Rex was there in the early days of CG, attending NYIT and joining PDI and working with Jim Henson, before animating on Toy Story and then joining DreamWorks. He was head of animation on all three Madagascar films, won a Sci-Tech Oscar for leading the design of DreamWorks animation software Premo. He then went on to found  Nimble Collective, along  with Scott LaFleur, Jason Schleifer and Bruce Wilson, a cloud based solution for animation production, which was acquired by Amazon in 2019.

I know you'll love this conversation about Rex's career.
Please remember to like, rate and comment on your favourite podcasting platform and share the episode on social media.

Show Notes:
Referenced clip of Rex with Jim Henson - Click Here
Nimble Collective - Now Amazon Nimble Studio - Click Here


If you have any comments or suggestions please get in touch.
If you're loving the podcast, please share with friends and colleagues.

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a professional society for all disciplines of the animation industry. Our mission is to bring the animation community together to build strong relationships, provide education, and form a better understanding of the different roles we all play in creating animated stories. We celebrate and promote the love of animation, and all the talented Creators who breathe life and imagination into their work.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at
creatorssociety.net

Send us a text

Ken's career spans more than two decades in the cutting edge confines of PDI and DreamWorks Animation. Ken was there for Antz, the Shrek films, Monsters vs Aliens and much much more.  We talk about his career and touch on the evolution of visual effects within the animation industry, including pushing the limits at DreamWorks on Shrek, the Golden Gate Bridge destruction in Monsters Vs Aliens and the clouds in Puss In Boots. Ken was very generous with his time so enjoy!

If you have any comments or suggestions please get in touch.
If you're loving the podcast, please share with friends and colleagues.

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a professional society for all disciplines of the animation industry. Our mission is to bring the animation community together to build strong relationships, provide education, and form a better understanding of the different roles we all play in creating animated stories. We celebrate and promote the love of animation, and all the talented Creators who breathe life and imagination into their work.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at
creatorssociety.net

Send us a text

Jim Capobianco's list of credits and achievements is too long to list here, but his career spans Disney and Pixar as a story artist, where he worked as a story artist on many great films, the Lion King, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Finding memo, Inside Out and Coco among them. He was Oscar nominated for co-writing Ratatouille, and his personal short film is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. I talk with him about his career path from Cal Arts all the way through to what he's up to now. Jim has a laid back, affable personality, so chatting with him was a joy and the time flew by.  Enjoy!

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a professional society for all disciplines of the animation industry. Our mission is to bring the animation community together to build strong relationships, provide education, and form a better understanding of the different roles we all play in creating animated stories. We celebrate and promote the love of animation, and all the talented Creators who breathe life and imagination into their work.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at
creatorssociety.net

Send us a text

In this episode of Creators Society Animation Podcast, I chat with award-winning producer Bonnie Arnold at length about her career journey. Bonnie produced the first CG animated film Toy Story, but didn't begin in animation. With a wealth of experience under her belt, including Toy Story, the How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy, Over the Hedge, and Dances With Wolves, Bonnie's story to becoming a producer is inspirational and I really enjoyed it. This episode is a must for anyone interested in becoming a producer, whether in animation or live-action. Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please take the time to share, rate and comment!
And if you have any suggestions for show guests or topics, please get in touch.

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a professional society for all disciplines of the animation industry. Our mission is to bring the animation community together to build strong relationships, provide education, and form a better understanding of the different roles we all play in creating animated stories. We celebrate and promote the love of animation, and all the talented Creators who breathe life and imagination into their work.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at
creatorssociety.net

Send us a text

We’re back with season two of the Creators Society Animation Podcast. In this mini-episode/trailer, I chat with Eric Miller, the founder of The Creators Society about his journey from Ohio to Dreamworks to what he’s up to now. We also chat about some of the exciting episodes we have coming up including Bonnie Arnold, Ken Bielenberg, and Jim Capobianco.

If you enjoy this podcast, please take the time to share, rate and comment!
And if you have any suggestions for show guests or topics, please get in touch.

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a professional society for all disciplines of the animation industry. Our mission is to bring the animation community together to build strong relationships, provide education, and form a better understanding of the different roles we all play in creating animated stories. We celebrate and promote the love of animation, and all the talented Creators who breathe life and imagination into their work.

Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org

Send us a text

Today's conversation with Nate Barnard is really interesting in many ways. Nate's journey followed an unusual path from production management to CG supervision, certainly not typical of someone in his position. He got his start at Mainframe and has worked on series and features from Sausage Party to Cinesite's The Addams Family.  Nate was also CG Supervisor on Cinzia Angelini's short film Mila, a project 10 years in the making that Cinesite picked up to help finish last year. Currently working on the Addams Family sequel, he took time out over a few weeks to chat about his career.

If you enjoy this podcast, please take the time to share, rate and comment!

And if you have any suggestions for show guests or topics, please get in touch.

Episode Recorded: 3/4/2021  &  3/15/2021

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha


The Creators Society is a group of passionate, and respectable creators working in different areas of animation from development through distribution. We work to bring these members of the animation community together through education and networking.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org.

Send us a text

How does a swimmer with a computer engineering degree go from designing computer chips to boosting the South American animation industry? Today's guest José Inesta took an unusual path on his way to helping create an eco-system of talent development in Mexico City. This is a great story because no matter which country you are in, the type of organization that José and his brother have built in Pixelatl looks through a different lens at not only talent development in animation, but IP, studio, and business development. We hope you enjoy this conversation with José Inesta.

For more about Pixelatl and the various programs and festivals they run, visit pixelatl.com.
To view the short film I mention in the intro, visit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRc-pbE_a90

If you have any suggestions for show guests or topics, please get in touch.

Episode Recorded: 4/6/2021

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha

The Creators Society is a group of passionate, and respectable creators working in different areas of animation from development through distribution. We work to bring these members of the animation community together through education and networking.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org.

Send us a text

Today I got to chat with a super talented writer, creator, voice actor, comedian, and author, Jorjeana Marie. Jorjeana not only has a passion for writing but for sharing and teaching what she knows. She's also the author of the book, Improv for Writers. Now I'm sure most of you are aware of improv even if you haven't been a part of it, but it's really clever how Jorjeana has adapted a lot of improv exercises into a book for writers.  We talk about it in the show, and I even read one of the exercises I did. If you're a writer or creator, we obviously should always be looking for ways to grow and stretch our creative muscles. And if you're a producer or director or an artist, then this approach could be really helpful for you too. Jorjeana has run workshops based on her book at places like Disney and Cartoon Network and she talks about how artists have been able to use the exercises to give life to a drawing that has been sitting around for years. This was a really great conversation, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Find "Improv For Writers" on Amazon.

Episode Recorded: 3/24/2021

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha


The Creators Society is a group of passionate, and respectable creators working in different areas of animation from development through distribution. We work to bring these members of the animation community together through education and networking.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org.

Send us a text

In today's episode, we chat with creator, producer, and exec producer, Irene Weibel. Irene has produced and exec produced hundreds of hours of animated content over her career including the Hotel Transylvania series, Little Charmers, Bravest Warriors, and Moon & Me. She oversaw a production studio of hundreds of artists at Nelvana and is now working with host Michael Wakelam and recent guest Fonda Snyder on a preschool show.

Episode Recorded: 2/18/2021

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha


The Creators Society is a group of passionate, and respectable creators working in different areas of animation from development through distribution. We work to bring these members of the animation community together through education and networking.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org.

Send us a text

Who can imagine what animation would be like without music? Quite bland I expect. And our guests in this episode are certainly not bland!
Join us for a conversation with composers and songwriters Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo from PopSound (formerly Eggplant) in Toronto. Steve started his career as a jazz musician and Terry in Canadian band Lost & Profound. We discuss how they broke into animation, pushing the boundaries, and the music landscape for artists starting out today.

Steve and Terry's work can be found at popsound.ca.
We hope you enjoy this episode. If you have questions or suggestions, you can email us at [email protected].

Episode Recorded: 2/23/2021

Host & Producer: Michael Wakelam (@mikewakelam)
Executive Producer: Eric M. Miller
Music by: Rich Dickerson (www.richdickerson.com)
Audio Engineering: Mike Rocha


The Creators Society is a group of passionate, and respectable creators working in different areas of animation from development through distribution. We work to bring these members of the animation community together through education and networking.
Learn more about the Creators Society, and how to become a member at thecreatorssociety.org.

Send us a text