Thomas E. Richner

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Thomas E. Richner, Associate Professor of Animation at the Columbus College of Art and Design

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Its not too crazy, but I worked at McDonalds the summer before I started graduate school at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television where I studied animation.  I’m not sure why I decided on McDonalds, but I’m glad I did it.  I learned that I really wanted and needed to ‘make it’ in animation after that experience.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m very proud of episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ that I worked on.  Working on a high profile show is fun because you know a lot of eyes are on your work.  However, I’m also very proud of the smaller projects I’ve done, like a commercial I created a couple years back here in Columbus, Ohio.  Directing your own work is very rewarding as well.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I started off as a biology major in college, but half way through college I switched my major to art.  There were actually a number of us that migrated from the sciences to art that year.  I think there is definitely a connection between Continue reading

Régis Camargo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Animation

What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Régis (that’s Reggie, or “Raegis”, no Reejus, please) Camargo and I am a freelance story artist, animator, and visual development artist

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
I wish I had some stories about odd jobs, but honestly I really don’t. Besides, animation is crazy enough as it is…
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
My first professional gig is also the one of which I’ve been most proud. Years ago I worked as a concept and story artist on the feature film “9” directed by Shane Acker. I was incredibly green, but I learned so much working closely with Shane as his assistant during the development stage of the feature, and then Continue reading

Animation Vets honored at UCLA’s 24th Annual Film Festival

IMG_2699

THREE-TIME ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED PRODUCER MICHAEL DELUCA, ACME FILMWORKS’ RON DIAMOND AND ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING SCREENWRITER GRAHAM MOORE TO BE HONORED AT THE UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION’S 24th ANNUAL FILM FESTIVAL

The weeklong festival celebrates the outstanding achievements of UCLA TFT students, while honoring some of the industry’s most distinguished talent

LOS ANGELES (JUNE 04, 2015) — The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), one of the world’s most prominent academic institutions for entertainment and performing arts education, announced today that three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca, Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore will be honored at its 24th Annual Film Festival, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Kanbar Entertainment and SAGIndie. The festival takes place June 5-10, 2015 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

UCLA TFT alumnus Ron Diamond will receive the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation on Saturday, June 6. Diamond is the founder and executive producer of the Los Angeles-based animation studio Acme Filmworks, which brings together renaissance animation filmmakers and agencies to create the right fit for advertising campaigns. Acme has created such memorable promotions as the Levi’s women’s jeans campaign and the long-running Charmin campaign featuring Acme’s iconic bear. Other notable Acme clients include director Ridley Scott, AT&T, United Airlines, Ford, Principal Financial Group, Hilton Hotels and Microsoft. Diamond is also the co-founder of the animation news site AWN.com and serves as its president. He is currently preparing his 17th annual Animation Show of Shows, representing his picks for the year’s best animated short films, which he tours around the world for animation professionals and students.

Graham Moore will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award during the Screenwriters Showcase on Monday, June 8. Moore’s screenplay for The Imitation Game (2014) won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, after topping The Black List in 2011. Moore recently adapted The Devil in the White City for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio. He is currently writing original television pilots for HBO with director Michael Mann and SKY Atlantic with director Marc Forster, the latter which received a 10-episode, straight-to-series order at NBC. Additionally, Random House will publish Moore’s second novel, The Last Days of Wonder, about the early days of electricity, in fall 2016.   

Michael DeLuca, an esteemed production executive and prolific producer with nearly three decades in the film business, will be honored with the Vision Award during Producers Marketplace on Tuesday, June 9.He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year and three times for a Producer’s Guild of America Award for David Fincher’s The Social Network, Bennett Miller’s Moneyball and Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips. Earlier this year, De Luca produced the box-office hit Fifty Shades of Grey, for Universal Pictures, where he currently has a production deal. De Luca will produce the next two installments of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

Student films from many notable alumni have showcased at the annual UCLA TFT festival including Shane Acker (9); Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar); Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist); Justin Lerner (The Automatic Hate); Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, upcoming Bourne sequel), and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), among others.

More information about the festival can be found at www.tft.ucla.edu/festival.

About UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

The vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve as a premiere global interdisciplinary professional school that develops outstanding humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose diverse, innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world. Consistently ranked as one of the top entertainment and performing arts institutions in the world, UCLA TFT offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the digital arts. The distinguished graduate and undergraduate programs at UCLA TFT include acting, directing, writing, producing, animation, cinematography, lighting design, set design, costume design, sound design, moving image archive studies, and the school offers doctoral degrees in theater and performance studies and cinema and media studies.

Media Contacts:

Sandy Hall

shall@tft.ucla.edu

(310) 206-6835

 

Noela Hueso

nhueso@tft.ucla.edu

(310) 825-0965

Pete Michels

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Pete Michels and I am the Supervising Director on the upcoming hit show “Rick and Morty” for Adult Swim. I work at Starburns Industries in Burbank.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I never really had any crazy jobs. I once parked cars and did phone surveys. Both of those jobs lasted less than a weekend.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The Simpsons and Family Guy are probably the top projects. It’s an honor to be part of animation history.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I think I’ve always been drawing cartoons, since I got the “Charlie Brown Dictionary” for Christmas one year. I was always watching “The Flintstones” and “Scooby-Doo”. But I think it was Ralph Bakshi’s version of “Lord of the Rings” that made me want to do that for a living.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Little Ferry, New Jersey… a suburb of New York City that’s located just south of Hackensack.  After graduating from Jersey City State College, I took Continue reading

Eddie Brito

What is your name and your current occupation?
Eduardo a.k.a. Eddie Brito, I am a Writer / Director / Producer at arlequín STUDIOS.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I used to own an exporting business from Miami, Florida to South America. I used to freight forward appliances and cargo for a living.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
As a General Producer of the Television Show “Buscando Amor” (“Looking for Love”, the Latin version of the “Blind Date” reality show), I added the first Computer Generated Images (with Maya, autodesk) in a Latin American Television Show. We created 3 different characters, a Mouse, a Teacher, and a Scientist that would make humorist comments during the show. We did this during sweeps in 2003, and kept the format until 2004, on Estrella 62 Television, in Burbank, California.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born Venezuela, but raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I spend many years going back and forth between the two cities before I Continue reading