Women In Animation

“There’s always something to learn,” as my animation professor says, and tonight at WIA’s General Meeting, this short film panel enlightened us with their experiences in the industry: in pitching their short films, creating and distributing them and also what’s it like to be on the receiving end of a pitch.Hosted on the beautiful lot of DreamWorks Studio, five guests from all areas of animation came to speak: Nick Confalone from Disney TV Animation, Peter Gal from Nickelodeon Studios, Eric Homan from Frederator Studios, Rusty Mills from MyToons.com and special guest animator Bob Kurtz of short film fame. They all discussed the recent resurgence of the short film and how studios and independent artists are handling this new trend. Because collectively the panelists are involved in everything from “Micro Pilots” for TV to Theatrical Shorts to festivals featuring experimental student work and even the chaos of the internet community’s raw films, we really got to see all the whole realm of possibilities for submitting and pitching short films.

Among the precious pitching advice given was, “Know your characters, Know your material,” which all the panelists agreed was key to presenting your ideas effectively. The panelists also spent time answering the audience’s questions about short films, which promoted discussion about the panelists’ short film successes and failures. We were also treated with a few hilarious screenings of upcoming short films and even a sneak peek at a work-in-progress short film.

Bob Kurtz ended his advice with some words of encouragement, and I leave them for you as well: “There’s great stuff that you can do out there, if you don’t limit your imagination.”

WIA/LA’s General Meeting:
by Linda Miller

Short films used to be the red-headed stepchild of the animation business. Everybody had a story they wanted to tell (that Christmas elf tale you came up with in the Eighties, for instance), but there was no market for them and no funding to make them, so ideas languished in desk drawers all over town.

That was five minutes ago. Suddenly, shorts are hot. Shorts have EXPLODED onto the Internet and television. Did you know that Disney has aired 17 brand new five-minute shorts since last fall, mostly from creators outside of its own studio?! So how do you get a piece of this action? How can I get my Christmas elf on the air?

What you need to do is come to WIA/LA’s next General Meeting: “So You Wanna Make A Short?” We’ve gathered a terrific panel to discuss the artistic and pragmatic issues of short film creation:

Nick Conafalone, Development Coordinator, Walt Disney Studios shorts program

Peter Gal, Vice President of Animation Development, Nickelodeon

Kevin Geiger and Moon Seun, Animation Co-op

Eric Homan, Frederator Studios

Rusty Mills, MyToons

Moderated by Sarah Baisley and Jessica Kreig.
If you’ve ever wanted to create something that’s ALL YOURS, don’t miss out.

Join us at Dreamworks (1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California) on Friday, October 26th, 2007. Schmoozing and networking begins at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting proper starts at 7:00. Food and soft drinks should be available.

To RSVP, please call the Hotline at (310) 535-3838 or email
LAchapterrsvps@aol.com before Wednesday, October 24th. Non-members are asked for a $10.00 donation: members are free. We look forward to seeing you!

New Writer’s Round Table:
by Bret Wilson

The NEW WIA Writer’s Round Table will meet on Monday, November 5, from 7 to 9 p.m.
at the Animation Guild, 4729 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood. Bret Wilson is hosting the meeting.

The Roundtable is up and running again and better than ever! Craig Miller is kind enough to be our first guest speaker and I’m very excited about having him and I know other WIA members/animation writers will feel the same way. We will be meeting in the same room Jessica Kreig holds for Storyboard Pitch Night.

This evening will be very informative and it marks the rebirth of the Writer’s Roundtable. The Roundtable will have a different theme each month catering to animation writing and development along with Q&A. The next meeting is scheduled for December 5. Speaker TBA.

Be on the lookout for a Roundtable blog (similar to Jessica Kreig’s Pitch Night blog). It will be a place where you can get updates on what the Roundtable will be doing in the future. Ideas are welcome. In the meantime, please email wiawritersrt@gmail.com to RSVP and get more information about the meeting.

Storyboard Pitch Night:
by Jessica Kreig
Has it already been a month?!! Well, then it must be time for another pitch night! Stop by the Animation Guild THIS Thursday, Oct. 18th. to get all your questions answered!

Sign up to reserve a spot in the audience OR for pitching. E-mail me at jesskreig@gmail.com to RSVP today.

Storyboard Pitch Nite
meets NEXT Thursday, Oct. 18th
7 pm to 10 pm at the
Animation Guild
4729 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood 91602

As always this event is FREE to WIA members, and only 5 dollars for non-members.
See you there!