The animator, writer, producer and development exec discusses careers, opportunities, and choosing the best path forward; he shares his journey from New Zealand to Canada and how he ultimately made the jump to management.
Check out Terry Ibele’s Animation Industry Podcast, featuring a new podcast every week focusing on the stories of today’s animation professionals - how they got to where they are, and what they learned along the way. Now home to 154 episodes, the podcasts cover all areas of the industry, including storyboarding, writing, animating, directing, visual development, game design, and more.
Guests have included Aaron Augenblick, the notorious JJ Villard, Spike & Mike’s Spike Decker, Disney Director John Musker, Sony Lead Animator Humberto Rosa, Cuphead’s Tina Nowracki, Frederator’s Fred Seibert, Tumble Leaf’s Scarlet Nelson, and many others from major animation studios all over the world.
His most recent interview is with Mercury Filmworks Chief Content Officer Heath Kenny on How To Leap From Maker To Manager
This episode features animator, writer, producer, development executive and current chief content officer at Ottawa-based Mercury Filmworks, Heath Kenny. Kenny's current role at Mercury sees him managing the development team and heading up their content strategy, but in the past, he’s worked on projects like Robot Boy, the Gorillaz music videos, and Noddy Toyland Detective. In this chat Kenny shares his journey from New Zealand to Canada as well as how to make the leap from maker to manager.
Tune in to Ibele and Kenny to hear:
- 3 helpful questions you can ask yourself if you feel stuck in your career
- What Kenny did to get into the industry at a time when there wasn’t much of an industry
- How Kenny evaluates pivotal decisions to choose the best path career-wise
Social Links:
- Check out Kenny’s plastic cup hotel animation in The Breakdown-Creativity VS Expertise
Ibele, himself a stop-motion animator (see AWN’s Fresh Takes piece on his whimsical short, The Silly Duck Wizard, deftly digs into all manner of topics, encouraging interviewees to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics like pitching shows, marketing your work online, key skills studios look for when they bring on talent in storyboarding, vizdev, character design and animation.
In 2018, Ibele, who lives in Toronto, decided to quit his career as a Marketer and pursue his love for animation. Since then, he’s become well known for his viral animation productions, which include the previously mentioned Silly Duck Wizard, which is how AWN first came to know him and his work.
Learn more about Ibele’s work and podcast by visiting terryibele.com. You can find all The Animation Podcast episodes on his Soundcloud site: https://soundcloud.com/animation-podcast.
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
