Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Thank you, Tr!ckster!




This is unusual post for me because for the most part things I write here are directly related to the craft of storytelling, but I want to thank the people at Tr!ckster publicly.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be one of the speakers/presenters at Tr!ckster in San Diego. It was the first year for this event, which ended up being the place to be. Tr!ckster is a response to what the Comic-Con has become—in many ways, it’s just a big commercial for whatever blockbuster the entertainment industry wants to sell that year.

This is me giving my storytelling talk at Tr!ckster. I guess that I sometimes strike a Shatner pose when I speak.

photo by Julia Lundman (using my phone)

Tr!ckster is more down-to-earth with a focus on creators and, more importantly, aspiring creators. There were symposiums on the craft of creation, and I gave a talk on storytelling and story construction. It was a short talk for me, but people did seem to like and learn from it.

Please forgive me for getting excited, but this is the very first time I have seen my three books on sale together.
It was also a chance for me to meet some of you. I met some fans of the blog and my books for the first time in real life. They were all cool people. Frequent commenter Jett and I got into a very serious but all-in-good-fun debate. I also met an early supporter of the blog, Emma Coats. That was nice, and she was as cool as thought she would be.

Good guy and Animator Everett Downing.  It was nice to see him.



Me with the very friendly and talented artist Jeff Pidgeon (photo by Joon Kim)
 Some of my favorite past students showed up to hear me say things that they have heard me say a million times. Thanks for coming, guys. (Artist Ronnie del Carman was also nice enough to come hear me speak on things he’s heard me say before. A good guy, that guy.)

Separated at birth -- me and Ronnie Del Carman.
It was also a chance to meet up and toss a few drinks back with some of the dudes I know from Pixar: Ted Mathot and Scott Morse, who co-created Trickster, were gracious hosts, on top of being two of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet.

Ted Mathot and me after a few drinks.
I know I am forgetting some of the cool people I met and talked to, but there were many. My point is I had a great time and I think most everyone else did, too. If you did not make it this year, next year try to get yourself to Tr!ckster.




By the way, for those who don’t yet know my website is now up:

10 comments:

Gina said...

Brian!!!
I miss you!! come back to washington! T^T

I never got the chance to thank you. I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to meet you and learn from you :) Every time I watch a movie now, I say to myself "what is the armature, and can I break the story down to 7 steps?" haha :)

thanks again,
and keep in touch! :)

-Gina

José Manuel Alonso said...

Hi, Mr McD,

Congratulations for your fruitful meeting. I have to tell you that last friday I had too the opportunity of talking in a public debate about art in the summer campus of an association to which I belong (www.mounier.es) in the beautiful city of Burgos (my hometown, by the way). I talked about the art of storytelling. I based my short speech almost entirely on The Golden Theme. The success of your ideas was tremendous. I was warmly congratulated by many of the attendants. It was a wonderful experience and I have to thank you for it. Some people asked me about who is "that McDonald" that I quoted. Your work is poorly known in Spain. I think it should be translated. My speech will be published in the next issue of our review. I'll send you a copy, if you will. We have a few hundreds of subscribers, but I'm sure they too will find interesting to read about your ideas.

Thanks again and greetings from Madrid.

José Manuel

Brian McD said...

Hello Gina,

Thanks for writing it's nice to hear from you! I'm happy that you didn't ever feel like I was picking on you in class. You did some brave things in that class, remember that.

I'm glad to know that you felt like you learned something.

You can always get my email from Sonny if you want to catch up.

Thanks again for writing. And you too keep in touch.

-- Brian

Brian McD said...

Hola José,

Thank you for writing. And it's very nice to know that you were able to use my work in your debate -- and that you did so well with it.
It really is good to hear that people in Spain responded to the idea.

I will talk to my publisher about translating the books into Spanish. I have thought about it.

And, yes, please do email me a copy of the next issue of your review.

Thank you so much for letting me know about your debate.

-- Brian

José Manuel Alonso said...

Hi Brian,

If you want to publish your books in Spain, here are a few names for your publisher:

–Plot Ediciones. A little firm, specialized in scriptwriting. They publish the books of Syd Field and many others.

–Alba Editorial. Publishers of McKee's Story.

–Editorial Ariel. Part of a big group. Good distribution in Latin America.

–Gedisa Ediciones. Also with distribution in Latin America.

It's only a quick selection from my shelfs. I hope this can be useful.

Good luck!

José Manuel

ERIK said...

Tr!ckster got a lot of publicity on the interwebs -- I'm sure your presentation was a highlight.

BLUZILLA ONE said...

i had an AMAZING time @ your lecture, i wish i had been feeling better but thats what notes are for!! thank you for all your insight, books, and your time & passion. me and my friend drove up from San Antonio TX JUST for Tr!ckster and we did that 7-Steps all the way home. seriously, im not even kidding lol. thanks again, we had a blast @ your all-too-short lecture. hope to catch you again soon and we can't wait to crack your books open!!

imyjimmy said...

Brian,

Thanks for the links to the cool artists you met up with. Now I have more folks to draw inspiration from!

Brian McD said...

BLUZILLA ONE,

Thanks for writing, man. And thanks for listening to my Tr!ckster talk -- happy to hear that you dug it and that you were talking about it all the way back to Texas.

Thanks for letting me know.

-- Brian

Brian McD said...

Hey Jimmy,

Glad I could help.

-- Brian