Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512296
WINTER 2023 13 E D I T O R ' S N O T E EVAN HENERSON ("Course Correction") is a lifestyle and entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in L.A. Parent, TV Guide, Orange Coast Magazine, and the Los Angeles Daily News where he was a features writer and critic for nine years. WHITNEY FRIEDLANDER ("Digging Deep") is an entertainment journalist who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, daughter, and infamously ornery cat. A former staff writer at Los Angeles Times and Variety, she has also written for Esquire, Marie Claire, and The Washington Post, and currently contributes to CNN. Freelance writer and author KAREN BRINER ("Season's Screenings") grew up in Cape Town, South Africa where her garden was home to wild chameleons. Her most recent novel is Snowize & Snitch: Highly Effective Defective Detectives. AMANDA DE LANY ("Folklore Fantasy") is from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she learned a love for all things Film & TV. She now lives in Los Angeles with her cat, and she works as an Administrative Assistant for The Animation Guild. She debuted her first short film, Because I Love you, in 2016. L.A.-based photographer TIM SULLENS has one wife, two daughters, and six cameras. Over the years, he has captured images of musicians and performers, political rallies and weddings. In this issue, he snapped "The Wish Makers." CONTRIBUTORS WISHFUL THINKING WHEN I WAS A CHILD, DID I DREAM ABOUT WORKING ANIMATION- ADJACENT? TO BE HONEST, NO. MY OWN ARTISTIC SKILLS CAN BE DESCRIBED AS ENTHUSIASTIC, AT BEST. BUT CREATIVITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN IMPORTANT TO ME. NOT ONLY LIVING A CREATIVE LIFE, BUT ALSO BEING SURROUNDED BY CREATIVE PEOPLE. IN THAT SENSE, BEING MANAGING EDITOR OF KEYFRAME IS A WISH COME TRUE, JUST AS HAVING A CAREER IN ANIMATION FULFILLS THE WISHES OF OUR TAG MEMBERS. As Walt Disney Animation Studios turns 100 this year, its latest feature film, Wish, explores the importance of making wishes (p. 28). We also interview five TAG members whose collective careers span seven decades at the studio (p. 32). Each of them says that working for Disney is a wish achieved, beginning with Jane Baer, who started out with "the girls in the bullpen" in the late 1950s on Sleeping Beauty. Building a successful career as a woman was a long, hard journey, and when she met Fawn Veerasunthorn during our cover shoot, she saw the manifestation of her own wishes in the younger woman, who is one of the Directors on Wish. "We're getting there," says Baer, delighted. "It's encouraging." Wishes also drive two of this winter's feature films (p. 38). In Leo, a grumpy lizard wishes for a life outside his terrarium, and in Trolls Band Together, brothers wish to get their boy band back together. It wasn't until I began writing this Editor's Note that I realized how much wishes play into all aspects of our members' lives, from Mercedes Valle who's been able to incorporate her Puerto Rican heritage into her animation work (p. 16) to Kristin Donner who's found a way to combine her passions for animation and archaeology (p. 25). We're also featuring our Fifth Annual Holiday Gift Guide (p. 42), so if your wish is to find the perfect gifts for friends and family, look no further! As we enter 2024, my wish is that you all keep doing what you do best: use your talents and imagination to keep making the wishes for escape and entertainment come true for people around the world. Happy Holidays! Kim Fay editor@tag839.org