Purple Penguin's Jim Henson Studios Blog

nicknews @ 2008-06-05T15:07:00

2008-06-05T22:24:10Z

More than a year has gone by since my last communique, but so much has happened in the interim. Such as... Hmm, well, I didn't exactly hold one major job over the summer -- I did three! Bubbles and Cheesecake, Meltdown Comics & Collectables, and Fanista.com. Webdesign for the first two, and consulting for the latter. The Fanista job gave me a surprising "in" with Cyan Worlds, the company responsible for Myst. I took on a job with them in the fall beta-testing Cosmic Osmo's Hexisle. Around that time I was also directing a school production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But since then I haven't been up to much.

As a matter of fact, my plan for the summer was to do absolutely nothing, but my parents wouldn't hear of it. Dad wisely suggested applying to the Jim Henson Company for a "Creative Affairs" internship, which I did. With the aid of creative-types Diana Salsberg and Prudence Fenton, I was asked to interview at their Hollywood studio. I didn't hear back for two awful weeks until I got a phone call from a man in the company I hadn't heard from before. He offered me a different interning position which I went in to interview for the next day. Two days later -- that brings us to now -- I have been informed that Yes In Fact I have an interning position on their latest PBS program, "Sid the Science Kid." I report on stage at 7:30 am this coming Monday.

I am back in business! Check back here all summer for a journal-style chronicle of my time @ Henson.

nicknews @ 2007-04-01T17:40:00

2007-04-01T21:49:31Z

So now comes that time in the year where the parents take me aside and demand to know what I'm doing this summer. Not that I don't want to make a little money, it's just that I've been too busy with the now to deal with the then.

On the agenda is getting a job, surely, but it's now April and certain ships have possibly sailed. I have been in touch with Nickelodeon (I even visited the studios in January – it's very easy to sneak in if you know Don, or don't), but it's likely there's no position for me there. I think I'll apply to Disney and ask my well-to-do friends for positions, but I wouldn't mind working at Meltdown Comics & Collectibles either. I kinda already do already.

Also on my plate is going to Comic Con, and not just as an attendee but as an exhibitor. However we got a letter back from "those people" letting us know that we were on the waiting list, and my brother called to discover that we were 19 positions away from getting a space. I'm still holding out, but as I still have the hotel room I ain't complaining.

Anyway, it's a tough job market and I'm very lazy/busy/crazy. Let's cross our fingers for this April's fool.

nicknews @ 2006-08-11T10:51:00

2006-08-11T18:03:14Z

This is it: the final day. :sigh:

How long should I stay here? Depends if I'm ever coming back I guess. Heh.

I've spent two hundred and sixteen hours at Nickelodeon by my count. Good times, less than good times... It's all over. But I'm happy too!

So I said my goodbyes. I didn't get to say one to everybody but it's okay because I'm definitely going to come back to visit. I even got to see Don before I left. It was a strange feeling not having my card - my "keys to the kingdom" - nestled in my pocket; even if it said "Intern Only" on it, even if it didn't have a picture of me.

The End
(Or is it?)

nicknews @ 2006-08-09T14:32:00

2006-08-09T21:32:54Z

Uh, uh, uh, yesterday. Gods, how long ago was that? My final days at Nickelodeon are being spent in Lethargic Mode.

I sat in on a record session for Tak, and then later inserted myself into an Avatar recording for like five minutes (forgive me Andrea Romano). At the end of the Tak session, Maurice suggested that there should be a party where everyone – at all times – had to speak like a Warner Brothers Dumb Guy.

“Daaaaah. Durrrrrer. Which way did he go George, which way did he go? Dhaaarrrr.”

And then long hours of me sitting in front of my computer. Oh! I did fill out an evaluation form about my time here. I wrote that since I expect to be scanning, doing Photoshop work, putting things up / taking things down, the internship met my expectations.

There was a lot more I took from this internship that I couldn’t really put down on paper. I’ll try to do it here though. Make it sounds meaningful and stuff.

Basic things like teamwork, responsibility. There was a lot of that going on here. Also learning how to not get the buck passed on to you (because I’m just too nice to say “no”).

Al took me aside a couple of weeks ago. He told me that he liked that idea that I had shared at the brainstorming meeting, but I that I wasn’t very confident in my presentation. It’s true, when I’m afraid to do something wrong I clam up. It’s not that I’m a perfectionist, I just am afraid of failure and I work very hard to avoid it. But confidence doesn’t come easily for me. I’m more used to meeting new people, I’m still awful at parties. I don’t know what I’m going to become but I’d like to have more confidence, and that’s something I’m gonna have to work at.

I’ve made a lot of friends – not contacts, friends. Like I’ve said, Mel would like to have me back (although Mary, whose last day was yesterday, suggested applying for a paid internship in January). There’s just such a nice un-corporate feeling that I get here. It’s going to be sad saying goodbye to Don. But he’s going to be back next year, so again, who knows.

In the end, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that this has been a great summer. This Nick internship was a dream come true for me.

That’s really all I can say.

nicknews @ 2006-08-08T23:32:00

2006-08-09T06:34:07Z

It's late, and I'm tired, but I thought it was worth mentioning that this is my last week of employment at Nickelodeon. Already the option of me returning to Tak has come up, and I really appreciate having the option... I just wish I was getting paid, "lol."

Maybe I'll pick up this thread to-morrow.

nicknews @ 2006-08-03T07:47:00

2006-08-03T15:26:33Z

For one reason or another I have not been able to update this journal. Immediately after Comic-Con (where I attended a panel on new Nickelodeon shows, including Tak) I hosted friends from out of town, and in-between all this I've been working on a blog for a major comic book & collectables store. So I haven't had much time.

On the other hand, there hasn't been much happening at work to report. The writers write their episodes, the 2D artists draw their concepts, the producers and directors mull it over and either send it to India for modeling for hold it for revisions until everyone's happy. And that always means us barely missing the shipping deadline. They say I'm a bit of a miracle worker though.

I did go to a record session on Tuesday morning. Maurice was supposed to be there but didn't show, but I got to meet Hal Sparks (the voice of Tak) and Patrick Warburton. As I was warned, several Nick executives, directors and producers sat in on has been only the second record session. Luckily for us, the executives gave no notes during it.

I'm going to work a little earlier today to go to the audio editing session. The editor is going to take the best takes to compile a rough episode in aural form for the storyboard artists to work off of.

Oh crap, I gotta go if I want to make it there in time!!!

nicknews @ 2006-07-19T10:23:00

2006-07-19T17:27:00Z

This morning I’ve been saying “good morning” to everyone in a cheery but authentic way. It seems to cheer them up so I will continue to do it until I am spent. According to Mary, just seeing my face was “joy, joy, joy.”

Yesterday, oh yesterday. It did start off slow, like the bad old days long past. I’m not going to name names, but I felt like negative energies were being directed to one member of production as a response to Tak’s slow start. His is a difficult job, but maybe when you answer to few people you tend to not listen to those below you, I dunno. I don’t want to make a judgment on anyone because everyone’s so nice ☺

But I’ve come to realize, and I did so long before I came to Nick, that exceptional people have devastating weaknesses. Still, the only way we can get anything done is by working together not alone.

I did one very fun thing yesterday. Audu asked me to look at some expression sheets of characters. These sheets were going to be sent to our animation studios in *****, and since people could interpret these expressions differently it was up to me to come up with exact definitions that could be cleanly translated across language barriers.

Also, I finally spoke up at some brainstorming meeting and I heard from one of the directors that my idea was received very well by important people. That’s kind of neeeeeat.

Huge confidence booster! Out of the blue, Mark (a director) asked if I could act? I said yes and he brought me into a small office I hadn't seen before. In it, a man sat at a console running Final Cut Pro. I realized then that Mark wanted me to do voice recording. "Oh shit!" After a minute of prep I did a line reading for one of the Tak interstitial roughs - as Tak - and I "nailed" it in one take.

I'm not a huge fan of my voice, but it felt good to put it to use.

nicknews @ 2006-07-13T17:18:00

2006-07-14T00:18:40Z

The last two days (including today, so I really should begin by saying yesterday and today) have been really good.

Yesterday. I began by appearing in the room of the CGI peeps. I got to take notes on a meeting that defined some internal organizational schema. Then I sat around and bugged the modelers. It’s really amazing to see some people – for the first time in my life – that are proficient in Maya.

We went to lunch, walked into Burbank we dd. I had spaghetti. We all had twenty dollar bills and they wouldn’t do separate bills for everyone. That was kind of funny. At the end of the day I got to watch the third and final Jimmy Timmy Power Hour (actually it’s the final anything for The Fairly Oddparents and Jimmy Neutron). Butch Hartman (Oddparents) was there to introduce the film and everyone said, “Hi Butch.” That was kind of funny too. My favorite exchange went something like this:

Cindy: I’m like catnip to [boys].
Sheen: You mean they poop on you in a box?

Today. I started once again in the Annex. I was given the task of putting up new decorations in there like there are in the Condo. Let me tell you something about me. I am excellent at writing, summarizing, categorizing and organizing but I cannot make anything with my hands. I’m terrible at cutting, folding, drawing a straight line or a circle, measuring, estimating, pasting, hanging, conceptualizing and executing any kind of arts and crafts project. It didn’t go well. I sort of abandoned that venture. Lunch brought us once again into the city. We visited a new pizza place: the food was decent but the service warranted a “banning,” which is to say we’ll never go there again.

Josh had me organize old submissions (sent at least a year ago) from animators, modelers, compositors and the like that hadn’t been processed yet. It was a little shocking to see how quickly each demo reel was reviewed. Yes, they were old and outdated, and most weren’t any good, but it reminded me a little of my old job at Project Angel Food, the non-profit organization that delivered food to those living with HIV/AIDS.

One of my jobs in their office was going through all of the mailings that had been sent back with a notice that the recipient had passed on. It was my duty to take them off the mailing list.

I’m just really glad that I got this job, knowing how well of an impression one has to make in less than ten seconds.

nicknews @ 2006-07-11T13:08:00

2006-07-11T20:08:57Z

Two days were spent at Nick not on business but pleasure (as I told Don while pulling into the garage). Saturday was the company picnic. I knew it was really for adult employees to bring their children to, but I thought it would be fun to bring my parents (and brother) in a show of company pride. It was a fun and fanciful event, really intended for smaller children but there was free food; and who doesn't like free food?

On Monday I came into the office because I was invited to an ADR session of Catscratch. As it turned out, it was pretty much the last recording session for everyone present that day. Present was Wayne Knight (Mr. Blik) and Kevin McDonald (Waffle). Maurice LaMarche also made an appearance, although he only had one line to do and then left (although, before leaving did a bit of his Alec Baldwin act from Team America and one of the Brain's YESes). Kevin must have gotten a little self-concious when his character had to sing a song, 'cause afterwards he said "sorry intern-kid" which I found highly amusing. At the end of it, I took a picture of everybody. It was sort of a emotional moment.

Today I'm no longer with Mary but with the CG department. However, they don't know what to do with me yet so all I've done is take down some decorations they didn't like. Maybe I can go put them up somewhere else...

nicknews @ 2006-07-06T11:31:00

2006-07-06T18:44:22Z

So I’m sitting here with my Peking Chicken (but no fork, yet) and I have a moment to collect my thoughts.

Yesterday was a lot of little things that added up to be a big honking thing that could have been avoided with proper planning. Before that was the Fourth, so obviously I was a little tired and hey some people weren’t even in the office but we were shipping that day. Craziness!

So what was I doing? Character turnarounds. Making sure everyone was a thousand pixels high, sticking in the revisions, changing the fonts and their sizes. Although I was Mary’s B**** in that regard I felt like Everybody’s B**** in the long term because I had to do all these odd jobs. And I stayed in the office late too for what amounted to no reason. Dinner was a plus because mom made some mystical eggplant (mystical because it is both egg – and plant!)

Today has so far consisted of only on meeting, on the thing I was working on all yesterday afternoon (which didn’t get shipped after all).

Mary still thinks we could be doing a better job. I agree.

nicknews @ 2006-07-05T23:02:00

2006-07-06T06:03:11Z

I'm exhausted.
Can this be my entry for now?

nicknews @ 2006-06-29T19:36:00

2006-06-30T02:46:55Z

Today was another toughie. It started off with *surprise* another batch of turnaround revisions, but as the afternoon approached my duties changed.

Before I get into that I'd like to mention that I got a really important lecture from Ron about the industry.
I can't really remember what he said but I thought to mention it because it was so important...

So anyway, it turned out that we were giving an interstitial pitch, like of the interstitials we had been pitching internally, but this time we were pitching to the suits, the big-wigs. It was my and Blanca's duty (Amie wasn't here today) to print out each pitch so that we could tack them up on the wall in the meeting room (the pitches were actually projected from a computer and performed by the storyboard artists live). We did the job, seven minutes late, but it still got done (thank god!).

I'm missing some stuff tomorrow, like a team picnic. It kind of makes me :(
But I don't do Fridays! I gotta hang out with my brother :)

nicknews @ 2006-06-28T21:45:00

2006-06-29T05:00:23Z

Quality over quantity. I didn't do much, but what I did do I did all day. Since there isn't much to say about what I did, I thought I'd try to illustrate the crushing monotony:

I drive to work.

I'm told to make revisions on the character turnarounds I made yesterday.

I finish.

I'm told that I need to clean up the art in the turnarounds.

I finish.

I'm told to reposition the characters on the turnarounds.

I finish.

I'm told to resize the turnarounds at a higher resolution.

I finish.

I'm told to size the turnarounds at a specific hight in a higher resolution with a ever looming deadline.

I pull out my hair.

nicknews @ 2006-06-27T20:44:00

2006-06-28T04:48:16Z

Today was really difficult for me emotionally, but "it" all happened outside the office. The beetle wouldn't start - dead battery. With my parents out of town, my aggravation was magnified two-fold. Luckily I still had the Prius to drive, but when I tried to fix a problem with the brake light over the phone with mom, her advice led me to temporarily "kill" the car (remember -- it's an electric gas hybrid) and in doing so blocking many angry drivers from making a very short light; twice. There was a lot of honking, some yelling on my part (at the phone and at myself) and from them as well. That event made me feel ungrounded for the rest of the day. Even now I can hear the echoing blasts of horns reverberating in my ears...

Mary had me running around a lot today. She showed me how a script breakdown worked, had me copy many documents (on a mega xerox machine that was good at doing one thing - paper jams), and forced me to make some character turnarounds. It's a lot more work than it sounds, believe me.

I was specifically told not to blog about the last meeting I had today. ha ha ha.

nicknews @ 2006-06-22T17:10:00

2006-06-23T00:11:42Z

I’m getting tired … not tired of writing these, just tired. Not getting enough sleep I guess. Considering how late I sometimes leave + the traffic that goes with that decision to stay late, it’s not unexpected.

Today was “Take Your Brother To Work Day” for me. It was a lot of fun showing him around the place, all the shows in production (Avatar, Spongebob, Dora the Explorer etc.), and stuff. He’s no fool – he knows these cartoons maybe better than I do – but I enjoyed playing tour guide nonetheless.

We are really honestly starting to get things done, organize and stuff. It feels good, and well, I’m honestly excited. Let’s see where this production goes…

nicknews @ 2006-06-20T13:32:00

2006-06-20T20:33:29Z

I got decent sleep last night considering all the construction (up the hill – my house – down the hill) that’s been going on. I drove myself to work, alone. It was my first time driving totally alone and it felt very liberating.

Surprising how the workplace doesn’t really transcend my general conception of anywhere (in general). I mean, we all drink from the same coffee mug; we have a tech department and a mailroom. Hell, I just carried up four packages of glossy printer paper…

Every day that passes is Hawaiian Friday. All I have to do is look out my door to remind myself of this.

Productions still slow but it’ll pick up. That’s what they keep telling me, and I believe it. And it’s not like I’m not doing anything, but it’s not a whole lot.

(Hey! My e-mail’s working again! And Peter Hastings just walked in – neat! Yeah! Woo-hoo!)
(I think there's another round of interstitial pitches at four. I guess I have something to look forward to... EDIT: The meeting was cancelled.)

p.s. I drove for the first time on my own today - to and from work. Yay!

nicknews @ 2006-06-15T15:59:00

2006-06-15T22:59:52Z

I didn’t feel like there was much to write about yesterday, and I don’t feel like there’s too much to say about today so I think it’s safe to combine the two days into some kind of magic super entry.

Yesterday I sat in on a production meeting. Essentially it was the team saying “we don’t have enough time in the schedule we’ve given ourselves so we’re not going to do the work.” I mean that in a good way, how we came to realize that our demands on our poor writers and storyboard artists were unreasonable. It’s just kind of funny izall.

I ran some more errands in the B building, but walked up the stairs to where Spongebob and Avatar are produced. I felt a little funny being up there. I mean they're not gonna question you because hey you’re an employee, but really there was no other reason for me to be up there than what I came there to do, which was sightseeing… but I do know what happens in the next episode of Avatar…

Nah, just kidding.

And even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t say.

Today I didn’t eat lunch, but I did sit on the couch and watched some cartoons for no damn reason (the South Park “Scientology” episode, the “Where’s Gary” Spongebob special, and an episode of Justice League where Lex Luthor and The Flash switch brains) and still didn’t eat lunch. Man, it’s four in the afternoon and I’m sooooo hungry. Blargh.

nicknews @ 2006-06-13T14:02:00

2006-06-13T21:03:05Z

Tuesday afternoon, day four. I’ve moved from the writers to the storyboarders. Really the only thing I’ve done is sit on a pitch meeting with Audu (our supervising producer). I had some ideas from listening to everyone brainstorm, but I didn’t really speak up. I think I will suggest my idea in the follow-up meeting, which is happening soon. I figure, I’m not paid to be here, so there’s no point in me speaking up :)

Hey, also they outfitted me with a sweet new Intel iMac at my desk. That’s at least two years and several hundred megahertz better than the rig I got at home. But I’m not jealous, I mean, if an Intel Mac can’t run my OS 9 apps it’s practically dead to me.

Man, I gouged the front of the car driving to work. Argh.
…and hours to go…

nicknews @ 2006-06-08T13:28:00

2006-06-08T20:29:02Z

I got started pretty early today. I mean like five o clock. I woke up, the birds were singing, the sun was shining… and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Mom made french toast, I took a shower, and I was off to Nickelodeon. After saying “hi” to Don the security guard (with a heart of gold) I made my way over to Tom’s office. He had me fill out a dub order for a DVD, and a little later pick up two DVDs he had put in an order for yesterday. I watched one of these DVDs, Fairy Idol, and took notes on the act structure. I have to admit, watching cartoons is cool work. Now if only I was getting paid!

I was lucky today to run into both of my homies, Peter Hastings and Doug Tennapel. Even though Catscratch is operating on a skeleton crew as the season winds down, I’ll still probably see them quite a bit as Peter’s office is so close to mine.

I am leaving work early today to catch another one of my homies, Robbie Conal, speaking with Harvey Pekar at the downtown public library.

Life is currently grand.

---

I'm at home now in-between activities. I did some more stuff after I wrote the above entry that I thought was worth mentioning. I made some deliveries around the whole Nick "campus," which even took me into the annex where I met Tak's animation crew (including Supervising Animator Josh Book).

Later in the afternoon I had the opportunity to see some interstitials get pitched. They were all pretty funny, and the vibe was so pleasant that the storyboarders presented the pitches they'd decided not to show.

I seem to be getting along with everyone pretty well and I'm feeling good about the job. This is important, because I'm with the crew for the next 2+ months. Splee!

nicknews @ 2006-06-07T19:15:00

2006-06-08T02:55:50Z

in•tern
noun |ˈinˌtərn|
an unpaid employee who gets to sit around and do nothing for class credit.

And I love it :)

Okay, it wasn't exactly nothing, and it was only the first day so that could really change, especially considering that production is about to "kick it into high gear".

No, wait. Back up. Let me start earlier.

I got to the studio (in my orange bug of course) around ten minutes to ten. After making a brilliant show of parallel parking, I got buzzed in. I waited in the lobby area for a bit, silently admiring the cardboard cutouts of various Nicktoons lining the walls. Looking up to the second floor, I chanced to see the cubicles of the Avatar production team. I had a feeling that my show would not be in this main building, home to Dora the Explorer and The Fairly Odd Parents and such. I was, of course, right.

A production assistant, Blanca, led me to the "Condos," an ungly three story structure a little ways out back. We climbed the stairs and from each entranceway I could see how the various floors were decorated. The first story - tastefully done - housed the independent shorts, like MooBeard. The second story was distinctly Mexican, perfectly in tune with the style of its resident show, El Tigre. The final floor was jungle themed, with brown paper lining the walls and fake vines spread out here and there. This must be where Tak was, I thought. Again, I was right.

I soon met with Melissa Lugar, the production coordinator on Tak. She informed me that since I had expressed an interest in production, she had worked out a loose schedule for me to follow which would take me through the various steps involved in production. I would start with the writers for a week, then move on to the storyboard artists, and so forth. After that meeting I got my desk(!) and met the other intern, Amie Chan. As a 24 year old college senior, she was kind of surprised that a 19 year old sophomore had taken it upon himself to pursue such an internship. Obviously she’d never met me before.

In the next room over I sat in on a brainstorm meeting. I’m obviously not allowed to discuss the actual specifics of the brainstorming but I do have to share one note that came up:

Tak looks into a mirror and (add funny)

When everyone had dispersed, Bianca had me scan some artwork. Then Amie and I photocopied some documents. That was probably the most work I did this day.

After our two hour lunch break(!) I finally met with the story team. I mainly hung out with a writer named Tom. He and I shot “the shit” and watched baseball on TV. Every once in a while he would ask me for synonyms of words, and I would think of some. Later, I got him a cup of water. I’m sure they’ll think of more work to give me in the coming days. I’m coming in for the rest of the week, but since I don’t have to be full time I’m going to try and make it so I only have to come in Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday.

There’s obviously more to tell but I’ll post about it on my lunch breaks.

nicknews @ 2006-06-06T23:08:00

2006-06-07T06:16:03Z

The job starts tomorrow. Funny thing is that I was supposed to be there two days ago... I assume that Alison Mann (Nick's Recruiter and Internship Coordinator) tried to contact me on my cell phone which has recently gone "out of commission." Whoops! So the job starts tomorrow.

I'll be driving there in a snap orange VW beetle. I'm not sure what shirt to wear. Surly? A button down? Well at least I shaved. I want to leave a good first impression even if I don't expect to remember any names.

Intern, me? We'll find out!