Welcome to the limited series return of BETWEEN THE PAGES, running Mondays and Wednesdays now through mid-December 2020! Dubbed BETWEEN THE PAGES: FINDING MY VOICE, follow Shannon’s journey as she learned and grew to become more of a public speaker, and how she’s still learning today! Today is Installment 5, “Finding My Way to L.A.”.
As talked about over the past three installments, I did my undergraduate work in eastern Washington State. Ultimately, though, I wanted to be a writer, and even more specifically one in animation. While my experiences taught me a lot about radio, television, and good storytelling on film or in print (I ended up getting a dual BA in English-Creative Writing along with my Radio-TV Production and Performance degree), it became clear that to really go after what I wanted I would need to move to Los Angeles.
Some contacts helped me make the transition, and while I didn’t initially end up writing on animated series, I did end up working on a few for Columbia-Tristar Children’s Entertainment (now Sony Animation). Early jobs included being a Production Assistant on the first season of JUMANJI: THE ANIMATED SERIES and later as a Production Supervisor on EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS.
Over time, I realized I’d been very fortunate to get what chance I had gotten, and wanted to help others. Back in the day, if you had a Pro badge to Comic-Con International: San Diego (which I did, based on qualifying from my work on the shows), you could volunteer to help with Programming. Remember, these were the the days before TWILIGHT changed the whole experience forever with the overnight lines camping out for Hall H!
I didn’t know how they’d ask me to help out, but I felt now I should give back after people helped me get to where I had gone.
Find out what happens in the next installment of BETWEEN THE PAGES!