1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,960 Good morning. How are you doing today, Jim Hi Arrow, I'm good. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 I'm good. Looking up, don't you love? But you know what 3 00:00:07,559 --> 00:00:10,160 that feeling of waking up when you're a creative person, It's like, Okay, 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,720 here we go, the slate is clean. What is going to come 5 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,239 through me today? Right? Exactly? What can I what would be the 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,320 day accomplish? You are the wizard behind the curtain. There's so much that 7 00:00:21,359 --> 00:00:24,359 you have touched and brought to life, and and you know, we know 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:31,079 the story, but so many people don't know your story. Yeah. Well, 9 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:37,039 I grew up in the New Jersey area and I just adored animation when 10 00:00:37,039 --> 00:00:39,960 I was a child, and I wanted to do that. That was my 11 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:43,880 goal and I would study it at the Californias through the yards and that's what 12 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,359 brought me out. Brought me out to California. I had great mentors there 13 00:00:47,359 --> 00:00:52,600 at a wonderful story teacher named Joe Rampt and he was one of the greatest 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,880 story men in the history of animation. And he pointed me in the direction 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,320 that there's this job you can do within animation cold story development, or we 16 00:01:00,439 --> 00:01:07,280 call story that's where you would storyboard films and help create characters and you know, 17 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,239 you're at the genesis of these movies. And I decided that's what I 18 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:15,159 wanted to do, that's what I needed to do. And at a roommate 19 00:01:15,439 --> 00:01:19,040 blessedly that was a live action student, and I would go see his I 20 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,319 would go into his classes and I would you know, and I adored obviously 21 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,799 live action movies, and I thought to myself, why aren't we telling these 22 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:33,959 stories also an animation And I wanted to pursue, you know, as I 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,959 started getting more interested to tell stories in animation, I went, that's what 24 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:44,319 I want to really do, is push the boundaries storytelling in animation and you 25 00:01:44,359 --> 00:01:49,120 know, and try to, you know, instill in animation that this breath 26 00:01:49,159 --> 00:01:55,519 of diversity and storytelling in live action movies into animation and not necessarily make them 27 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,200 like live action movies, but be able to tell different types of stories that 28 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,879 way. So that that led me down this path. Eventually I made it 29 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,439 to Disney Animation and worked on The Lion King, and from Disney, which 30 00:02:07,479 --> 00:02:13,719 was my first film I did developed story on, and then from Disney for 31 00:02:13,879 --> 00:02:16,280 after five years, I went to Pixar. When I was there on the 32 00:02:16,319 --> 00:02:22,240 second movie, they they made bugs life and that Pixar was able to work 33 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:27,800 with Jan Pinkava. It was the original director of Ratatui and I was the 34 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:35,240 second the second artist on that side from him, became his head of story 35 00:02:35,319 --> 00:02:38,639 where I would run the story team of storyboard artists. And also I convinced 36 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:44,840 John that we write the script and so we you know, I was at 37 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,960 the genesis of that film and developed then and we got worked with Brad Byrd 38 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,280 later on, and we the three of us, got a Noscar nomination for 39 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,960 her story and script on that film and that was an honor. And then 40 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,080 continued on there worked on many many films, great stuff. I directed a 41 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,039 short film there called Your Friend the Rat, wrote it, directed it. 42 00:03:06,039 --> 00:03:13,639 It's fun different educational aduteament films about how rats and humans should get along, 43 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:20,639 told by Remy and from there. Once I left Pixtar around twenty sixteen, 44 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:25,000 I continue to want to explore and develop kind of my creativity and what I 45 00:03:25,039 --> 00:03:30,199 could tell. Yeah, and ended up directing the two D animation for Mary 46 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:35,639 Poppin's Returns. You know, my career it's been great because I've always come 47 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,479 back to two D drawn animation and even the world went computer animation while I 48 00:03:40,599 --> 00:03:45,599 was and that's why I went into animation, was to do to develop, 49 00:03:46,439 --> 00:03:51,719 to do drawn animation because I grew up on Warner Brothers films and Disney films, 50 00:03:51,719 --> 00:03:54,879 so that's why I wanted to continue to do. And then computer animation 51 00:03:54,919 --> 00:03:59,520 showed up and I was like, okay, well at least I was storyboarding. 52 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,159 So it's the drawing and doing what I love so and I've grown to 53 00:04:03,199 --> 00:04:10,159 appreciate computer animation, but it's never been my complete and you love so but 54 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,960 throughout my career I've been able to keep turning back to drawn animation and the 55 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,839 handcrafted animation forms and now with The Inventor's stop motion and and uh, yeah, 56 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:24,680 it's been a great career so far. It's been just amazing. Well, 57 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,480 you can see that animation, the passion you have for it in The 58 00:04:27,519 --> 00:04:30,600 Inventor, because I mean you use animation along with stop motion and I think, 59 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,360 oh, the balance is just so perfect because you allow me to escape 60 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:40,720 in so many different levels in the imagination. Yeah. Well, I think 61 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:46,240 that's what animation is. Just it's just a magical art form in that it 62 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,920 includes all the art forms within one art form. You know, has filmmaking, 63 00:04:50,639 --> 00:04:55,160 it has in this case of stop motion, you would have sculpture and 64 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:00,399 you know, you know, even have engineer in all these other forms too, 65 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:08,040 drawn animation obviously drawing, but there's dance in it too. There's timing 66 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,079 of dance. There's a musicality to it. You know, there's definitely music, 67 00:05:12,199 --> 00:05:16,360 but there's within animation itself, there's acting, there's you know, so 68 00:05:16,439 --> 00:05:23,680 it's it to me is a beautiful art form and it brings you to a 69 00:05:23,759 --> 00:05:30,000 child again. I mean, even though it's labeled as a four kids unfortunately 70 00:05:30,199 --> 00:05:33,720 in a lot of people's minds. It I think in a lot of people, 71 00:05:33,759 --> 00:05:36,879 even adults, And I think today is a good you know, it's 72 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:42,519 evolving in a way, and I think a lot of people our age and 73 00:05:42,519 --> 00:05:46,560 stuff have grown up on so much animation and stuff that I think it's becoming 74 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,560 more acceptable. Uh you know, you see things like into the Spider Verse 75 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:56,240 and stuff where it's like attracting adults as well as children and everything. So 76 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:01,279 it's very exciting time actually in animation, I think because a lot of avenues 77 00:06:01,319 --> 00:06:06,680 in this sort of journey I've been on is really opening up, and you 78 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,600 know, it's it's just you know, I think it's a good time and 79 00:06:11,639 --> 00:06:17,000 there's and then also the the getting into it or learning about it is so 80 00:06:17,079 --> 00:06:21,959 much easier today because there's so many tools out there, there's so many avenues 81 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,800 and so many schools teaching about it. When I went Caler, I mentioned 82 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,399 cal Arts, Cal Francas c the Arts, who was the only animation school 83 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,000 in the country. You know, you had School of Visual Arts in New 84 00:06:33,079 --> 00:06:39,759 York, but they they had an animation program. But today you have multiple 85 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,199 animation schools, you have multiple more and more programs. A lot of it 86 00:06:43,199 --> 00:06:47,160 seems to every university had some sort of animation program. So it's just an 87 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:51,279 exciting time. It's just growing, growing, and more respect for it. 88 00:06:51,399 --> 00:06:56,439 I think, I hope you're spot on on that. When it comes to 89 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,759 it's it's so readily available. Because I have broadcasting students that are coming to 90 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,920 ask and they're working on animation. I go, we're supposed to be doing 91 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,199 radio intelligent. Yeah, yeah, I'll get to that, but this is 92 00:07:05,199 --> 00:07:09,079 what I want to work on. And you're so right about that, because 93 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,160 I mean, and they want to build these storylines. But but you bring 94 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,079 up a very interesting point here. There has to be a story, doesn't 95 00:07:15,079 --> 00:07:17,920 there you can't just put up pretty pictures. Oh no, there has to 96 00:07:17,959 --> 00:07:21,759 be a story. I mean, I mean you could tell a short film, 97 00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:26,240 maybe a really short film, a couple of minutes, you know, 98 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,439 very like experimental film in animation. It could be magical, it would be 99 00:07:30,399 --> 00:07:32,680 beautiful, like a work of art. But for a longer form, you 100 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,680 need a story. It's just like any you know, a good book, 101 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:42,600 a good movie, a live action movie. You want to hold that audience. 102 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,800 You want to tell something that will transform them. We'll speak to them, 103 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:56,279 bring them to another place. You want something that they'll carry on with 104 00:07:56,319 --> 00:07:59,759 them, you know. I think the best movies and the best stories are 105 00:08:00,279 --> 00:08:03,879 that you can't forget about and you want to come back to again and again. 106 00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:09,639 I always think it's funny in a way or interesting in the sense that 107 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,240 we watch a movie the first time and you're like, so like, oh, 108 00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:16,519 that's who did it, that's who killed that guy, or well that's 109 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,639 how they you know, oh they discovered they found the treasurer they defeated the 110 00:08:20,639 --> 00:08:24,319 bad guy that way, and it's such a surprise, right And then though, 111 00:08:24,439 --> 00:08:28,639 then you go back and want to see it again. You know the 112 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:33,600 ending, right, So why is that you know, And I think it's 113 00:08:33,639 --> 00:08:37,399 just it's not about the endings. It's about the way the story is told 114 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:43,559 in the world that was created that you want to visit again. You want 115 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,000 to be there again with those characters. They've become friends or enemies to you, 116 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,600 who are something. You know, they become part of your life and 117 00:08:50,639 --> 00:08:54,240 the message, and it hopefully speaks to you in some way that you want 118 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,919 to revisit again. I mean, I know I grew up on Sorry, 119 00:08:56,919 --> 00:08:58,639 I saw Star Wars when I was eight years old, so I was at 120 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,399 you know, in a way, it probably is the thing that kicked me 121 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,720 into this business. You know. I wanted to draw spaceships and design that 122 00:09:07,759 --> 00:09:13,000 stuff, and that led to one step to another two animation, And I 123 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,440 love the animation in that, and people might forget there's you know, stop 124 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:22,159 motion animation and Star Wars movies, right, And I don't know how many 125 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:30,240 times I've seen that movie, probably a thousand and every year on May the 126 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:35,080 fourth watching it, right, you know, I know how it ends, 127 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,519 I know every word of it, but I want to watch it again and 128 00:09:37,519 --> 00:09:41,600 again, you know. So it's just there's some way it's that stories and 129 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:46,720 movies eat into you or get into your bloodstream that you really want to revisit 130 00:09:46,759 --> 00:09:48,240 them. I'm the same way with Wally. I can't stop watching that. 131 00:09:48,279 --> 00:09:52,039 I swear I've seen it at least twelve times because I don't know what it 132 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,000 is about it, but I always go back into that story and then to 133 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,679 hear that you were part of it. Yeah, yeah, I thought, 134 00:09:58,759 --> 00:10:01,879 yeah, Well, it made the short film called Your Friend the Rat at 135 00:10:01,879 --> 00:10:05,720 Pixar, which I got to write and direct. It was my first real 136 00:10:05,759 --> 00:10:09,440 directing job and writing job, like to together. And it was such a 137 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:13,320 mixture of art forms and animation styles. It has a little bit of stop 138 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:20,320 motion in it too, is two shots of stop motion. And Andrew Stanton, 139 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,600 who directed Wally, when he saw the film I made. He was 140 00:10:24,639 --> 00:10:28,279 like, oh, I need you. You need to do these credits because 141 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:35,840 we don't know how to end the movie. They previewed it and everybody thought 142 00:10:37,039 --> 00:10:41,120 the people, the humans who are these blobby you know, they couldn't move 143 00:10:41,159 --> 00:10:46,720 anywhere, would all die on the earth, so on this earth that was 144 00:10:46,799 --> 00:10:50,840 decimated and desiccated. And he said, we need to solve, you know, 145 00:10:50,879 --> 00:10:56,159 finish the story in the credits, and I want you to do it. 146 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,799 As if you're it's like a history of art. You want to go 147 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,600 through all the art forms. So I had to finish the story of Wally, 148 00:11:03,159 --> 00:11:07,240 show that everybody's gonna be fine, it's all gonna be okay to it 149 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:13,039 as a history lesson of art, and then also make sure people's names were 150 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,600 seen and got the credits they deserves. Did that? Did that change you 151 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,159 when you're working on the credits, because a lot of people will get up 152 00:11:20,159 --> 00:11:22,440 before those credits are done, and it's like, no, I have to 153 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:24,759 stay here. I want to make sure that I at least fall witness to 154 00:11:24,799 --> 00:11:28,960 everybody who made this possible. It wasn't one person, It was a team 155 00:11:30,039 --> 00:11:35,360 or a city. It's exactly. Oh man, I think these movies are 156 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,000 made not by one person at all. You know, it's not a tour. 157 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:48,320 It's a tour. Theory that you of making is is it's all the 158 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:54,960 people. It's a long process and if it's not, you know, enjoyable 159 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,960 in a way to work with these amazing artists and as a director to create 160 00:12:00,279 --> 00:12:05,720 a space for them to bring a hundred and two hundred percent of their abilities, 161 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,639 then you know, I don't know why you're doing this, but in 162 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:11,799 this business, it's just it's the people, and so I feel like in 163 00:12:11,879 --> 00:12:18,440 credits it's a respect to them. So you see it. So in Wally, 164 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:20,879 I'm really the point of I really wanted to make great crests that people 165 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:24,240 wanted to stay and sit through the whole thing. It's probably maybe one of 166 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:31,240 the one movies or a few movies that people do and you know, and 167 00:12:31,399 --> 00:12:33,879 I actually took that as a badge of honor to do it. And we 168 00:12:33,919 --> 00:12:39,679 actually got reviewed on the credits, which was nice to do. So yeah, 169 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,960 I respect the people so much who work with me and create these films. 170 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,720 I had an amazing team on the Inventor. It was my co director 171 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:54,200 Pierre luke Grenjean. We were like brothers who long lost brothers who found each 172 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,080 other. I used his films as reference for the movie and never thought i'd 173 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:03,120 meet him and and he was his stop motion genius. He really knows his 174 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,279 job and he kind of showed me the ropes and how it works and told 175 00:13:07,279 --> 00:13:11,399 me what not to do be too difficult or especially with our low but low 176 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:18,519 budget and time, and that allowed me to develop the story further even in 177 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,480 production, to go, okay, these shots coming up are going to be 178 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:28,320 way too difficult. How do we how do I rethink this in a sense 179 00:13:28,399 --> 00:13:35,240 that would be even more interesting but also economically done within our time framementth in 180 00:13:35,279 --> 00:13:39,399 our budget, and people would never know the difference. So I think my 181 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:46,879 story development and brain through my career helped me in that respect in a huge 182 00:13:46,919 --> 00:13:50,720 way. You have a powerful quote in this The quote is the world. 183 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:54,720 Yeah, the world will never be easy even with those that have a big 184 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:56,759 brain. It's like, my God, that when that moved through you, 185 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:01,799 that had to have been a moment. Yeah. I mean, I don't 186 00:14:01,799 --> 00:14:05,279 think the world is easy even if you have a big brain. Right, 187 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,480 you have so much up against us, and that not one person can solve 188 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:18,120 everything, and we need everybody oftentimes to solve things together. And it's like 189 00:14:18,159 --> 00:14:22,320 a movie. You need a team of artists to come together to to make 190 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,320 this thing into something. It's a It is like an army you know you 191 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,360 have, and you have to direct them. And so I feel like with 192 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:33,840 our endeavors around us, we have a lot of difficulties these days to overcome 193 00:14:35,279 --> 00:14:39,919 climate change and all of it. I think we need all of us to 194 00:14:39,919 --> 00:14:45,120 come together and the way we move through our lives and affect each other. 195 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:52,240 Hopefully we could do it in a positive way through our actions and you know, 196 00:14:52,399 --> 00:14:58,200 instill in others, you know, with our education and pass on our 197 00:14:58,279 --> 00:15:07,639 knowledge to others in a supportive and constructive way, in a way that inspires 198 00:15:07,679 --> 00:15:11,200 them to do their best work and to go and explore things and work together 199 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:18,519 and in endeavors that are challenging and need everybody to do that. You know, 200 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,080 I'm always amazed, like with the Apollo program and how all of this 201 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,679 group came together, diverse group came together to put a man on the moon 202 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:31,960 in a very short time, and an organization of humanity or people a nation 203 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,240 to come together to to do a task, to do something, and so 204 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,600 I that's what I hope people will do it in the future. And we're 205 00:15:41,639 --> 00:15:46,840 going on a whole different subject than animation. To me, that's what storytelling 206 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:52,519 is, and making films is is pointing out a way for people to go 207 00:15:52,679 --> 00:15:58,080 and inspiring them, and making is showing it that I don't know, bringing 208 00:15:58,159 --> 00:16:04,519 dreams to life. And you know all filmmaking answer great great form, Absolutely 209 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,200 well. Congratulations on the Inventor. You've got to come back to this show 210 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,559 in the future. Dude, I want to dig deeper into your history. 211 00:16:11,799 --> 00:16:15,600 I would love to anytime. Thanks man, excellent, you'd be brilliant today. 212 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,480 Okay, all right, you two. Thank you.