>> My name is James Turner.
I am the president and chairman of the board of the Brony Thank You Fund.
I am going to be your host for this evening.
I'd like to start by giving a couple of thank yous
I'd like to thank Kayci and Equestria LA for graciously offering to host us here
after we decided to change venues
to something where they might actually be people in town.
I'd like to thank Amy Keating Rogers
who was the person who got me hooked up with Lauren
and poked her a couple of times when e-mails weren't going through.
So that was great.
I'd like to thank Aaron Campbell at Cal Arts
who has continued to believe in us as we said
hey we want to create an animation scholarship from Bronies.
As well as our student guests we have here tonight from CalArts
who hopefully will both ask some interesting questions
and maybe learn something along with the rest of us.
And of course all of you generous donors who have increased.
I can tell you that we have raised over six thousand dollars
to increase the endowment with this event.
This is almost redundant to this crowd,
but, you know I could safely say that our guest tonight
has had a strong impact on the world of animation.
She's worked in some of the most iconic shows of the last 15 to 20 years
and at least one landmark movie
she's also been a very strong advocate
for strong female role models in animation
as well as women in the industry.
So it is my pleasure and my privilege to introduce our guest for tonight.
Lauren Faust.
[Applause]
>> So we will begin as it is at the beginning.
[Awwws]
>> Just get it out of your system now we have about 20 kid pictures.
You didn't have to use all of them.
There was so much daww. All right.
>> So let us start with an official Wikipedia correction
so that we can put this clip up
and you know point to it from Wikipedia and and correct it.
So Wikipedia says you were born in Annapolis but you weren't.
No.
Where were you born.
San Jose California. Yeah.
So how long did you live in San Jose.
>> I don't know. My dad was in the Navy so we moved around a bit.
I got lucky that you know we landed in Severna Park Maryland
which is near Annapolis.
Around the time I was seven and stayed there until I was 17
but I don't know I think we moved away from San Jose when I was two.
>> So Faust is obviously an interesting name
with some operatic at least connotations.
What is the ancestry of your family.
>> Well Faust is German but the Faust side of my family
I think is the part of my family that was in the US the longest
so I don't know how much German was actually left over on my dad's side.
But three of my grandparents were purebloods
I guess you could say Scottish Lithuanian and Polish.
>> So that's mostly it.
Probably your people oppressed my people
It's possible.
>> Sorry. Sorry. OK.
It's all right it's OK.
>> So as you mentioned you're a Navy brat your dad was an engineer.
Yes.
Like on planes or on boats or on...
Planes planes he designed planes
he was also a pilot in the Navy.
Cool. Did you see him a lot.
>> when you were a kid?
Yeah.
>> He, especially once we moved to Maryland
he was stationed he worked at the Naval Academy and he was there.
So he had like a job it wasn't he wasn't being sent out and stationed in places
Go to exciting places see exciting people and kill them.
wasn't happening so much.
I don't think he killed anybody.
>> As an engineer. We hope he never killed anybody.
>> I don't think that any killing was going on while he was in the Navy.
>> So this is
This is this is your brother your older brother Jason.
Yes. And my mom Karen.
So and this is I guess Christmas.
>> Yes I think that looks like my first Christmas.
Yes.
>> So you had the luxury at least
when you're young you had to stay at home mom.
Yes.
So you're firmly in X
Gen X Gen X.
Yes correct.
So that was somewhat unusual for Gen-Xers there.
My wife likes to say that they were the generation raised by wolves.
>> Ha ha ha yeah. No not me. Stay at home mom.
>> Yup. So this was just there's no commentary. Just we can all go daaw.
>> Just flip them
except we can't say you didn't have red hair
when you were a kid.
I still don't have red hair. This is extremely Fake. Yes you do.
>> You didn't have a great mutant mutant event where like you were exposed
to a Red-Haired radioactive spiders.
>> Don't I wish. No no this is fake. It's. It's a bit grey now.
>> So this is just we're just going to go through these
are some of your candids we can talk some points as we go through it.
So what were your mom and your dad's interests
like. Were either of them artistic or creative.
>> I feel like my mom should have been an artist.
>> She was very creative.
I think she expressed herself quite a bit frankly as a homemaker
as she decorating the house taking care of the house
the way she dressed her kids. She was very creative.
I think I think the artistic gene came from my mom.
But actually I do think it's kind of like a combination of an artistic mind
and the engineering mind together.
It's interesting too. I have three brothers.
My youngest has a different dad than I do.
But the three who came from the engineer are all artistic
and the the one who didn't a little less so.
>> Or you could have been da Vinci could have had it together.
>> This is just one more piece of daaw.
>> And then so I guess around here
A little older
That's just in there for the expression.
Yes. Yes.
I always liked rainbows and there is a pony
but but importantly we are we have the beginning of a theme
it's in a couple of these pictures.
>> We also have Snoopy in here. Oh yes. So what was that.
When we have with was it's just Snoopy
or was it the whole Charlie Brown you know
when I was little it was just Snoopy.
>> And I think it's just because he was a dog and I liked dogs
and couldn't have a dog so I had Snoopy had a stuffed dog.
>> Yes. And here we see your early your earliest recorded
you gave me of you holding a crayon.
Yes. Yes.
Now there's no evidence here of whether you drew of them or ate them.
>> But no I have been told that I started drawing
around the time I was three.
>> What were your favorite subjects.
>> My earliest memory of drawing something
was drawing the cast of Star Wars.
Yes and being very frustrated because I couldn't figure out
why they looked strange
until my brother pointed out I was not drawing bodies.
I was drawing heads and legs.
And getting very angry that he gave me notes.
>> What do you think.
>> And then realizing he was right
and yeah drawing bodies from that to this day.
>> Right. Well what do you think about it.
With the modern thing of all legs animation of like you know
Equestria Girls or you know them long like the you're just you.
>> I know you're right yeah maybe so. So. Just this is one more daaw.
>> I think I overloaded the kid pictures.
>> So we're playing to your audience here.
But OK so then you had a younger brother come along.
Yes that's right. So now now you're sandwiched.
yes
but you're stuck between two males agewise.
Age wise yes.
>> Yeah it was it was a double middle child
because I was yeah middle child and only girl. Right.
>> So were they the protective types of siblings
or were they you know are we talking Fosters level
older brother.
>> Well Jason wasn't as bad as Terence.
>> So here we see some more Snoopy. More Snoopy right.
And again this is just in here because just cause.
Now did...
Now we know you played the ponies as a kid.
Were you strictly a girl toy type of girl or did you...
No. Well...
>> I had only the girl toys but I played with my brothers toys as well.
So they were see my younger brother mostly and it was just Transformers.
>> G.I. Joe, was a very Hasbro house I was going to say
that you were kept it in the family.
Yeah.
Now one of things I'm wondering given some of your later things
were there comic books in the house.
>> Yes my older brother was a total stereotypical comic book nerd
with the comics and the plastic bag and everything.
>> And where you were allowed to touch them? I was not
but I did anyway and I found out my younger brother
and I like years later discovered
that we were both sneaking into Jason's room
taking his comic books reading them very carefully putting them back.
>> I used to make a special note of like what side the flap was folded over
so he wouldn't catch me.
>> Yes but he had a hair across the seam and you couldn't see it.
>> Well I mean I guess not because he never confronted me on it.
>> But yeah I used to sneak into Jason's room to read his comic books.
>> So what were their titles. You were reading.
>> I was a Marvel girl which is kind of ironic
as I'm working for DC right now
but X-Men X-Men was the one.
Yeah yeah I had that Bell doll which was Snoopy's sister in the 80s
and I really needed a Snoopy to complete the play.
I got Snoopy for Christmas I was very emotional about it.
I really wanted that Snoopy.
>> So this would be about the time there was a major trauma in your life.
>> Yes yes.
Maybe a little later than that.
But...
>> My father died of leukemia when I was only seven.
He was 33 .
>> So that must've kind of tossed the family around.
>> Well yeah.
To say the least he was sick for three years before he passed away.
And yeah it was you know
it's I didn't know what was going on they didn't tell me.
>> And he was in the hospital and you know
when he came home he didn't have any hair.
I knew he was sick but he didn't know he was going to die.
So yeah that you know understandably kind of changed things.
>> Did that change the household finances at all
or was you pretty well taken care of.
>> Oh we were OK.
>> My parents were good savers and my dad was in the Navy
so he kind of set everything up you know
because you know he knew he knew he didn't have a lot of time
so he tried to set everything up for his family
so that we would continue to get what we needed.
Like after he died like the Navy
offers a survivor benefit program that makes sure
Because he was still in the military that his family still got money.
So he and my mom set everything up
so that we could continue to to be OK after he was gone.
>> So when did your mother remarried. >> She remarried around the time
I think I was 10
and how did how did she meet your stepfather.
>> He was also in the Navy.
He was he had he was somebody who had worked with my dad.
So here we're going to see another recurring theme.
>> Well OK now we go into nerd territory. Yes.
>> Less cute more nerd. Yes. No I don't. I think that's really cute. Thank you.
But so when did you start.
I mean it seems like as we'll see later you've had a relationship
with cosplay and costuming for a long time.
Yes. When did that.
Was it just like kids played dress up and that just you just kept going on.
>> Yeah. I mean I started with that it's you know Halloween
was like some ways better than Christmas.
It was exciting to not just dress up but you know as an artistic kid
and my brother's being artistic to also you know make our own costumes
so I think it was just more artistic expression
it was something exciting for me.
I think the only reason I stopped dressing up for Halloween
was you know work got too busy I think I was around 26.
>> And I miss it! A lot! >> Well, you know, when you go to cons,
Tara started the whole thing with dressing as Twilight
She has more time than I do.
You probably have legions who would help you if you but asked them.
But I do it myself.
>> So one thing we haven't talked about yet
is you know you're obviously going through school
and you were actually in one school system.
Most of this which is yes.
So what were your passions and interests
and things that started to turn you on in school >>it was always art.
>> Always. I tried sports, I tried music.
None of it stuck but I it was it was art all the time.
Always. >> Did you struggle in other subjects
or was it just like you did the subjects so you could do art.
>> That was basically it. I kind of got really good at learning
what I did the bare minimum I had to do
to be get B's and A minuses so I just did that.
So that I could you know focus on what I enjoyed.
>> So you were reading comics. You were. You had the exposure to ponys
were you were Saturday morning cartoon type of girl.
Yeah. What what were the shows you were watching.
You were in the wasteland a little bit.
>> I was there was a lot of crap. A lot! I'm trying to remember what I like.
>> I think you would have been around six or seven
you would have started to have dungeons and dragons was on.
I don't know I watched that a little bit.
>> Saturday morning what did I watch on Saturday mornings.
I mean I watched all of it.
I'm just trying to remember what on Saturday morning hit me like Smurfs
but I can't say I loved Smurfs.
I watched Smurfs. What else was going on in the 80's?. >> There was Scoobie Do
>> Never liked Scoobie Do >> There was Transformers
>> I watched Transformers, that wasn't Saturday Morning, that was after school
See I'm nerdy enough to know
that what was Saturday morning what was after school.
I can't really say like I was Disney movies
like I wanted to see Disney movies
and I enjoyed watching looney tunes
because they played those on Saturday mornings
and watched all the rest of the Saturday morning stuff
but that was the stuff I was really into.
But then when I was probably too old for cartoons.
But I had a very little brother so I had an excuse.
I start I got into the Disney afternoon stuff.
Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers and gummy bears. All.
>> Of that.
>> That's when they started getting that
when you look at a history of a TV animation TV
that's actually kind of like when animation got better
>> Plus Spielberg started doing >>Ttiny Toons
and Animaniacs. Yeah early Tiny Toons
was good but if you watch keep watching it like
I think that's when I started learning about production value
like you turn it on you go like those drawings
are good that's going to be a good episode.
And those are terrible terrible episode
and then you watch the end, ah, it was that studio.
Yeah yeah yeah exactly right.
>> So you were also kind of in the period when female empowerment
I mean this was kind of like in some ways
it was almost like after the 70s was like you know
the the start of the first crest of the female empowerment
and then the 80s.
There was almost a little bit of retrenchment
but you know what was you know
were you started to get an awareness
of of how women were seen in society then
or were you too busy just drawing?
>> I think it's you learn so that you get an awareness of like
how women are treated you suddenly get an awareness
that you're being treated differently.
That's that's what it is.
And I think I got it pretty early because I had brothers.
>> You know so I was like no no no sisters so I was like very aware
of like what they were getting and what I wasn't.
Funnily enough TV was part of it.
I liked the shows my brothers watched
and I hated the shows that were for girls.
So for instance My Little Pony was my favorite toy.
I was very excited when the show came on.
And then I thought the show was terrible so I didn't watch it.
I was like I like what I'm doing.
>> The stories I'm telling for myself with my toys more than I liked the show.
>> But then I go watch like you know like like Robotech
and be like why can't this be for girls.
>> So so I kind of got to like a weird mishmash creatively of
like liking the sorts of things
that were thematic
for boys which they're not.
They mean but that's what they thought then.
>> But liking the things that were for girls you know so content for boys
but things for girls >>Well that's kind interesting
because when you think about like you said
you like Disney movies a lot of disney movies try to go
for that sweet spot of enough action and things
so that the young males will want to see them but princesses.
>> So yeah this in this day and age they do.
>> But you know back in the 50s
the boys had no problem going to see Cinderella.
I don't know when all of a sudden that became you know cooties kicked in
and no that movie is about a girl so I won't watch it.
>> All right. So now we get to see goth Lauren.
>> I was a Mod.
>> Yes yes.
How long did that period last.
>> I don't know it's still happening .
>> Yeah I think I started doing
that around 15 I think in.
Yeah I don't know I think kind of I don't know if that really stopped
I just don't pull it off well anymore.
>> By this point were you started to think
were you thinking that
Art was going to be a career or were you thinking animation
specifically >> By the time I got to college or to high school yeah.
>> Yeah I I I had a I was very interested in biology zoology
in particular working with animals
but I don't know
I can't remember the exact moment it dawned on me
that being an animator could be a job that you could have.
>> And then I was like oh well I'm going to do that.
Were there any particularly memorable or inspirational teachers
you had in high school? >>In high school?.
No.Yeah I wish I could say I could.
I had teachers that I liked who were nice >>There wasn't that one
would just lit you up? >> You know what.
>> I was shy.
I was painfully painfully painfully horribly shy and at most my teachers.
I don't think I noticed I existed. And boys.
>> So we have a little preview of things to come. >>Yes. Yes.
It would be a while before you got there.
>> But yeah well that was that was actually it was a very memorable trip
that's in Disney World Florida.
But I don't know if
Anybody remembers the fish bowl they used to have there.
It was called the fish bowl.
They actually had animators
and that you could watch through windows
at Disney World that were working.
I remember when I was there they were working on Rescuers Down Under.
So they take you on a tour through this one building
and tell you about the animation process.
And there's this area just like this giant wall of windows
and you watch the animators animate.
>> And like now looking back oh my those poor people
Do not do not tap or disturb the animators.
>> No it was pretty bad but that was a very inspirational time.
There were a couple of things that happened that were really big for me.
One was that you know some of the artists
who were towards the front of the window
I saw somebody had a big collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle action figures at the top.
And I was like oh these are my people.
Adults who have toys. So that was a big
like I yes I should be doing that and being with those people
and the other thing
was that my my step dad like told I was mortified.
I was so I was so shy
but my dad told the tour guide my daughter
can draw really good and she wants to be an animator
Because they have never ever heard that before.
Oh I'm sure. But that turned out was really nice
He had us hanging behind the rest of the tour went on
and then we hung out and he came back out with a sheet of paper
with like at the time
there were only like six schools
the Disney Studios recruited from.
And one of those schools was CalArts.
That's where I learned about CalArts. So that was all on that trip.
But you know my mom made me take this picture because like you know
Lauren you like animation take a picture with Disney animation thing.
Yeah. That's how she talks.
Good.
So first of all other then maybe that >>Halloween night.
That was my you know angsty irreverent phase.
>> Did you have a plan B if you didn't get into animation?
No. >>So that would have been your plan B, presumably.
Maybe >> So just here's some early artwork I guess you worked on
Yeah that was you know I just thought I'd include that.
>> I don't have a lot of pictures of me doing art
but the the school play in my 11th grade my junior year
was a musical and they asked me to paint a box for the drama teacher.
So there it is. >>It's pretty
It's Freddy Moore inspired if anybody knows who that is.
Old Disney animator guy. Yeah. Cats Join In.
>> Yeah it was like it was Fun and Fancy Free and some of that stuff.
>> Yeah that was. Yeah. And All the Cats Join In.
>> So here's some evidence you have actually had exposure
to an actual equine.
>> Yes .
>> So do you still ride.
>> No I wish I could.
I only did for a couple of years.
There just wasn't access to horses which sounds weird but yeah.
I miss it.
So now we have this >>OK this is embarrassing everybody just forgive me.
>> But high school art
Actually I'd looked at this and you know this is this is the difference
between self-criticism now
I would say that wow that's really nice.
>> I was really into Brian Froud So you know Brian
Froud is the artist behind Dark Crystal.
Yeah.
>> And I guess this is just a character study
it's a life drawing class scene >>And your Picasso period.
>> Yes. Angsty teen. Yeah I won some prizes for that one.
>> So in your senior year you had another disruption.
>> That you weren't where you were.
>> Right. Oh yeah. You were in Pennsylvania.
>> Yes. I had to move my senior year of high school.
It was awful. This is my high school graduation.
With my mom and my grandmother.
>> So your mom is still alive. >>Yes.
I'm going to just randomly guess your grandmother
probably isn't now. No. we all lose them over time.
So you when you.
Was there any place you applied other than CalArts?
>> No. OK. So this is kind of fun. I was applying to all of
My plan was to apply to all the schools on that list
and that was how CalArts was the one I wanted.
So I got my portfolio together for CalArts and sent that off
and then started working my other portfolio stuff
and was being very lazy and falling behind
and starting to stress out
like oh I'm not going to get things done in time.
And then my acceptance letter came in from CalArts
and I went screw those other places.
And I didn't bother applying anywhere else.
So that was your first time on your own. >> Yes.
And on the other side of the country >> Yes.
Pennsylvania to California.
Most of the way to the other side of the country.
Was it intimidating for you.
>> It was terrifying. Yeah it was really scary.
But like the silver lining of having to move my senior year of high school
which was very upsetting when it happened
and the transition was pretty hard.
>> Like I was pretty miserable for the first semester of my senior year.
But then I I made friends and I did OK.
And the fact that I could move from my friends
who I thought were like the only people in the world ever be my friends.
I moved away from my Maryland friends thinking I'd never love again.
I made new friends made me like brave enough to want to move to California.
So my step dad again.
At first I was still when I was still nervous about it
still a little uncertain about it.
My dad took me out here he had a business trip he brought me with him
and took me he wanted me to see CalArts
and it was a holiday weekend or something like that.
And the school was closed.
And my step dad who's kind of a pushy guy
and my mom was here this never would have happened.
>> He we snuck into the school and the door to the animation department
was actually propped up with a trash can.
I was like we never would have got in otherwise so we snuck into that.
>> You know how many people here going to CalArts right now. OK.
>> So the animation department had two floors.
I don't know what it is now but at the time
it was just cubicles where everybody does it.
Is it the same. OK.
So just like cubicles where everybody had their desks and their drawings up
and I was just sneaking around the cubicles
and looking at people's drawings
and there was like model sheets from Beauty and the Beast up
and like you couldn't find that stuff back then.
>> This was pre-Internet and I was just like oh my god.
So again it was another moment of like these are my people
and like that really kind of pushed me forward into the idea
that like this is somewhere I need to be.
>> And this is kind of interesting this is a new development
when I was sneaking through the cubicles
there were two guys there who were working
I guess they're working on assignments over the holiday
and they asked us what the hell we were doing there.
>> And my step dad again was like my daughter and she draws really good.
>> So he made me and I was mortified again.
He made me show my portfolio to these two guys
and they really liked it and they gave me a little advice
and they encouraged me and they told me
I should really apply or that I should apply
and that I had a really good chance of getting in. I thought it was great.
Me you know gave me a lot of confidence and I did.
And one of those guys is working for me right now.
>> He's awesome. He's so good.
>> He's a director on my new show and I love working with him
but it was funny because when I interviewed him
I couldn't I wasn't sure if it was him or not.
I thought it was and I wasn't sure.
>> And then he told me the story and says also remember me.
I had the embarrassing dad.
>> But right now when he even mentioned that like he said like
you were a different human being back
then he said like he would talk to how my hair was in my face
and I was all hunched over
and was like I can barely talk more than this.
>> You know I guess different different human being.
>> So what was the CalArts's experience like for you? Cal Arts
was the thing about Cal Arts was you know
I had a lot of great teachers
but I feel like I learned just from osmosis
just from being around like other kids like me
and being immersed in this creativity
and seeing what other people were doing and kind of
like what it does to your brain and how it makes you think forward.
So like that was the biggest part of Cal Arts to me like that
that's just just being there made you learn.
>> This is a life drawing from you know the marathon life
drawing classes we had to take.
It's like I sort of made a breakthrough
when I started inking using ink.
>> Remember this next one. This is fine art.
>> Yes yes yes.
>> So was there a lot of nude studies there.
>> Oh they were all nudes.
Yeah. And mostly women which was frustrating
because I'm like I don't know how to draw men, you need
to bring some men up here please.
>> So yeah once in a while is one of our teachers
would have the models put on articles of clothing
just to try to you know get us to bring out the personality
and these days the computers do all the fabric so who cares.
Yes.
>> This is just more.
>> And these are like I like. These are my fluke drawings.
I got to tell you these like I probably like went through
50 that I was like no no no no.
Before I was like OK including these. I was not this good.
>> So you continued cosplay at CalArts.
>> Well this was before it was called cosplay
it was just Halloween.
You're a hipster cosplayer.
Well it was art school everybody was trying to one up each other so I
but I always like when cosplay started I was like oh I'm too old for it
I would have been a huge cosplayer
if that was a thing when I was in my early 20s.
>> And those who follow her Twitter account have already seen this.
>> Yes.
That was committing to an outfit.
>> Yes. Yes.
And I thought I was like super tough shaving my head for a Halloween costume
but then I wore a hat every single day.
Until my hair grew out again.
>> So who else was you know bracketing your class or in your class
that would be like oh wow you went to school with that person.
>> Um I think I need to be prepared for questions like that
because I'll I'll be driving home tonight
going like oh I forgot to mention that guy who's in my classes.
It's like the people before and after me were kind of big deals too.
There were a lot of people in my husband's class
that ended up being big shots but I didn't know any of them.
The one that comes to mind is a is anyone familiar with Don Hall.
He directed Big Hero 6. He was in my class.
>> I'm blanking the guy the other people what's that.
>> Oh yeah.
>> Well the panel I just came from the women in animation panel
my roommate Kat Good is a director at Disney TV these days.
>> I'm just trying to think if there were any like people
who like became big directors There are like so many people
are just like super like talented and amazing
but maybe not you might not know their name.
Right.
>> Do the people who want whose work we see all the time
but they don't know their name yet look at the credits.
Yeah. So as I'm sure most I don't know if they still do. I'm sure they do.
But this is where you got your your two IMDB voice credits.
>> Ugh! >> One of them was Political Correction
and the other one which which I can't find on the internet
Used to be there.
The other one was Home Honey I'm High.
>> Which one did you play the the daughter or >> The mom.
I did a terrible job.
That there was one other girl who did it before me
and then the director wasn't real thrilled with what she did.
So he asked me.
And then he wasn't real thrilled with what I did.
So like half that if you watch it the moms voice keeps changing cause
he'll use Sadie's voice and then he'll use mine
and then Sadie's and then mine because like we both were terrible..
>> It's a it's a wonderful parable to the virtues
of having an entire household totally toasted.
I didn't write it.
You know that actually ended up in the Spike and Mike tour, didn't it?
Yeah.
>> Yeah that was a Spike and Mike thing
That's what all the kids did to like make money to like eat.
Everybody would kind of on the side make Spike and Mike films
because they didn't really have to be well-done.
So like somebody would just come up with a really gross idea
make a very limited quick and fast film about it
and then Spike and Mike would give him like a thousand bucks.
>> So in which year was it summer you interned?
>> I wasn't an intern.
The summer between sophomore and junior year.
I got I just got a summer job.
>> I got hired to stay up here in California instead of going home
just for a few months to do character layout on MTV's The Maxx.
>> So what was your first like real good.
>> I guess that was my first gig.
It's funny. I consider my next job my first job I guess
because this was just a summer thing.
But yeah I guess my first job, I guess my first credit. >>Was there
a sense of you know a lot of times
like I know in computer science which is my usual thing.
You know what they teach in school and what it's like
when you put your feet on the ground in a company
or two very different things was there kind of sensse of shifting gears
honestly, I could say I would say no.
It was very much because at Cal Arts
you would do your yearlong project was to make a film.
I mean you go to your classes and you do your assignments
or you would do half of them if you were me.
>> But your your your yearly thesis was to make a film
which meant that you had to go through
every part of the animation production process on your own.
>> And a lot of people like we always used to joke
that there was tension between the art school
and the animation school because the art school
you guys aren't real artists you're just learning a vocation.
And then the animation people were like
Yeah well we're going to make money.
>> Which in retrospect was really mean. I didn't say... yeah I did..
>> But yeah it was it kind of was a vocation school
your teachers worked in the industry
and they taught you how to make an animated film
so I had already made two films I had already done layouts.
>> So when I went to work on The Maxx Here's an animation
Desk, well I had that at school and here's animation paper, had that at school
Here's a pencil I had that at school too!
>> And you know it was just the only thing that was different
was that I had to drive there and stay there all day
instead of going to new classes
so really it really wasn't that different.
>> What were your two films by the way. >> Oh goodness.
The first my first year film was called the Yorkshire Terror.
And it was about a very annoying Yorkie.
And I don't even remember my second year film. my second year film was.
My sophomore year of Clarksons when the Northridge earthquake happened.
>> So I didn't finish it. I think.
It was like two minutes long and I think I animated maybe six scenes in it.
Most most kids didn't finish their films that year either.
The school was closed.
Wasn't destroyed but the school was shut down
for the whole second semester we had.
We had to wait for them remove all the equipment to another facility just say
and I say I don't even remember what I remember it all was bad
but don't remember why I called it.
>> So when you came back after I believe after your summer
working on The Maxx you made a decision.
>> Yes. So my it was it was a little after I was actually at the end.
Towards the end of my first semester at my junior year
at Cal Arts
one of my animation teacher from my freshman year
and not even my current animation teacher my freshman year
teacher asked me if I'd be interested in applying
for an animation assistant position on a feature film.
So I pulled the only all nighter I ever have in my life
because this is where I learned I can't do all nighters.
>> I finished up I had a portfolio already but I finished up
some scenes I was animating and shot them
so that I had a reel and I got offered a job.
>> So it was like you know I was in I still had a year
and a half of school left if I wanted a degree.
And you know do I do I leave and take the job or do I staying at my degree.
And the only person who told me to staying at my degree was my stepdad.
And yeah everybody else said like don't listen to him
because it's like it again it's like and you all you know you might know this
or you'll find this you know in animation
it's it's not about your level of education
it's about your level of skill.
I've worked with people who started working right out of high school.
I know guy just directed a movie that didn't go to art school, didn't go to college.
So it's it's about your skill set so everybody encouraged me
like you might not get offered that job if you stay a year and a half longer.
So I took it and I do not have a degree.
>> This is the important message to all the CalArts students
Kids stay in school. Or you might end up like Laura.
So the place you went to was to Turner Feature Animation.
Yes. And the film you worked on was Cat's Dont' Dance.
Yes. So this is the one I consider my first job
and I was desperately desperately in love with it.
So. Talk about a little bit
about what Turner was like at the time.
Turner I came in movie was a little bit more than halfway through production
so I was I was you know it was pretty far along when I came in.
it was
It was definitely a smaller studio the only movie they had done
before was Page Master.
They had a setup in the two floor two or three floors
in a in a bank building next to that old Hanna-Barbera building in Hollywood.
>> But it was you know I mean it was cool.
There was a lot of young people there. There were a lot of people.
There were a lot of like Disney animators
who like just couldn't get any movement at Disney
so there was a kind of like a rebellious vibe there.
>> We were also like you know at the time all you know all
the only movies that were doing very well.
There wasn't a lot of animated movies where you know Disney movies Aladdin
and you know princess movies and stuff.
So we were all in there going like good cartoony stuff squash and stretch Yeah.
>> Like we were. >> We were kind of snobby
about doing something a little wackier and sillier
and like you know cartoony design
but it was I mean it was a wonderful environment and just encouraging
and we all just felt like we were doing something different
and that was like there was some really like excellent fuel.
>> Now the film opened to fairly good critical reviews
Did it I didn't see those.
Well Wikipedia says so. >> It it got respect over time
but it came out it was a giant flop and everybody hated it.
So anybody who saw it and nobody saw that was the big thing.
>> While this seems to have been the theme of just not knowing
how to promote this film >>No, in that film
in particular Turner Animation we were like the little rebel studio.
>> And then we got bought by Warner Brothers
and they were kind of like what's this.
So our release was very poor.
You know like we kind of felt like when I say we I mean they
because I was just this lonely junior animator.
You know I had no affect on anybody's opinions
but like the producers of the show
like we might have gotten some attention
or a chance if we had gone out there
going like we're going to you know check this out because we're different.
We're something you've never seen before and we're fun and we're wacky
and we're not earnest and we're not princesses.
>> But instead they didn't even they just gave us a generic release.
>> The commercials were really generic
and we weren't in a lot of theaters and so it just didn't do well.
But like over time I remember a few years later
like the director Mark Dindal is fantastic.
One of my favorite bosses and the movie was good enough
that Disney scooped him up right afterwards
and he went on to direct Emperor's New Groove.
So a lot of people love.
>> A wonderful movie again funny different fun and cartoony.
>> So it was good enough for that.
And then several years later Disney Channel licensed it
and started playing it on the Disney Channel
and all of a sudden it just got this traction just a little bit.
But like people were like
What is this and where has it been and why didn't I see it before.
So like as time went on it it got respect
for being a good solid charming little movie.
So people who see it love it just not a lot of people saw it
but it was pretty much a complete failure when it came out.
And critics weren't nice about it.
>> So what does a junior animator do. >> Well I started animating tails.
>> People would animate the cat and be too bored
or have more important things to do than animate their tails
so that I would do their tails.
>> So I've heard of scutwork But you were doing buttwork
I guess so yes.
>> But I got kind of lucky because I guess
because of some deadlines or some time
constraints they threw some scenes some dialogue scenes my way
because they just there was nobody else around to do it.
So they're like give the junior animator the assistant a chance
and then they like it.
So I just kept getting decent scenes after that.
They they started giving me you know do you see a lot of the juiciest dialogue
but they give me some fun dialogue scenes.
>> And this was still in the days of pencil and paper the olden days.
>> Five pieces of paper between your fingers
and your pencils and pencil sharpener
as you walked both ways to school uphill and all that.
>> Yes. In the snow barefoot. Yes.
So while this film has gotten some love over time
I don't know if you'd say this for Quest for Camelot.
>> That movie is a wonderful lesson in what not to do.
>> So you were in this from the beginning.
>> No no not at all.
No I was on it for just a few months.
So when Warner Brothers bought Turner they just ate all the animators they had
because Lion King just came out.
>> So every studio in the world when we need to make animation now
because it makes so much money in it doesn't matter if it's good.
>> So I kind of got just transferred over and like
I was in development for a little while
and it put me on this. They put me on that.
>> And they're like we need animators on Quest for Camelot
so they put me on there thing a lot of maybe five months or something.
>> Was it the feeling that you were not doing great art when you were working on that?
>> You know I was lucky because they at least gave me the scenes with Kayley
when she was a little girl so I got to at least kind of enjoy myself
in that sense you know but what I'm asking is you know could you
because this will certainly come up with the next film we're to talk about.
>> But do you get a sense what are you working on the film.
>> Oh yeah. Everybody hated it. Everybody working on it.
>> Everybody would just talk around sit around and talk about how bad it was.
>> I mean it was it was constantly at every single phase it was bad.
Yeah. They were always trying to fix it.
And it was always just like a different flavor of bad.
It was always bad.
>> Well all the tires are flat but let's set the car on fire.
>> Maybe that is. Yeah.
Is this I recommend watching it simply
because it is a wonderful lesson
and what not to do >> Is it ripe of an MST3King?
I don't think it's worth that.
>> So it's not even bad enough to be bad now.
>> I don't know if anybody's seen it but my favorite thing to say about it
is the moral of the story
is it is more of a handicap
to be a girl than it is to be blind.
>> I'm not kidding. >> Like it's this story is about a girl
who wants to be a knight and she meets this blind guy wants to be a knight
and he has to teach her how to do it because she's so inept
and like he teaches her how to dodge just in time.
Like that's the climax of the movie it's terrible.
It's everything about it's terrible.
>> Well this next moment is I think probably safe to say a pivotal moment
even if it was not necessarily the way your career would go long term.
But but it was certainly an opportunity to work on something
that is now considered a landmark.
Yes yes.
>> So when did you come on board with this.
>> Well that was another case of like you know all these Quest
for Camelot animators have contracts so put them on Iron Giant.
So like I just kind of got swept up in the mix.
>> How long did you work on it. >> I want to say about a year.
>> And what were you doing. What were you doing by that point.
I was an animator. So you were full.
>> I was an animator.
>> I got promoted to animator on Cats Don't Dance
and was an animator on every project after that.
>> So what did you work directly with Brad >> At times at times.
>> Brad's you know and this is typical of the animation process at the time
is every day the animators had Director time
which was you know every day at I think like 4:30
if you had an animation you wanted Brad
to review he we'd all go to a room
and they'd load up our scenes and he'd watch them
and tell us you know give us our notes and our feedback so you know
so at those moments you know he did look at my face
and tell me what I was doing wrong.
>> You were sharing air with him. Yeah yeah.
>> You know I have a funny story though I had to do a scene
I animated the scene at the end of the movie
where Dean is sitting on a bench and Annie is behind him talking to him.
And I you know I I did my thumbnails for the scene of how I wanted to do it
and the scene
is where you know how many people have seen Iron Giant. Ok,
>> Does anybody remember the scene. OK. All right. So yes Dean is like.
Annie's like This is your best work. He's like really is this my best work.
And I did my thumbnails for it and I had because you know
becvause Annie was supposed to feel like awkward.
And I'm saying the wrong things I made him stand up and crossed his arms
while she was trying to explain herself and I showed the thumbnails to Brad
and he said like he said I just he's like he's bigger than her
it's just like he just it just looks threatening.
And I said it won't be I swear it will be like
oh I'll make it I'll make it work.
It will be great. And he said don't know.
And then he tried to like kinda you know because a lot of animators are this way.
I'm definitely this way where you start to explain acting or stuff
and you start doing it yourself.
>> And he started he tried to like show me like he's just he's a guy
and she's a woman it's just looks like he's threatening her.
And he tried to like like lean into me like he was threatening me
and I'm taller than him.
>> Which isn't a jab at him because I'm taller than a lot of people.
>> But but this is what's awesome is he actually got a chair
and stood on it
so he could lean over me and demonstrate for me
how like leaning over somebody looks like they're going to hit them.
And to his credit like what a nice guy.
>> I was like this young you know not very experienced animator
going I know just let me try to do it
it's going to you're going to see it's going to work.
>> And I went back and I started doing it
and I went like he's right.
>> And so.
And then you all saw how it turned out.
>> So in the same way that kind of you weren't having
a enthusiastic time working on Quest for Camelot
was there a sense you were doing something really amazing.
>> Yes yep absolutely.
I mean everybody on that movie was just excited to work on it.
It was it was different.
It was it was it was it was a moment where you're taking animation seriously.
You know it was a film. >> It had gravitas!
Yeah and you know everybody loved working for Brad.
Brad was such a big deal.
And so we were all excited about it
but I have to admit I personally struggled on it.
That is not a style of drawing that comes naturally to me.
>> So it was like as exciting as it was to be working on it.
I spent the whole time going like.
I'm not good enough
by the by the end of the movie and everybody says this by the end of it
you finally feel like you've got a handle on the characters.
It's over Yeah it's over.
>> So there was the hope and the dream
and then there was the release. >> Same thing yeah.
I have an interesting statistic.
The three movies you worked on cumulatively lost $130 million
Yeah thanks.
>> Thanks. It was my fault too.
>> Just...you know... >> Thank you.
Well you know clearly what this meant
was it was time to find a different format.
>> We kid because we love. >> Thank you, I appreciate that.
>> So what.
What was what prompted you to.
So.
>> The Iron Giant Warner Brothers decided
they were going to make one more movie.
To, you know, they're like we got to close this place down.
>> But for some reason we have to make one more movie. They made.
Osmosis Jones which I did not work on.
>> So what was happening at that time was like everybody
was realizing that their dreams of you know
hitting getting Lion King money wasn't going to work.
>> The studios were realizing that.
>> And so all of this this boom in animation
was starting to go down and everybody was switching over to CG
and I decided that I wanted to keep drawing.
So I spent some time you know sending my portfolio and my reel around
and looking for jobs and I had
>> You know my reels in at Dreamworks and Disney.
But a friend of mine who was an animator on Iron Giant
was a director on the Powerpuff Girls.
>> And this was a show that I had kind of grown to love.
I was watching it.
>> And before Powerpuff Girls Dexter's Lab actually really impressed me
because I remember thinking like that was the first time in TV animation
like as a professional I knew the limits of like you know money
and budgets and features looked beautiful
because they have a lot of money in TV looks like crap
because they don't have any money.
And I watch dexter and I went.
Here are a bunch of people who realize that their resources were limited.
So they designed their show to work well within those limited resources
and I thought that was really smart.
Like I was really impressed by that.
So then Powerpuff Girls came out and kind of blew my mind a little bit like
and I kind of started getting a little geeky about it.
Like I started buying stuff.
And so my friend Randy was a director on it.
And like he gave me a drawing for my birthday
and I was so excited about it.
And then he told me they were looking for storyboard artists
and I was looking for a job and wasn't quite getting anything.
And I had always been interested in story in fact
when I was at Cal Arts and I was so intent on being a feature animator
but I had a storyboard teacher who was always telling me I should try story.
So.
So I took a test I took a piece of tests for powerpuff girls.
They gave me a story outline
and told me the sections they wanted me to board
and write which was a cool thing about Powerpuff Girls do you.
They gave you story structure and you wrote it and drew it.
Did the section and I got.
>> Offered the job the day I turned it in which felt really good.
That was good for my ego.
So I made the switch from animating
for features to doing storyboards for TV.
>> So this gives us a good opportunity
to talk about you know animators are kind of
in some ways at the end of the of the pipeline
because except for color and Paint
You know they're they're they're taking storyboards
which came out of script and came out of you know the recorded dialogue
and there's not as much wiggle room.
By the time you get there whereas storyboard artist
you know it seems like half the funny when you look at a lot of the shows
I've looked at comes out of the storyboarding stage.
>> Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Bad storyboarder can ruin a great joke
but a good storyboard or can make something funny.
>> That wasn't even funny in the first place.
>> Yeah so do.
So it sounds like from what you said storyboarding is more satisfying.
>> Completely different ways. Animating is still the only thing for me
that I ever got into that super Zen place like flow with.
>> Yeah where you know oh my God did four hours just go by like
that only ever happened to me with animating. Storyboarding scriptwriting.
>> Your brain is just chugging the whole time you never you never get lost.
But it's you know fashioning stories like making up stories
is extremely satisfying and like expressing
you know you express yourself when you're animating as well
you're like wow I really understand what Sawyer is going through here.
I'm going to pour all my emotions into her facial expressions.
But like with storyboarding
It's like I know I went through what Blossom's going through here
and I'm going to I'm going to lay it out for the world to see.
>> So this was another pivotal moment in that you met someone.
>> Yes.
So it Powerpuff Girls is where I met my husband.
>> He is the creator of the Powerpuff Girls
which started life as the whoop ass girls.
>> Yes Powerpuff Girls was Craig's student film
but it was called the Whoop Ass Girls
so it wasn't sugar spice and chemical X Sugar
spice everything nice and chemical X is what's on the show.
It was originally sugar spice everything nice
and a can of whoop ass which kind of makes more sense.
>> But you can't say ass on TV. So for kids on kids TV anyway.
So yes so that's when it began Powerpuff Girls.
>> So when you came on board I mean how closely were you.
What was storyboarding what's been working very closely with him.
Yes. So was it.
>> We have to ask the. What was it like. love at first sight as you met across
>> Oh well apparently. Yeah. So there's two sides to the story.
>> One of my side of the story was that like I worshipped the shows
so I therefore worshiped him.
And from my last job I you know one thing I told myself
starting this new job was like I have to stop being shy.
I have to stop being intimidated by my superiors
and I need to talk to people.
So I think Craig was the first person I tried this with.
It's like it's somebody I admire and I'm working for.
But I'm going to talk to him like I'm equal.
And then he told me later like you know as soon as he saw me he liked me.
And what's kind of interesting is that like when I turned in my test
he was like afraid to look at it
because he was afraid if it was bad he would be disappointed.
So then he liked it.
And then he was like OK do I like it because it's good or do I like it
because I want to talk to this girl.
So he gave the test to Genndy, Genndy Tartakovsky
you probably know who he is. He gave the test to Genndy
He was the producer on the show and said like he said
told he said take a look at this test
and Genndy said is it good do you like it.
And Craig said just look at it and again looked at it again.
Like that. So Craig went.
>> So he went OK it's I'm not biased so Genndy
was the one who actually hired me.
So like we just I don't know.
It was the dorkiest courtship in the world.
It was it was pure dorkiness. He
>> I think we could figure that out a little bit
from the C3P0 throw pillow >> R2-D2
It was pure dork you know >> you know, he's from Star Trek.
>> We just we just both kind of liked each other
so we both kind of just placed ourselves like near each others
so we could talk but like never flirted.
We just talked and we were always going my friend Randy's room
and talk to each other in Randy's room.
>> Like I'd go talk to Randy or Craig
will go talk to Randy and I'd go Oooo, Craig's talking to Randy
and I'll go talk to Randy and it was totally completely stupid.
>> It was also terrifying because I was really afraid
of what people are going to think of me.
But we could we could not deny our love.
>> So as bad as it looked for me to date my boss I did.
>> Well that brings us to the question.
I don't think this could happen today because.
No, it still happens
I'm thinking specifically I mean now you know
if I were an employer of someone and you know
because you immediately get into this vibe of them
are you harassing her
if I ask you for >> Well that's a very fine line.
>> The people have to walk and right now the climate is very rough for that.
>> So I don't know if a lot of people want to be real flirty
up there right now because things are so rough.
But it still. But here's the thing.
Animators and cartoonists and artists are unusual people.
And and we we we don't have the opportunities to find people
we have things in common with outside of you know our artistic communities.
So it's. I know lots of couples who met each other on the job.
I continue to see couples who marry who meet each other on the job.
>> You know it's it's like you know I mean just be you know
when you feel like somebody you know if you like them
because you want to have a relationship and be in love
or if you just want to give them a hard time
and threaten them with blacklisting later
I mean you know you know when you're doing it so it still happens.
It's OK.
>> Something I want to bring out because I think people unclear about it is
so Craig created this He created it as a student.
He doesn't own it >> He owned it when he was a student.
When cartoon network bought Powerpuff Girls
optioned Powerpuff Girls they they own it
and that's how everything works.
You know it's it's like they're like
we're going to spend millions of dollars making it.
It's ours.
And we will share some of the toy profits with you
and we'll give you a salary to make it.
And you know other you know other
Some people create stuff and don't work on it.
>> You work your deal out but studios own their properties
So when people say you know they'll never stand for that.
I mean there's you've got limited you know the creator would never let that.
Oh yea I know that.
>> That's a weird misperception that like people like contact Craig and go
Hey Craig, why don't you make Powerpuff Girls for Netflix
because I don't Powerpuff Girls and cartoon network.
So talk to Cartoon Network and see if they want to work with Netflix
like people just don't understand that that's a thing right.
>> Yeah. My favorite thing is when ponys came around
oh the hub won't let them do that.
It's like the hub is just a distributor of a product made.
Yeah but which. Oh.
DHX, well they're just the contractor you know.
>> But that's you know I mean
that's that's the business side of it it's boring.
>> Yep. So whatever theme we see coming up here is some familiar names
start to show up like McCarthy and Rodgers and Morrow and Savino.
They're kind of like your posse.
You know we see these people >>They're not really a posse..
You can say like a community maybe. >> Well it's kind of very Whedonesq
we can get the same name starts showing up over and over.
>> Sure will you find people who have similar sensibilities to you
and people that you enjoy working with.
>> And that's our wedding picture. He's got just a little bit of deer
in the headlights look there.
No he doesn't. He was very happy.
>> You you you.
>> And as you know as you move around you
when your show to be good you go oh boy I really enjoyed working with Amy.
I'm going to call Amy or go like oh this will be a really good
so and so has a
this would be a really good project for them
like they have the kind of strengths we need for this sort of project
so it's not really a posse. But you do have like your pool of artists
Go to people >>Right. Yeah absolutely.
>> So how did the decision come to kind of wind it down.
Was that >> Powerpuff?
Yeah. >> Both Powerpuff Girls and Fosters.
>> You just you know you tell 10 bazillion stories
and you find yourself in the story room
going like I don't know what should we tell this time.
>> In the beginning it's all exciting all the stories are sitting there
and they're so obvious and then your characters start to evolve and grow in.
And that's exciting because you're exploring new territory
you weren't planning on.
>> And then at a certain point you just feel like you've exhausted the ideas
and everything starting to get a little thin
or a little repetitive or a little weird
and you've been working on it six years and you're getting kind of bored.
So both of those shows just kind of like it's time to end it you know.
Which brings us to Foster's >> Yeah, fosters.
>> So you were in on this from the start.
>> Yes this was fun because this was my very first thing I worked on
where I got in on the ground floor.
>> So what's the process. With you and Craig.
I mean he's got the creator credits that idea he already had in his head
and brought or you >> No this was after the Powerpuff Girls movie.
>> Craig decided he didn't want to keep making Powerpuff
he wanted he wanted to do something new so he just sat down with his sketchbooks
and just started drawing a million bazillion things
and he started drawing these like kind of wacky.
This is right before like urban Vinal. You guys
Familiar with that type of toy that was real popular at 10 years ago.
This was when. Right before that got popular
and there was like a lot of like underground artists
who are just making these vinyl sculptures of weird creatures
and Craig was really into that.
So he this is my office of Fosters with my good friend
who was a production coordinator Tami List.
So he just sat down and started sketching everything
and that was also because even though Craig created it and
and you know it's his original idea.
>> I was there when he started it all so like everyday he was bouncing ideas off
so that there was a kibitzing process.
>> Yeah.
>> Well I have you know developed by credit on it.
>> So Craig created it and he and I and Mike Moon
developed it like turned it into a show.
>> So it has a very different animation style from Powerpuff in some ways
and different from the other shows.
How much of that is just driven by whatever technology
you're going to be using and how much by just wanting a certain feel?
>> I'd say it was driven it would be driven by both.
>> Craig's animation style is very flat and graphic
and clean especially back then
and that's what he likes to do.
>> But at the time. Powerpuff Girls was a little frustrating
because it was done overseas in Korea.
People you know non English speakers
so we never got like a lot of good nuance or acting
and sometimes you know the drawings wouldn't come back
as great as we wanted them to.
So the time Fosters came around.
>> Flash started becoming a thing that you could do
you could use for more than just the Web.
So we started we we were playing around with the idea of doing it in Flash
and started kind of sending tests out to studios
that were animating in Flash and found a studio in Ireland called Boulder Media
that just did some beautiful beautiful Flash animation
and it was limited at the time
but because the characters are so graphic
it it translated really nicely.
>> So we were able to get stronger like nuanced acting and funnier timing
because we were working with animators
who were English speakers and also you know at a certain point
we were animating half the shows in Burbank
and that was like the first time in decades
that television was being animated in the States
So that obviously had a good run.
>> Yeah very very well critically I loved that job.
We had a lot of fun making Fosters.
>> This was also about the time when did Milky Way kind of start
to appear in your head.
>> So Milky Way. When did it start appearing in my head.
>> Oh I guess I was developing an Adult Swim project
that they didn't like called Lollipop's Sucky Life
and it was about a girl named Lollipop who is basically Strawberry Shortcake.
>> And when she was little she lived in Lollipopolis with her
and her posse the candy kids and they were all sweet sweet and adorable.
And the show was about her going growing up to be 18
and going to college and she was no longer sweet.
She was bitter and she went to college too.
And she was like exploring life you know.
So she was like there were all these like 80s kids toys
that were doing the sorts of you know debauched things that people do in college
there were you know the frat guys were Care Bears
that got drunk on honey there were you know.
>> And my ravers cause rave was big at the time were Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls
and they would drop Stardust and dance until they died.
>> So that's where they started. So I loved that idea.
>> It almost has it's like a Drawn Together vibe.
>> Yeah yeah it was it was supposed to be terrible.
It was all very bad.
>> But when I was writing up the Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls raver kids
I was kind of going like these are actually kind of legit like like
I could like make this not bad.
And maybe it could be a thing.
So I started kind of developing that like on the side on my own for fun
and it just sort of I don't know I just kind of fell in love with it
and just kept doing it and kept doing it kept doing it.
>> So it's life has really been as a doll.
>> Yeah.
>> Well I was at that time you know having been a producer
and a director I had been pitching shows to studios around town
and you know anybody who's listen anything I've talked about
before knows that like you know I always complain that you know people
just don't want girl shows for girls like like with anything I developed
I was like can you make it about boys
or we're not looking for stuff for girls right now
and I was really tired of people telling me
that girls the thing that they said all the time
then was girls don't like animation.
And I just kept saying no girls don't like bad animation.
And every time you make something for girls you make it bad.
But nobody was listening to me.
>> So so so so I said like no reason to tell me that girls don't like dolls.
So I push.
>> I kind of left animation for a little while and pursued you know
because I learned a lot from powerpuff girls
about like toys and licensing and stuff
so I wanted to kind of thought maybe I could do this so I did.
I designed them as a line of dolls.
It did a little book made some T-shirts and stuff and sold them at conventions
and they were in FAO Swartz for a short time
but that was like the Christmas that the stock market crashed.
So like. Nobody was buying $50 dolls that year.
So it didn't it didn't pan out.
So interestingly, you lost the Web site in 2016 >> Did I?
>> I didn't even know that .
Well you evidently have lost the Web site.
>> So you and I you know what I kind of let
I let it go I let it go.
>> Is it hard to.
You know when you're not coming from a franchise
is it hard to kind of launch something like that.
>> Oh very much so.
>> The thing you know and I was still I learned a lot from it
but at the time like this was all news to me like the shocker to me
was that everywhere I took it they loved it everybody loved it
but nobody wanted it and I couldn't wrap my head around it.
>> And Toys toys is rough like what I found like here
I was like stepping away from the animation
to make toys that I could target girls.
But all these people who were interested in making them as toys
were like make it make an animated TV show and we'll do it.
And I just left animation like like so like
there's this weird cross pollination
sort of thing sort of a sudden I'm like going backwards
Here's something I never developed to be TV
and I'm trying to like pound it into a TV shaped box
and that it didn't fit in.
>> And now that like the rights were tied up like studios
that had good budgets like cartoon network
and Nickelodian like they don't want it
because they don't want to own it's only like these like
like low budget kind of nonunion studios that make that card too.
It's just a long horrible story.
So it was yeah it just it it.
I don't ever want to try it again. The moral of the story.
So this brings us to what some people in the room may know you best for.
>> So this is the silver lining to Galaxy Girls. So galaxy girls
didn't work out but I did have a pitch.
My agent set me up to pitch galaxy girls to Hasbro
and I pitched it to this wonderful executive Lisa Licht
Who I love to this day.
She was new, she'd come from FOX and I pitched Galaxy Girls to her.
And at the end she went I don't like it but she wasn't that blunt
but basically she said like well
I'm not sure this is right for Hasbro but would you be interested in this.
And she pulled out my little pony DVD
and it was funny because she said I haven't watched it
it's probably not very good she said
but because she was new and she said but can you take a look at it
and see if there's anything you think you can do with it.
So she liked galaxy girls enough to think
that maybe I could do something cool with my little pony.
And I really liked that she came from this set this mindset
of what they're doing now probably isn't very good.
>> I didn't think it was so I.
So I just I kind of dipped my toe in the water just thinking.
>> Like in general animation people don't want to work for toy companies.
There's just a lot of nightmare stories about them so it's very reserved.
You know they're more concerned with their market research
than they are with good storytelling.
So what is often the case >> And that led to that article
that kind of brought you on this.
Yes. >> That insane
The death of >> The death of of creator driven animation
So was anybody who is anybody around when that Cartoon Brew article came out.
Yeah. Yes so that that idea came up with that.
>> Or are that that idea came through so that
that's actually a very good example of what people thought
and still think for the most part of trying to do shows for cartoons
so the writer of that article never saw it never.
>> Well it was before it even came out. It was before it even came out
and used it as this calling card to say like this
is the death of creator driven animation.
>> And he called me and my head writer Rob Renzetti
who's like an amazingly talented guy
called us what he call this like mindless drones or sellouts
or something like that.
>> And I had never even seen it like never hadn't even seen it.
>> It's kind of like people reviewing Apple products today.
>> Some of the techies in the audience get that.
>> All right so in the interest of saving you some sanity in the future
We're going to do a little speed round here.
OK you can disavow any knowledge of these things
if they weren't on the on the the plate when you left >> Pony?
OK. OK. >> Cadance and Shining Armor
Yes. What about them. >> Had they appeared?
>> That was the last story I broke.
But her name wasn't Cadence that was changed after I left
and she wasn't an Alicorn. so last I was involved with her
she was a unicorn named Mi Amori >> but was Shining Armor Twi's brother.
>> Yes. >> Changlings? >> Yes >> Great.
>> Seaponies >> I had a concept for seaponies before the show even started.
But I seeponies were never realized when I was involved
Equestria Girls? >> No!
I know the answer but PrincessTwilight Sparkle >> No.
AJ's parents fate >> Sort of.
>> I had always imagined that that our parents had died.
But I knew that although Is it different now.
They have hinted very strongly >> That they died?
did they specify how they died.
OK. I had always in my head canon they had died.
I just knew that I would never be allowed to say so Mary.
>> We we just assume they've been at the store for a long time
so they're neglectful.
>> That's way better.
Scootaloo's parents? >>Does she have parents now?
No.
Yeah. I never Scootaloo's parents
>> Parents are at home.
They're hanging out. Yeah there she is.
You know I never thought there was anything weird about Scootaloo's parents.
We just they're so boring we didn't bother talking about them.
>> And the origins of Celestia and Luna which still haven't been really is all.
>> I have some loose ideas about that but I'm never solidified it.
>> So some of the challenges was how I saw
just a little bit of a couple of things.
First of all I'm going to make the comment. Yes we're running behind.
And sorry we talk too much now it's also because we started late
but you know I will try to get it through.
So I have time for questions.
>> One question is so what are you working with storyboard artists
and things obviously this things that are put in storyboard stage
that aren't in the script and aren't in the Bible.
So what do you have something like this which is when you were there.
What does that from That is from The Perfect Stallion
The wah? >>You know the Hearts and Hooves episode.
>> Oh. You know what. I did not see season two.
>> I. >> I supervise.
I broke all the stories did the story room and did a lot
and went through a lot of the scripts.
I did not see a lot of the final product in season two
so I don't recognize that at all.
>> Let us imagine that this had crossed you know.
I mean this is kind of implying that Catholicism made a toehold in Equestria.
>> Oh is that what that is. That's a dog collar there.
A clerical collar and clearly a funeral.
>> So it's like you know what.
Things like that show up in storyboard and the post-storyboard
what I mean do people like you know where does continuity come into it.
And on a show like this, do you you care or >> No you definitely care.
>> You know it's like you want your crew to feel a part of it
and you want everybody to feel they have some creative say in authonomy
so like whenever such a deviation crosses your desk you go like
is this something I'm cool with.
I usually want to let things go but sometimes something will come through
and it's like that just doesn't belong here and you have to say no.
I'd have to see the context of that.
That's like I don't know if I would approve of that >> It's on for like 45 frames
of it.. The the lyrics
for that is he's too old
and she jumps on him and to the song and scritches his head and runs away.
And that's the entire context.
And someone made it a funeral. >>Yes.
That had nothing else to do with anything else.
I don't know. I know. Yeah.
OK. I don't know what I would have done that.
>> So the other thing I want to talk about is what TV Tropes
would call the CloudCuckooLanders. >>Yeah.
The the people who for whom the laws of physics
are superseded by the laws of funny >> Uh-huh
So when you're writing for those kind of characters how do you.
I mean it's essentially you know if it suddenly Pinkie Pie
being on the other side of town faster than Rainbow Dash
because when he hides she's going to appear or something like that.
Yeah. I mean how do you balance out.
You know that's a really funny beat with
OK now I've got this like OP you know totally overpowered character
or you know Discord could do anything he wanted
Evidently if it suits.
>> You know I'm actually pretty lax on that kind of stuff
because for me I'm a little bit more like what works for the story
and what's funny.
>> So sometimes yes Pinkie Pie can run
is faster than get across town faster than Rainbow Dash
because that's funny or that's what works for the story.
But why didn't she do that when this happened.
>> Because then the story would be bad.
So.
So I mean so I tend to be pretty lax about that kind of stuff.
However
>> I would never let anybody but Pinkie Pie do that.
Like there were some early star or early season
one stories where there was a thing where like Rainbow Dash
was talking through a cloud and the storyboarder
had changed it to her.
The cloud being a door that she could or couldn't lift
Very fourth wall-type? >> Yeah
>> And I was like we have to save that for Pinkie Pie
Otherwise she's not special
She's the only one who can do that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
>> So and Discord because Well, but he does it in an evil way.
>> He makes more sense for Discord to do it
because he's magical and Pinkie Pie is Earth pony so she's not.
>> So she's just weird. Yes.
So one of the difficulties were difficulties working in the show
is you were divorced from your storyboard artists
and your production team >>Not entirely.
>> I was not working with them one on one directly
but the storyboarder the storyboards would come to me across my desk
and I had the opportunity to make notes and revision.
>> But that's not the normal situation you normally have in production is it.
>> No
>> Well, it depends on how your productions run usually you launch your storyboard artists.
>> So you sit with you know as the show runner
and then the director and the storyboard artist comes in
and you go you read the script. Let's talk about it.
Here are your character designs
Here's the stuff we want to see
and then you send them off with all this information.
Then they bring it back to you.
You get a chance to go hmm let's change this
so this could be like this or all this gives me a new idea.
They do a revision and then at some of the like that that's how it was like
I sent the script off and then six weeks later
I get a storyboard to review.
>> So that probably was a little difficult.
>> What was difficult about it was the speed of the schedule.
Like you you do what you need to do. I mean that that's fine.
But like when you have you know when you don't have the authority
to hire the storyboard artists you know
and somebody turned something in and it's not what you expected.
>> And then they tell you you've got two days to revise it
then you know you're not sleeping and you're getting sick and that's not good.
>> So during the you know after season 1 and into Season 2
You made the decision that you needed to move on.
>> Yes. Was that kind of a blind jump
or did you have an idea where you wanted to land.
No I was totally blind. I just I just had to stop.
I was really sick.
So you landed in a fairly interesting place.
>> So how did you come to started doing shorts with teenage superheroes.
>> It's just kind of like weird.
So Craig was at Disney and he was under contract at Disney.
>> He was developing Wander over Yonder and Warner Brothers
who works with DC went to him
and said like hey we're doing these we're doing shorts for DC Nation
and we're letting people take lesser known superheroes in the DC Universe
and doing like funny silly shorts with it
and we're giving everybody a lot of creative freedom
and Craig was like oh I'm under contract with Disney.
>> I know I'm not allowed to. >> And I was like
Oh me me me me me me me.
I want to do oneI want to do. And they were like yeah like which.
>> Which was kind of nice. They were like oh we forgot about you.
I thank you for reminding us because which was nice.
So yes so I threw together a pitch with these three.
>> I actually had an additional pitch with with power girl
but they like this one better.
And yes so that was fun.
>> Right now I have to ask just because this is again an issue today
that this animation style we're seeing not so much with Supergirl
who is beefy but with the other two it's very narrow and thin and stretched.
And there's a lot of concern today about body image now with women.
>> I mean again is there do you think you can do this style
without it kind of saying you know women
should be like Barbie you know.
>> OK. So I personally don't feel like they are Barbie ish.
>> So here's the thing.
When I went to do this I wanted to show diverse body types.
That's why Supergirl is big and she's big
because she's strong and strong people have muscles right.
Wonder Girl is tall and thin.
And let me tell you being tall and thin isn't awesome when you're skinny
and you're taller than the boys.
It's not awesome when you're a teenager and your feet are really big
and you don't have any boobs. It's not awesome.
So. So.
And Batgirl is she's petite she's very short.
And all my friends in high school who are really short.
Yeah. Not awesome.
So I really wanted to show diverse body shapes with this
and wonder girl is I mean I don't know I don't feel like she looks like Barbie.
She looks like how I felt when I was her age and she's also an Amazon.
Amazon's are incredibly tall and incredibly tall people
when they're 16 are incredibly skinny.
So I mean I tried to come from a place of reality
and I felt like I was really trying to show diversity in body shapes.
>> I wasn't. Oh OK.
It's just because we see this a lot of like Monster High
and yeah I don't like it.
>> Yeah I don't I don't like it and I try not to do that.
>> So do you have any interest in doing anything.
I mean you're obviously going to be in the DC Universe again.
Would you like to go back to these guys at all.
>> Well what we're doing. So I'm rebooting
DC Superhero Girls for.
>> And it's a total reboot.
>> It is completely new and we are taking the tone and the humor
and themes of Super Best Friends Forever
and bringing it over to DC superhero girls
and expanding it out instead of three girls it's six girls.
But these personalities and these voice actresses that is our Supergirl
and our Batgirl and our Wonder Woman in DC Super Hero Girls.
>> So after this brief hiatus into shorts you moved over
and you were at Disney. Yes.
And I would just say very briefly this was a show I was prepared to hate
because I don't normally like the kind of naïve
Forrest Gumpy characters but it is so marvelously subverted.
>> So he does what he does.
He does it without worrying that that alien wants to kill me
I'm just like he just thinks it's cute.
>> So I had to ask this is one opportunity to ask about so with Fosters
was was toy pianos
this is banjo music
you know where does that decision for a musical Style
Craig. That's Craig. That's not me. Craig is a huge music guy
and has a lot of like opinions
and listen so a lot of really cool stuff.
>> No one's ever heard of before.
So that's that's a big thing for him to get.
>> So I also got to add to this is the thing.
>> How did you get John Hodgman to be the lord of illumination.
>> We asked him isn't much more to it
than that you know especially when you're working with Disney
and they've they've got a little extra cash
and a really good casting department.
You just contact people and they yes or they say no.
>> He said yes. So I have to ask you know the one questions I had watched was
Who is this aimed at. Because like you're doing Alien references
and you know less filling taste great as a battle cry
You know.
>> Hates great, Best villian. Yes yes yes. Well here's the thing.
>> OK so this is this is something both Craig
and I believe very strongly about references like that.
>> Yeah we did an alien reference.
>> But if you never saw alien
you would still think that was a fun show.
Yeah. If you hate.
Great. Best Villain works as a like.
Like of evil montra for an army of evil militant minions
to say whether or not you know anything about
Tastes great less filling which is old old old old old.
So that's I'm a huge believer in that you do not
put a pop culture reference in
unless somebody who does not know the pop culture reference
will still be entertained by it.
>> All right. So we're we're doing hyperspeed here
so this is your writers there.
>> Yeah this was the writer the season one writing team on Wander over Yonder.
>> So we're going to do a brief in and out to the next topic.
>> OK. So I got.
I got to be a little less verbose.
>> How did Medusa come to you. >> Sony called my agent.
That was kind of it they from how they put it to me
was you know frozen made a bazillion dollars
and the head of the studio at Sony
who's a woman at the time was like where's my kick ass girl movie.
They had this in their in their pocket
and they called them and they thought I could do it.
>> So they called me and asked me if I wanted to do it.
where it's in development with a new person
but it from from what I hear it's it doesn't sound like it's going anywhere
soon they've they've got other projects they're more excited about.
>> So you then took a slight detour to the family.
>> Yes. Yes. Yes.
A different kind of production. Yes a very different kind of production.
Yes yes. Yes right right around that time we got pregnant with my daughter.
>> Whose name is? Her name's Quinn. Not Harley?
>> No no no not not at all not even close.
No.
How old is she. She just turned 18 months.
So.
>> Is there somewhat of a double-standard.
You know you hear about the double standard that women have to differ.
>> You know having kids because you have to build your career
and then you can take time off.
Was that a factor at all for you is it.
>> Yeah. Yeah I did not mean to be such an old mom
but awesome was that awesome and think about all the shows
you can show her that she's good are you good OK.
>> So from what I understand from my you know my friends
who with kids it's like they never like your shows
they don't they like everybody else's shows.
So apparently that's incredibly Typical they don't like your shows.
>> Well are things are going to ask you so it sounds very much
like you haven't followed ponies since.
I have not. No right.
Do you think you might go back and watch later stuff with her.
Probably not.
I hate to be a big bitter jerk but is it just.
I'm a big bitter jerk Too hard to go back?
I mean the stuff still kind of like your name still on the label.
>> Yeah. You know. Yeah.
>> You know it it was very upset
leaving the show and losing the show was very upsetting for a long time.
And I'm finally on the other side of it
and I don't want to risk opening that back up again.
It was very hard. It was very hard to leave the show.
>> Does it give you any sense of pride to see it just made a big theatrical splash.
>> No it just makes me mad I couldn't do it.
OK. I'm a big jerk. I'm a big huge bitter jerk.
I'm sorry I just am.
Yeah.
>> OK. So very quickly moving on to skip that because we've talked about it
and it doesn't look like that anymore.
Yes right.
So Them's Fighting Herds
is an interesting case I just really want to talk.
>> I mean first of all when are we going to as a supporter
When are we going to get it >> Some time soon.
Oh so it's like every ever Kickstarter I ever supported
that everybody knows what they're getting into with Kickstarter.
>> I'm still waiting for lockpick set from 2011.
But I want to ask a question so I think most people's reaction to oh
here's a story about my character who are
all friends with each other.
Beating the crap out of each other
it would not have been to say what a neat idea.
Let me help you.
>> I was a great idea. >> I loved it so I liked it
so Them's Fighting Herds
started as a who's familiar with it , anybody?
So some of you yes all of you probably know it started
as a My Little Pony fan game called Fighting
is Magic where it was the main cast of pony
the Mane six fighting each other.
And just like a typical fighter game.
But it was beautifully done. It was animated well.
And what I was impressed by was that the characters were fighting
in character
They were fighting with in their personality
because anybody can give a cute pony a gun
and say oh that's so hilarious like that.
That's too obvious.
They were they were having their moves be their personalities.
And like I was really impressed and I was watching it
and I was waiting for it to come out.
I was a fan.
So then like right before they finished it they got an NDA
they got a little bit too publicity publicized
I think yeah they got a little too popular.
Not an NDA. Cease and desist.
>> Yeah yeah yeah. The would have wanted an NDA
>> Yeah right now they got a cease and desist
and that's that's the risk you take.
They didn't own the characters.
You know that's there's nothing wrong with that but it sucked.
So I felt really bad for them because I know how hard they worked on it.
I'd never been in touch with them personally in any capacity.
But I tweeted them and I was do you want some original character designs.
So and then it just kind of went from there.
I offered to do them character designs
and then the more we worked together it was more I end up doing more and more.
I was doing the designs I was coming up with world concepts
I was doing turns and mouth charts and writing stuff
and I'm still writing stuff for it now and it became a much bigger thing.
>> But it's fun and it's cool and the guys are really great to work with.
Just like very passionate. It's a real labor of love.
>> All right. So we have we want to have a little bit of time
for a few questions.
The prints being handed out now so you will all be getting a lovely print
that Lauren has signed and.
Probably shortened her storyboarding life by doing so.
>> If there are any folks in the audience who have questions
and I'd like if there's any CalArts folks to ask for.
But otherwise just anyone come up we have a mike up here.
>> Oh my God.
>> I'll try to keep it short so we can get through as many as possible go.
>> I would like to ask two questions. >> I just forgot.
>> My second question was do you think
is the biggest mistake you've ever made your artist career.
>> Oh my goodness. How do I pick
>> OK. So I think the biggest mistake I ever made
was trying to draw like someone else trying to draw like someone else.
So it's good to mimic people that you admire because you learn a lot from it.
>> But as soon as I say I let go and said I'll never drawn like that guy and
and tried to think draw my own way.
Things got a lot easier. That was a big mistake.
>> And my first question I just remembered
was what's the biggest mistake you can do
when pitching an animated show? >> Being unconfident.
>> So go in there. You got it isn't that the the biggest mistake you can make
but the best thing you can do is go in there
and pitch it like it's the most amazing thing ever.
But keep but also kind of being succinct about it
because as soon as you start kind of hemming and hawing
or they sense you doubting yourself then they start doubting it too to
so you just gotta go in there
and be like oh my god you guys are going to be so excited
because I'm bringing this awesome thing to you
and you're like that's the most important thing
we need to let the rest of the folks go.
>> Thank you. >> Hi.
In the last panel you did in this one you talked a lot
about the shyness you had growing up
just for someone who does struggle with a lot of severe shyness.
Is there any advice you have for just learning
and pushing yourself to be more confident and engage with people more.
>> You have to not be afraid to embarrass yourself
because you will but you just. But you'll never do it again.
>> You know once you say something stupid you will never say
that stupid thing ever ever ever again
so you just I mean that's the thing is to push yourself
but never I always like to say like
I'm not going to let the fact that I'm stupid stop me.
You know it's like you got a light years you got to forgive your mistakes
and you've got to go in there go and I might make a fool out of myself
but I'm going to do it anyway because at a certain point you stop.
You just get used to it and it stops happening.
>> Thank you very much sir. Sir good evening Ms. Faust
So here I have the art of Equestria book
and in it I read the introduction
and it's there is talk about the pitch
Bible the pitch Bible.
My little pony friendship is magic took two years in development.
Is that correct. No. Six weeks.
>> Six weeks now I've been lied to.
>> Regardless I probably took it took two years for me to pitch it
and for actually become a thing.
>> But I I pulled it together in six weeks.
>> Now we should ask because I sent it
to you is the thing that's out on the Internet now.
>> The Bible mostly so that is the Hasbro Bible so I did a pitch
Bible and then Hasbro took it and made it an internal document.
So I think most of the writing is what I wrote
but a lot of the art is different
in a lot of the art I had in my original Bible is not in there.
>> OK. And my question is related to pitch Bibles.
What advice or advice is in simpler terms.
Because we have a time limit what advice can you give someone like myself
who has many ideas to present or would like to present.
>> Start writing it down because once you have the materials down it
makes you think of more things.
It also helps you organize them.
One thing big thing I do for a bible is I do what I call a dummy
where I go this is the page
or I'm going to talk about the world
and this is the page I'm going to talk about the characters.
And this is the page so I kind of have this template and then I start going.
If somebody was just going to ask me about this part what would I say.
So it helps you kind of organize the thoughts that you have.
And once you do you start seeing connections
and it helps you kind of it just helps things grow and solidify.
But you've got to actually sit down and do it
because it might be a big mess when you start
but you start seeing the holes and you start filling the holes
and you start seeing the connectors and you start putting them together.
So you just got to sit down and start doing it. >> Thank you. Great.
Weprobably have time for two or three more questions.
Oh no!
>> Just please. What is your opinion on Equestria Girls?
I haven't watched equestria girls so I don't.
I can't I can't speak to the quality.
I will say I was a little disappointed when I heard
that they were they were making them into girls
and put them in high school because that's all anybody does for girls.
So conceptually I was a little I was a little disappointed in that
but I haven't seen it so I can't really say
if I if it's good or bad it's got some nice music with it.
>> That's good. How good.
Hello.
>> I got one question.
Well how do you like you think about the movie.
If you don't what would you change about it >> I haven't seen it.
>> Bitter . >> Very better.
So Very very bitter... >> And busy! Very busy. I have a baby.
I don't see movies anymore.
>> Lauren you mentioned having an idea of Celestia and Luna's backstory
is wondering if you might be able to explain that a little bit as well
as how you conceptualize unicorn magic in Equestria
which is I'm using it as like magic wand horns.
>> You know I don't have enough. >> I had a bunch of different ideas
of what I wanted Celestia and Luna's backstory to be
but I can't say it really solidified anything
I was trying to think about like who their parents were
and what their purpose was.
You know the idea that they've lived for thousands of years
and like what was Equestria like the one idea that I did have
is that their temple they're there of the ruins
that was in Everfree forest that was not originally Everfree forest.
That was originally part of Equestria and ever free forest was kind of
slow over the centuries encroaching over.
That's like one idea that I knew I had like
that was originally like the Capitol royal city of Equestria
and now it's stuck in the middle of Everfree forest.
>> But I had to have a lot of different thoughts I had on those two
and I haven't thought about it in years
because there's nothing I can do about it.
But with a unicorn magic I always wanted it to be limited to who they are.
Like everything revolves around that cutie mark
so whatever it is you're cutie mark is about who you are you is a unicorn.
Your magic is limited thematically to whatever your cutie mark is
is tells you about you But how does Rainbow Dash lift a mug.
>> She shouldn't be she. They shouldn't be.
They shouldn't have mugs mugs or for people with fingers
There should be no mugs My point is it's Velcro.
Yeah. No that shouldn't be happening.
All right. I not approve >> And I hate to say
it this has got to be the last question.
So sorry.
>> Yes. What are your thoughts. That other countries have adapted.
My little pony and made their own conventions in different countries
and they expanded their influence on your drawing into their culture.
>> It's mind blowing and beyond flattering and I'm incredibly honored.
Like it's it's I think it's any artist's dream
to have their work inspire other people
and to know that it's inspired people
all around the world of different cultures
is like something you don't even dare to dream happen.
So it's it's just mind blowing really amazing and humbling.
>> And I'm honored. >> I do want to ask one
very quick question before we wrap up because it reminded me
so I've seen like the Japanese translation of the show
and half the jokes.
I mean there's always difficulty in translating
but half the jokes just aren't there anymore.
So how you know do you guys get involved in that.
>> I've never been involved in any of the shows I've worked on.
>> I've never known the American production
to be a part of the translation.
>> There's a time for that. >> All right.
Why. I'm afraid we do have to wrap it up.
Make sure you get your print before you leave.
I'd like to thank Lauren for spending so much time with us today.