Nerd For A Living Nerd For A Living

From the Archives / Comic Convention at Home 2020   Way back in 2017, we had the opportunity to do our very first panel completely devoted to careers in animation - The Animated Life: A Peek Behind the Cels. And, as much as we thought we understood about animation and how the industry was structured, these pros really opened our eyes.   If you're someone who loves to see behind the scenes, or if you're seeking to work in the animation industry, this chat with Victoria Ying, Steph Laberis, and Mike Collins is definitely one for you.   This conversation digs deep into the individual roles within animation teams, the importance of networking (spoiler: your "connections" usually start as friends, so be kind and genuine), and how truly collaborative the creation process is for anything in animation.    As with everything in our current COVID-19 world, this industry has had to evolve and adapt to our new world - so everything from this conversation may not exactly be "of the moment." However, there's still a lot of valuable insight and relevant advice in this panel from these immensely talented pros. We hope you enjoy it.   THE ANIMATED LIFE: A PEEK BEHIND THE CELS Recorded: Saturday, March 4, 2017 From the sacred Saturday morning rituals of yesteryear, to today’s storytelling masterpieces, cartoons and animation bring our imaginations to life. The animation industry is full of vibrant professionals working together across creative disciplines to tell exciting stories that we will cherish for years. Nerd For A Living podcast host Adron Buske talks with a of group of animation pros about their jobs, the collaborative process, and the joys and challenges of making cartoons.   SPEAKER PANELISTS: Mike Collins – She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, The Powerpuff Girls, Adventure Time, Ben 10: Omniverse, The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show Steph Laberis – DreamWorks TV, Sesame Workshop, Nick Jr., Disney Jr. Victoria Ying – Frozen, Tangled, Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6

Hey! If you're a longtime subscriber you're probably thinking, whoa, this podcast hasn't updated since 2017. What's going on? Well, you know, it's the summer of 2020, the COVID-19 era, and all our beloved comic conventions and entertainment expos have been cancelled. So, to help anyone who is missing their favorite cons, we decided to open our archive of live convention panel recordings and share some previously unreleased material. This is our How to be a Nerd for a Living panel from San Diego Comic-Con 2018. PLEASE NOTE: This panel was recorded live, and the audio is not as high-quality as we typically prefer—which is why we didn't share it sooner. But, in this time without Comic-Cons, we wanted to put some of the best conversations we've had out into the universe regardless of audio issues. So, please forgive any static.   Our Wendy Buske chats with guest speakers Tomi Adeyemi (author, Children of Blood and Bone series), Susan Eisenberg (voice actor, Justice League, Masters of the Universe: Revelation), Travis McElroy (podcaster, MBMBAM, The Adventure Zone), Ben Blacker (writer and podcaster, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Hex Wives), Jazzlyn Stone (comics marketing expert), and Jaimie Cordero (CEO, Espionage Cosmetics) about how each of them started out, ways they pursued careers in pop culture entertainment, and lessons they've learned through it all.

This bonus episode from our sister podcast, Animation Invasion, features composer Dominic Lewis. Dom studied at London's Royal Academy of Music, and has worked with Hans Zimmer and Henry Jackman. His animated work includes Big Hero 6, Wreck-It-Ralph, and How to Train Your Dragon. He scored 3 seasons of Amazon’s Man in the High Castle, and soundtracks for Rough Night, Fist Fight, and Money Monster. He contributed music to Captain America: Winter Soldier, and X-Men: First Class. He’s currently composing for Disney’s XD’s DuckTales, and working on the upcoming feature film Peter Rabbit.

This episode is a rebroadcast of our August 2016 conversation with Stranger Things star, David Harbour. Netflix’s massive breakout hit returns this week with Stranger Things season 2. David reprises his role as Sheriff Jim Hopper, the reluctant, brash, mess of a hero who mandates that mornings are for “coffee and contemplation”, and that difficult situations call for punching. His performance in season one earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Our guest this episode is Parry Gripp, frontman for nerd-rock band Nerf Herder, and an Emmy winning songwriter with numerous credits in animation. Nerf Herder performed the theme song to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cementing their immortality with nerd fandom. Many of Parry’s humorous solo songs have gone insanely viral, including "Do You Like Waffles?” and “Raining Tacos”. He won the 2017 Daytime Creative Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for “I’m Not Very Nice,” from the Disney animated series The 7D.

We're joined this episode by Eli Craig, writer/director of Tucker & Dale Versus Evil, and Little Evil, an offbeat comedy about love, family, and The Antichrist, which just recently debuted on Netflix. Little Evil stars Adam Scott as Gary, a newlywed struggling to acclimate to the role of stepfather to his disturbingly bizarre step-son, Lucas. Even as his therapy sessions with other step-dads assure him that all step-children are a little evil, increasingly odd situations revolving around the boy drive Gary to believe Lucas might actually be the spawn of Satan. The film also stars Evangeline Lily, Bridget Everett, Donald Faison, Chris D’Elia, Kyle Bornheimer, Clancy Brown, and Sally Field. We talk with Eli about the long journey of Little Evil, from big budget Universal picture trapped for years in development hell, to a breakneck production for Netflix. He explains the challenges genre mash-up films face when finding distributors and audiences. And we discuss how he assembled a great cast of comedic talent on a small budget.