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About Me Member Cartoonist Reed Gauthier20/Male/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 3 Years
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Devious Info

  • Current Residence: My happy place... WE HAVE CARPET!
  • Interests: Drawing, DDR, Video Games, Making Animations
  • Favourite movie: Persepolis, Triplets of Belleville, Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Favourite band or musician: Ayumi Hamasaki and a bunch of other random crap
  • Favourite genre of music: Dance, Trance, Pop, Rock, Video Game Music
  • Favourite artist: Toulouse-Letrac, Dali, Mucha, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Escher
  • Favourite style of art: Anything Cartoonish
  • Operating System: Crappy ol' laptop
  • Shell of choice: Turtle?
  • Wallpaper of choice: Bright Blue Polka-dots
  • Skin of choice: Chicken skin (yummy...)
  • Favourite game: The Legend of Zelda, Okami, Folklore, Heavenly Sword
  • Favourite gaming platform: Can't beat the n64
  • Favourite cartoon character: Sheik, Gir, Toph, Midna, Lucas, Freckles, Charlotte and Vendetta
  • Personal Quote: Save a tree, eat a beaver
  • Tools of the Trade: Pencil, Colored Pencils, Prisma Markers, Pen, Water Color Pencils, Flash

Oh Dreamworks, when will you learn...

Mon Jul 13, 2009, 9:03 AM
  • Mood: Disbelief
I just read a post on John K's blog (the dude created Ren and Stimpy!). He just got a chance to pitch an idea for Dreamworks. One may think, "Gee, the guy who made one of the most awesome tv characters in the history of animation is going to pitch a movie idea to a major company; this is gonna be awesome!"

.... WRONG! Here's his response (and the link which has pictures to go along: [link])

As soon as he started pitching his ideas to Dreamworks (check out his pics in the link above, they're awesome!), they responded, "We don't like to look at characters right away. We don't want to be swayed by interesting or funny characters. The way we create stories here is to think of an 'arena' first."

WTF is an arena you ask? As the execs put it, "We think of an environment or setting that we think would make a good story - like say, trees, or maybe underwater. Then we research it to see what kind of animals live in that environment and if they are funny. You know like, once we've decided water would be a funny place for a story, then we start thinking about what kind of characters would populate that "arena", like let's say "fish". Yes fish would fit nicely into the underwater arena. Or maybe crabs. If we are really feeling wild and wacky, we might put a crazy jellyfish or something in there. Or 2 to make it twice as funny."

What's next? They say, "Then when you figure out out what sorts of animals could thrive in that arena, you think of what movie stars would fit those species. Some kind of animal that Robin Williams could play!" Gee, that explains A LOT about Dreamworks.

But wait, they added, "Well of course John's the character guy. We don't wanna dictate to you what kind of character or which actor to use- you bring us your ideas!... Maybe we could do Casablanca as a cartoon! - but don't let us influence you! We want to hear YOUR ideas!"

Hmmmmm.... mixed messages anyone?

That was John's response in a nutshell, but I highly suggest reading his entire post to get the full effect: [link]

Basically, they call in one of the greatest, living cartoonists to pitch an idea, deny any of his original ideas, force him into their way of thinking, but tell him not to be "dictated" by them :?

I wish I was making this up, but sadly, according to John, it's real. Sad to think this is some (thank god not ALL) major animation companies mindsets: focusing on formulaic story ideas and celebrity tie-ins. Just more reasons why I don't wanna work for mainstream animation companies (or at least, not at Dreamworks...)

One more thing. Pixar vs. Dreamworks FIGHT!: [link]

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Comments


:iconnurcum:
hey Reed!

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~Cassandra
:iconletglitchdraw:
Hai dar! Hows it going?
:iconifurget:
Not too bad. ^_^ How bout yourself?

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:? I furget whose signature this is...
:iconbeautifullyflawed:
reeeeeeeeeed! i tagged ya. now go read my journal to find out how.
:iconartsangel:
Thankyou for watching! :glomp:

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...wait, did I just type that out loud?
:iconifurget:
you're welcome! i really love your paintings, they're really pretty!

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:? I furget whose signature this is...
:iconmerely-mango:
Your webcam is freaking epic. <333

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[the wing boy collective]
Avatar artwork by *xSheepi
:iconifurget:
hehe thanks. i think link should boogie more often :D

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:? I furget whose signature this is...
:iconsnea:
what up.
Hey, whats going on? 23/female.. come chat with me on this website CLICK HERE

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