10 Things I Learned In LA
Earlier this month, our Creative Director, Sean Copley, and I went to LA for some pitch meetings and conferences. Here are 10 things I learned from our most recent trip to LA.
1. Pitching at Disney Television Animation is an amazing opportunity and those guys know their brand! We received a very helpful and detailed breakdown on what the DisneyXD and Disney Channel brands are looking for and met with a key Disney Television executive for an hour.
2. Sony Pictures Animation has some great things happening! From it’s art house studio culture, to it’s top level talent, great upcoming movies, innovative pitch rooms, solid business model, and great historic location, Sony Animation impressed me tremendously.
3. Marcelo Vignali is an amazing artist and a mentor to many in the industry. We had the opportunity to sketch on a Culver City street corner with Marcelo Vignali and other artists from Sony Animation and Titmouse (the production company for Disney’s “Motor City”). Good food plus good sketching inspired me to start a south-east chapter of the sketch club.
4. Saddleback has an amazing campus and the Orphan’s Summit is helping orphans all over the world! We visited the campus during the Orphan’s Summit to support our friends and clients from Orbie for Orphans. (Feel free to stop by their site and donate some money to an extremely worthy cause!)
5. The Tornado Twins are the real deal. Half game programmer, half musician, half producer, half genius (that makes two whole people if you do the math), these guys are off the chart creative, and great to hang out with. Meeting with Ruben and Efraim to talk music production and game development was one of the highlights of the week. Big things in store for these guys. Also, if the music and game development gigs don’t work out, they could easily dunk a basketball as a backup career.
6. The Biola Media Conference was extremely inspiring. We attended the Biola Media conference on the back lot at CBS studios, where our IP concepts we’re accepted into the pitchfest as “among the best in show” and we had the opportunity to pitch to 6 feature film developers/distributors.
7. CBS Studios “New York Street” looks just like a New York street. Go figure.
8. I could drink a Jamba Juice shake everyday for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.
9. LA highway traffic during rush hour IS as crazy as you think it is.
10. And finally, seeing the Avengers on opening weekend at AMC Burbank 16 was a great way to finish off the trip. Every theater should have those giant screens and a sound system that shakes your spleen.