Good morning! (Or whatever time of day it is in your part of the world). I am a Stage 32 Thought Leader focusing on Animation for Stage 32. I've written some blogs about the state of the industry that you can check out in the Blog tab. I have worked in the animation industry relatively steadily since 1999m and I've worked at places like Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix, Universal, and Sony. Most recently I worked on Avatar: The Way of Water. I am also a reader for Stage 32 and I've been a professional screenplay reader since 2006. Christopher Vogler was a mentor of mine and I am a disciple of the Hero's Journey when it comes to storytelling. I have my own website where I blog about movies and I also have a script reading service. I invite you to check it out if you get a chance.
I love being a part of this community and RB, Amanda, and the rest of the team are amazing people who have built an amazing community of creative people. Keep on creating! The world needs to hear your story!
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Happy IYW Brian Smith ! I always love your energy :)
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Brian!! Love having you in the community. Folks - Brian is a wealth of information about ALL things industry and story related. Make sure to connect with him!
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So nice to meet you, Brian Smith! I love your enthusiasm.
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It's night here, Brian Smith, so good night. Haha Good night doesn't work well for a greeting.
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Brian Smith Hi Brian, good morning from the UK and thanks for being here and all you do for us at Stage32. I'm just wondering when animation first became a passion of yours? Was there one thing that stands out for you, that went on to be the telling moment which determined your future?
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Good to see you again Brian.
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Geoff Hall we always had Saturday morning cartoons on tV when I was a kid, so I grew up watching a lot of Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes. The local stations also played a lot of Tom & Jerry, Droopy Dog and Woody Woodpecker during the weekdays after school, and I couldn't ever get enough of it. I also always loved Goofy and Donald Duck shorts from Disney. I started to appreciate the animated features in college right around when The Little Mermaid was released. Then Beauty and the Beast came out my junior year of college and I saw it no fewer than 8 times in the theater. (It was a great date movie!) I decided at that point that being a part of making animated features was what I wanted to do. Coincidentally, my first full-time job in animation was on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale and produced by Don Hahn, all of whom had those same roles on Beauty and the Beast.