Inside Disney’s Animation Secrets: How Brandon Violette Crafts Stories That Come to Life
Ashley
Gotcha. So, if someone were trying to break into animation today or you know this is a screenwriting podcast so there’s probably people out there with pilots for an animation series. What do you recommend that those people do to try and break into the industry in the year 2026, as we sit here?
Brandon Violette
Still the most important thing is to have that amazing sample, and to have things that you’ve done under your belt that you can talk about, that you can show, that’s very important. And if you’re very new, it’s not like you’d have to have the perfect script to get an assistant job but you have to be doing it and have done it a few times, and that’s important to because you’re at the beginning stages of developing a voice. And so, having that practice on your own matters a lot and then on the other kind of non-creative side, we all hear networking but following up with people that you meet with. You know, you meet someone for coffee and you stay on the radar every few months or you send them an email say – hey, I just finished this thing or I just got this new job, I just wanted to say thank you for your guidance or meet. All that matters a lot and I think following up is really underrated, especially for an up-and-comer because they don’t know anyone yet, but they’re afraid of bothering people and so people are afraid to send emails and they’re going to go on some list that says “this person bothers people, don’t hire them” and that list doesn’t exist. And it’s a I think it’s undervalued so a way to stand out is really have something great in your portfolio and follow up with people communicate regularly every few months whatever, that’s important.
