Community News |
|
 Olivia Stark is one of the founders of Asians in Animation and the Current Series coordinator at Skydance Animation. Step into the world of Current Series to demystify this department, Olivia’s journey to animation, and some tips for YOU to hone your creative skills and break into the Current Series space. First off, tell us a little about what you do. Over here in Current Series, we oversee all series projects at the studio as they get greenlit and through production. Current Series is all about helping creators bring their projects to life and advocating for their creative vision. The beauty of working in Current Series is that it's different every day! Whether I am reading writing samples, reviewing episodic director portfolios, or planning table reads; there is never a dull moment! Current Series is a great department for those who would like an extensive overview of the entire animated series pipeline from development through production. You get to work with creatives across many different shows and departments! Similar to folks who work in Development, a large part of my job consists of reading scripts. However, unlike our amazing Development team, I am not reading to search for new potential projects, I'm reading to assess the writing skills of potential candidates to staff our writer's rooms for existing series projects. This requires me to know our projects very well and be able to read with our projects in mind. Some questions I ask myself when reading are: "Does the tone of this writer match the tone of our series?" "Does the theme of this writer's sample resonate with the theme of our project's story?" "Will this writer fulfill an aspect of the writer's room we are currently missing? (e.g. comedy, strong dialogue, heart)" If I really like someone, I can pass them along to my supervisor and our Executive Producers or Showrunners for the project. And if they like them too... we might hire them to write for us! Can you share with us a little about your journey entering the animation industry? It may surprise some to know, I did not study anything related to animation in school. In fact, my college degree is in Asian American Studies! I knew I wanted to work in animation since 2016, when I was a freshman at UCLA and saw the movie Moana. I was so moved by the film that I decided I wanted to be a part of making something like that! BUT... since I was in the College of Letters & Sciences, I was unable to declare a major in animation. It all worked out nonetheless! Fun fact: you can major in ANYTHING and have a career in animation! So just study whatever interests YOU! Being from a background outside of animation, how were you able to break into the industry? When I was searching for internships and PA roles in animation. I did my best to find people at the studios I wanted to work at and sent them cringey cold emails! A lot of these people I found through amazing events and panels put on by studio's outreach teams or organizations like WIA, Rise Up, LatinX in Animation, or our unbiased favorite: AnimAsians! It is important of course to not be rude or pushy, but you will find that there are a lot of friendly faces in this industry willing to give advice, lend a hand, or pass along a resume. What advice would you give to your younger self? 1) This is going to sound stupid but… watch a lot of TV! You've probably been scolded your whole life for watching too much TV. Well, if you want to work in a department like Current Series, it is important to have a good pulse on the industry. That means watching all the great animated shows and knowing the creators behind them. Who knows, maybe you'll wanna hire them someday! (or keep an eye on them for competition hehe) Goals is for your boss to be able to say, "This show is supposed to be Steven Universe meets Invincible meets Bob's Burgers meets Ted Lasso" and you're like "yup, got it! I know exactly the vibe!" 2) Be able to talk about the things you like! This may be self-explanatory, but it doesn't matter how much TV you've watched if you can't eloquently explain why you like it. Next time you're watching your favorite animated series or movie ask yourself these questions: What do I like about this? Why is it working? What changes might I suggest if I could give notes to the creator? Being able to put into words why you enjoy something is an important skill, and one you can practice whenever you want! 3) Take a chill pill. Now this is the advice I needed. I know you are all anxious to break into animation and we've all been there. The industry is not going anywhere and chances are if you follow this account and you're reading this, you're already doing everything right. Trust in the process you guys :) your time will come! And in the meantime...Keep watching those cartoons!! Writers: Jordan (@deadswampsofsadness) | Point Person: Gaby, AIA Team
Comments are closed.
|
