102 Backstage Pass with Dory - "Behind the Magic with Disney Animator Jason Zucker"

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Kind: captions
Language: en
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[Music]
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welcome to backstage pass the podcast
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that gives you an all access ticket
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behind the magic with the people who
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make Disney truly special it's cast
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members I'm Dory your host and fellow
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Disney fan here to share firsthand stor
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from the cast members who bring the
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parks to life from heartwarming moments
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to behindth scenes Secrets we're
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uncovering the magic together so grab
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your Mickey ears it's time to step
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[Music]
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backstage hey everyone and welcome to
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Backstage Pass I'm Dory and we are
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starting this podcast off with some
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amazing guests at the start of each
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episode we will hear from you where you
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can share experiences that you've had
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highlighting amazing cast members I
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can't wait for you to hear from Rachel
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because her positive experience with a
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cast member completely changed how her
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family was able to experience the parks
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take it away Rachel
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[Music]
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so our amazing cast experience actually
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happened when we took my son for his
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second birthday down to um Walt Disney
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World in Florida we spent a lot of time
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trying to do character interactions we
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did Chef Mickey's and that was an epic
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failure for us there was just too much
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going on for Callum it was
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overstimulating he ended up actually
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developing a small fear of the
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characters in costume so we ended up um
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booking a dinner service at Hollywood
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and Vine that came with front row seats
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to like Fantasmic later in the evening
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because he really enjoyed the Fantasmic
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show we were like okay well at least
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we'll just go to Fantasmic a thousand
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times so that it's worth it um kind of
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situation and so we were like our last
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attempt at character dining is going to
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be this dinner service over at Hollywood
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and Vine which was an awesome all you
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can eat buffet um it had a lot of kids
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selections because our son is fairly
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picky but it has you know the chicken
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nuggets the corn dogs the whole nine
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yards um and then for the adult food it
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was literally what I felt like the best
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food we had access to the entire trip
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outside of like high level dining at the
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resorts kind of deal so they had the
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traditional characters coming around the
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Mickey mini goofy Pluto um folks and
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they uh saw Callum kind of shying away
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from the characters there at the
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beginning so they would just kind of
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like hang out wave every time they came
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by and then then finally um Pluto ended
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up getting down on a knee and just kind
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of waiting for him and was just like you
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know can you give me a hug and Callum
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was like no and he goes it's okay I can
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wait and like spent almost 15 minutes
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showing my son that they weren't scary
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um that they wanted to hang out with him
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that they wanted to play with him that
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they wanted to you know be his friend
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and um by the end of the dinner all four
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characters had spent probably close to
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an hour in total with my kid um during a
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dinner service just you know coaxing him
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and explaining to him that they're not
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terrifying and by the end Callum was
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running up to Mickey Mouse being like
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this is my friend ma because he couldn't
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talk very well so we called him ma
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instead of mouse and um you know he gave
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them high fives he was so excited and by
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the time we got to Fantasmic he was
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jumping out of seat being like this is
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my friend Ma and it just it changed the
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entire tune of the trip these cast
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members went above and beyond their Call
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of Duty to basically make magic for our
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2-year-old and Brian's family is very
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big in the Disney um
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vacation kind of situation they have had
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time share there since
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1991 um when they first opened Old Key
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West so Brian basically grew up at
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Disney and like watching Callum the
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beginning half of the week basically not
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enjoy it was fairly difficult for him
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where he's like wow this is actually a
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very difficult experience for him being
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over stimulating and everything else we
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have later found out our son is on the
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Spectrum so that makes sense but um it
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just basically gave us the opportunity
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to slow down with him let him have a
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moment where the magic came alive for
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both me Brian and our kid
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all at once and it was all because a
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cast member decided that our kid
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deserved magic too even though this was
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scary and
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overstimulating so we essentially owe
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the livelihood of the traditional
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culture that Brian grew up with in
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vacationing to the fact that cast
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members decided that it was worth taking
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an extra couple of minutes with my kid
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they decided that you know every kid
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deserves to have magic even when it's
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scary and they made it magical rather
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than a allowing it to stay scary for you
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know a 2-year-old which you know looking
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back I now realize giant characters
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probably would be fairly scary when
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you're short and small and two and don't
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know what's happening um but he ended up
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making a complete 180 the vacation
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became a total success for you know us
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in the sense that you know Callum still
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sees the Disney castle on the start of
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every movie and goes I went
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there and um he's always asking to go
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back and that was what Brian and I
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wanted to do for you know not just
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Callum but for Brian because it kind of
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completes that Loop of parenting for him
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where that was a place that had magic
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and memories and 90% of the joy of his
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childhood is tied to his experiences at
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Disney World and so he wanted that for
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his kids and now it started we started
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laying the groundwork to it that's a
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thing and um you know you always run
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into the argument of don't take them
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it's so expensive they're so young
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they're not going to remember it and I
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vehemently oppose that idea because it
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is so good for your kids to have those
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experiences but it's more important that
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you as a parent get to have those
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experiences if that's what matters to
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you um so 100% thank the cast members
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that took the extra time and made Disney
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Magic for our kid it's not I I can very
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comfortably say that it's not the
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vacation per se that makes magic for
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kids it's the fact that the staff that
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they have there takes the extra time to
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remember why they're there they're not
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there just to make a living 9 to-5 a lot
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of these cast members are bringing to
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life a childhood dream for not just the
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kids but the parents like we grew up
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where there's we're in a world where
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there's not a lot to look forward to and
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being able to invoke magic in our kids
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is such a small small thing to them but
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it is so massive to some of the things
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that we're going through in life so
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anyway that is the story of Callum and
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how we uh did Hollywood and Vine and how
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we will never do another character
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experience other than Hollywood and Vine
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at this point so thank
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you if Rachel's story inspired you I
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would love to hear from you too you can
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share your cast member experiences on
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our website check out the show notes for
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the link now on to Jason Zucker Jason
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Zucker is a talented artist and former
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Disney animator with a passion for
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bringing characters to life growing up
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near Walt Disney World he was inspired
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to pursue art earn a BFA at and later
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joined Disney in
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1996 he worked as an animation and
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merchandise artist creating Unique
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Designs for Pins watches and
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one-of-a-kind
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Collectibles now focused on freelance
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work Jason also mentors aspiring artists
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believing in the power of inspiration
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and
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creativity now my family first heard
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about Jason during the covid shutdown as
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our family joined the group ear for each
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other that Jason is going to be talking
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about in his interview he quickly became
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a fan favorite in that group and we had
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him come and do an animation lesson with
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our kids last year and I don't think I
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can quite describe how supportive he has
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been for my kids who wrote and published
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a picture book and after the interview I
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invited you to hang around keep
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listening keep watching depending on
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what platform you're using because
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you'll get to experience their
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reunion I included it because it shows
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you how much he connects with the
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families that he works with Jason is a
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really special human being and I'm
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thrilled for you to meet
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him
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hello it's me it's you it's so good to
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see you and talk to you
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you too thank you so much you are going
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to be my first guest on this podcast so
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this yes no pressure no pressure hey
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you're gonna do amazing amazing I'm so
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excited um I mean I really could just
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let you go for an hour and that's going
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to be the podcast but I do want to have
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a little structure to it
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sure so we're gonna kind of start your
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pre- Disney life your Disney life which
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I know is really extensive and then
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we'll go into what you're doing now and
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how you are you know not only
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incorporating Disney but you're really
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touching and working with the Next
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Generation which is just amazing um
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because you have been such an
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inspiration for my kids as well so let's
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start with pre- Disney life let's start
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with like little
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Jason what was what was your upbringing
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like like how did Disney kind of come
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about into your understanding of the
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world um well I was born in New York and
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my father moved us down here when uh I
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was about three years old so we lived on
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the west coast of Florida which is a
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Clearwater Tampa area so at that time um
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you know Disney was only about an hour
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and a half away dry so uh my Fondest
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Memories of going to Disney was you know
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me and my brother you know in the
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backseat of the car are we there yet are
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we there yet you know kind of like The
00:11:32.959 --> 00:11:36.509
Griswalds going to Wally World and um it
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was an exciting the end little bit
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better
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ending Than The Griswalds with the
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better ending yeah my father didn't my
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father didn't kidnap the security guard
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yes um but uh he probably would have you
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know he he was probably more excited
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than we were uh but anyway um you know
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growing up in Florida you know we were
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always close to Disney World and um just
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having that early you know exposure to
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Disney you know always kept me you know
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fascinated with the characters and we
00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:09.750
were raised on Disney films and uh just
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Disney Disney Disney and uh you know
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around this time this is you know when I
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really started to draw and started to
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Doodle and so I knew our paths were
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going to cross at some point but you
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know that kid never grew up you know he
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still he's still with me all the time
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and and um it uh it just blossomed
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always coming to the parks you know in
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grade school then high school and uh
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eventually when I started really looking
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into what I wanted to do for a career
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you know animation was an option and uh
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I went to school mostly in Florida
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Jacksonville University and also the
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ringland College of Art and Design which
00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:48.990
back then was known as the ringland
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School of Art and Design and that's
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really when I got my first exposure to
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Disney animators at the time they were
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actually working on Hercules and they
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had a lot of artist come to the school
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and talk about uh because they were
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actually recruiting animators at that
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time for the Florida Studio where
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eventually I ended up um but I was too
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young at the time I was still in school
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so I couldn't you know put in any
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portfolios just yet because I felt I
00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:16.389
really felt that I needed more training
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and I needed more because I never I knew
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what animation was but I didn't have a
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lot of um experience in it or do it you
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know uh so it wasn't really until I
00:13:25.880 --> 00:13:29.590
spent um some time in wringling
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:33.870
um and then I started uh you know really
00:13:33.880 --> 00:13:36.389
just really just getting my portfolio
00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:38.590
ready and learning about you know figure
00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:40.990
drawing and all the stuff that I needed
00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:42.990
uh for my portfolio and then eventually
00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.230
I ended up in Disney in
00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.030
1996 okay and uh it really just started
00:13:48.040 --> 00:13:51.509
from there for about a 27 year career uh
00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.389
with the mouse
00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:57.870
so um so yeah so little Jason was always
00:13:57.880 --> 00:14:02.030
a doodler always a draw and uh I just I
00:14:02.040 --> 00:14:04.310
loved all the characters you know I
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.150
learned I learned from drawing from
00:14:06.160 --> 00:14:08.430
Saturday morning you know comic strips
00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:11.870
in the paper to uh you know on a steady
00:14:11.880 --> 00:14:13.949
diet of Saturday morning
00:14:13.959 --> 00:14:16.509
cartoons uh it's just never ended still
00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:17.990
doesn't it still doesn't end I still
00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:19.790
watch cartoons you know because that's
00:14:19.800 --> 00:14:22.110
really where I draw my influence and and
00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:24.949
where I still it's a very nostalgic
00:14:24.959 --> 00:14:27.550
thing for me and it just keeps me young
00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:30.069
and just uh just really you know a lot
00:14:30.079 --> 00:14:31.910
of the characters that I have developed
00:14:31.920 --> 00:14:34.590
over the years some of my own are
00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.150
actually based on you know uh the types
00:14:37.160 --> 00:14:39.910
of characters I grew up with
00:14:39.920 --> 00:14:43.790
um so but I think just being young and
00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:46.269
and living in Florida and being close to
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:48.949
Disney uh that really I think was the
00:14:48.959 --> 00:14:51.509
seed that really started uh the whole
00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.550
the whole thing love that were there
00:14:53.560 --> 00:14:55.470
characters in particular that you love
00:14:55.480 --> 00:15:00.389
to draw or um growing up yes growing up
00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.150
oh yeah oh yeah I mean
00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:04.990
I um I mean I remember it's amazing I I
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:06.350
I don't remember what I did yesterday
00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:08.189
but I can remember you know 40 50 years
00:15:08.199 --> 00:15:11.910
ago um uh the First characters that I
00:15:11.920 --> 00:15:14.629
loved um again Saturday morning cartoons
00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:15.990
I couldn't wait to go home and watch
00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.949
television couldn't wait to get home and
00:15:17.959 --> 00:15:20.990
watch my cartoons but uh Sunday morning
00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.310
uh Sunday morning papers um you know I
00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.069
you know uh you know everybody knows
00:15:27.079 --> 00:15:28.949
these characters you know Garfield the
00:15:28.959 --> 00:15:30.230
needles I remember first reading
00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.069
Garfield in
00:15:32.079 --> 00:15:34.949
1978 and I I actually got those books I
00:15:34.959 --> 00:15:36.389
wish I still had them today I still have
00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.189
some but uh you know just following just
00:15:39.199 --> 00:15:41.790
this fat cat you know and and the the
00:15:41.800 --> 00:15:43.710
punch lines were really cute and the
00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:45.430
characters Odie was my favorite I still
00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.629
have my OD doll on the Shelf over here
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.350
um but uh you know I I was obsessed with
00:15:52.360 --> 00:15:55.350
the Smurfs I used to love the Smurfs um
00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.309
and then of course that just blossomed
00:15:57.319 --> 00:16:00.389
into you know uh you know He-Man and I'm
00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.670
I'm naming all these IPS that I that I
00:16:02.680 --> 00:16:05.629
grew up with yeah but that's really
00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:09.269
that's really what it was and um
00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:13.030
uh I think I was I was really obsessed
00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:14.949
with the Smurfs I love the characters
00:16:14.959 --> 00:16:17.150
but what I really loved about them was
00:16:17.160 --> 00:16:18.749
the personalities I loved all the
00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:20.230
different personalities you know the
00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.309
jokey Smurf the Brady Smurf and all that
00:16:23.319 --> 00:16:30.389
and um uh in uh in 19 uh 82
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:32.350
um there was a little place down the
00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:34.790
street from where I Liv uh that was
00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:36.870
called Play and Learn and it was this
00:16:36.880 --> 00:16:38.230
little store and it sold like
00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.670
educational toys and they had toys and
00:16:40.680 --> 00:16:43.790
this and that and uh I entered an ET
00:16:43.800 --> 00:16:47.269
drawing contest um remember ET the alien
00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.990
oh of course yes and uh I entered a
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.110
contest ET the uh draw ET the alien and
00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:57.389
uh if you won uh you got a gift
00:16:57.399 --> 00:16:59.189
certificate for the store was in the
00:16:59.199 --> 00:17:01.269
store all the time because they sold
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.110
Smurfs uh because I used to get the
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.510
little you know the little plastic
00:17:04.520 --> 00:17:06.230
Smurfs I remember them I had a
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.350
collection yeah I have I still have a
00:17:08.360 --> 00:17:15.309
few um but uh my shelf of toys and I
00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:17.870
remember so I entered not even thinking
00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:19.669
about it I remember my father
00:17:19.679 --> 00:17:22.390
approaching me I was at home and he said
00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:25.390
hey I just got a call from Play and
00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:29.750
Learn and you won the ET drawing contest
00:17:29.760 --> 00:17:31.630
and I'm like you gotta be kidding me you
00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:35.870
know how much I won how much
00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:38.710
$5 now you have to remember this is 1982
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.070
so$ five I think would be what $15 today
00:17:42.080 --> 00:17:45.430
maybe $10 today and of course I spent it
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.950
in five seconds you know it was a gift
00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:50.789
certificate and what I bought I still
00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:52.950
have on my shelf
00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.110
today it's this uh I'll take all this
00:17:56.120 --> 00:17:56.909
stuff
00:17:56.919 --> 00:18:00.510
out it's a little Smurf pencil holder oh
00:18:00.520 --> 00:18:03.870
how cool so this was the first thing
00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:07.270
that I bought with money that I
00:18:07.280 --> 00:18:10.590
actually uh that I got from a drawing so
00:18:10.600 --> 00:18:12.630
this was this is my actual little SM and
00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.190
this has been on my desk ever since so
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:18.029
every time I look at this little guy um
00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:20.190
isn't that great the little swing it's
00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.029
amazing um yeah so every time I look at
00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.549
this and again it's on my desk um I
00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.110
always think back to you know my drawing
00:18:30.120 --> 00:18:33.190
actually got me somewhere it actually
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.149
you know five dollar but it's like wow
00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:37.789
uh I'm not just an artist anymore you
00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:40.390
know I'm an artist now that you know can
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.750
get income have money right how
00:18:43.760 --> 00:18:47.230
old what's that how old were you when so
00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:48.909
when you kind of had this idea of oh I
00:18:48.919 --> 00:18:53.430
could do this 1982 I was 10 okay I was
00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:58.230
10 awesome but uh but it was um I didn't
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:02.390
really think about it like that then um
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.110
I was just like five but uh it really
00:19:06.120 --> 00:19:08.630
wasn't until high school that I actually
00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.190
started doing projects I did so much art
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.430
for so many people over the years that
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:14.990
you know I just do it you know when you
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:17.669
do something and you just love doing it
00:19:17.679 --> 00:19:19.310
you know you don't think about it but it
00:19:19.320 --> 00:19:20.950
really wasn't until I got into high
00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.350
school that I really started to develop
00:19:23.360 --> 00:19:26.070
a mentality like you know you know I
00:19:26.080 --> 00:19:27.909
need to you know kind of because I you
00:19:27.919 --> 00:19:29.590
know I had odd job jobs and this and
00:19:29.600 --> 00:19:33.990
that um and it really wasn't until high
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.510
school that I started thinking you know
00:19:35.520 --> 00:19:37.390
maybe I could take my art and because so
00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:39.830
many people were you know family friends
00:19:39.840 --> 00:19:42.549
schoolmates this and that and I was like
00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:43.789
well you know maybe I should ask for a
00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:45.990
little Kickback you know five dollar
00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.549
here you know this that oh yeah and the
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:53.950
first job that I got as an artist and
00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.149
this actually turned into a life lesson
00:19:56.159 --> 00:19:59.070
for me was uh for a local food
00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:00.430
restaurant it was a place that we went
00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:02.149
to all the time and they're still there
00:20:02.159 --> 00:20:05.470
today um it was a very very small family
00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:07.590
chain of restaurants on the west coast
00:20:07.600 --> 00:20:08.230
of
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.470
Florida and uh I went in there one day
00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:13.350
and with my family and we we're having
00:20:13.360 --> 00:20:16.710
dinner and I remember looking at the um
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:18.950
I remember looking at the uh the kids
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.669
menu and because my sister was a was was
00:20:21.679 --> 00:20:23.630
a baby at the time and I remember
00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:25.669
looking at the kids menu thinking oh
00:20:25.679 --> 00:20:28.110
this is horrible like this is boring you
00:20:28.120 --> 00:20:31.190
know and I remember my father sitting
00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.029
next to me and uh I said wow I I would
00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:35.350
have done this so much better it was so
00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:37.070
boring looking and my father just looked
00:20:37.080 --> 00:20:38.630
at me says hey if you can do something
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:40.549
better why don't you draw it and give it
00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:42.990
to the owner and I'm like that's a great
00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.070
idea so that's exactly what I did now I
00:20:45.080 --> 00:20:47.789
went home and I made a menu and it had
00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:49.630
little pictures of had little cartoons
00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.310
of fish and had some jokes on there and
00:20:52.320 --> 00:20:55.750
I really just went nuts and
00:20:55.760 --> 00:20:58.990
um uh you know this is you know a lot of
00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:00.990
cut and paste a lot of you know a lot of
00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.470
white out you know putting the thing
00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:06.149
together and um we went next time we
00:21:06.159 --> 00:21:07.270
went to the
00:21:07.280 --> 00:21:11.149
place um I uh I approached the not the
00:21:11.159 --> 00:21:12.990
manager himself but I think his son
00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.230
because it was a big family operation
00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:16.710
and I remember sitting in this guy's
00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:18.950
office and I said hey I made this
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:21.470
children's menu for you um tell me what
00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:23.630
you think and he took one look at it and
00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:25.549
he said oh this is fantastic I'd love to
00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:27.950
use it and he looks he looks right at me
00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:29.950
and he says uh he says I'd love to use
00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:33.029
it how much can I pay you for this and I
00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:36.230
had no idea I'm like I I did I didn't
00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.789
get that far so I'm like uh I don't and
00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:41.390
he's literally looking at me holding a
00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:43.950
pen with a with a checkbook like like
00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.029
waiting for a number I was I was not
00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:49.269
prepared I I was thinking he might say
00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.909
you know oh no that's okay you know but
00:21:51.919 --> 00:21:54.070
I wasn't expecting a yes so fast like
00:21:54.080 --> 00:21:58.070
yeah I'd love to use it and um and he
00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:01.870
just looks goes is $10000
00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.750
okay now I was like I was like
00:22:05.760 --> 00:22:07.750
13 and I'm
00:22:07.760 --> 00:22:12.110
like yeah uh yeah and he just here you
00:22:12.120 --> 00:22:17.390
go yeah um so I think that I mean again
00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:18.909
I talked about the Smurf thing but I
00:22:18.919 --> 00:22:20.750
wasn't thinking like that but this was
00:22:20.760 --> 00:22:22.230
really the first time that I was like
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.990
wow like this just got me some money you
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.390
know um so I kind of think that was
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.390
starting the ball rolling as far as
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:34.830
thinking a little bit of a you know a
00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:36.590
little bit of an entrepreneur a little
00:22:36.600 --> 00:22:39.390
bit of you know on the business side of
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:43.590
art um which I still use today um the
00:22:43.600 --> 00:22:45.549
problem now the funny part of the story
00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:48.110
is it's like a Paul Harvey and here's
00:22:48.120 --> 00:22:51.110
the rest of the story right so the funny
00:22:51.120 --> 00:22:55.390
part is um so when I um I told my father
00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:57.630
said dad he paid me $100 for this for
00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:59.269
the children's menu and he looks at me
00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.870
and goes oh that's great that's great so
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.710
the next time we went
00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.789
there he literally took my now I kind of
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:11.390
think of this as a backwards compliment
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:13.789
you know almost like I was good enough
00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:16.430
that they used it on they they literally
00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:18.990
took the designs off of the menu they
00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.390
used the menu but they literally took
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:23.149
the little drawings of the characters
00:23:23.159 --> 00:23:25.070
that did from the menu and they put them
00:23:25.080 --> 00:23:26.070
on
00:23:26.080 --> 00:23:28.630
products they put them on t-shirts they
00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:31.630
put them on frisbees they put them on uh
00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:34.510
you know beer holders like and my father
00:23:34.520 --> 00:23:37.789
went nuts oh he's like now me I'm just
00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:39.909
like oh my God look it's it was like a
00:23:39.919 --> 00:23:41.789
Jason store he was like oh my God
00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:43.630
there's my fish there's my little sea
00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.990
monster I mean little baby bibs the
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.990
whole nine yards and my father was like
00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.350
did he tell you he was gonna do that and
00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:54.909
I said uh no he just gave me a check so
00:23:54.919 --> 00:23:57.310
my my father being my father was more
00:23:57.320 --> 00:24:01.430
the business minded person of the family
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.029
um uh he was a doctor so my father was
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.070
looking at me like did he you know did
00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:08.750
he tell you he was gonna do that because
00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:10.789
my father saw dollar signs and all his
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:14.909
son got was his check for $100 right and
00:24:14.919 --> 00:24:16.710
uh I said no he didn't say he was gonna
00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.830
do that so my father was my father was a
00:24:19.840 --> 00:24:22.390
little angry and my mother calmed him
00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.710
down look look he didn't know but I to I
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.190
didn't think that way I thought of it
00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:29.669
like I was like wow I'm that good that
00:24:29.679 --> 00:24:31.990
they're going to put my drawings on all
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.110
these products whoa that's cool that's
00:24:34.120 --> 00:24:37.830
the coolest thing ever um so it never
00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:40.269
got any further than that but but I did
00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:43.190
learn a lesson um and the lesson that I
00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:46.590
learned is you know and they
00:24:46.600 --> 00:24:48.750
probably have either gone through this
00:24:48.760 --> 00:24:52.470
or thinking about it or whatever but um
00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:54.669
you know when you when you do meet with
00:24:54.679 --> 00:24:56.710
a client you know and they want you for
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.269
a specific job you know uh if they plan
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:02.269
to you know if they plan to use it for
00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.470
more than what you're thinking is you
00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:06.669
know you do have the opportunity to you
00:25:06.679 --> 00:25:09.830
know make a contract or or uh you know
00:25:09.840 --> 00:25:12.430
or get more money or you know something
00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:14.389
like that because you know I I didn't
00:25:14.399 --> 00:25:16.190
know but you know chances are he didn't
00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:18.350
know either he was just like probably
00:25:18.360 --> 00:25:19.669
Somebody went hey these are great little
00:25:19.679 --> 00:25:21.830
designs let's put them on this but the
00:25:21.840 --> 00:25:23.350
truth of the matter is when I when I
00:25:23.360 --> 00:25:25.350
accepted that check you know they own
00:25:25.360 --> 00:25:27.630
the rights to everything that I did you
00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:29.110
know it's something even Walt Disney
00:25:29.120 --> 00:25:30.830
learned you know when he signed away
00:25:30.840 --> 00:25:32.549
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit you know he
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.470
didn't know that he was going to be
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.350
kicked out the door you know in a year
00:25:36.360 --> 00:25:40.110
or two um so it was it was a good lesson
00:25:40.120 --> 00:25:43.029
to know you know when you give somebody
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.430
a design or a logo or something like
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.269
that kind of know upfront what they're
00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:48.630
going to use it for what kind of
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:50.350
business it is if they're going to put
00:25:50.360 --> 00:25:52.269
it on products you know if you get a
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:54.750
little Kickback from that all of that
00:25:54.760 --> 00:25:56.470
stuff so it was kind of a it was kind of
00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:59.630
a a lesson well and it was it was also a
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:01.990
great lesson as a 13-year-old to learn
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.830
instead being a 20s something and you're
00:26:04.840 --> 00:26:07.149
like dealing with big leagues at that
00:26:07.159 --> 00:26:09.870
point so right it's wonderful I mean if
00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:11.470
it was I mean if it was the Walt Disney
00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:13.470
Company saying hey you know we'd like to
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.669
do you a a like to design a character
00:26:15.679 --> 00:26:17.950
for us you know I'm not getting a $100
00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:20.950
you know there's you know but you know
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.909
uh Krabby bills Bait Shack you know I
00:26:23.919 --> 00:26:25.750
didn't think they were anything big it
00:26:25.760 --> 00:26:27.230
was just a place we went and we had
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:28.950
Seafood you know I didn't think I didn't
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.190
I didn't think the big picture at the
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:32.750
time that's what my father was trying to
00:26:32.760 --> 00:26:35.269
do for me for years
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.350
really look at look at the big picture
00:26:38.360 --> 00:26:40.350
understand that you have an ability and
00:26:40.360 --> 00:26:42.590
I do this a lot to the the young artists
00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:45.190
that I that I meet and I mean your
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.190
children already know the lesson they
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.789
understand that you know they have a
00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.389
talent they have an ability um that can
00:26:51.399 --> 00:26:53.830
generate a profit and you know they're
00:26:53.840 --> 00:26:56.149
actually uh you know they're worth
00:26:56.159 --> 00:26:58.230
something you know they're not just do
00:26:58.240 --> 00:26:59.870
doers anymore they're actually doodlers
00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:02.470
now with a purpose and can create a
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:04.669
business and maybe hopefully a small
00:27:04.679 --> 00:27:07.110
Empire you know so you know you're not
00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:08.830
just doodling anymore you know you're
00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:12.029
serving a purpose and you're valuable
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:15.549
you know um but it took but in all
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:18.149
honesty it actually took me a long time
00:27:18.159 --> 00:27:20.269
to get away from that doodler and really
00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.830
start to think business like right you
00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:26.029
know it it it really took me a long time
00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:27.510
because when you when you do something
00:27:27.520 --> 00:27:30.190
you love so much you don't think about
00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:31.590
it you don't think about money until you
00:27:31.600 --> 00:27:33.029
have to start paying
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.510
bills you know
00:27:35.520 --> 00:27:38.029
yeah but anytime somebody approaches me
00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:39.470
and they say you know what can I pay you
00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:41.830
for this I go right back to that kid
00:27:41.840 --> 00:27:43.990
sitting in that office you know it's
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:45.549
like okay well what are you using this
00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:47.630
for I mean uh you know and there
00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:48.990
actually there have been some things
00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.750
that I've written out saying you know if
00:27:51.760 --> 00:27:53.710
this goes beyond what it's supposed to
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:56.350
be you know then I own blah blah blah
00:27:56.360 --> 00:27:59.190
this percentage this and that but um
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.909
hasn't gone that far yet right yet I
00:28:01.919 --> 00:28:03.269
love that
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.070
yet yes so let let's jump forward a
00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:08.350
little bit I know that you were talking
00:28:08.360 --> 00:28:10.509
a little bit about how Disney entered
00:28:10.519 --> 00:28:14.389
your professional life with you being um
00:28:14.399 --> 00:28:16.230
at school and them coming in with
00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:19.310
Hercules which by the way excites me so
00:28:19.320 --> 00:28:20.990
much that's one of Audrey's favorites
00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:24.789
she loves Greek mythology and then um
00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:27.110
and so that's I love that that's how it
00:28:27.120 --> 00:28:31.470
entered your adult life so
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:35.269
then how did you get your portfolio
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:37.029
together enough that you felt confident
00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.310
to submit it to Disney and get started
00:28:39.320 --> 00:28:42.110
with Disney or did it start differently
00:28:42.120 --> 00:28:46.470
for you well when I was at Ringling um
00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:49.470
uh when the animators came to wringling
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:50.990
because they were looking they were
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:54.549
opening up a studio in Florida and at
00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.190
the time they were in production on
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:59.310
Hercules which uh was most done in
00:28:59.320 --> 00:29:01.870
California um but again they were trying
00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:03.350
to recruit artists that's why they were
00:29:03.360 --> 00:29:05.750
going to Ringling and scad and places
00:29:05.760 --> 00:29:08.830
like that and uh they were bringing you
00:29:08.840 --> 00:29:11.230
know model sheets mettes drawings you
00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:13.789
know and saying look this is what we do
00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:15.830
and and a lot of uh some Disney
00:29:15.840 --> 00:29:19.750
animators actually came out of Bry um
00:29:19.760 --> 00:29:22.509
and so much I mean it was so funny it's
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:24.149
like when I finally made it to Disney
00:29:24.159 --> 00:29:26.470
it's like you know oh there's that guy
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:28.190
and I'm like I know who that is you know
00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:30.789
I used to study his work um but that was
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.269
really the first time that I met uh
00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:36.750
people that worked in Disney animation
00:29:36.760 --> 00:29:40.070
Disney films um I also spent time with a
00:29:40.080 --> 00:29:42.950
gentleman who uh used to be an effects
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:47.230
animator I met him years earlier
00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.990
um uh when they were working on
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:53.389
Mulan um at the time way early in in
00:29:53.399 --> 00:29:54.909
production
00:29:54.919 --> 00:29:59.509
um but uh I learned about the portfolio
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.990
process because they tell you up front
00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:03.669
and they still tell you what they're
00:30:03.679 --> 00:30:06.029
looking for what they need the biggest
00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:07.950
misconception is you know they don't
00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:09.630
want to see any of their own work you
00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:11.389
know because I was I was good at drawing
00:30:11.399 --> 00:30:12.990
Disney characters I could draw Mickey I
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:15.110
could draw this I could draw that and
00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:16.950
you know when I was inquiring about the
00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:18.470
portfolio the first thing they told me
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.230
was don't put this in and I'm like oh
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:23.990
okay because they didn't want to see
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:25.750
that you know they wanted to see figure
00:30:25.760 --> 00:30:28.669
drawings they wanted to see landscape
00:30:28.679 --> 00:30:30.549
drawings if you're good at that they
00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:32.310
want to see your own work they want to
00:30:32.320 --> 00:30:34.789
see what you can bring to the table um
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.870
and I was like okay so I wrote to Disney
00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:40.149
and I said uh you know I'm looking at
00:30:40.159 --> 00:30:42.789
doing a portfolio and they sent me back
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:45.470
a packet saying this is what we look for
00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:48.470
which I still have today um in fact I
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.470
sometimes I bring it with me to show
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.830
anybody who uh wants to look at Disney
00:30:52.840 --> 00:30:54.669
Animation I'm sure the packet has
00:30:54.679 --> 00:30:56.230
changed that they even sent out a packet
00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:58.310
anymore I don't know but they kind of
00:30:58.320 --> 00:31:00.149
look for the same things they look at
00:31:00.159 --> 00:31:02.990
basically your acting in your drawings
00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:06.870
whether it be computer or stop motion or
00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:10.310
uh or 2D handdrawn animation um so I
00:31:10.320 --> 00:31:13.669
took figure drawing classes and uh I was
00:31:13.679 --> 00:31:16.629
a little slow out of the gate um I also
00:31:16.639 --> 00:31:19.590
took uh classes in figure drawing when I
00:31:19.600 --> 00:31:22.470
was I spent two summers at the Rhode
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.190
Island School of Art and Design in
00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:26.230
Providence Rhode Island so I I took
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.909
figure drawing classes there
00:31:28.919 --> 00:31:33.389
um and uh really just learned more the
00:31:33.399 --> 00:31:35.430
acting of drawing really putting
00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.230
personality into your drawings and
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.029
learning about you know drawing faces
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:42.669
and arms and hands and body shapes and
00:31:42.679 --> 00:31:47.190
movements and all of that um so that's
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:48.590
pretty much where it started and you
00:31:48.600 --> 00:31:52.350
know um I started submitting a portfolio
00:31:52.360 --> 00:31:55.230
and of course getting rejected here and
00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:56.870
there which is which is normal you have
00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:58.389
to remember this is Disney in the mid
00:31:58.399 --> 00:32:01.509
90s this is coming off Lion King and all
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:03.669
these films where it's like Disney was
00:32:03.679 --> 00:32:05.430
the place to be I mean they were looking
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.909
at like 3,000 portfolios a month and
00:32:07.919 --> 00:32:09.950
we're talking around the world not just
00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:12.909
Florida or California or United States
00:32:12.919 --> 00:32:15.230
so it was difficult somebody once said
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:16.870
it was like harder it was harder to get
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:18.909
into Disney than you know Harvard Law or
00:32:18.919 --> 00:32:21.590
something like that I don't know um but
00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:23.350
you know they would but but what was
00:32:23.360 --> 00:32:25.389
really cool was they would literally
00:32:25.399 --> 00:32:27.549
send you a draw they would send you a
00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:28.750
list
00:32:28.760 --> 00:32:31.350
of you know what your strong points were
00:32:31.360 --> 00:32:33.629
you know work on this more this is they
00:32:33.639 --> 00:32:35.110
wanted you you know they wanted to
00:32:35.120 --> 00:32:38.430
recruit artists that is so you yeah so
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:39.750
you wouldn't get a letter with a Mickey
00:32:39.760 --> 00:32:42.350
saying no you know um you know you
00:32:42.360 --> 00:32:44.789
actually got a letter from the um from
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:46.990
the animation Department saying you know
00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:49.389
thank you for submitting your portfolio
00:32:49.399 --> 00:32:51.990
everything looks great work on this this
00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.070
is strong this and this and that um so I
00:32:56.080 --> 00:32:58.750
just I just kept trying I kept trying
00:32:58.760 --> 00:33:01.430
kept trying kept trying kept trying um
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.590
and then when I was uh when I was at
00:33:03.600 --> 00:33:04.789
wringling
00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:08.110
um I started working at Disney on the
00:33:08.120 --> 00:33:12.230
weekends so I started as a uh a
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.389
part-timer at Disney because in my mind
00:33:15.399 --> 00:33:16.669
I'm thinking of because I was going to
00:33:16.679 --> 00:33:18.269
school in Sarasota at the time and
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:20.269
Orlando was only about you know about an
00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:22.310
hour and a half away so I said why don't
00:33:22.320 --> 00:33:25.149
I just get a job at Disney working there
00:33:25.159 --> 00:33:27.789
on the weekends um going to school
00:33:27.799 --> 00:33:30.029
during the week um that way I can keep
00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:32.830
my ear to the ground and plus you know
00:33:32.840 --> 00:33:34.470
working at the you know Hollywood
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.870
Studios of course Disney MGM Studios
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:39.750
back in the day was a really exciting
00:33:39.760 --> 00:33:42.149
place to be sure I still like I still
00:33:42.159 --> 00:33:44.269
like the park it is kind of like my home
00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:46.830
park but it's changed so much when they
00:33:46.840 --> 00:33:49.789
got away from the production side of it
00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:51.789
um it just you know it's more of a theme
00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:54.269
park now but you know it was really
00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:56.190
exciting being there because just
00:33:56.200 --> 00:33:58.830
walking backstage I mean for me
00:33:58.840 --> 00:34:01.149
personally you know these animators were
00:34:01.159 --> 00:34:02.830
everywhere because the studio was right
00:34:02.840 --> 00:34:05.789
there I would see people that and I knew
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:08.109
who they were because I was studying
00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:11.030
their work you know I'd be like you know
00:34:11.040 --> 00:34:12.750
oh my God there's Chris Sanders there's
00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:15.069
Tony bft you know Chris Sanders the
00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:16.550
voice of Stitch you know this is before
00:34:16.560 --> 00:34:19.629
Lilo and Stitch but it's like oh my God
00:34:19.639 --> 00:34:22.270
and the really cool part about it was is
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:23.790
that I mean they were using the same
00:34:23.800 --> 00:34:25.869
cafeteria as us and all of that and you
00:34:25.879 --> 00:34:27.190
wouldn't know who they were they didn't
00:34:27.200 --> 00:34:29.349
we shirts or jackets that said hi I'm a
00:34:29.359 --> 00:34:31.349
Disney animator there were just dudes
00:34:31.359 --> 00:34:33.790
just walking around but you could
00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:35.750
approach them and say hi I'm Jason how
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:37.790
are you uh can you look at the and they
00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:40.109
were always like oh nice to meet you
00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:42.629
yeah uh yeah this is good this is strong
00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:44.510
uh I'd kind of stay away from this your
00:34:44.520 --> 00:34:48.349
line work looks good here whatever um
00:34:48.359 --> 00:34:49.790
and that was really the most amazing
00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:51.589
part I took advantage of that like you
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:52.510
wouldn't
00:34:52.520 --> 00:34:56.710
believe like U how so I I know I mean I
00:34:56.720 --> 00:34:58.910
love that you had the the forethought to
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:02.109
say I'm going to get a job at MGM did
00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:04.589
you have that much choice that you could
00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:06.510
be at MGM or was that just lucky that
00:35:06.520 --> 00:35:07.829
you got placed
00:35:07.839 --> 00:35:10.750
there no you could at the time you could
00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:13.150
um you could say I I want when you went
00:35:13.160 --> 00:35:15.870
to the casting building um everything's
00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:17.829
online now but you actually sat in front
00:35:17.839 --> 00:35:20.710
of a person and said I want to work here
00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:22.150
and they would say Okay they'd be on a
00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:24.430
computer and they say okay here you go
00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:28.550
yeah um so yeah so I start and uh
00:35:28.560 --> 00:35:31.829
I became an animation artist uh about
00:35:31.839 --> 00:35:35.190
three years later so uh in
00:35:35.200 --> 00:35:38.310
1999 I got accepted as an animation
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:43.230
artist um and uh I mean I had a lot of
00:35:43.240 --> 00:35:45.589
fun before that time and it was I mean
00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:48.390
it went by like that but uh that was
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.270
that was a really big day that was a
00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:52.750
really big day and at that time they
00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:55.390
were uh just finishing up
00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:59.030
Tarzan and uh they were moving into uh
00:35:59.040 --> 00:36:01.109
production on leoen Stitch at the time
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:03.550
and the Florida Studio was amazing
00:36:03.560 --> 00:36:05.309
during leelo and Stitch it's it's hard
00:36:05.319 --> 00:36:07.950
to believe this was over 20 years ago
00:36:07.960 --> 00:36:10.069
but it was such an amazing time Florida
00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:12.510
the Florida Studio which was not the
00:36:12.520 --> 00:36:14.950
flagship Studio but they were so small
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:17.950
they only had about 800 artists at the
00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:19.990
time but
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.670
um like that's really when they shine
00:36:22.680 --> 00:36:24.270
that right there was the climax of the
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:26.750
Florida Studio that's when they said hey
00:36:26.760 --> 00:36:30.349
California look we could do this too um
00:36:30.359 --> 00:36:32.270
it was it was a really an amazing time
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:34.230
and the funny part is Lilo and Stitch
00:36:34.240 --> 00:36:36.470
really wasn't supposed to be you know it
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:38.630
was kind of like they were thinking okay
00:36:38.640 --> 00:36:40.190
you know it might make some money it's a
00:36:40.200 --> 00:36:42.270
little you know it's a fun little film
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:45.270
fun characters fun music they were never
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:46.910
thinking I don't think anybody thought
00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:50.030
that Stitch would be you know after 20
00:36:50.040 --> 00:36:52.750
years right what he's become one of the
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.390
top five Disney characters of all time
00:36:55.400 --> 00:36:57.710
nobody thought that nobody thought that
00:36:57.720 --> 00:36:59.630
at all they were like you know I mean
00:36:59.640 --> 00:37:01.150
they were looking at other films coming
00:37:01.160 --> 00:37:02.710
down the pipeline you know Treasure
00:37:02.720 --> 00:37:05.230
Planet and all these big epic films and
00:37:05.240 --> 00:37:07.069
then in comes this little Lilo and
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.470
Stitch film which really came was really
00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:12.109
the brainchild of one person you know
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:13.550
usually it's a whole group of people
00:37:13.560 --> 00:37:15.470
directors produc no it was one guy who
00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:17.829
said look I have an idea for a movie and
00:37:17.839 --> 00:37:21.390
there it is um and it's just so ironic
00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:22.710
that you know because that was one of
00:37:22.720 --> 00:37:25.150
the last films that was done with
00:37:25.160 --> 00:37:27.150
drawings you know because that film was
00:37:27.160 --> 00:37:29.710
released in 2002 and animation pretty
00:37:29.720 --> 00:37:33.349
much shut down in 2004 the 2D side of it
00:37:33.359 --> 00:37:35.190
but it's just it's so ironic now that
00:37:35.200 --> 00:37:37.230
Stitch you know he's gonna have a movie
00:37:37.240 --> 00:37:41.069
this year and he himself is in CGI right
00:37:41.079 --> 00:37:43.150
you know um so Stitch is gonna have a
00:37:43.160 --> 00:37:45.150
whole new generation I you know it's
00:37:45.160 --> 00:37:47.710
amazing it's like I meet young you know
00:37:47.720 --> 00:37:49.710
young people you know even your your
00:37:49.720 --> 00:37:51.030
kids that you know they know Lilo and
00:37:51.040 --> 00:37:52.309
Stitch like the back of their hands but
00:37:52.319 --> 00:37:54.510
it's like you know this was this was
00:37:54.520 --> 00:37:56.190
back when their parents were teenagers
00:37:56.200 --> 00:38:00.230
you know that know Lilo and Stitch uh so
00:38:00.240 --> 00:38:02.470
I just Lelo and Stitch was so important
00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:04.349
to me because I have a brother who's 10
00:38:04.359 --> 00:38:07.510
years younger than I am and growing up
00:38:07.520 --> 00:38:09.150
we would just watch Lilo and Stitch all
00:38:09.160 --> 00:38:11.270
the time and I just Associated so much
00:38:11.280 --> 00:38:13.790
with the sister I mean my parents were
00:38:13.800 --> 00:38:17.430
wonderful but I I loved being a second
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:20.109
mother to my my brother and so I just
00:38:20.119 --> 00:38:22.750
had such a bond with him and that age
00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:24.670
Gap really meant something and so Lilo
00:38:24.680 --> 00:38:26.829
and Stitch meant something different to
00:38:26.839 --> 00:38:28.790
me than I think it did to a lot of the
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:31.030
kids that were watching it so okay so
00:38:31.040 --> 00:38:33.150
Lelo and Stitch is your
00:38:33.160 --> 00:38:36.030
first first project what were you
00:38:36.040 --> 00:38:40.150
actually doing as a new
00:38:40.160 --> 00:38:43.750
animator um intern okay so you know you
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:45.870
have to intern for a while uh I was
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:48.589
working with a guy named Sam ying and
00:38:48.599 --> 00:38:50.309
Sam euwing at the time was the head
00:38:50.319 --> 00:38:52.510
cleanup artist on Lilo and Stitch he's
00:38:52.520 --> 00:38:54.270
the one who actually taught me how to
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:57.790
draw Stitch um and I just cuz like I
00:38:57.800 --> 00:38:59.829
said you know I didn't really take any
00:38:59.839 --> 00:39:02.390
animation classes at wringling um they
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:04.390
really didn't have much animation they
00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:06.589
had um you know they had a small
00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:09.430
computer lab uh and I wasn't going there
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:11.750
for animation I was going there for just
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:12.910
strictly just
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:17.069
illustration um so I worked with Sam for
00:39:17.079 --> 00:39:19.790
a while he basically taught me how to
00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:24.150
draw Stitch and the characters and and
00:39:24.160 --> 00:39:26.910
uh just really just little bit here a
00:39:26.920 --> 00:39:29.750
little bit there and then eventually it
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.349
just it became a lot easier the more
00:39:32.359 --> 00:39:34.349
that I did it
00:39:34.359 --> 00:39:38.390
um but uh yeah I just I worked with him
00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:41.150
um I worked with uh artists like uh Lon
00:39:41.160 --> 00:39:42.750
smart Ronnie
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:45.150
willford um and really just just
00:39:45.160 --> 00:39:48.670
learning the basics of of Animation um
00:39:48.680 --> 00:39:50.109
but that was really my
00:39:50.119 --> 00:39:54.030
first my position as an intern and what
00:39:54.040 --> 00:39:55.470
was really cool is that we actually got
00:39:55.480 --> 00:39:57.870
to meet the guests and we did
00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:00.790
um we did presentations a lot of times
00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:02.710
they would send us out to do stuff you
00:40:02.720 --> 00:40:04.750
know we were I mean we were very low
00:40:04.760 --> 00:40:06.870
very low at the bottom of the of the
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:08.990
ladder but it was really cool because
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:11.670
our passion for The Art of Animation you
00:40:11.680 --> 00:40:14.510
know they would um again we did like you
00:40:14.520 --> 00:40:17.589
know we did Mall tours we did uh you
00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:20.109
know you know presentations they they
00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:21.950
used to have a thing at um Hollywood
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:24.910
Studios or I'm sorry Disney MGM Studios
00:40:24.920 --> 00:40:27.109
where uh you would go with you you'd go
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:29.309
on on a tour of the animation studio and
00:40:29.319 --> 00:40:32.150
you would sit there and uh you would
00:40:32.160 --> 00:40:35.910
present uh characters to the guests well
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:38.349
I was among I think there were about 10
00:40:38.359 --> 00:40:41.150
of us that actually were able to do that
00:40:41.160 --> 00:40:43.390
actually go and present the characters
00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:45.150
to the guests and get him excited about
00:40:45.160 --> 00:40:47.790
the film that was in production so I did
00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:50.309
that I did that as well yes that doesn't
00:40:50.319 --> 00:40:52.309
surprise me that you were there as a a
00:40:52.319 --> 00:40:54.790
hype man to to get them excited you have
00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:56.870
such an amazing personality for that
00:40:56.880 --> 00:40:58.190
well thank you I mean it was really kind
00:40:58.200 --> 00:40:59.670
of like a setup like this you know with
00:40:59.680 --> 00:41:01.589
my desk and you would be the guest and
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:03.230
be like hi folks how are you welcome to
00:41:03.240 --> 00:41:05.510
Walt Disney feature animation my name is
00:41:05.520 --> 00:41:08.030
Jason I'm one of the artists here and uh
00:41:08.040 --> 00:41:10.230
I'm gonna show you a new character named
00:41:10.240 --> 00:41:12.309
Stitch and I would show a little clip
00:41:12.319 --> 00:41:13.790
from the film and then I would actually
00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:16.150
draw Stitch in front of the guest and
00:41:16.160 --> 00:41:18.069
they would just you know have questions
00:41:18.079 --> 00:41:19.430
you know what's the next film you're
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:21.670
working on you know what's you know how
00:41:21.680 --> 00:41:23.309
did you get your start and then that was
00:41:23.319 --> 00:41:26.670
really my first exposure to meeting uh
00:41:26.680 --> 00:41:28.470
Young artist because you know they would
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:31.349
kind of hang and uh at the end of the
00:41:31.359 --> 00:41:34.109
presentation and uh ask questions or
00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:36.390
show us little drawings and stuff like
00:41:36.400 --> 00:41:38.069
that so that was really my first
00:41:38.079 --> 00:41:39.790
exposure with like kind almost like a
00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:41.790
one-on-one kind of like what I do what I
00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:43.790
did with you and what I do with a lot of
00:41:43.800 --> 00:41:46.349
other people um we just couldn't spend
00:41:46.359 --> 00:41:47.510
that much time with them because you
00:41:47.520 --> 00:41:48.990
know we had groups of people that came
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:52.230
in every hour um but that was really the
00:41:52.240 --> 00:41:54.750
first time that I got to really sit down
00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:57.430
and really talk about Disney and
00:41:57.440 --> 00:41:59.790
animation with with young people that
00:41:59.800 --> 00:42:02.230
were interested in you know possibly
00:42:02.240 --> 00:42:03.790
working there you know kind of like I
00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:07.630
was a few years earlier you know right
00:42:07.640 --> 00:42:12.109
so then from there how did how did your
00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:14.630
experience with Disney keep going I mean
00:42:14.640 --> 00:42:16.990
because you you were with Disney for
00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:21.390
20-some years right yeah about 26 27
00:42:21.400 --> 00:42:24.670
years so uh this is where the story
00:42:24.680 --> 00:42:26.390
takes a little this is The Empire
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:28.190
Strikes Back the story this is where it
00:42:28.200 --> 00:42:32.270
starts to get dark okay um so uh as
00:42:32.280 --> 00:42:35.589
everybody knows um animation was on the
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:37.990
up and up in the 90s Disney was the most
00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:39.630
P it was what they called the second
00:42:39.640 --> 00:42:42.589
golden age of Disney Animation you know
00:42:42.599 --> 00:42:44.670
um you know with beauty the Beast and
00:42:44.680 --> 00:42:47.190
Little Mermaid and Lion King I mean it
00:42:47.200 --> 00:42:49.710
Disney was Untouchable
00:42:49.720 --> 00:42:53.630
Untouchable and um but what started to
00:42:53.640 --> 00:42:55.950
happen was you know computer animation
00:42:55.960 --> 00:42:58.630
was coming in companies like Pixar
00:42:58.640 --> 00:43:01.349
Disney started to have competition so
00:43:01.359 --> 00:43:03.670
when Jeffrey kenberg left the studio you
00:43:03.680 --> 00:43:05.309
know he opened DreamWorks so now
00:43:05.319 --> 00:43:08.309
DreamWorks is making movies uh Sony's
00:43:08.319 --> 00:43:10.910
making movies uh Nickelodeon's making
00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:12.549
everybody's making movies animated
00:43:12.559 --> 00:43:15.630
movies that were very good you know very
00:43:15.640 --> 00:43:19.870
very good um and then you know Disney
00:43:19.880 --> 00:43:21.870
really didn't touch computer animation
00:43:21.880 --> 00:43:23.750
as far as like
00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:27.630
full full uh full movie Disney
00:43:27.640 --> 00:43:30.470
uh you know computer animation really
00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:33.390
much later uh but the ironic thing is
00:43:33.400 --> 00:43:35.470
Disney had a hand in computer animation
00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:38.069
since the 80s they just always stuck to
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:40.150
2D animation because that was the rich
00:43:40.160 --> 00:43:43.069
history of the company um now everybody
00:43:43.079 --> 00:43:44.710
points fingers at so many different
00:43:44.720 --> 00:43:47.349
areas of what was going on it was either
00:43:47.359 --> 00:43:50.230
the story it was the management it was
00:43:50.240 --> 00:43:52.549
the technology what what was the problem
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:53.990
what was the problem well what was
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:56.349
happening was you know in the in the
00:43:56.359 --> 00:43:58.270
late '90s
00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:00.710
early 2000s you know there was
00:44:00.720 --> 00:44:02.589
competition there were all these
00:44:02.599 --> 00:44:05.270
companies making movies and uh but
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.829
Disney stuck to their guns and they made
00:44:07.839 --> 00:44:10.150
you know films that unfortunately you
00:44:10.160 --> 00:44:12.109
know coming off of Lilo and Stitch they
00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:15.750
were just you know not very profitable
00:44:15.760 --> 00:44:17.109
um unfortunately I mean they're great
00:44:17.119 --> 00:44:19.069
films now we call them Classics they're
00:44:19.079 --> 00:44:21.230
kind of like cult films Emperor's New
00:44:21.240 --> 00:44:24.750
Groove and um uh which I was at the
00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:26.069
studio at the time when they were
00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:27.589
actually making that movie so I got to
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:30.150
see a little bit of that uh but you know
00:44:30.160 --> 00:44:32.349
Atlantis the Lost Empire and Treasure
00:44:32.359 --> 00:44:35.589
Planet which were great films but you
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:37.750
know everything were in those Lost
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.069
Years yeah they you know in art
00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:42.309
everything is timing they just there was
00:44:42.319 --> 00:44:45.510
so much competition and I mean some of
00:44:45.520 --> 00:44:47.549
these films went into theaters that had
00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:49.829
they had no shot you know I mean they
00:44:49.839 --> 00:44:51.589
went up against filmes like Harry Potter
00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:53.750
and Star Wars they didn't have a shot in
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:56.270
the dark you know I mean it was it was
00:44:56.280 --> 00:44:58.390
terrible and of course now we go into
00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:00.349
the business side of Animation what
00:45:00.359 --> 00:45:02.829
actually happens you know when business
00:45:02.839 --> 00:45:05.349
is not doing well you know that's when
00:45:05.359 --> 00:45:07.950
they have to trim the fat they have to
00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:10.670
they have toh say okay well our films
00:45:10.680 --> 00:45:12.470
are not doing well we just lost you know
00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:14.589
millions of dollars what are we gon to
00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:17.829
do so unfortunately the the dark part of
00:45:17.839 --> 00:45:20.710
the story is that uh it's exactly what
00:45:20.720 --> 00:45:22.710
they did they started closing the
00:45:22.720 --> 00:45:25.390
studios down there were lots of
00:45:25.400 --> 00:45:27.910
layoffs um you know they had a small
00:45:27.920 --> 00:45:30.069
studio in Canada they had a small studio
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:33.430
in Australia that went down uh and of
00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:36.430
course Florida which
00:45:36.440 --> 00:45:38.670
uh which was really horrible because
00:45:38.680 --> 00:45:41.030
Florida was actually making hits I mean
00:45:41.040 --> 00:45:43.030
Leo and Stitch you know
00:45:43.040 --> 00:45:46.270
astronomical uh Brother Bear was okay
00:45:46.280 --> 00:45:47.790
but I think brother bear suffered
00:45:47.800 --> 00:45:49.589
because of this because that film was
00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:51.309
released five months before it was
00:45:51.319 --> 00:45:53.910
supposed to they tried to I mean what
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:55.390
they were trying to do was trying to get
00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:58.069
the film out there because they knew the
00:45:58.079 --> 00:45:59.829
Florida Studio was going to shut down
00:45:59.839 --> 00:46:01.549
any film that went literally past the
00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:04.270
50% Mark of being completed they would
00:46:04.280 --> 00:46:06.549
finish but that film could have been a
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:08.069
lot better than what it was it was a
00:46:08.079 --> 00:46:10.230
great film you know Phil Collins music
00:46:10.240 --> 00:46:12.190
and transformation The Bear the whole
00:46:12.200 --> 00:46:15.710
thing great voice cast but that film
00:46:15.720 --> 00:46:19.750
suffered a lot a lot of a lot of uh a
00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:20.829
lot of things that were supposed to
00:46:20.839 --> 00:46:23.549
happen didn't happen uh you know because
00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:25.190
you know when you're talking time money
00:46:25.200 --> 00:46:27.750
budget all that stuff uh I mean it was
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:31.109
horrible um and eventually the Florida
00:46:31.119 --> 00:46:35.549
Studio shut down march uh March of
00:46:35.559 --> 00:46:37.109
2004
00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:44.190
2004 so um now it's like okay now what
00:46:44.200 --> 00:46:48.150
you know and I mean I felt bad because
00:46:48.160 --> 00:46:51.549
of what happened but uh I felt bad for a
00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:53.030
lot of my colleagues you know people
00:46:53.040 --> 00:46:55.230
that have been doing this for 20 years
00:46:55.240 --> 00:46:57.549
you know or maybe more you know and it
00:46:57.559 --> 00:46:59.470
was a rich history of Disney Animation
00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:02.309
that you know was just you know it was
00:47:02.319 --> 00:47:03.910
it was terrible it was in the press all
00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:06.910
the time Disney cancels 2D animation you
00:47:06.920 --> 00:47:08.309
know something that's been doing since
00:47:08.319 --> 00:47:10.390
you know Snow White in
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:14.190
1937 um it was horrible it really was
00:47:14.200 --> 00:47:17.309
and they lost a lot a lot of good people
00:47:17.319 --> 00:47:19.030
um but of course I'm still on this
00:47:19.040 --> 00:47:21.150
animation high and drawing High I'm
00:47:21.160 --> 00:47:23.069
still at Disney you know I was only
00:47:23.079 --> 00:47:26.349
there for uh see five six seven eight
00:47:26.359 --> 00:47:28.549
years maybe and I was just like what do
00:47:28.559 --> 00:47:30.630
I do now
00:47:30.640 --> 00:47:33.630
well you know it's light after the dark
00:47:33.640 --> 00:47:37.670
so what happened was uh a friend of mine
00:47:37.680 --> 00:47:41.510
um who uh actually went to wringling uh
00:47:41.520 --> 00:47:42.910
was working in
00:47:42.920 --> 00:47:45.349
merchandise and he said hey hey you
00:47:45.359 --> 00:47:47.270
should come you should come work in
00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:48.910
merchandise I was like what do you mean
00:47:48.920 --> 00:47:51.030
work in merchandise he goes well I I I
00:47:51.040 --> 00:47:52.710
designed merchandise for Disney you
00:47:52.720 --> 00:47:56.950
could do that and I said okay and uh so
00:47:56.960 --> 00:47:59.150
again again I submitted a portfolio the
00:47:59.160 --> 00:48:01.710
difference was you know where animation
00:48:01.720 --> 00:48:03.510
said not to draw Disney characters
00:48:03.520 --> 00:48:05.870
merchandise is draw Disney characters
00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:08.030
and you draw Disney characters and I
00:48:08.040 --> 00:48:11.349
said yeah I could do that so uh so I got
00:48:11.359 --> 00:48:13.750
accepted and uh
00:48:13.760 --> 00:48:16.309
literally uh I think it
00:48:16.319 --> 00:48:18.870
was uh I mean it was less than a year
00:48:18.880 --> 00:48:21.750
later that uh me and three other artists
00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:25.230
got hired like that right and I started
00:48:25.240 --> 00:48:27.349
working in what's that that you had
00:48:27.359 --> 00:48:31.430
already been an animator oh yeah okay oh
00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.069
yeah because you know I mean I'm sure
00:48:33.079 --> 00:48:34.950
there were a lot of portfolios that were
00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:37.549
probably rejected but um I mean what
00:48:37.559 --> 00:48:39.030
they were looking for they were looking
00:48:39.040 --> 00:48:41.309
for you know character integrity they
00:48:41.319 --> 00:48:45.630
were looking for Line work um and and I
00:48:45.640 --> 00:48:47.589
mean I was I was beating myself to get
00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:49.309
you know my line work was horrible in
00:48:49.319 --> 00:48:51.109
the early I mean I really had to get
00:48:51.119 --> 00:48:55.109
that nice smooth lines you know um uh
00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:57.750
you know I did have a little computer
00:48:57.760 --> 00:49:00.150
uh you know computer experience which is
00:49:00.160 --> 00:49:03.789
always good um and yeah so I spent like
00:49:03.799 --> 00:49:07.710
the next 15 years as a merchandise
00:49:07.720 --> 00:49:11.190
artist and um and it was great I was
00:49:11.200 --> 00:49:14.430
very sad for animation but the the
00:49:14.440 --> 00:49:15.470
difference was you know when you're
00:49:15.480 --> 00:49:17.510
working in animation you're working on
00:49:17.520 --> 00:49:18.950
that one
00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:21.829
character you know in the you know
00:49:21.839 --> 00:49:23.309
you're not working on others but now
00:49:23.319 --> 00:49:25.109
with merchandise you can work on all the
00:49:25.119 --> 00:49:27.750
characters right and I kind of went back
00:49:27.760 --> 00:49:29.750
to the basics which was kind of fun I
00:49:29.760 --> 00:49:32.470
used to work for a guy named Ralph Kent
00:49:32.480 --> 00:49:34.150
and Ralph Kent was the one who really
00:49:34.160 --> 00:49:35.829
had to really taught me how to draw
00:49:35.839 --> 00:49:38.750
Mickey properly because I wasn't drawing
00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:40.349
a lot of the Disney you know the classic
00:49:40.359 --> 00:49:42.190
Disney characters in animation animation
00:49:42.200 --> 00:49:45.430
you're working on you know uh tantor or
00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:47.270
you're working on Turk or you're working
00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:49.950
on you know whatever character uh you
00:49:49.960 --> 00:49:51.589
know Stitch
00:49:51.599 --> 00:49:54.309
um but in merchandise in merchandise
00:49:54.319 --> 00:49:55.829
you're working on all the characters so
00:49:55.839 --> 00:49:58.589
I really went back to the basics and you
00:49:58.599 --> 00:50:01.069
know I really exposed myself to the
00:50:01.079 --> 00:50:03.630
model sheets and really looked at you
00:50:03.640 --> 00:50:05.510
know how Frank Thomas would draw lady in
00:50:05.520 --> 00:50:07.630
the and really looking at all the
00:50:07.640 --> 00:50:09.069
Char because I kind of went back to
00:50:09.079 --> 00:50:11.510
school almost in a way um but really
00:50:11.520 --> 00:50:13.309
learning the basics of drawing Mickey
00:50:13.319 --> 00:50:15.990
and Goofy and Donald and all that um a
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:17.109
lot of people asked me are there any
00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:18.190
characters that you could draw from
00:50:18.200 --> 00:50:20.230
memory and I was like Yeah The Fab Five
00:50:20.240 --> 00:50:22.470
I can draw them like that because I was
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:24.870
taught by the best of the best and you
00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:26.349
know Ralph was the one who really taught
00:50:26.359 --> 00:50:28.870
me the basics of Mickey Mouse you know
00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:31.230
how you know how big his ears are as you
00:50:31.240 --> 00:50:33.430
know in relation to his face and and all
00:50:33.440 --> 00:50:35.390
of that draw it this way no draw it this
00:50:35.400 --> 00:50:37.710
way how tall is Mickey where is he
00:50:37.720 --> 00:50:40.109
compared to goofy all that stuff so I
00:50:40.119 --> 00:50:41.349
kind of went back to school and I
00:50:41.359 --> 00:50:43.589
learned the basics of of character
00:50:43.599 --> 00:50:46.030
design um and it was great and I worked
00:50:46.040 --> 00:50:50.549
on everything from pins to watches to uh
00:50:50.559 --> 00:50:53.270
uh you know we did some apparel some
00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:57.109
toys uh ear hats you know stuff like
00:50:57.119 --> 00:51:00.829
that and it was it was it was fantastic
00:51:00.839 --> 00:51:05.710
and I loved it um so my it it really
00:51:05.720 --> 00:51:07.750
satisfied that part of me of being a
00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:10.109
Disney artist but I was still kind of
00:51:10.119 --> 00:51:12.910
sad about animation and uh because
00:51:12.920 --> 00:51:14.910
nobody knew where it was going nobody
00:51:14.920 --> 00:51:17.589
knew it's it's like what do we do now
00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:20.069
you know and the next couple of films I
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:24.230
think uh did okay but then the ball
00:51:24.240 --> 00:51:25.990
started rolling again and things just
00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:27.870
got more you know you had your Tangled
00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:31.430
then Frozen then you know uh these big
00:51:31.440 --> 00:51:33.109
films that are coming out and of course
00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:36.270
now they join with Pixar right and it
00:51:36.280 --> 00:51:39.710
just went from there um so they they're
00:51:39.720 --> 00:51:43.109
just not producing um as many films as
00:51:43.119 --> 00:51:44.990
they used to because when I was in the
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:46.670
studio you know they were literally
00:51:46.680 --> 00:51:48.630
working on like three films at the same
00:51:48.640 --> 00:51:51.230
time which is another thing that people
00:51:51.240 --> 00:51:53.030
were like pointing their finger at
00:51:53.040 --> 00:51:54.630
saying you know Disney just spread
00:51:54.640 --> 00:51:57.430
itself way too thinz you don't you know
00:51:57.440 --> 00:51:59.349
again when you think you're
00:51:59.359 --> 00:52:01.589
untouchable and you think that you know
00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:03.390
you can do no wrong sometimes when that
00:52:03.400 --> 00:52:05.270
gets in your head you're thinking oh
00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:06.589
we'll just put a movie out we'll put
00:52:06.599 --> 00:52:07.710
Disney in front of it and everybody's
00:52:07.720 --> 00:52:08.710
gonna see
00:52:08.720 --> 00:52:12.789
it it just it be there was too many
00:52:12.799 --> 00:52:14.510
things coming out them that were you
00:52:14.520 --> 00:52:16.950
know not allowing that to happen anymore
00:52:16.960 --> 00:52:20.470
you know and that's it's sad it's sad
00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:22.910
but uh but a lot of the the good news is
00:52:22.920 --> 00:52:24.630
a lot of the animators people that I
00:52:24.640 --> 00:52:26.750
used to work with uh they became became
00:52:26.760 --> 00:52:29.390
teachers they became instructors a lot
00:52:29.400 --> 00:52:31.430
of them formed their own Studios a lot
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.349
of them went into other art type
00:52:34.359 --> 00:52:37.470
businesses um you know so they they took
00:52:37.480 --> 00:52:39.670
what they knew and they you know they
00:52:39.680 --> 00:52:43.030
made lives which is great um some I keep
00:52:43.040 --> 00:52:45.109
still keep in touch with uh they have
00:52:45.119 --> 00:52:48.190
families now I mean it's it's it's Fant
00:52:48.200 --> 00:52:51.390
it's good now but um but in those days
00:52:51.400 --> 00:52:53.230
when everything just came to a
00:52:53.240 --> 00:52:56.710
halt and just stopped it's like what do
00:52:56.720 --> 00:53:01.950
we do you know um yeah yeah but you
00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:05.349
know uh change is not always a good
00:53:05.359 --> 00:53:07.910
thing but eventually it blossoms into
00:53:07.920 --> 00:53:11.829
something beautiful right right well
00:53:11.839 --> 00:53:15.150
then let's talk about you making this so
00:53:15.160 --> 00:53:17.510
you made this transition to merchandise
00:53:17.520 --> 00:53:22.030
which is amazing um before we move to
00:53:22.040 --> 00:53:24.630
your life after Disney I'm curious what
00:53:24.640 --> 00:53:27.150
was the hardest part about being a
00:53:27.160 --> 00:53:29.470
Disney cast
00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:34.309
member the hardest
00:53:34.319 --> 00:53:38.870
part uh physically or mentally both
00:53:38.880 --> 00:53:42.510
either the walk from the parking lot
00:53:42.520 --> 00:53:47.109
um not what I was expecting I love
00:53:47.119 --> 00:53:48.910
it
00:53:48.920 --> 00:53:53.630
uh what was the hardest part
00:53:53.640 --> 00:53:57.670
um well uh actually uh I'll kind of use
00:53:57.680 --> 00:53:59.589
what I just said as an example the
00:53:59.599 --> 00:54:05.030
hardest part was um trying to justify
00:54:05.040 --> 00:54:07.150
why they were closing
00:54:07.160 --> 00:54:09.589
animation um that was the hardest part
00:54:09.599 --> 00:54:10.710
you know
00:54:10.720 --> 00:54:13.390
because uh you know did like I said you
00:54:13.400 --> 00:54:15.109
know when this all happened you know
00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:16.870
Disney was getting the worst press you
00:54:16.880 --> 00:54:18.549
can I mean you can research it I mean
00:54:18.559 --> 00:54:21.589
Disney was getting horrible press and uh
00:54:21.599 --> 00:54:24.349
you know you know that's when it it was
00:54:24.359 --> 00:54:26.710
that's when the saved disney.com thing
00:54:26.720 --> 00:54:30.630
happened and Roy's uh you know Roy's um
00:54:30.640 --> 00:54:33.870
uh Roy E Disney was against the company
00:54:33.880 --> 00:54:35.710
I mean it was horrible the stock price
00:54:35.720 --> 00:54:38.069
was going way down you know the parks
00:54:38.079 --> 00:54:40.030
were not doing very well everybody
00:54:40.040 --> 00:54:43.309
wanted to kick Michael Eisner out um
00:54:43.319 --> 00:54:46.030
that was the hardest part uh one of the
00:54:46.040 --> 00:54:49.470
hardest parts was you know you you have
00:54:49.480 --> 00:54:51.270
your love of Disney thinking Disney is
00:54:51.280 --> 00:54:53.470
just this magical place and then you
00:54:53.480 --> 00:54:55.109
open the paper and it's just like you
00:54:55.119 --> 00:54:57.510
know Disney's The Worst place and how
00:54:57.520 --> 00:54:59.589
could you know they just laid off 14400
00:54:59.599 --> 00:55:01.750
animators you're thinking yourself this
00:55:01.760 --> 00:55:03.990
this place that I grew up with which has
00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:06.150
been magical and loving and everybody's
00:55:06.160 --> 00:55:08.270
just all happy dancing around how could
00:55:08.280 --> 00:55:11.510
they do this to people um that was
00:55:11.520 --> 00:55:12.950
probably the hardest part is really
00:55:12.960 --> 00:55:15.470
trying to understand that yes it is a
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:17.710
magical place it still is it always will
00:55:17.720 --> 00:55:20.789
be uh you know they do the most amazing
00:55:20.799 --> 00:55:21.990
things but you know you have to
00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:23.910
understand it is a business you know
00:55:23.920 --> 00:55:26.910
it's a business you know and you know
00:55:26.920 --> 00:55:28.990
there's you know cost cutting and
00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:31.109
layoffs I mean I think Disney's about to
00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:33.910
have another round of layoffs um you see
00:55:33.920 --> 00:55:35.190
it all the time and you're like how
00:55:35.200 --> 00:55:37.309
could they do that you know but when you
00:55:37.319 --> 00:55:38.990
when you separate those two things it's
00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:41.750
a lot easier to understand but um you
00:55:41.760 --> 00:55:43.190
know how can Disney do that that's
00:55:43.200 --> 00:55:45.190
probably the hardest thing well that
00:55:45.200 --> 00:55:46.430
kind of goes back to that lesson that
00:55:46.440 --> 00:55:49.270
you were learning at 13 is that there is
00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:51.150
the art to it and the magic to it but
00:55:51.160 --> 00:55:53.309
then there is also the business piece
00:55:53.319 --> 00:55:55.789
yeah exactly have to make money that's
00:55:55.799 --> 00:55:57.270
right you have to make money you have to
00:55:57.280 --> 00:55:58.549
please the
00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:01.069
stockholders um that's probably the hard
00:56:01.079 --> 00:56:03.630
that was probably the hardest part about
00:56:03.640 --> 00:56:07.589
about being there but um uh I was
00:56:07.599 --> 00:56:09.190
kidding about the physical thing I I
00:56:09.200 --> 00:56:10.390
didn't I don't have any
00:56:10.400 --> 00:56:13.589
physicals
00:56:13.599 --> 00:56:17.230
um uh rich I mean the hardest the
00:56:17.240 --> 00:56:18.549
hardest thing I don't really think it's
00:56:18.559 --> 00:56:20.270
hard because I think it's I think it's
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:22.789
um it's something that you need to do I
00:56:22.799 --> 00:56:25.829
think rejection was probably hard
00:56:25.839 --> 00:56:27.190
because you know when you get that
00:56:27.200 --> 00:56:29.870
rejection letter or your portfolio comes
00:56:29.880 --> 00:56:31.870
back and you say what's wrong with this
00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:34.109
why don't they want me again you have to
00:56:34.119 --> 00:56:35.589
think this is a business they're not
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:37.630
just going to hire everybody you know
00:56:37.640 --> 00:56:39.230
they want the best the best they want
00:56:39.240 --> 00:56:42.270
somebody that they know they can train
00:56:42.280 --> 00:56:44.589
easily and blah blah blah that was hard
00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:46.430
too but I understood that easily I was
00:56:46.440 --> 00:56:48.390
like I I I get it you know I get it I
00:56:48.400 --> 00:56:52.230
get it um but I think the again I think
00:56:52.240 --> 00:56:54.150
just the hardest part around that time
00:56:54.160 --> 00:56:57.630
was really trying to understand uh why
00:56:57.640 --> 00:56:59.789
they were doing what they were doing you
00:56:59.799 --> 00:57:02.390
know it's a business it's a business you
00:57:02.400 --> 00:57:06.109
still love it though right still do well
00:57:06.119 --> 00:57:08.069
let's talk about where you what you're
00:57:08.079 --> 00:57:09.829
doing now because Disney is still very
00:57:09.839 --> 00:57:11.630
much a part of your life even I'm
00:57:11.640 --> 00:57:15.710
talking to you yes but um and and
00:57:15.720 --> 00:57:18.270
because of what you're doing now that's
00:57:18.280 --> 00:57:21.430
how we got to meet but why don't you
00:57:21.440 --> 00:57:23.789
tell everyone else what are what are you
00:57:23.799 --> 00:57:27.109
doing now how is Disney still a part of
00:57:27.119 --> 00:57:29.589
Jason's life this is how I live by the
00:57:29.599 --> 00:57:32.630
way I've never left this
00:57:32.640 --> 00:57:34.430
tree
00:57:34.440 --> 00:57:37.390
um okay so
00:57:37.400 --> 00:57:40.829
um so uh covid
00:57:40.839 --> 00:57:44.190
happened and by that time I reached my
00:57:44.200 --> 00:57:46.870
my 25th year with the
00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:50.589
company and uh everything was you know
00:57:50.599 --> 00:57:54.230
everything was fine uh covid happened
00:57:54.240 --> 00:57:57.150
and uh yet again like we were saying
00:57:57.160 --> 00:57:59.109
before you know Cuts had to be made the
00:57:59.119 --> 00:58:00.309
company
00:58:00.319 --> 00:58:03.910
changed uh a lot of departments were let
00:58:03.920 --> 00:58:06.549
go uh you know I mean we're talking like
00:58:06.559 --> 00:58:09.190
28,000 cast members just in Florida
00:58:09.200 --> 00:58:13.150
alone so um I was part of that the
00:58:13.160 --> 00:58:15.789
28,000 a lot of people were a lot of my
00:58:15.799 --> 00:58:18.349
colleagues my friends
00:58:18.359 --> 00:58:21.109
um uh a lot changed a lot changed and
00:58:21.119 --> 00:58:23.510
it's still changing today but that's how
00:58:23.520 --> 00:58:26.710
you grow and that's how you
00:58:26.720 --> 00:58:29.589
uh you know you just keep hitting that
00:58:29.599 --> 00:58:33.390
refresh button refresh button um so what
00:58:33.400 --> 00:58:36.430
happened was so I left and while I was
00:58:36.440 --> 00:58:38.630
gone because I was gone for about a year
00:58:38.640 --> 00:58:41.910
I call it the yearlong weekend so uh so
00:58:41.920 --> 00:58:45.430
I was gone for a year and during that
00:58:45.440 --> 00:58:49.549
time I uh started working on just
00:58:49.559 --> 00:58:52.190
personal projects uh I was never bored I
00:58:52.200 --> 00:58:54.309
was not I was just sitting at home like
00:58:54.319 --> 00:58:56.510
uh you know I was just doing it just
00:58:56.520 --> 00:58:58.789
gave me more free time to do stuff you
00:58:58.799 --> 00:59:01.230
know everything from uh you know I was
00:59:01.240 --> 00:59:03.190
doing murals and private
00:59:03.200 --> 00:59:08.750
homes I was doing um uh Pet Portraits
00:59:08.760 --> 00:59:12.710
caricatures uh you know it's just never
00:59:12.720 --> 00:59:14.870
ending logo design I was just doing
00:59:14.880 --> 00:59:18.829
stuff and uh I started doing the
00:59:18.839 --> 00:59:21.190
sessions because you know I had some
00:59:21.200 --> 00:59:23.870
some requests from people saying hey
00:59:23.880 --> 00:59:25.430
we're coming to Disney you know we'd
00:59:25.440 --> 00:59:28.510
love to meet you and uh can you teach my
00:59:28.520 --> 00:59:30.470
son or daughter how to draw this
00:59:30.480 --> 00:59:32.029
particular character I said yeah that's
00:59:32.039 --> 00:59:33.910
great I could do that and so I would
00:59:33.920 --> 00:59:35.670
just grab my stuff and throw it in the
00:59:35.680 --> 00:59:37.349
car and just go to where they were and
00:59:37.359 --> 00:59:40.470
just started doing it and uh then it you
00:59:40.480 --> 00:59:42.349
know popped up on Facebook because what
00:59:42.359 --> 00:59:45.309
happened was during this time uh there
00:59:45.319 --> 00:59:48.029
was a Facebook page created by the cast
00:59:48.039 --> 00:59:53.150
members um called earre each other and
00:59:53.160 --> 00:59:56.990
um I was on there once uh you know just
00:59:57.000 --> 00:59:59.510
posting hi I'm Jason I'm a I'm a former
00:59:59.520 --> 01:00:02.549
artist and it just blossomed from there
01:00:02.559 --> 01:00:05.109
I mean and I only I only did it once you
01:00:05.119 --> 01:00:06.910
know and this this was like three year
01:00:06.920 --> 01:00:09.190
this was like three four years ago you
01:00:09.200 --> 01:00:11.789
know so I started doing that as
01:00:11.799 --> 01:00:15.390
well um but the interesting part is uh
01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:19.309
over the last year or so um I've been
01:00:19.319 --> 01:00:22.510
contacted by not only Disney uh I mean
01:00:22.520 --> 01:00:24.670
I'm sorry people that work for Disney
01:00:24.680 --> 01:00:28.270
but uh other people that um Disney
01:00:28.280 --> 01:00:31.390
recruits to do uh product design because
01:00:31.400 --> 01:00:33.430
it's not all it's not all done in house
01:00:33.440 --> 01:00:34.829
there are some companies out there that
01:00:34.839 --> 01:00:37.549
have licensed uh they're able to license
01:00:37.559 --> 01:00:40.230
Disney characters for products so I've
01:00:40.240 --> 01:00:42.510
been doing that as well um I've done
01:00:42.520 --> 01:00:44.950
stuff for the uh the Disney
01:00:44.960 --> 01:00:48.630
treasure um I've done stuff uh for uh I
01:00:48.640 --> 01:00:51.190
just did some apparel designs for
01:00:51.200 --> 01:00:55.069
Shanghai Disneyland um and right now I'm
01:00:55.079 --> 01:00:56.950
working with a small company that has
01:00:56.960 --> 01:00:59.870
Disney licensing to put on some leather
01:00:59.880 --> 01:01:02.270
handbands oh cool I'm drawing some
01:01:02.280 --> 01:01:03.789
characters yeah in fact I just sent some
01:01:03.799 --> 01:01:06.150
the other day um and I'm going to do
01:01:06.160 --> 01:01:10.390
more um but uh yeah and you know but so
01:01:10.400 --> 01:01:12.309
you're kind of like you're kind of like
01:01:12.319 --> 01:01:14.109
taken on as like a freelancer like a
01:01:14.119 --> 01:01:17.029
vendor almost in a way but these people
01:01:17.039 --> 01:01:20.549
know that I had the training and I had
01:01:20.559 --> 01:01:24.670
you know the ability to do this um so um
01:01:24.680 --> 01:01:27.829
you know sketch designs like you know
01:01:27.839 --> 01:01:30.069
like you know Roger Rabbit and Jessica
01:01:30.079 --> 01:01:34.190
you know stuff like that um I mean so so
01:01:34.200 --> 01:01:37.510
much stuff um so it's really given me a
01:01:37.520 --> 01:01:40.510
lot of free time to do what I want to do
01:01:40.520 --> 01:01:42.109
I still go to the parks all the time
01:01:42.119 --> 01:01:44.309
when I do the sessions I'm always at the
01:01:44.319 --> 01:01:46.549
parks I'm always at at the resorts and I
01:01:46.559 --> 01:01:49.710
absolutely love it and my biggest Thrill
01:01:49.720 --> 01:01:52.630
is meeting and you're the prime example
01:01:52.640 --> 01:01:54.470
of this you know meeting Young Artists
01:01:54.480 --> 01:01:56.309
and you know maybe adding a little bit
01:01:56.319 --> 01:01:59.670
of inspiration to them and uh you know
01:01:59.680 --> 01:02:01.870
so they can move forward and they can
01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:03.750
see what you know their possibilities
01:02:03.760 --> 01:02:06.430
are as artists or designers or
01:02:06.440 --> 01:02:09.069
entrepreneurs and all of that and that
01:02:09.079 --> 01:02:10.630
for me is the most thrilling thing
01:02:10.640 --> 01:02:13.750
because I see them as I was you know
01:02:13.760 --> 01:02:16.549
it's like what do I do what do I do um I
01:02:16.559 --> 01:02:18.029
mean but your your children were already
01:02:18.039 --> 01:02:19.829
doing it I I don't think I really did
01:02:19.839 --> 01:02:21.950
anything new they're just like yeah we
01:02:21.960 --> 01:02:26.630
have a business hello um but uh that for
01:02:26.640 --> 01:02:29.309
me is the biggest thrill so everything
01:02:29.319 --> 01:02:33.029
from for right now everything and I mean
01:02:33.039 --> 01:02:36.829
zooms podcasts uh schools I was just at
01:02:36.839 --> 01:02:39.750
school the other day um I actually have
01:02:39.760 --> 01:02:43.390
a zoom tonight with somebody
01:02:43.400 --> 01:02:47.870
um uh you know also companies I've done
01:02:47.880 --> 01:02:51.029
I've done Enterprise Rena car I've done
01:02:51.039 --> 01:02:54.230
um Chevron I've done locked Martin I've
01:02:54.240 --> 01:02:56.390
done zooms with them you you know how to
01:02:56.400 --> 01:03:00.910
draw characters so uh birthday parties
01:03:00.920 --> 01:03:03.390
um uh baby showers I've done baby
01:03:03.400 --> 01:03:05.630
showers you know you know I just go to
01:03:05.640 --> 01:03:07.990
their their their wherever they go and
01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:10.309
you know a home or whatever and bring
01:03:10.319 --> 01:03:12.510
all my pads and we all draw Minnie Mouse
01:03:12.520 --> 01:03:15.630
together all the stuff like that um it's
01:03:15.640 --> 01:03:17.470
it's it's wonderful it's wonderful it's
01:03:17.480 --> 01:03:19.750
just taking the art to another level
01:03:19.760 --> 01:03:21.069
right you know not just sitting in a
01:03:21.079 --> 01:03:22.950
chair in an office in a cubicle which
01:03:22.960 --> 01:03:24.710
wasn't bad but sometimes it can get a
01:03:24.720 --> 01:03:26.990
little boring
01:03:27.000 --> 01:03:29.510
um and I think I think that was probably
01:03:29.520 --> 01:03:32.789
another another thing uh going back to
01:03:32.799 --> 01:03:35.549
you know what was hard about working for
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:37.750
Disney there were times where I was in
01:03:37.760 --> 01:03:39.029
merchandise where I'm sitting in a
01:03:39.039 --> 01:03:41.549
cubicle by myself you know working on
01:03:41.559 --> 01:03:42.829
stuff and of course you know you have
01:03:42.839 --> 01:03:45.910
your music and your iPads but uh you
01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:47.789
know it's a some of those environments
01:03:47.799 --> 01:03:49.510
are very quiet because everybody's in
01:03:49.520 --> 01:03:51.829
their own world you know you might have
01:03:51.839 --> 01:03:53.789
to get up and talk to your Your Leader
01:03:53.799 --> 01:03:55.950
or something like that but you know
01:03:55.960 --> 01:03:57.589
sometimes it can be very lonely um you
01:03:57.599 --> 01:04:01.150
know I like people I'm a yes I believe
01:04:01.160 --> 01:04:03.349
that that's why New York is my favorite
01:04:03.359 --> 01:04:05.789
place on the planet because you know
01:04:05.799 --> 01:04:07.430
people go how do you go there it's so
01:04:07.440 --> 01:04:08.990
congested and there's so many people
01:04:09.000 --> 01:04:10.670
it's like that's what I love I love
01:04:10.680 --> 01:04:14.269
people right I love busy I love busy
01:04:14.279 --> 01:04:17.269
places I love I love all the you know I
01:04:17.279 --> 01:04:19.029
love walking through Penn Station and
01:04:19.039 --> 01:04:21.470
being surrounded by thousands of people
01:04:21.480 --> 01:04:23.430
going in thousand different directions
01:04:23.440 --> 01:04:25.789
and in thousand different personalities
01:04:25.799 --> 01:04:27.589
how can you not love that I love that
01:04:27.599 --> 01:04:28.990
you know
01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:32.670
um so uh I love being in front of crowds
01:04:32.680 --> 01:04:35.910
and if and if I could just say even in
01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:39.470
this mix of all this work um I still
01:04:39.480 --> 01:04:41.430
have a little time here and there that
01:04:41.440 --> 01:04:43.750
you know I I love being on the stage
01:04:43.760 --> 01:04:46.349
I've done I've done shows I've uh the
01:04:46.359 --> 01:04:48.829
last show I was in was called the um the
01:04:48.839 --> 01:04:51.789
25th Annual putam counting spelling be
01:04:51.799 --> 01:04:54.549
love that yeah I was I was vice
01:04:54.559 --> 01:04:58.670
principal panch good um and before that
01:04:58.680 --> 01:05:01.589
uh before that uh I did um you're a good
01:05:01.599 --> 01:05:04.630
man Charlie Brown I did that shave my
01:05:04.640 --> 01:05:06.390
shave my head and
01:05:06.400 --> 01:05:09.430
everything Lucy was my favorite role
01:05:09.440 --> 01:05:12.069
that I've ever done oh she gave it to me
01:05:12.079 --> 01:05:13.269
let me tell
01:05:13.279 --> 01:05:15.870
you she gave it to me that was a that
01:05:15.880 --> 01:05:19.950
was a really fun show um and the L we
01:05:19.960 --> 01:05:22.029
actually had two Lucy
01:05:22.039 --> 01:05:26.150
um uh Lucy and Lucy and L I think we're
01:05:26.160 --> 01:05:28.589
the only two that didn't have uh underst
01:05:28.599 --> 01:05:32.150
studies okay um but
01:05:32.160 --> 01:05:34.589
uh I mean I'm sorry me and lonus were
01:05:34.599 --> 01:05:37.109
the only been of understudy so uh Snoop
01:05:37.119 --> 01:05:39.190
we had two snoopies you know they they
01:05:39.200 --> 01:05:43.630
just mixed them back and forth um but no
01:05:43.640 --> 01:05:46.510
that was that was a great show and uh I
01:05:46.520 --> 01:05:48.390
never felt more like a loser let me tell
01:05:48.400 --> 01:05:51.430
you um but it was I it was ironic
01:05:51.440 --> 01:05:53.269
because you know Charlie Brown was one
01:05:53.279 --> 01:05:54.630
of the first characters I learned how to
01:05:54.640 --> 01:05:57.269
draw know so you know to be there and
01:05:57.279 --> 01:05:59.190
actually embody this character and this
01:05:59.200 --> 01:06:01.829
big loser that he was and the music was
01:06:01.839 --> 01:06:05.109
great everybody says to me you know you
01:06:05.119 --> 01:06:08.950
know got little dance um but I've always
01:06:08.960 --> 01:06:10.549
I've always loved performing I've always
01:06:10.559 --> 01:06:12.870
loved shows
01:06:12.880 --> 01:06:18.750
um and uh you know also during this time
01:06:18.760 --> 01:06:21.910
uh I also uh I also wrote a Broadway
01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:27.069
show uh so yeah um so this happened I
01:06:27.079 --> 01:06:29.510
think after we met so I really didn't
01:06:29.520 --> 01:06:32.309
talk about it that much um but right now
01:06:32.319 --> 01:06:35.230
it's actually currently uh being
01:06:35.240 --> 01:06:38.710
optioned um by uh by a couple of
01:06:38.720 --> 01:06:40.750
producers uh Tony award-winning
01:06:40.760 --> 01:06:42.589
producers they actually have a couple of
01:06:42.599 --> 01:06:44.589
shows right now currently on
01:06:44.599 --> 01:06:50.910
Broadway um and uh my agent quote
01:06:50.920 --> 01:06:53.789
unquote um actually lives here on Disney
01:06:53.799 --> 01:06:56.910
property um so yeah he's all over the
01:06:56.920 --> 01:06:59.069
place so that's something that I'm
01:06:59.079 --> 01:07:00.950
dealing with right now too I it's kind
01:07:00.960 --> 01:07:02.549
of out of my hands I'm not really doing
01:07:02.559 --> 01:07:04.269
anything I'm just I just gave them the
01:07:04.279 --> 01:07:07.510
rights to if they want to make the show
01:07:07.520 --> 01:07:12.269
um so I did that as well oh my go and uh
01:07:12.279 --> 01:07:14.589
I finished up a couple of murals uh
01:07:14.599 --> 01:07:17.789
before the end of the year last year um
01:07:17.799 --> 01:07:19.309
I was working on two literally at the
01:07:19.319 --> 01:07:23.309
same time um but uh one was at a middle
01:07:23.319 --> 01:07:25.910
school which was a lot of work because
01:07:25.920 --> 01:07:28.150
they literally gave me an entire
01:07:28.160 --> 01:07:30.670
hallway they're like yeah can you do
01:07:30.680 --> 01:07:32.269
something that represents the choir
01:07:32.279 --> 01:07:34.870
Department the orchestra and the theater
01:07:34.880 --> 01:07:36.670
Department I said okay you guys have any
01:07:36.680 --> 01:07:39.910
ideas no just do what you want um so one
01:07:39.920 --> 01:07:41.470
of the walls that they gave me was like
01:07:41.480 --> 01:07:44.710
72 feet long it was huge oh my goodness
01:07:44.720 --> 01:07:47.309
and uh yeah and I gotta tell you the the
01:07:47.319 --> 01:07:50.990
you know I mean if you put barb wire on
01:07:51.000 --> 01:07:52.910
the gates of this school you know you
01:07:52.920 --> 01:07:54.190
would think it was a correctional
01:07:54.200 --> 01:07:57.910
facility it's so boring in it's so Bland
01:07:57.920 --> 01:08:01.230
you know um so just doing a mural on
01:08:01.240 --> 01:08:03.069
that school you know kind of like gave
01:08:03.079 --> 01:08:05.750
it some color which was great so I mean
01:08:05.760 --> 01:08:07.309
that took me a while because there were
01:08:07.319 --> 01:08:08.710
times I couldn't be in the school I
01:08:08.720 --> 01:08:10.750
couldn't be there on the weekends um I
01:08:10.760 --> 01:08:12.269
had to be out of there by six
01:08:12.279 --> 01:08:14.910
o'clock um so that that took a while to
01:08:14.920 --> 01:08:16.390
do but I finished it before the end of
01:08:16.400 --> 01:08:19.669
the year and I did one in a private home
01:08:19.679 --> 01:08:22.110
and I'm getting set to do another one in
01:08:22.120 --> 01:08:25.910
June uh in another private home uh so I
01:08:25.920 --> 01:08:27.669
could you know I do that as well you
01:08:27.679 --> 01:08:29.510
know because you know drawing on paper
01:08:29.520 --> 01:08:31.829
or drawing on a wall it's the same the
01:08:31.839 --> 01:08:34.189
same thing right to me you know big
01:08:34.199 --> 01:08:37.510
black c big blank canvas I love it
01:08:37.520 --> 01:08:41.030
amazing um yeah so that's kind of like
01:08:41.040 --> 01:08:43.709
what I'm doing right now
01:08:43.719 --> 01:08:47.870
um but uh you know with
01:08:47.880 --> 01:08:51.510
the you know with the classes with the
01:08:51.520 --> 01:08:55.189
sessions um mixed in in between with the
01:08:55.199 --> 01:08:57.470
uh the personal designs the
01:08:57.480 --> 01:08:59.630
drawings
01:08:59.640 --> 01:09:01.950
um there there's there there's a lot
01:09:01.960 --> 01:09:04.910
going on and every day is a is a
01:09:04.920 --> 01:09:08.590
different exciting day exciting day yeah
01:09:08.600 --> 01:09:13.430
um I love it it's great well and and the
01:09:13.440 --> 01:09:15.630
inspiration that you bring to others and
01:09:15.640 --> 01:09:19.149
the joy that you bring to everyone that
01:09:19.159 --> 01:09:21.430
you work with is just it's infectious
01:09:21.440 --> 01:09:23.950
Jason and it is it's been so amazing to
01:09:23.960 --> 01:09:26.829
hear your story I knew parts of it but I
01:09:26.839 --> 01:09:28.749
didn't know everything that you shared
01:09:28.759 --> 01:09:31.950
with me so thank you so much for all of
01:09:31.960 --> 01:09:33.870
that
01:09:33.880 --> 01:09:36.430
um well as you know I can I can I can
01:09:36.440 --> 01:09:40.229
talk I know I know the Italian part of I
01:09:40.239 --> 01:09:42.309
know we have to we have to wrap this up
01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:44.789
because I have I'm sorry no but I don't
01:09:44.799 --> 01:09:46.749
want to we might need to do like a part
01:09:46.759 --> 01:09:49.990
two where we can go into even more um
01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:52.309
this could be a Trilogy I know I know
01:09:52.319 --> 01:09:54.630
because I heard that uh from another
01:09:54.640 --> 01:09:56.870
video I saw that you had done that you
01:09:56.880 --> 01:09:59.189
worked on The Great Movie Ride is that
01:09:59.199 --> 01:10:01.590
right yeah that's like I said before I
01:10:01.600 --> 01:10:03.990
worked um before I because I it took me
01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:06.149
about three years right to get my
01:10:06.159 --> 01:10:08.189
portfolio I was at The Great Movie Ride
01:10:08.199 --> 01:10:09.990
that's right I was also at the back I
01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:12.030
was ALS I spent also one year at the uh
01:10:12.040 --> 01:10:15.149
the backlog tour so so again I think
01:10:15.159 --> 01:10:17.149
that we need to do a part two of this
01:10:17.159 --> 01:10:20.149
because I want to hear all about that
01:10:20.159 --> 01:10:23.189
because I remember going to it as a kid
01:10:23.199 --> 01:10:24.750
and experience oh I can tell you I can
01:10:24.760 --> 01:10:26.870
tell you story stories okay so we're
01:10:26.880 --> 01:10:28.149
going to hold that Jason we're going to
01:10:28.159 --> 01:10:29.430
hold that for next time because I want
01:10:29.440 --> 01:10:33.550
to hear all the stories um but for now
01:10:33.560 --> 01:10:36.270
how can people get in touch with
01:10:36.280 --> 01:10:39.229
you uh for the for the character class
01:10:39.239 --> 01:10:41.430
sessions yes if they want to reach out
01:10:41.440 --> 01:10:42.950
to you what can they how can they get in
01:10:42.960 --> 01:10:45.030
touch with you okay yes well if you want
01:10:45.040 --> 01:10:48.750
to do a zoom or um you know there's
01:10:48.760 --> 01:10:50.390
Google meet there's so many other
01:10:50.400 --> 01:10:52.910
platforms out there uh you can just
01:10:52.920 --> 01:10:57.669
contact me at um uh character drawing
01:10:57.679 --> 01:11:00.669
sessions at
01:11:00.679 --> 01:11:02.950
gmail.com or you could just find me on
01:11:02.960 --> 01:11:07.669
Facebook Jason Zucker ZZ and zebra u c r
01:11:07.679 --> 01:11:10.750
and you could find me that way too um
01:11:10.760 --> 01:11:13.590
but mostly the email uh is the character
01:11:13.600 --> 01:11:16.550
drawing sessions
01:11:16.560 --> 01:11:19.830
gmail.com um or just my regular email
01:11:19.840 --> 01:11:21.950
the westwing
01:11:21.960 --> 01:11:23.910
studio
01:11:23.920 --> 01:11:28.709
outlook.com the West wi studio uh has
01:11:28.719 --> 01:11:33.510
nothing to do with the TV show um my
01:11:33.520 --> 01:11:37.070
um uh my my drawing room here the room
01:11:37.080 --> 01:11:38.910
in my house faces the
01:11:38.920 --> 01:11:42.590
West okay plus I'm a I'm a huge Batman
01:11:42.600 --> 01:11:45.510
fan and Adam West is my favorite Batman
01:11:45.520 --> 01:11:49.189
so awesome makes sense so that's why so
01:11:49.199 --> 01:11:51.229
yeah so yeah so if you're in the Disney
01:11:51.239 --> 01:11:53.510
area uh I mean it doesn't have to you
01:11:53.520 --> 01:11:54.910
know even if you're saying Universal
01:11:54.920 --> 01:11:57.750
I've G the universal too I've gone to
01:11:57.760 --> 01:12:00.189
airbnbs uh I've gone to other Resorts
01:12:00.199 --> 01:12:02.270
I've gone as far away as Tampa you know
01:12:02.280 --> 01:12:05.390
to do a drawing class which I can do
01:12:05.400 --> 01:12:09.350
um but yeah character drawing sessions
01:12:09.360 --> 01:12:13.629
gmail.com amazing Jason thank you so so
01:12:13.639 --> 01:12:15.870
much I I cannot tell you how much I
01:12:15.880 --> 01:12:19.189
appreciate you being my first guest
01:12:19.199 --> 01:12:21.189
likewise yeah I'm the first
01:12:21.199 --> 01:12:23.310
guest I feel like Bill Murray on the
01:12:23.320 --> 01:12:26.149
Letterman show I'm like the first guest
01:12:26.159 --> 01:12:28.550
I have a lineup of other people but I
01:12:28.560 --> 01:12:31.189
was just like you know what Jason is
01:12:31.199 --> 01:12:32.910
going to be the person that I want to be
01:12:32.920 --> 01:12:36.510
number one so thank you I can't wait for
01:12:36.520 --> 01:12:39.430
part two yes me too I'll reach out
01:12:39.440 --> 01:12:41.270
exciting exciting stories can you
01:12:41.280 --> 01:12:43.590
imagine can you imagine uh because I was
01:12:43.600 --> 01:12:45.270
a tour guide but then I eventually
01:12:45.280 --> 01:12:48.229
became a gangster or a bandit that's so
01:12:48.239 --> 01:12:50.310
cool yeah and can you imagine coming
01:12:50.320 --> 01:12:51.830
down as a gangster and you look to your
01:12:51.840 --> 01:12:53.110
right and there's Michael Jackson
01:12:53.120 --> 01:12:56.270
sitting there
01:12:56.280 --> 01:12:58.149
and you have to stay in character right
01:12:58.159 --> 01:13:00.149
you can't go wow Michael Jackson how are
01:13:00.159 --> 01:13:03.430
you right you have to go hey what are
01:13:03.440 --> 01:13:06.189
you looking at how you doing hey oh my
01:13:06.199 --> 01:13:10.350
God yeah oh Michael Jackson George Lucas
01:13:10.360 --> 01:13:12.229
I got so many stories about The Great
01:13:12.239 --> 01:13:15.310
Movie Ride a lot of inside tips little
01:13:15.320 --> 01:13:18.629
little stories tidbits stuff that uh you
01:13:18.639 --> 01:13:21.110
know went on behind the scenes it was a
01:13:21.120 --> 01:13:23.270
crazy place to work let me tell you okay
01:13:23.280 --> 01:13:25.510
it was a crazy place to work Jason we're
01:13:25.520 --> 01:13:27.430
going to have you on again and I want I
01:13:27.440 --> 01:13:30.990
want it to be all about that experience
01:13:31.000 --> 01:13:32.990
because I want to hear all the stories
01:13:33.000 --> 01:13:36.189
okay okay amazing amazing Jason thank
01:13:36.199 --> 01:13:39.629
you so much you're welcome okay talk to
01:13:39.639 --> 01:13:42.820
you soon all right bye
01:13:42.830 --> 01:13:45.310
[Music]
01:13:45.320 --> 01:13:48.149
bye that's a wrap on this episode of
01:13:48.159 --> 01:13:51.070
Backstage Pass I hope you loved getting
01:13:51.080 --> 01:13:53.870
a glimpse behind the magic with me today
01:13:53.880 --> 01:13:56.510
as a note the story and Views expressed
01:13:56.520 --> 01:13:59.149
in this podcast are not affiliated with
01:13:59.159 --> 01:14:01.629
endorsed by or sponsored by the Walt
01:14:01.639 --> 01:14:04.229
Disney Company and the stories they
01:14:04.239 --> 01:14:07.229
don't stop here I want to hear from you
01:14:07.239 --> 01:14:09.270
if you're a current or former Disney
01:14:09.280 --> 01:14:12.070
cast member with a story to share or if
01:14:12.080 --> 01:14:14.350
you've had a truly magical experience
01:14:14.360 --> 01:14:16.950
with a cast member in the Parks I'd love
01:14:16.960 --> 01:14:19.830
to feature it on a future episode reach
01:14:19.840 --> 01:14:23.229
out to me at the link in the show notes
01:14:23.239 --> 01:14:24.750
and of course if you enjoyed this
01:14:24.760 --> 01:14:27.149
episode so don't forget to subscribe
01:14:27.159 --> 01:14:29.910
leave a review and share it with fellow
01:14:29.920 --> 01:14:33.350
Disney fans until next time keep
01:14:33.360 --> 01:14:38.300
believing in the
01:14:38.310 --> 01:14:43.350
[Music]
01:14:43.360 --> 01:14:45.590
magic how are the uh the young
01:14:45.600 --> 01:14:48.510
entrepreneurs they are amazing yeah I I
01:14:48.520 --> 01:14:50.790
talk about them uh constantly when I
01:14:50.800 --> 01:14:51.830
meet
01:14:51.840 --> 01:14:55.110
hey how are you doing how you doing you
01:14:55.120 --> 01:14:57.830
look exactly the same I
01:14:57.840 --> 01:15:02.709
know oh my gosh yeah he's taller though
01:15:02.719 --> 01:15:05.350
oh are you taller oh yeah uhuh oh yeah
01:15:05.360 --> 01:15:08.830
way tall yeah and here's Audrey hello
01:15:08.840 --> 01:15:13.790
hey you look great too you wow well I
01:15:13.800 --> 01:15:15.550
mean guys I gotta tell you I talk about
01:15:15.560 --> 01:15:17.629
you guys all the time you have become
01:15:17.639 --> 01:15:20.590
like my poster children for you know
01:15:20.600 --> 01:15:22.350
what you can do with your talents I
01:15:22.360 --> 01:15:25.110
can't tell you um I mean I have I have
01:15:25.120 --> 01:15:28.870
your uh your books on my shelf um uh
01:15:28.880 --> 01:15:30.229
because I bought one and then you were
01:15:30.239 --> 01:15:32.390
very kind to send me another
01:15:32.400 --> 01:15:35.910
one so uh so I talk about you guys all
01:15:35.920 --> 01:15:38.510
the time you have become like the symbol
01:15:38.520 --> 01:15:41.189
of uh you know because I mean I do meet
01:15:41.199 --> 01:15:44.149
a lot of you know young uh very talented
01:15:44.159 --> 01:15:47.229
artists uh like yourselves writers and
01:15:47.239 --> 01:15:49.110
and uh you know they're kind of like you
01:15:49.120 --> 01:15:51.070
know where can this take me where can my
01:15:51.080 --> 01:15:53.070
talents take me and I say well I have a
01:15:53.080 --> 01:15:55.590
story for you you know
01:15:55.600 --> 01:15:58.830
um so you guys have in the many sessions
01:15:58.840 --> 01:16:01.070
I have you guys have always been a
01:16:01.080 --> 01:16:03.669
perfect example of you know how young
01:16:03.679 --> 01:16:05.790
people can you know do something with
01:16:05.800 --> 01:16:07.229
your art
01:16:07.239 --> 01:16:10.350
so thank you so much a you're welcome
01:16:10.360 --> 01:16:13.669
well thank you so fun to see you again
01:16:13.679 --> 01:16:15.990
thank you so much too great to see you
01:16:16.000 --> 01:16:19.149
guys keep up the work keep in touch and
01:16:19.159 --> 01:16:21.510
uh congratulations on the oxel that's
01:16:21.520 --> 01:16:25.430
awesome you thank you and uh any
01:16:25.440 --> 01:16:27.229
any stories you want to bounce off of
01:16:27.239 --> 01:16:28.870
Barry the musical all that stuff you
01:16:28.880 --> 01:16:33.189
know where to find me okay okay okay I I
01:16:33.199 --> 01:16:36.149
I talk about them at least uh I actually
01:16:36.159 --> 01:16:37.709
remember the last time I talked about
01:16:37.719 --> 01:16:40.310
them um because I do get a lot of you
01:16:40.320 --> 01:16:43.270
know very young artists that um you know
01:16:43.280 --> 01:16:45.390
they really can't see past you know what
01:16:45.400 --> 01:16:46.790
they can do you know they they're kind
01:16:46.800 --> 01:16:48.510
of like I don't know and I'm like you
01:16:48.520 --> 01:16:50.430
have such abilities now and you know
01:16:50.440 --> 01:16:52.350
there's so many outlets out there you
01:16:52.360 --> 01:16:54.550
know YouTube and you know printing your
01:16:54.560 --> 01:16:56.270
own books and stories just get your
01:16:56.280 --> 01:16:58.870
stuff out there and and they always they
01:16:58.880 --> 01:17:00.750
just pop in my head I'm like oh tell
01:17:00.760 --> 01:17:03.229
them about you know talk about the doy
01:17:03.239 --> 01:17:07.669
oh yeah you know so thank you yeah yeah
01:17:07.679 --> 01:17:09.629
I wasn't kidding at all yeah they they
01:17:09.639 --> 01:17:12.910
they really become a a beacon of light
01:17:12.920 --> 01:17:15.110
to those that don't really know what
01:17:15.120 --> 01:17:17.910
they can do with their talents yeah so
01:17:17.920 --> 01:17:21.149
yeah thank you well I mean it's we're so
01:17:21.159 --> 01:17:23.550
lucky in the age that we live in that we
01:17:23.560 --> 01:17:26.550
have such opportunities that do that I
01:17:26.560 --> 01:17:28.470
mean that we could self-publish a book
01:17:28.480 --> 01:17:29.709
that my kids wrote Because you know
01:17:29.719 --> 01:17:31.270
everyone's like oh you wrote a book
01:17:31.280 --> 01:17:32.910
that's really cute I'm like no it's it
01:17:32.920 --> 01:17:34.910
they published it like we actually it
01:17:34.920 --> 01:17:39.030
out and um and it is so cool that it's
01:17:39.040 --> 01:17:42.390
so accessible to do um and sometimes you
01:17:42.400 --> 01:17:44.110
just need a little bit of guidance to to
01:17:44.120 --> 01:17:47.590
do it but it's possible for anyone to do
01:17:47.600 --> 01:17:51.560
very true yeah