations.
Um well, actually, I should goback.
(13:26):
So I started my first idea wasthat I was gonna major in
Egyptology.
Okay, where did that come from,baby?
Well, because I loved, I lovedreading, you know, like like
Indiana Jones-like stories.
I just for me, it was, youknow, definitely the romantic
(13:46):
dream of discovery and umexploration.
My parents are like, no, we'renot sending you to Stanford to
become an archaeologist.
Um, so my next idea was arthistory.
Then it went English.
And they're like, you know, whydon't you choose something
where you can actually get ajob?
They were really afraid that Iwas going to go to this very
(14:09):
expensive school and not be ableto get a job.
So I ended up choosing aninternational relations because
it's essentially a liberal artsdegree.
You know, it's a mix ofhistory, political science, uh,
language.
And so, in effect, I didn'treally have to make much of a
decision because it was sort ofa little bit of everything.
Well, there was a moment when Iwas graduating um where I
(14:32):
thought I wanted to be in theCIA.
Again, this sort ofromanticized like three days of
the condor.
You were gonna be an analyst?
Yeah, I wanted to be ananalyst, and then, you know, and
then I wanted to be caught upin a three days of the condor
stuff, you know, type umadventure.
Yeah.
Uh but I didn't do that.
(14:52):
I got a job.
And um, I kind of like exploreda couple of different things.
I started out in retail, Ireally didn't like that.
I did some real estatesecurities, I didn't really like
that.
So I decided to go back tobusiness school.
And the main reason for goingback to business school is I
(15:13):
feel like it's sort of like youget one shot, like one get out
of jail free card, I always callit, where you can make an
industry switch.
And because I didn't I didn'tlove business school.
Um I actually did everything Icould to sort of try to find
other things to do while I wasat business school, which was
(15:33):
also at Stanford.
So I took creative writing, um,I took some some more Italian.
Um, you know, I kind of didwhat I had to do to get my MBA
and then supplement it with morecreative kinds of classes and
activities.
Uh, I did some theater and myundergraduate was much more
(15:59):
foundational, pivotal than myMBA, except for the fact that by
getting my MBA, I I was able tomake a pretty radical career
shift.
Jen Coronado (16:11):
Yeah, it opens doors for sure.
But I hear I hear so much inlike what you're talking about,
Vicky.
You you tried English, youtried art history, you tried
other things, and then you go toyour MBA and you're like, I'm
doing Italian and I'm doingtheater, and you feel like it
feels like you're alwayssupplementing yourself with
something creative to like keepkeep whatever your job target or
your education target is going.
(16:31):
Do you think that's an accurateassessment?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (16:34):
I think it's very accurate.
And what what happened atbusiness school is um at that
time it was almost everyoneeither went into investment
banking or managementconsulting.
And I had a bunch of closefriends who were management
consultants.
You know, there there was thesummer job, and all, you know,
all the management consultingcompanies and investment banks
(16:56):
came to campus to interview.
I was interviewing withMcKinsey, and when they
interview you, they give you ayou know spontaneous case that
you're supposed to sort of talkthem through how you would
approach it.
They gave me a case about anauto manufacturer, and it was
(17:17):
very specifically aboutcarburetors, and I didn't even
know what a carburetor was orwhat it did, and I didn't really
care for cars.
So I started to try to talk myway through this, and I finally,
it was so miserable.
(17:38):
I s I just finally said, youknow, I think I should just save
both of us um the uhfrustration of trying to uh you
know sort of bullshit my waythrough this.
And and so I left the interviewearly.
And then my next interview waswith Bain and Company, and
(17:59):
that's where I had a lot ofreally close friends.
And and in fact, the person whointerviewed me was someone that
I knew quite well.
And he said, I gotta be honestwith you.
I you really strike me as avery creative person and a
person that gravitates towardthings that are much more
(18:22):
creative.
Um my advice to you is to get asummer job that's somewhere in
the creative space.
And if after that job, thatsummer, you still feel convinced
that management consulting iswhat you want to do, then we can
talk about a full-time jobafter you graduate.
(18:45):
It was the absolute best adviceI ever got because I did I did
end up working for San FranciscoBallet for the summer after
actually volunteering to work atILM for free and being turned
down.
Jen Coronado (19:01):
Let me just tell you really quickly.
I creative people always dothat.
They always do that.
They're like, let me give thisaway for free.
So continue.
Yeah, but then they turn youdown.
And you're like, wait, I'moffering my free services.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (19:17):
I I did feel honestly at San Francisco
Ballet, I did decide that Ididn't want to work for in
nonprofit arts management.
Um, there's just so manydifferent groups that um are
always vying for control andlots of you know different
(19:37):
constituencies.
So it was, but that said, Iloved being around dancers.
I loved being um in a in aperformance sort of setting.
I loved the um creativeaspects.
And so it was it was kind of arough, rough road to get there,
but it was it was definitelywell all worth it.
Jen Coronado (19:58):
Yeah.
And the thing uhnon-for-profits are uh at least
as far as arts, you talk aboutthe constituencies, it's
actually so political becauseyou're you're constantly kind of
hustling to keep theorganization going, and you
don't really and your revenueplan is please let me ask all
these people for money for moneyto keep us going.
Exactly.
Which makes it harder tobalance as opposed to having a
(20:21):
business plan that you'retargeting and you're gonna have
revenue, you know.
Yep.
So you offered to work for freeat ILM, but you ultimately
ended up working there with apaid gig.
What did that look like?
How did that come about?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (20:32):
You know, I stayed in touch with them
periodically through my secondyear in business school, and I
it looked like I was gonnagraduate without a job, um,
which was terrifying.
But about a week and a half orso before I was gonna graduate,
they called and said, Would youlike to interview?
We have a marketing assistantposition.
(20:55):
And I said, Sure.
I, you know, I would obviouslylove to.
And um they said, then thenyour interview will be on this
day at this time.
And I said, Um, I really,really want to be there.
Is there any other time we cando that?
Because um I have a a groupclass project presentation that
(21:19):
I have to give.
And they said, No, we're reallysorry.
It's sort of then or none.
And so I talked to my group andthey're like, you gotta do it.
And so they basically, theybasically covered for me, um,
did the presentation uh betweenjust the three of them.
(21:41):
And I had to figure out how toget up to ILM because I was down
in Palo Alto, I didn't have acar or anything.
It was I think it was like tookme like two and a half or three
hours.
I mean, because I had to takebuses and you know everything.
So I get there.
Keep in mind that this is avery, very entry-level position.
And I get there and theydidn't, they didn't really tell
(22:05):
me it didn't say ILM orindustrial light magic on the
door.
I was sort of wandering arounda little bit because I wasn't
quite sure if I was in the rightplace.
But when I finally get there inSan Rafael, uh there were like
15 people um interviewing me atonce, including the president,
(22:27):
all of the senior executives.
And and it and I was just like,oh my gosh.
I mean, of course, I just got,you know, was graduating from
business school.
I'm like, can you imagine howmuch this is costing um uh in
time for them to be allinterviewing me at once?
Uh it is something that's alittle bit a part of the um ILM
(22:47):
culture, though I will say I'veseen it over, you know, all
these years, is that there isthey like want a kind of
consensus point of view beforebringing someone in.
And so the, you know, you oftensee lots of people interviewing
one person.
Jen Coronado (23:02):
Yeah, I refer to it as the hippie mentality,
like, hey man, we gotta allcollaborate, you know?
Yeah, that sort of DNA from thethe origins of the company,
right?
Exactly.
So you had 15 peopleinterviewing you.
How did that interview look?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (23:18):
Like on top of everything else, a couple of
other things were happening.
First of all, they had uh onejob, which I eventually
discovered they had two peoplethey really wanted to hire.
Um, so they took the one joband split the salary in two,
which was already low.
Um, but the other thing thatwere a couple things that were
(23:41):
happening is the then presidentof Lucasfilm, whose name was
Doug Norby, he had decided thathe thought that they needed some
professional management in theuh organization, which I also
thought was kind of funnybecause it's like I had just
graduated from business school.
It wasn't like I had a wholebunch of um expertise, but that
(24:03):
that turned out to be helpful.
And the second thing was thiswas at a time when investment
banks were investing inHollywood, and everybody thought
it was well, it was terrible,actually.
You know, these were notcreative people who were trying
to run very creativeorganizations, and most of those
(24:25):
people had MBAs.
So, on the one hand, you know,Doug Norby wanted people with
professional management.
On the other hand, I reallydidn't want to tell anybody that
I had an MBA because it wasjust like the worst thing you
could possibly say within acreative organization.
So that was all kind of goingon.
So they were kind of curiousabout like, why do you want to
(24:48):
do this?
You know, why did you get yourMBA, that sort of thing.
And and what I had decided umafter the disastrous management
consulting episode the yearbefore, that I wanted to work
for a company whose product wasinherently creative.
That was my criteria.
I didn't really set out to bein media and entertainment per
(25:11):
se.
I mean, I looked at, you know,um, you know, the arts, wine,
fashion.
I looked at a whole bunch ofthings.
Yeah.
But I just kind of my patheventually led to ILM.
Jen Coronado (25:24):
And you you got that job that was split in two
where the salary was tiny tiny.
And this is the secret aboutthe film business that most
people don't know.
The people who get paid themost are Brad Pitt.
And everyone else gets paid,you know, just a living wage.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (25:39):
So you don't you don't go into this business
to make money.
No, I mean a few people do, butum, but I always tell people
like you you make differentchoices, and every choice has a
price.
And um I have loved, I've lovedmy career, but you know, I
(26:01):
definitely it's not a get richcareer.
Jen Coronado (26:05):
No, for sure.
And I know, I know when youwere you got into this role,
they also they they were askingyou to develop help develop a
marketing plan and a businessplan as a marketing assistant.
So uh what and now Vicky hasjumped all over and tried these
different things, and it soundslike you're like, Well, I you
can't tell me I can't do this.
(26:25):
So how did you go about doingthat?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (26:28):
Well, this is where I do think like I have
been throughout my whole career,I've been very opportunistic
just trying to figure out a pathforward.
You know, so um my boss at thetime, who was Rose Degnan, she
asked me if I do anything aboutdeveloping a marketing plan.
And I said, Well, I I dobecause I just graduated from
(26:50):
business school, but I don'treally know anything about the
industry.
Do you have a business plan?
And she kind of looks at mewith, you know, sort of blankly,
and I said, you know, somethingthat just like summarizes who
the competition is, you know,five years of financial
projections, trends, you know,strategic initiatives, et
cetera.
(27:10):
Well, nothing, nothing existed.
So I said, I'll tell you what,you tell me who to interview,
and I will interview them and Iwill write a first draft of a
business plan.
And even if I'm a hundredpercent wrong, at least it's
something tangible for forpeople to respond to.
So that's what I did.
(27:31):
And um, so I apparently wrotethe first official ILM business
plan.
Jen Coronado (27:36):
How did you process doing that, Vicky?
Like someone, you're you'rebasically a kid, you know what I
mean?
Um and you're like, I'll dothis, fine.
Like, where does uh that comefrom?
Where does that small how doessmall town Vicky get there?
You know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (27:52):
Well, one of the things I've learned over
these many, many years is theway my mind works.
And my mind is I'm a very bigpicture person, and I I like to
understand how things fittogether, but I also tend to
live in the future.
Like I'm always thinking likefive or 10 years out.
(28:17):
And that's both a strength anda weakness.
Um, the weakness is is whenyou're, you know, when you're in
like a management role or anoperational role or something
like that, it's hard for me tolive in the present.
And it's really necessary, um,I think to do a good job in in
(28:38):
certain roles to be able to livein the present.
So that was just an interestinglearning about myself.
But anyway, because I like tounderstand how they fit, things
fit together.
I like things to make sense.
I like to have a sense ofvision, like where we're trying
to go, why we're trying to gothere, is it worth going there?
Um and so I just I by talkingto, I don't remember how many
(29:04):
people I talked to, but I I wantto say it was probably eight to
ten people.
And you know, it it was anunbelievable opportunity when
you think about it.
Because I'm I'm talking toeight to ten of the uh most
senior people at ILM and justlearning from them, just sort of
(29:25):
like absorbing all of this umknowledge that they had gained
over many, many years, and thentrying to to fit all the pieces
together.
So it's like I was very lucky.
Jen Coronado (29:38):
It's like you went from getting your MBA to
getting your MFA.
Because you know, you'retalking to all these creative
people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know you bounced aroundwithin in the company.
Can and you ended up um how didyou drift between the different
different companies withinwithin the Lucasfilm
organization?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (29:57):
So so what happened is after I had
Apparently, did the first ILMbusiness plan.
They decided to sort of pluckme out of ILM and drop me into
all of these different areas ofactivity.
The way that Lucasfilm at thetime used to figure out like new
(30:18):
business opportunities is theyjust started doing it.
And then they were trying tofigure out if it actually made
sense.
So I literally was kind ofrunning around after all these
little pockets ofentrepreneurial activity to
figure out whether they weresustainable.
We did some really early, therewas location-based
(30:40):
entertainment that was using theum Evan Sutherland, you know,
simulation platforms forentertainment.
I mean, this would have been inlike very early 90s.
It was pretty technicallyadvanced for that time period.
Very.
And so the location-basedentertainment stuff that we were
(31:01):
doing was super, super cool.
It was way ahead of its time.
Similarly, you know, the laststop on my journey to all these
different little pockets ofactivity was Lucasfilm Learning.
And Lucasfilm Learning wastrying to do educational
multimedia for the schoolmarket.
I was not a, you know, not atechnologist, not an educator.
(31:24):
I had no experience.
But I was completely taken withthe vision and what they were
trying to do.
And it was really sort ofliving at that intersection of
storytelling, interactivity,high-fidelity media, such that
(31:46):
it was at the time, um, with awith an education lens.
But it was really project-basedlearning and story was quite
important there.
So we did a a prototype thatwas called Paul Parkranger and
the mystery of the disappearingducks.
See that title again?
Paul Park Ranger and theMystery of the Disappearing
(32:08):
Ducks.
Got it.
Okay.
But what was super cool aboutthat is that the way this
prototype came together is theyworked with, they took a
professional design team,obviously, on the Lucasfilm
learning side, and partneredeach of those team members with
a high school student.
(32:29):
And then together they weredeveloping a prototype for
middle grade kids.
So the high school kids hadjust come through middle grade.
They were the ones that decidedthat a mystery format was a
good one.
And they created the characterof Paul Park Ranger.
And so, you know, basicallywhat happens is you this is back
(32:51):
in the point and click era,too.
Right, right.
Macintosh point and click.
So you go into Paul's cabin.
Paul is gone.
He has left to go solve someother environmental mysteries,
and there's a message for you.
You know, so you click on therecorder, and you know, he tells
you that he needs your helpbecause um the ducks are
(33:13):
disappearing.
Every year, fewer and fewerducks are coming back.
And why?
Why?
What is wrong?
So, anyway, there was no, therewas no right or wrong answer.
It was the whole goal wascritical thinking and creative
problem solving.
You're supposed to develop atheory for why this was
happening and then support thattheory with all of the
(33:34):
information that was availablein Paul's cabin.
I just it it was it wasabsolutely a turning point in my
career.
I I became obsessed with thecombination, you know, being
able to bring these kinds oftechnologies together.
But as has been the case inmany times in my in my career,
(33:55):
timing is everything, and thatwas not the right timing.
Um we were about 30 years aheadof our time because what was
just slightly.
I mean, what was so interestingis the the the sort of
interface of Paul's cabin andthe way you clicked on things is
like absolutely perfect for VR,right?
(34:16):
You're now you're in the cabin,you can um literally access all
this information dynamically,but it just made me think, you
know, like none of that waspossible back then.
Jen Coronado (34:30):
Well, I have to ask the question because I know
Lucas Learning, you ended uphaving to to shutter it.
How there's not a lot of moneyin schools.
Is that is that something thatwas the problem?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (34:40):
Yeah.
That was the problem.
And it was uh not only is therenot a lot of money, but there
is a tremendous amount ofbureaucracy.
Uh now I don't know if it'sstill the same today, but but
back in like 90 to 92, if yougot adopted, which was the only
place there was money, um youhad to do updates and be
(35:04):
relevant for seven years.
And if you think about howfast, you know, our
understanding of the worldchanges, especially now, but
even then, it was just really,really hard to compete.
And and then you're workingobviously with these um, you
know, huge textbook publishers.
So we we were working more in,I can't remember what they call
(35:28):
it, but it it's it's the littlepool of money that doesn't go to
textbooks.
And then on top of everythingelse, quite frankly, the the
technology required to do theseexperiences was fairly
complicated to set up.
It was a computer-driven laserdisplayer.
And so even though we managedto figure out how to get grants
(35:50):
and other things to get thetechnology into the schools, uh,
there often wasn't enoughtraining or there was turnover.
And so that equipment sat inclosets.
And um, yeah, it was really,really sad.
But but one thing that wasinteresting about it, because as
I said, I wasn't atechnologist, I was an educator,
etc.
But I I was on the cusp ofgroundbreaking work.
(36:15):
And as a result, I became anexpert just by being in the
right place at the right time.
Jen Coronado (36:21):
Yeah, sounds it sounds like you've had a ton of
that.
I mean, so so um lookslearning, you had to you had to
close it.
And that's a terrible feeling,uh, particularly for people who
are on the doing somethingreally valuable because you're
helping children as well, right?
So what happened next for you?
(36:42):
What was the next how did Vickygo, oh well, what do I do now?
You know?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (36:46):
Well, I was really, um, as I said, I was
very, very interested in what isnow called immersive
entertainment, but it could havebeen called that then, you
know, if if we had even knownsuch was the term.
I was really interested in thesort of the high-fidelity media
coupled with storytelling andinteractivity.
(37:09):
I was also really intriguedwith transmedia, so
cross-platform storytelling.
I put together a businessproposal for an edutainment
group.
So it would have beencross-platform, but but the you
know, the company is organizedin verticals, just like Disney
(37:30):
is.
Yeah.
And what I was proposing wasthis little sliver of
horizontal.
And it's really hard to dosomething that is, you know,
literally at odds with the umorganizational structure.
So I tried that, uh, it itdidn't go anywhere, but I
actually pitched a similar kindof idea to the Nature Company,
(37:55):
um, which was a specialtyretailer.
And I remember them, yeah.
Yeah, the idea was to develop aworld um and characters and
stories that we would sort ofintroduce kids through comic
book format.
Um, but then we'd do a wholeproduct line that that supported
that.
So, you know, somecharacter-based product and
(38:18):
world-based product and thatkind of thing.
And I had the chance to workwith um probably one of the most
innovative thinkers that I havemet.
He was definitely um one of thepeople that really, really
inspired me.
(38:39):
Unfortunately, again, timing iseverything.
Uh the, you know, the they callthem big box stores or
something, you know, the HomeDepots, et cetera, yeah, were
were just coming online and itreally sort of crushed the
specialty retail space.
Eventually they went out ofbusiness.
And um the the work that I wasdoing, you know, they they
(39:02):
essentially shut all of thatstuff down.
And I um then did independentconsulting, my biggest client
being well, Disney Company.
Jen Coronado (39:12):
Well, let me ask you, independent consulting.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
And how do you like thatthere's a hustle that has to
happen when you're anindependent consultant, right?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (39:20):
I there is, and and I it's not something
that I loved.
I'll tell you, there are thereare pluses to being a
consultant, which is it iseasier to distance yourself from
things that you don't believe.
You know, like like thecompany's gonna do what the
company's gonna do.
You can try to guide them in adirection, but if they don't
(39:41):
listen to you, then it's easierto, like I say, distance
yourself as opposed to being ininside.
And so thankfully, I got a big,big job, which was Disney.
Jen Coronado (39:55):
How do you do that?
How do you get that big job?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (39:57):
What's the what's the pitch?
It was lucky.
Um it's a little complicated,but when I left the nature
company, I was able to take allthe IP that we had developed
with me.
I I paid a nominal um sum inorder to have it, but I owned
all the IP, which was a um whichwas a concept called Teratopia,
(40:22):
Tales of Teratopia.
Um and it was an eco-fantasyadventure and it had characters
and everything.
So I actually somehow metsomeone at Disney who they were
setting up an educational umpublishing group, and they were
potentially interested inacquiring Teratopia.
(40:44):
And it got all the way up tosenior executive level.
And over the course of, Iremember it was like close to
Christmas, and I used to tellpeople, like, if they were
interested in teratopia, I said,if you have any kids around
that are between the ages of sixand twelve, let them read this
(41:08):
and see what they, you know,what they think.
And the senior executives didthat, and the kids that he
shared it with loved it.
I think it was ABC actually atthe time.
And Disney acquired ABC.
That's what it was.
And so Disney is like, we haveplenty of IP, we don't need any
(41:28):
new IP.
And so, but because of that,that sort of pitching process,
etc., I made the connectionsinside of ABC slash Disney.
And then they decided when theywere doing the educational
publishing that they wanted todevelop original IP that and so
they brought me in as aconsultant instead of acquiring
(41:50):
Teratopia.
Right.
But it was uh and I did thatfor about two years, and what
happened is what DisneyEducational Publishing was
trying to do was almostidentical to what I had pitched
at Lucasfilm, where it's thislittle sliver across a company
(42:12):
that is organized in verticals.
And I could see the notinvented here, you know, like we
don't want your creative, we'redoing our own over here.
And so I I saw the writing onthe wall.
I knew the same thing was gonnahappen and that had happened at
at Lucasfilm.
And so I ended up um going backto ILM and taking a full-time
(42:40):
job.
And then, you know, I was doingall kinds of strategic
initiatives, et cetera, uh,until I sort of landed in the
immersive entertainment space.
Jen Coronado (42:49):
So, like I remember you were you were
working on the CG side, you wereworking um planning there, and
then you moved over to in whatwas the president's office at
that time and working onstrategy there.
And then the idea of immersivecame around.
And suddenly I'm like, well,Vicki's over here, and now she's
over here.
Like she's shifted into a newspot.
(43:12):
How did that shift happen?
And were you like, wow, this, Ifeel like my life has led to
this moment based on what you'veexplored?
How'd that feel?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (43:21):
I I did.
I I will say that um I wastalking to somebody the other
day, um, a student, and I said,one thing that's interesting
about my career is out of youknow the the 34 years with um
with Lucasfilm, only two ofthose jobs actually had job
descriptions and titles.
It was the first one, themarketing assistant, and it was
(43:44):
the first one after I came backafter having you know working
with Disney, it was anoperations manager.
Every other role that I've hadhas been more um more
opportunistic and where I saw anopportunity and um created and
and a role was created in mostcases specifically for me,
(44:07):
meaning that if I was to movefrom point A to point B or role
A to role B, it's not like theywere gonna backfill that role
because usually it's becausewhatever the problem that we
were trying to address or theopportunity we were trying to
(44:27):
explore, it either, you know, iteither got resolved or it got
underway, and then somebody elsecould could take it from there.
So I had been waiting since theLucasfilm Learning Days to the
point where I thought that um,because in order to do the
interactivity, it had to bereal-time.
And based on the work that wasbeing done by the advanced
(44:50):
development group, where theywere combining the you know
talent from the games group withthe talent from ILM, they
created real-time content at aquality level that hadn't been
achievable before.
And I was like, I was like, nowthis is the time, this is the
(45:10):
time to do that.
And so initially I was sort ofsupporting it almost more,
almost in a more ad hoc way byvirtue of my role, you know,
leading strategic planning andinitiatives.
But um eventually, you know, wedecided to go ahead and
establish a division because wewere so convinced of the
(45:35):
compelling nature of what ADGhad done that we felt that we
could actually create a studioon top.
And so I was I was um a corepart of that uh launching the
new division.
Jen Coronado (45:46):
I've seen you you you get interviewed constantly
because of who you are and whatyou contribute to the industry.
And again, going back to whoyou are, because that's such a
valuable part of everything.
Um, and you've been at South bySouthwest, and I saw you were
interviewed uh recently fromeducational facility in in Texas
related to immersive stuff.
(46:08):
What are the questions thatyou're like, I really want to
answer this question, but nobodyever asks me that question?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (46:16):
Well, sometimes people have actually
asked that question of what Ithe way I respond is um is what
do I think it takes to besuccessful in a um or or what
has been required to besuccessful and to sort of chart
the course that I have.
(46:37):
I actually did a talk on this,you know, like what are the top
10, what's required in order tobe successful?
But what ultimately what Irealized is it kind of gets down
to three things in my mind, um,which are more personal
qualities than they are anythingto do with the industry itself.
Yeah.
(46:57):
And the first was resilience,being really like open to
change, not being afraid ofthings that are unknown or
unproven.
In fact, quite the opposite.
You need to sort of um embracethat.
But in that kind of space, whenyou're pioneering, etc., it's
(47:21):
always shifting, and you have tobe extremely open to adapting
your point of view as you learnmore and as more becomes clear.
So resilience, courage.
I think that in the last 10years, I I've had many, many,
(47:42):
many sleepless nights.
Um because we were trying to dothings that had never been done
before.
That was at the that was kindof like the core foundational
principle of ILMX Lab was tokeep pushing the boundaries.
But every time you push, youknow, there are moments when you
(48:02):
just have doubts and um youwonder if it's gonna work.
And, you know, am I gonna beable to make this business make
sense?
Is this gonna be, you know, uh,is what we're creating going to
have an audience, etc.
Um, and then the last one ispassion.
And I think that passion is isis absolutely core to being
(48:28):
successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And, you know, when you thinkabout it, all of this creative
work is really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
And um, and that's I think whenwhen great things happen, when
(48:52):
magic happens.
I think that passion is is isabsolutely core to being
successful in the creativespace.
You have to be passionate aboutwhat you do and what you aspire
to do.
And you know, when you thinkabout it, all of this creative
(49:14):
work is really about people.
And very specifically, it'sabout passionate people.
And um, and that's I think whenwhen great things happen, when
magic happens.
Jen Coronado (49:25):
I also think you have to for creative people have
to do things for themselves inorder to bring their full self
to work, right?
Yeah.
What do you do for yourself?
Not much.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (49:38):
Um, just kidding.
But um, you know, you weretalking about writing, and I
used to write quite a lot.
I really loved fiction writing.
Um, I was especially, you know,interested in sort of the
thriller slash suspense genre.
And um ever since I started umhelped start ILM Max Lab, I
(50:03):
really haven't written at all.
So that's been 10 years of notwriting.
That's what I used to do toinspire myself creatively.
I think these days, um, well,of course, I'm I'm I'm going to
be retiring soon.
So I'm looking forward togetting back to some of um that,
(50:24):
you know, creative writing andreally just giving myself the
time and the freedom to trystuff in so many ways.
I feel like giving birth toILMX Lab was like my child.
You know, it was like um, andit it requires all of yourself,
(50:46):
you know, and what little I hadleft, you know, obviously I, you
know, I try to invest in myfamily and my husband and you
know, doing things that um thatkeep me connected to the present
and to everything that'simportant to me there.
But um yeah, it's been anamazing and exhausting and
(51:10):
inspiring all at once 10 years.
Jen Coronado (51:14):
Yeah, well, I look forward to you doing stuff for
yourself because you are animpressive individual who gives
so much to others that uh it'svacing time.
So thank you.
Um, my last question for you,and we ask this of a lot of
people uh on the podcast, iswhat does creativity mean to
(51:36):
you?
Vicki Dobbs Beck (51:37):
It's a good question because there are
creative results from thingsthat you do, you know, films,
books, television, etc.
But there's also creativethinking and creative problem
solving.
And these are things that it'sit's it's really been very core
(51:59):
to me.
That's probably been my most umsuccessful creative endeavors
have been because of creativelythinking about what the
opportunities are and figuringout how to put the pieces
together.
And um, you and I have talkedabout this.
I I think that a lot of timespeople um are a little too
(52:22):
narrow in the way that they umdescribe what it is to be
creative.
And I think all of us have thepotential to be creative, and it
doesn't necessarily mean youcan draw or sing or write or all
those things.
It might just be how youapproach problems and
opportunities.
Jen Coronado (52:42):
Yeah.
Great.
Well, Vicki, thank you so muchfor spending time with us today.
We know you're you're verybusy, so we appreciate that.
Vicki Dobbs Beck (52:50):
Thank you.
It's very fun.
It's great to talk to you asalways, as it always has been
over the years.
Jen Coronado (52:55):
Oh, thanks, Vicky.
Thank you for listening toEveryone Is.
Everyone Is is produced andedited by Chris Hawkinson.
Executive producer is AaronDusseau.
Music by Doug Infinite.
Our logo and graphic design isby Harrison Parker, and I'm Jen
Coronado.
Everyone Is is a slightlydisappointed productions
production dropping every otherThursday.
So make sure to rate and reviewand like and subscribe.
(53:18):
Thanks for listening.
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