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Troubled Behaviour Montreal techno-mogul Richard Szalwinski talks about leaving Discreet Logic and the problems at Behaviour by MATTHEW HAYS
Szalwinski politely indicates that that's private business, but acknowledges it's been a tidy sum. Behaviour, a company whose mission has been mysterious from its inception in 1996, suffered a rather severe blow when company brass decided to "refocus" and last month laid off 50 of its employees. The refocussing came after Behaviour's annual financial figures were released: the company lost $18 million in 1998. That may sound dire, but it's certainly an improvement from 1997, when the company posted a $45-million loss. "Next year we won't lose anything," Szalwinski says.
The new Behaviour strategy is to focus solely on film, with Behaviour looking much like Malo- "One of our mandates was to build a Web channel," he says. "That's been completely re-evaluated. The goal was to develop a portal for a very specific market and then start providing content and retail goods through that market. It turns out that's not as easy to accomplish as some thought--and that's something a lot of companies are finding out. As opposed to just dumping words on the Web--which is what most sites look like today--we wanted to present information in a more animated or TV kind of format." Difficult choices Letting go of the 50 employees hasn't been easy either--laying off is something Szalwinski describes as both "hard and unpleasant." A number of the former Behaviour employees are disgruntled, however: the Mirror has learned that at least one of them is planning legal action against Behaviour for breach of contract. But Szalwinski says "their careers have been enhanced. I would ask them how they feel in three or six months, when they have new jobs," adding, "I'm disgruntled too. I don't like to be involved in unsuccessful projects. There's a feeling of sadness and disgruntlement all around." The trouble for Behaviour began almost at day one. After making a name for himself with Discreet Logic, the software company which has been awarded an Oscar this year for its technical achievements, Szalwinski set out to invest some of his capital into a new multimedia company, one which would make films and explore the possibilities of the Web. In 1995, with Discreet doing extremely good business, Szalwinski decided the time was right to embark on Behaviour. But by December of that year, things started to falter. Discreet's stocks lurched from $30 to under $4. Szalwinski was forced to return to head Discreet. Many of the managers he'd hired were from outside of Montreal, consequently spending weekends with family in other cities. This made finding a managerial team Szalwinski could rely on difficult. Now Szalwinski has sold his interest in Discreet; as of this Tuesday, March 16, the company will officially change hands, and Szalwinski will step into an advisory role for Discreet. Autodesk, a California-based software company (the fourth largest PC software company in the world) has purchased the entire company from stockholders (at a cost of approximately U.S. $490 million). Talent without direction Szalwinski can finally focus on Behaviour; but in the meantime, Behaviour has suffered. Employees describe what appeared, at first sight, to be an inspiring, creative work environment quickly morphing into something else. Talented, motivated people would be hired to join Behaviour's team, only to wonder--for weeks, in some cases months--what they were supposed to be doing there. Behaviour suffered a serious lack of direction. Szalwinski doesn't argue with the lore. "I think that's exactly right. And that's one of the reasons we're refocussing at Behaviour. Unlike Softimage and Discreet, where a great atmosphere was created and things were very well managed. Two things happened at Behaviour: the plan was ambiguous and overly ambitious. A lot of people were brought in and a lot of projects were initiated. At the same time, no one was really creating the back office. "The third thing that happened was that I was called back to Discreet. The situation that was created was that there were a lot of creative things going on, but not a lot of it was followed through. That's the most disappointing thing that's happened in terms of Behaviour." Wired in To be fair, the pressure on Szalwinski has always been massive. Here was a man many referred to routinely as genius, who had scads of money and utterly no intention of listening to conventional wisdom and relocating his company to Toronto or Calgary. Instead, Szalwinski (who concedes his French isn't too good), stood as a rare symbol to young, ambitious anglophones. There could be jobs here--not just McJobs, but good, techno-career-related jobs. Something you could actually build a future on without taking the 401. Not helping these messiah-like expectations was the hype-intoxicated media. In Wired's 1996 "In/Out" list, Behaviour was listed in the "in" column, while DreamWorks--yes, that DreamWorks--was cited in the corresponding "out" column. "I think people have been watching us a bit too much," Szalwinski says of the pressures of such intense scrutiny. "When I was at Softimage and Discreet, not so many people were watching us. When you're talking about multimedia production, when you're talking about the Web, if people don't have a reference point, people don't understand. Until you can actually show the product, or the financial result--depending on who you're talking to--people find it difficult to understand." Szalwinski does take this opportunity to set the record straight: though Behaviour has been forced to retreat from many of its aspirations concerning the Web, it is just that: a retreat, not a permanent end to them. And the layoffs of last month were not, as some mainstream media reports have insinuated, the plan of uptight bankers--rather, they were a necessary reorganization. "There was a lack of leadership. There were so many different projects that it was impossible to get on track. "But we haven't given up," an optimistic Szalwinski says of Behaviour's future. "I don't want people to think we've given up on the [Web] venture. We're refocussed and we're going to build." |
Richard Szalwinski laughs when I ask him how much money he's sunk into his fledgling multimedia company Behaviour. Yes, it's a bit of a cocky question, but one that's on a lot of people's minds, especially in light of a less-than-stellar fiscal year for both Behaviour and Discreet Logic, the software company Szalwinski cofounded.