Sarah Kerruish

In late 1992, I found myself unexpectedly in Silicon Valley where I was hired by the filmmaker David
David Hoffman, to produce a promotional video for a secretive start called General Magic.
As an outsider I was admitted into an extraordinary land where people wore shorts and T-shirts,
where a rabbit and a parrot roamed the halls, and where people built bunk beds in their offices so
they didn’t have to go home to sleep. Most importantly, they were the most talented, creative and
driven people I had ever encountered. The ‘Magicians’ believed that by making their magical device
they would truly change the world. Twenty years later, the deaths of two beloved Magicians and the
unimaginable success of so many others led me to the realization that this was a film that had to be
made.
The making of the film was a very personal journey for me. Not only had I filmed the early days of
that company but I also experienced the catastrophic failure of a startup that I had been closely very
involved in. So often we hear about the great success stories in Silicon Valley but what about all
those people who don’t make it? Making the film was my way of understanding the role of failure in
any creative endeavour and what it takes to bring important ideas to life. The film isn’t a glorious
celebration of failure, it’s about the importance of learning from your mistakes.
Our hope is that this film will inspire the next generation of technologists and makers to learn from
those who have gone before them and apply the lessons of General Magic to solving the most
important problems of our day.