Ancient History

When I made my film "Cat & Rat" in the dark ages, it won a student academy award and before I knew this, all the winners were flown into LA for a week for the ceremony. I was living and going to school in Chicago and before I left, I starting working on my next short film called "Once upon a Canvas". It was a story about an artist struggle to paint a canvas and finally in the end it becomes a work of art by mistake.

I had storyboards all done and was starting to begin animating before my trip to LA. I figured people would be asking me, " So, what are you working on now?" And I thought I could show them my idea and someone might say, "Bingo Babe, We want to finance this puppy, sign here." Then I would make the next film and then a TV series would pop up, I would soon be elevated to Superstar statis and have to get hooked on some drug in order to write a book or movie about it in years to come. I had it all planned out, my next film was already to go.

So, I fly to Los Angeles from Chicago and am treated as royality by the Academy's Student Award division. I had two beds in my room, a desk and even a phone in the bathroom, very close to the toilet. Extremely fancy, wealth and fame floated in the air and I felt like a hick from Florida, which I sort of am. But that week, all your personal flaws, your self image, you felt like you were constaintly being watched and I think I got a taste of how it feels to be a celebrity.

The first night was a reception at the Yamashiro in LA where we got to meet the other filmmakers who were up for awards as well. Groups suddenly formed, the screenwriters, the short film directors, the editors, documentary filmmakers and lastly, the animators. It was like a small high school in one room of the Japanese resturant and the animators where the geeks. Some might argue about this fact, but we were labelled, "Oh them, there animators". I felt we were the lower class, although we got along with documentarians. Screenwriters were ok, but you felt like they were taking you in when you talked with them. Some would stop you in midspeech as says, "Hey! That's good, I'll have to use that one." Then fumble to write it down on a napkin, eventually winding up in their next screenplay.

Someone asked me the question, "So, what are you working on now?" And I was ready, calmly I explained my concept to this person. "Hmm, that sort of sounds like Richard's film..." and then walked away to be with the live action people. I met an animator named Richard Quade, kind of shy like me at the time and a little overwhelmed, but he lived in LA, so he knew the lay of the land. He told me a little bit about his film and I tried not to fall over and shatter into a million pieces.

Skip sharply to the next day and we have a screening of everyone's work. And as Richard's film began it was like watching your life pass you by. It was pretty much the same plot that I had of my film, however it was done in a slight experimental style. It was the same idea, different flavor. It also pretty much ended the production on my film since it was so similiar. Which proves that great minds or is it mines, think alike.

Richard went on to make a second film called "Sand Dance" which won him another Student Academy Award and he was soon snatched up by a place called Pixar. Here's a funny drawing he did for me when he was living in Venice Beach.