Produced By - #20 - Dariush Asadi: Love For Animation Expressed Through Proficient Scriptwriting

Starting point is 00:00:03 Derrish Asadi is a London-based filmmaker currently working as a freelance script writer for a viral YouTube preschool series for Allman Studios and animation studio in Singapore. He is also staff writer at Lama Moon Studios for an upcoming animated mystery adventure television series. He studied D.A. film, where he trained to work in various placements, short films and documentaries, fulfilling roles throughout all the departments and stages of the film. While pursuing his passion for writing, he has also worked in as a paid research assistant. Time management is something we discuss a lot, as Darius juggled to part-time jobs, on top of working university projects during the global pandemic.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Listen to this episode to learn details about what is it like to write for animation, find out how he manages to collaborate on projects for studios in different parts of the work, and get inspired by his positive mindset to pursue your dreams. Enjoy. Hello, Darius. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for having me. For the beginning, can you please try to introduce yourself?

Starting point is 00:01:11 So my name is Darius and I've graduated from Millsex University in 2019, studied film. And I've been collaborating on film and animation projects. Later on in my career and work experience, I've been working in mainly animation ever since I graduated. And that's why I aspire in my direction to go to writing and producing and collaborating in animation projects. I've always been interesting in writing for animation and writing and collaborating on projects. And also writing as a craft. So I study every day. I follow people like Michael Jamin, who is a writer of 26 years of experience.

Starting point is 00:01:48 And also I'm on the course with Pietro Skieto, apologies if I'm not saying his name right, who is in write for animation. So I'm learning every single day about writing and story grafting and producing for animation and all of that. So yeah, it's a craft and I'm constantly learning so much about. it and so that's where I want to progress my career too. Yeah, so great. Never ending progress need to keep working on yourself. Yeah, whether it's for projects or for gigs or all that or even applying what you've learned at my current job, my full-time job, to what I am working on now. So yeah,

Starting point is 00:02:20 just learn as much as you can. That's my advice. We learn as much as you can. I agree. In my university, I directed my short dissertation film and I wrote it as well. It's called Not Wanted. That's not animated. It was like a British social drama. Once I graduated, I co-wrote and sound designed and was the co-creator of the Litter Mermaid, which is a short animation film. That was a short dissertation animation film for an animation student at the time in Millsex, he directed that and I co-produced that.

Starting point is 00:02:51 After that, I found this company called Lava Moon Studios. It's an upcoming animation studio that I'm staff writing for a pilot project called The Secrets of Grindelva. It's a mystery fantasy series. It's like 2D traditional mystery fantasy series. And I'm also currently working as a writer for an animation company in Singapore called Omen Studios for a preschool show. It's their viral YouTube preschool show called Leo the Wildlife Ranger. I'm working on their latest season as a screenwriter.

Starting point is 00:03:22 So yeah, I'm working as that. And in my full-time job, I'm also a hate search assistant at a medium marketing agency. So yeah, that's me, just, you know, working full-time but also collaborating on various projects here and there. I was going to say sounds quite busy. You must have plenty of time to rejuggle all of those tasks. Yeah, it is a lot of time, yeah. I am very busy, but I love to, I am a dare I say workaholic. No, but I like to work on and collaborate on projects.

Starting point is 00:03:53 And to stay productive, I guess. Yeah, to stay productive, yeah, because like in my office job, it's not creative. It sounds good creative, but it's not. It's mainly like Google ads, so like me working is that. It's not creative. It's mainly to do attention to detail and focusing on putting things into the system and all of that. Very interesting how it works. But once I go home, I just think I need to be creative.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Either it's working on the pilot project with Lobble Moon Studios and collaborating or working mainly on the script for the preschool show and also working on stuff for the next episode as well because I have to work on various episodes for the show. And working for those things outside of your regular job, are you also an employee or is it just like a based on contract or the project or how does they work with that? Are you talking about the creative style? Yes, yes. So the Love Moon Studios is volunteer at the moment. So like we're just working and we're just collaborating.

Starting point is 00:04:48 It's like over 50 of us internationally and we're just working at a very international scale and it's really working the same way as an animation studio really and we're just trying to like, you know Discord right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're like working on that. We're trying to get that pilot off the ground and all of that. So it's just mainly collaborating. But the preschool show is an actual gig. It's like a paid one. So. Is it the one in Singapore, right? Yeah, it's the one in Singapore. Yes. It's an actual gig. So I was lucky enough to land that. It wasn't easy getting it. Like I had to go through like processes to get the gig like handing samples and all that. But like, yeah. And I really learned a lot. I really learned a lot from, you know, working on the show, writing on the episodes. getting notes and figuring out what to write, what not to write, and balancing. Because when you're writing for preschool, it's very hard because it's not hard.

Starting point is 00:05:37 I actually thought it would be hard. Balancing education with entertainment. You have to teach kids about lessons and all. You also have to entertain them as well. It can't just be a public service announcement. Otherwise, it would be an advertisement on Bekinds and all that stuff. I had to focus on like store and all of that. And of course, The Little Mermaid is a short dissertation project from Millsex Uni.

Starting point is 00:05:57 and that's currently getting into festivals and all of that. But at the same time, like, yeah, whether it be paid or not paid, I'm learning a lot from these projects. And also the upside to it is that in film, you have to be on a set, you have to work with other people and all that. And I love that, actually. I really loved being on set and being up on your feet all the time. But like with animation was a medium that I really loved

Starting point is 00:06:18 and I really wanted to be a part of it. And yeah, you just sit down and you just work on writing for the animation or working on, you know, editing and all of that. So like, and also, as a collaborative medium where you can collaborate with anyone, really. So there's that as well because we worked on the litter mermaid in 2020. So some people's projects had to be pulled. We were lucky enough to keep working on it overseas. I get to say the upside.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Available somewhere online if someone wanted to have a look? The whole film's online. The trailer is online. But it's up to Max, the director, but it's currently in film festivals. Yeah, it's currently hitting film festivals. We recently hit one like this week and we're going to announce it this weekend. Or he's going to announce it this weekend. So did you already win any prizes or is it just going to compete there or being screened?

Starting point is 00:07:06 Yeah, we already won some prizes. Like best fantasy film. I can't which film festival I'll tell you later. There were so many. It was not, I don't know, many. Yeah, maybe a couple. The one thing I do remember is that it got, our first film festival was in Ukraine. It was an online film festival in Ukraine in the beginning of 2020.

Starting point is 00:07:25 Why there? Out of interest. I think it was just like the many film festivals that we applied to. And then that was the one of that responded. I was wondering when you said you've got a job in Singapore, how did you get a job so far away or in such a place? I traveled there and I went up to the studio and I handed in my resume. And they were like, you're hired.

Starting point is 00:07:44 No, I'm joking. No, I forgot to mention. It takes me back to a long, well, not a long story, but like where I found the opportunity. During the pandemic, Netflix, animation, animation department were like, since opportunities are scarce, let's have a panel where all the famous creators have a talk about the various stages of animation. So I put my name on there, despite me not knowing anything about animation at the time, but I just wanted to get in. Like, 9, 9% of me said like, deal with it. And the 1% was like, you're taking over someone's space who actually knows about animation.

Starting point is 00:08:18 So I'd say no, but luckily I didn't listen to that 1%. But yeah, anyway, I went for it. And then during the Zoom sessions, and we saw all these famous people like Alex Hirsch, who was the creator of Gravity Falls, Elizabeth Idaho, who was a storyboard artist on Summer Camp Island, and Poethead Gutierrez, who did The Book of Life, all these great people. Anyway, people were putting their social media handles in the chat. It was like thousands of people putting their social medias, and then one person decided to take all of our social medias and put it on Discord network. So you have discords like Rising Animators Dend Network, Asians in animation, so that's for Asian people in animation. and Rise Up Animation for people of color and black and animated. So for black people who want to get into the industry.

Starting point is 00:08:59 So you have all these Discord networks that collaborate. There's a lot of people, over 5,000 people on maybe each of them. Yeah, so I'm in Rise Up Animation, Asians in Animation, and Rising Animators Den network, so Rad Network. But I found this Singapore gig in Asians and Animation. So that's where I found it. They were looking for script writers and I reached out. Yeah, I got the gig. Well, well done.

Starting point is 00:09:24 But Leo the Wath Live Ranger is a big show right now. It's not a TVC announced. It's not a TVA show where it's going to be announced and then released on YouTube and all that. It's a viral. It shows. I'm pretty sure I can talk about it. But like they said, okay, send us your writing sample. Because I was thinking that before the gig, I was like, oh, it's a preschool show.

Starting point is 00:09:43 So I have to look at through all my child friendly samples. Because when you want to be a writer or you want to be a filmmaker or whatever, you have to have something to show it. You have to have a reel. have to have a sample. Like, portfolio, right? Yeah. Well, not a necessary portfolio, but more like something that is tailored to the position,

Starting point is 00:10:00 something that is tailored to the show. So I submitted my samples, and then they said, okay, cool. And then they gave me write a synopsis of a show and all that and feed it back. And we just went through like the whole stages of like writing a synopsis, just testing if I can do the job really, follow feedback and follow notes, because that's what writing is. When you're writing with someone else, you have to follow notes. And yeah, I eventually got through the stages and they said like, all right, cool, we'd like to give you the job or you're going to be one of the writers for the show.

Starting point is 00:10:29 So that's how I got the job. And have a day you released any episodes yet or is it still being prepared? Episodes in general? Yeah, yeah, loads. Hundreds. Yeah, if you go to, it has an accumulative of, you know, like when you look at a YouTube page and you go at the about section and you have the amount of views. Their total of views is a staggering over 355 million. It's a lot.

Starting point is 00:10:53 It is a lot, but like that's the thing about its content on YouTube is very popular. Remind me what is it called again? It's called Leo the Wildlife Ranger. And any episodes you... No. No, actually no, I'm writing them now. Well, not now now, but like I have to write the episodes and then submit, like... How long does it take to write episodes?

Starting point is 00:11:15 It's like a lot of stages, like riding the episodes, you do the research and then you pitch it in a writing room. Like I had to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning to do writing room sessions. Because of his time difference, right? It's time difference, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I had to like wake up and then do the writer's room thing. But before the writer's room, I have to do research on the show. Because the show is about learning about animals.

Starting point is 00:11:36 So I have to do research on the animal and then, yeah, the next four episodes or whatever or like just an episode. So pitch the idea and then see if they like it and come up with suggestions and all of that. And then write the synopsis. You know, it's the same as any animation studio, any film, any TV studio, really. Because when you watch an episode, you notice that, like, not just one name appears on the writing department. You have, like, three or four riders or whatever. So sometimes one person writes an episode in general or more than one person writes an episode and all of that.

Starting point is 00:12:10 But overall, it takes about a month, a month stops, to write an episode. We'll really have it developed and all of that. And it's between 15 to 20 minutes, isn't it, the episode? less, in like seven minutes. Oh, is it like? Because I checked on YouTube and it. Maybe it's something different. Yeah, those might be compilations.

Starting point is 00:12:29 Oh, okay. It's possible. Okay, you're right. I see there it's just many episodes. And for how long have you been working for them? I've been working with them for, I recently got the job. So I was, I got it in February, I think. No, I think I got it in March.

Starting point is 00:12:45 I can't remember. Like February or March, but this year. Yeah, it sounds cool. I did know, like, How does it work with this and it's interesting to work for, you know, company from Singapore. Yeah, unless it was like, we're going to Singapore, yay! Have you been there? I have been there, yeah, it's really nice.

Starting point is 00:13:00 I heard that it's nice. Very clean? Yeah, very clean, yeah. And I also remember going to this bridge, I can't remember what that bridge was called. It's a really nice bridge. I'll put it on my list, but it's quite far away. I'd like to go to Singapore and like visit the people at the office. Oh yeah, of course.

Starting point is 00:13:15 I can imagine. It's like, hey guys, I've been working with you at them from the other part. part of the world. Yeah, they'll be like, you do realize we can do the same thing online, right? Like, why did you up travel? And what about the other job you've got? The Laval Moon Studios one. Yes.

Starting point is 00:13:32 Can you say a bit more about it? Oh yeah, sure, yeah, yeah. I found that opportunity the same as with the Singapore job. It's been rising animators then, so that was the one for everyone. The creator of the show, Jake Chishon Patel, posted on Rad saying that he needed writers for a pitch show. And I thought to myself like, okay, I've no. what the show is, but animation writing gigs are scarce. So I reached out to him and then I said,

Starting point is 00:13:57 I'm interested and then he sent me the website and he said, let's have a talk. And then I looked at the website. Unfortunately, the website is on the maintenance at the moment. So I let you know, yeah, I had to look at the designs of their shows. And I thought to myself like, wow, this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The animation is stunning, beautiful. But there was one particular project that really caught my eye and I loved the characters and the complex story, the mystery element, which was Secrets of Rindelva. So it had that mystery element, it had that fantasy element. It reminded me of all the shows I loved watching like Gravity Balls, Amphibia, that recently watched. It was a really great show. And it also had like mystery elements like

Starting point is 00:14:37 Avatar, The Last Airbender, pretty much reminiscent to all fantasy films like The Rings, Game of drones. So I messaged him and I said, which show am I working on? And he said, Secrets of Grendelb and I was like, yes. But then I remember that he said, I'm looking for, I write it for show pitch. And I thought to myself, show pitch. Okay, so am I writing for

Starting point is 00:14:57 the content on Kickstarter? Which I've had experience in doing in Millsex. Because, yeah, you know, like, in Millsex we had the like fund our film. Yeah, right down on the crowd to raise money. But yeah, I've had experience and funding stuff. But he said, you're writing for it. And I was like, Yes. You're one of the writers, actually. So I was like, yeah, I love working in the team. So we've been working on the show for like, we've been trying to like work on the various stages of the show for about a year or so. And it's really picking up. I can't say anything yet. I mean, you can find it on social media like at Love on Moot Studios on Instagram. And you'll see like we recently just posted an April Fool's post. I'm just looking at it. Animation is beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, it's really beautiful. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:42 And the characters are beautiful as well. Like, whenever I'm writing for the characters, I'm like, it sounds like I'm hanging out with friends. Because like the main character's Rune, who is the purple mushroom girl. For example, if I'm writing for Rune, I'm thinking, oh, let's see what Rune's doing. Let's see what Bo is doing. Bo is her friend over there.

Starting point is 00:15:56 The guy with the yellow thing around his eye. Yeah. So like, I can't wait for everyone to see the characters and see their story. And is this secret of Green Jelva film or TV series or what is it going to be? It's a TV series. We're working on the plywood right now. now and trying to get it off the grounds. And we're hopefully going to develop it into a series.

Starting point is 00:16:17 Wow. Yeah. So is it first project or has it released any projects before? Because it looks like a new company, right? Yeah, it's a new company. They've done some stuff as well. But that's in their website. Once it's up, you can see the other projects that they've done.

Starting point is 00:16:32 And the people that were working with is they've done a really great job in other projects as well. Like some of them worked in actual studios and all of that. but they've come together to work on this. It's just the same as like creating films. You know, just coming together and just making something that you want to create. And also the process of writing for it as well as really good because, in my opinion, I feel like writers are precious with their work because there's a difference between

Starting point is 00:16:57 writing for someone else and writing for yourself because I try my best to like find time to write for myself and my own projects and all of that. But when you're writing for someone else, whether it be the Singapore job or for Loveramoon Studios, it's their world and you're a group of people. putting your heads together and coming up with ideas and crafting out the world and working together. So experience of me writing for the show has been really great and just learning from each other. And this company is from America, isn't it? Yeah, it's from America, yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:27 So it's fully online as well? Yeah, it's fully online as well, at the moment. So it's writing something you want to focus on? Because before I thought that maybe you want to be animator, but sounds like writer for animation. Yeah, I want to be a... I'm not an animator. Animator is someone who makes things move, illustrator is someone who draws, and I can't do neither. I mean, I'm that bad, but like...

Starting point is 00:17:48 But the thing is, writing for animation is what I love to do, because I love the medium, I love designs, and I love to break characters and write stories and all of that. I also love producing for animation as well, like, for example, The Litter of Mermaid, which was the dissertation, so like, making sure things work and all of that. It's mainly production that I'm interested in, so writing and production, so, like,

Starting point is 00:18:08 developing and writing and crafting out stories and collaborating with people on animation projects. I've always been interesting in writing for animation and writing and collaborating on projects and also writing as a craft. So I study every day. I follow people like Michael Jamman, who is a writer of 26 years of experience. And also I'm on the course with Pietro Skieto, apologies if I'm not saying his name right, who is in right for animation. So I'm learning every single day about writing and story grafting and producing for animation and all that. So yeah, it's a craft and I'm constantly learning so much about it. And so that's where I want to progress my career too. I mean, I would love to do it full time. And that's what I'm seeking to do. But at the

Starting point is 00:18:50 moment, I'm really happy with the projects that I'm collaborating with. Then I'm very lucky to have gained these gigs and I'm willing to like push forward and learn as much as I can and try and find my way around this industry. Because like, as someone who graduated from film, I love films and I've loved working on films. If anybody asked me to collaborate on a film, like, yeah, I'd be down if I had the talk about. But like, um, there was something inside me that thought like, I had a film course, I graduated for film. What makes you think I'm going to do animation if you've been studying film for three years? But actually, I've been putting my discipline and what I have learned through, you have the same lectures? Yes, yes. So yeah,

Starting point is 00:19:35 every discipline that they've told me about planning, preparing, writing and coming up with stories and it really disciplined me to put everything I've learned from film to animation. And from then on, it's been doing well for me so far. So I don't know if that's your question, sorry? No, yeah, of course. I was just curious about the Little Mermaid. So it's finished now, or are you still working on it? Because you say it was a dissertation?

Starting point is 00:20:01 Finished. Yeah, it's done, yeah. Were you happy with the result? Did it look good? Yeah, really good, yeah. That was my first ever writing for animation because, like, I was at a gallery, supporting my animator friend who graduated. She made this really cool short film.

Starting point is 00:20:17 And then I met Max at an animation gallery, and then we just started talking about animation, all of that. And then he said, I'm working on a dissertation project. And I said, do you need a writer? And he said, yeah, so we started collaborating and we've worked together ever since. He's also working with me on Labamood. Yeah, we're just creating stuff. But yeah, Little Mermaid

Starting point is 00:20:35 So I did the writing, I did the co-producing and he did the directing and he also did the co-writing as well and we were just working on it together. Every single day we've been working on it up to the end. Yeah, it's really cool because it's really great that I was involved in every single step of the process.

Starting point is 00:20:51 Also, like I sound designed it as well. Sound designing is actually really tough for animation because you're creating everything. For example, the mermaid is in the water, on the water and you have to figure out what kind of sounds she makes when she's moving her arm or whenever tortoises like... It makes some...

Starting point is 00:21:07 Dreaming, whatever. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, because Little Mermaid's about, like, a mermaid dealing with rubbish in the ocean and how it's affecting her ocean friends. So it's all about, like, working together on the story

Starting point is 00:21:17 and working on the film and working on all that. I'm really happy with the project, but I would say that it is condensed to, like, four minutes. So, like, it has potential to be expanded upon, but, like, it was a dissertation film. But I'm glad that it's doing well, whether Max is happy with it as well.

Starting point is 00:21:31 So, yeah, I really enjoy. enjoyed working on it. Yeah. Since it was a project for animation course, right? Yeah. So did you get any credits towards your education? Because you studied film, this was a different course. So did you work for it in your free time or did it somehow count towards your grade? No, it didn't count towards my grade. I did in my free time. Yeah, I graduated and then I collaborated with Max. This was before the pandemic. And then when the pandemic hit, I was doing a gig play called Allison Canningtown, which is like a theater thing in a playground. I was recording and I was sound designing and all of that. It was hilarious because I was in a booth in the editing stage and I didn't realize what was going on out in the real world.

Starting point is 00:22:10 So when this whole pandemic thing happened, I was already working on the mermaid film, but I had to work on that. And then once it was done, we were lucky enough to work together on the mermaid film during the pandemic. He didn't graduate, actually. He was in the middle of like his dissertation and graduation and all. I was helping him out with the mermaid film. Yeah, it's really kind of you and you know shows some patience since you do it just out of your free time and not what are great yeah i mean it was great i was happy to help out but like it was because i wanted to write for animation i wanted to do that and i also wanted to collaborate with someone because film is great i didn't really talk to anyone about animation or no one was as crazy as animation as

Starting point is 00:22:49 myself i thought i met max and then add this really cool bond and we just worked together and start creating things together so yeah it was a lot of hard work working on the mermaid like sound designing it and editing it and all of that. But like I really had a lot of fun and then I thought to myself like after Mermaid what's next? I found the opportunity in Lava Mood, showed it to Max and yeah we just opt on board. Just a quick one. If you enjoy our podcast please give us a review on your favorite podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. For more information visit the show notes. Thank you and back to the show. So how was your project on film? What did you work on as a final

Starting point is 00:23:27 short film in the third year. So I worked on a film called Not Wanted, and it's, have you seen the film called Fish Tank? I'm afraid not. I... Or this is England? I may have heard of it, but I don't remember. It's one of those rough, gritty films.

Starting point is 00:23:43 It was like social drama. I forgot what was called. Social drama. There's another what after social. I forgot what was called. But yeah, that film was called Not Wanted, and it was like a modern fairy tale. Well, the film was about this boy who was living in a counsel estate and his father's alcoholic and he's racist and xenophobic and, you know, abuses him a lot and all of that. And he's dropped out of school. So yeah, he's really depressed.

Starting point is 00:24:06 And then he bumps into his classmate called Jamal, who is a Middle Eastern. Well, not refugee, but he's recently, not recently, but in the past, he has moved to London for a better life from his existing life, not existing life. What happened, like the war in his country. So they bump into each other and they basically lie about how things are going. So you've got like this boy who is from a really rough background and you've got this other boy who is from an affluent background, but there's something hiding behind him as well. So these two, they lie towards each other about how life is. So the main character is called Thomas, who is the boy with the, you know, the awful father

Starting point is 00:24:47 and all that. And also Jamal has this mother who is very strict, very concerning. of her friendship with Thomas. So it's kind of like a... The film was about xenophobia, basically. So, yeah, it was a very daring film to make, especially when you're just a uni student. And I was trying to like panel the films like Andrea Arnold,

Starting point is 00:25:08 who made Ratcatcher or Fish Tank. No, yeah, did she make? I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I've... No, I googled it, and Andrea Arnold made Fish Tank, directed and screenplay as well. Yeah, did she make Ratcatcher as well? Oh, Lynn Ramsey made a rat catcher, sorry. She made a, yeah, rat catcher.

Starting point is 00:25:28 So it's all those like, or this is England, you know, that kind of like Shane Meadows kind of film. So, yeah, and I directed it, I wrote it, and I had a hand in the locations. And, yeah. Quite a few rooms. Must have been proper busy. It was very busy, yeah, but the thing is that, like, I mean, you know, because like a long time for you to make a dissertation, you spent, like, most of a year pre-production, then three days of production. And then you do the rest of pre-production.

Starting point is 00:25:55 So, like, a lot of preparation came up to it. Me just finding the story, finding the characters, and, you know, working out the story and all of that because it was going to have, like, gangs and all of that, then I'm like, no. Because that's just going to look nath. Yeah, which is really just figuring out the core of the story, really, of what you're trying to tell.

Starting point is 00:26:12 And, um, what's the theme? And then the theme was belonging. Thomas doesn't belong anywhere. Jamal doesn't belong anywhere. So these two confide in each other. They lie to themselves thinking, oh, everything's all right. Like, I gotta look after my dad. He's not right in the head, but I gotta look after him.

Starting point is 00:26:26 And Jamal's like, yeah, everything's cool, yeah. I mean, someone just threw a brick through my window. But yeah, everything's all right, you know. But, and then they realized that, no, it's not all right. You've got to, like, confide in each other. Talk to people, you know, talk to someone. Things aren't going all right. So it's like these two boys are like, despite having different backgrounds,

Starting point is 00:26:44 they did have like a friendship in the past. So, yeah, they just confide in each other and revealed of how things are going. So it took a while for me to figure out what the theme was. And then once the theme was, then I wrote on the scripts, and then script after script, like, drafts and drafts and drafts. Like, I remember that, like, in our directing lesson, they were like, it was me and my producer. It was a great producer, by the way. We sat together and we were just with students, and everyone would just read the script, and they would one at a time give their feedback, and most of it was negative. That was like the first couple of drafts. It was constructive feedback. It was really hard to take.

Starting point is 00:27:17 It still is hard to take, but as a writer, you got to deal with. And at the time, it was really hard to take those notes. just following those notes and all of that, coming back to it and panicking out of your mind. And then going back to the script and thinking, okay, all right, so there is something to be. So did it help, you have a point? It did help. Yeah, it did help. But the thing is that it's hard for you to figure out what you want when you don't know what you want.

Starting point is 00:27:40 And other people are like, we're just saying what we see. We are just saying what we think is good for the script. But at the end of the day, it's up to you to decide what to put in the script. We're just saying our, you know, saying what we see on the script. and it was pretty harsh because they really care. You know, the lecturers are uni mates, they really do care about you doing good. And it's your choice, although their feedback, or dismiss it. So we, of course, chose to dismiss it.

Starting point is 00:28:06 No, I'm joking. We didn't know, in the beginning, we dismissed it. But then at the end, we realized, okay, yeah, they do have a point here. We chiseled it. We worked on it. And they said, this is actually really good. Yeah. And then we pitched it, you know, because remember, you got to pitch to like, what, 60 people in a lecture hole?

Starting point is 00:28:23 That was a really cool experience. Yeah, I remember it was in a big room where you stand in front of a screen and you are pitching to the whole class and all the lectures to remember until today. Yeah, and at the same time, you are there producer director and you need to pitch it well so that the rest of the crew that they want to join you because it was also the pitch to get the rest of the crew. So it was a lot of at stake, I would say. Yeah, I mean, like, it was four of us already.

Starting point is 00:28:51 It was me, myself, the director, producer, director of photography. Great DOP, by the way. And our art director, he did a really good job as well, incorporating like Middle Eastern fabrics, like aesthetics and all. Yeah, it was four of us. Our core team, essentially. So, yeah, we pitched it. And at the end of the pitch, everyone put their hands up,

Starting point is 00:29:12 so many hands. And it was all about the story. And I was like, wow, this is great. Because they were asking about the story. They weren't asking about how are you going to do this? How are you going to do that? How are you going to be, you know, how are you going to get the budget for this? Or why is this?

Starting point is 00:29:26 They were asking about dad. They were asking about the boy. They were asking about Jamal, Thomas, all that stuff. So, and they had some pointers and all that stuff. So they were really interested. And people came up to us and they wanted to work with us. To be fair, everyone. That's the game, really.

Starting point is 00:29:39 You've got to, like, put yourself out there and people come and you get a grade and all of that. Yeah, try to sell it. I agree. Yeah. And it was like over 20 people, I think, or like, close to the, 20 people to over 20 people that I had to manage, we had to manage. Yeah, it was really tough. Out of curiosity, how many students were there in your class? I think 60 people in our year. Yeah. I remember all the names, but I caught how many people were there. I guess there were quite a few

Starting point is 00:30:05 in the first year and it decreased a bit by the third year because that's how it works, right? I think it decreased actually because some people realized they didn't want to do film. Yeah. Or it wasn't as easy as it. Or they just wanted to pursue something else. So, And did your film get impacted by the COVID? No, because we graduated 2019. Lucky, nice. Yeah, we had our films up and it was great because it was like a very diverse selection of film. And then after that, the pandemic hit.

Starting point is 00:30:37 And I felt sorry for the people who were in the year after us because they couldn't finish their films. It was really tough for them. In fact, I remember that I was working at Apple as a retailer. and the person who was working with me was also film and she was also doing her earlier project. Yeah, in Midsex, uni. He was telling us about how rough it was, but how the course was,

Starting point is 00:30:58 because I remember that we were sitting in our lecture halls, watching film and then talking about the film afterwards. They couldn't even do that. They were like, we can't even watch a film together on Zoom. We just have to, like, we just have to watch a film in our spare time and then tell everyone what we thought about it. That's what she said, so it wasn't as fun as what we had. So third year was rough because we barely had time to breathe.

Starting point is 00:31:21 And that's not me exaggerating. But at the end of the day, we all made amazing films. But the year above us had to deal with the limited resources that they had. They couldn't go out. They had to do essays and all that. Yeah, it was tough. And did you go to festival with your film? Yeah, we went to some festivals.

Starting point is 00:31:38 We screened in Portugal. But that was like an exhibition. Because like there was a short film about Isabella that was in competition with other films in Fest film in Portugal. So David said, like, let's all go to Fest and support the film as well as screen our own films that we made this year, which was 2019.

Starting point is 00:31:55 That film was made in second year. So, yeah, we decided to screen our films up on the exhibition part of the fest. So we screened our film there, along with others. In fact, there was also an open-mouth film festival that we put our film in as well. So how did you go about starting your career when you finished education

Starting point is 00:32:15 How did you start looking for a job? And how did you enter the industry? So when I graduated uni, I was looking for a job. Oh yeah, I said that gig in Allison Canningtown. She had me for a gig, which was a theater in a, you know, those theater plays that take place outside and then the audience watch it? Yes, yes. She asked me to sound record it.

Starting point is 00:32:38 You know, so like I had to follow people with a boom and record. And my other uni mates, they were the camera operators. So they were out there and they were. filming the actor. Yeah, and they were really great. They were fantastic. These kids were amazing performers. So yeah, I was recording the dialogue and all of that. And then later on, afterwards, she told me to do the co-editing because it was already edited. So I just did the editing and all of that. So those gigs, those were paid and they eventually paid me. But other than that, I was looking for a stable job and I couldn't find one. It was really tough

Starting point is 00:33:11 me getting a job because the market was just oversaturated at the time. And then something happening with this whole pandemic thing that jobs were scarce. And also like maybe I was looking in the wrong places like manny.com. Like it was all about having a plan before you graduate. You did it have fun? No. Yeah, that's my mistake. I should have had a plan. So like I was focusing on gigs here and there like but all know it was tough. And then the pandemic happened and then I was working on a little mermaid and all that. So just again collaborating on stuff. But then I found this thing called the Prince's Trust. Well, they have this digital TV course thing.

Starting point is 00:33:47 And I went on it and I met people of different experiences. Sorry, what is this Prince's Trust? Oh, the Princess Trust. It was founded by Prince Charles, I think. It's basically a course where they help young people get employed or they help young people about business. Yeah, so it really helped me out a lot. Sorry, King Charles.

Starting point is 00:34:06 He's now a king. Is it like something that happens every year? It happens every year. Well, not every year, but like it happens most of the time, really. Yes, yes. So after I attended that course, they recommended me to go to this job fair where you have like three interviews for three companies. So I was like, yeah, sure, definitely. And that's where I got Apple, the job where I was a special.

Starting point is 00:34:30 What does it mean, specialist? It's like the person who advises people in store. Yeah, is the first point in contact, really. So, yeah. Like, if you go to an Apple store, you see somebody. either holding an iPad and arranging your appointment or providing advice on the devices and or recommending you, selling you basically being a salesman. And my best description of the role was it's like you're on a film set, but there is no film to be made because you're constantly up on

Starting point is 00:34:56 your feet. It's a creative job and it's a really fast-paced environment. So it's like being in a film set. Were you into Apple or was it coincidence that you got a job in Apple? It was one of the job interviews that was in the job fair. I was a bit hesitant, but I was like, all right, fine, I'll do it. And yes, it's a pretty great company to work for. Yeah, because I can imagine there must be people who definitely would want to work there because they are big fans of products of Apple, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:35:27 I mean, at the time, I didn't have an iPhone, so now I did. It was overdue because I work on a Mac all the time. And to have a phone that is an Apple device would be very handy, because you're syncing things. Yeah, so I didn't just get it just because, oh, I work in Apple. It was more like it's overdue. And also another job that I got whilst working at Apple was this digital marketing company called Graph Fig.

Starting point is 00:35:48 It was a startup media agency for brands and all that. So going up to the shops and saying, hey, do you need our services for digital marketing? So I was, again, bouncing to part-time jobs because Apple was part-time. That was part-time. So I was just working part-time. And also at the time, I was finding Lava Moon as well.

Starting point is 00:36:06 I was working on Lover Moon as well. So I was just working on any job that I could find. Once I finished a job, I would work on the Mushroom Show. Yeah, Secrets of Grendel was about mushrooms. Yeah, mushroom people. Yeah, that's what I was doing, really. When you were talking about, like, gigs or careers and stuff like that, I understand, like, to the people who are in uni, and then they graduate,

Starting point is 00:36:26 they either make it or they don't, or they're working towards it, or they pursue something else. For me, it was a mixed bag. I was trying to get in, and then I got you gigs here and there, and I was just working. I remember I was at a uni party last year, I think, yeah. No, no, I think it was two years ago. And one of my uni mates said, like, so what are you doing at the moment?

Starting point is 00:36:44 I said, like, oh, I'm currently working at Apple and said, Apple, what are you doing there? I don't know. No, it was lovely. And also one of my unimates said, so what are you doing at the moment? I said, like, well, I'm working at an animation studio, but it was voluntary. And then he said, oh, you've made it.

Starting point is 00:36:59 No, I, now I'm working, but, so yeah, that's cool. But still, like, as a freelance, so not full-time. I'm so like... It's understandable that around that period of time around the COVID, it was very tough to get a job. Because even the normal people that were employed, then suddenly it didn't have a job. And what about the people who wanted to start in the industry?

Starting point is 00:37:19 It was even worse situation for them. Yeah, that's the thing. Like, I was one of them during 2020. I was thinking like, I'm lucky enough to work on the Lera Mermaids. Even though it's not paid, it was a dissertation project. I was lucky enough to be creative.

Starting point is 00:37:33 I just wanted to be creative. I just wanted to work on something creative, like animation. I wanted to work on something like that. And I was lucky enough to work on that, to have something to work on. Because the film people, they were like, can't work on anything. And also, it was tough to find a job in the pandemic as well. I got Apple in 2021. So, like, that was when the pandemic was starting to slow down a bit.

Starting point is 00:37:52 So I got the job at the right time because jobs were coming back. Jobs were scarce. I was applying to everything during the pandemic. Tesco, Sainsbury's, anything. I never did anything. I tried it as well. because it was starting and I tried to apply for a job in Tesco as well, yeah. Because it was literally one of the only few options that there were at that time.

Starting point is 00:38:14 I'm not going to lie, I think it was hard even to get there because suddenly everyone was applied for those few jobs that were left. So it was even challenging to work in Tesco or something. Yeah. And also like if Hollywood is delaying their films, Hollywood, the big pinnacle filmmaking is in trouble. How do you think startup companies were going to be doing? But at the end of the day, during the pandemic, there was one medium that kept the animation.

Starting point is 00:38:40 I gave it away, didn't I? There was one medium that kept the industry alive. And that was animation. Animation kept industry alive. Because, like, you had people working overseas and working on stuff and given a few delays. Animation was the medium that didn't require people to be in the same room together. So when the pandemic hit, animation was booming. It was in more demand in the market.

Starting point is 00:39:01 And honestly, the years afterwards, the way that we've been repaying animation workers and repaying animation filmmakers is appalling. I don't know why, you know, being deemed as a genre for kids and all that. So like, but at the end of the day, it kept the industry booming. You know, the animation industry kept it alive. And you said you also worked in a digital marketing, right? As a second barbs job. Oh, yeah. I've worked there full time. But like, it's called PPC and that's pay-per-click. So if you click on an ad, you get, yeah, you know how it works, really. If you click an ad, you add loot and then they rely on you to make the money. I mean, they rely on you to pay for

Starting point is 00:39:38 something. So yeah, that's my job. Can you say a bit more? Like, what would you do there as a day to day? Okay, so I'm an assistant. So like, I'll give an example. If you type red shoes in Google, you'll see an ad in the search engine results page. So it's basically the advertiser are paying Google or paying us to, we're not us because we're in agency, but they're paying Google and we use Google to top other advertisers so that customers can click on the ad and purchase their product. So that's our job. Set the ads, put it in the system, either write copy or they provide us the copy and we put it into the system and we advise them.

Starting point is 00:40:17 We sought out the money. We sold out all that stuff. So my job as an assistant is balancing the money, doing email inquiries, attending client calls, speaking to the clients occasionally answering email inquiries and all of that. So that is what you do now, right? Yeah, that's my full-time job. Because I know you mentioned before that on top of the part-time job in Apple, you've had part-time job in somewhere else as well.

Starting point is 00:40:41 Oh, yeah, that was a startup company that I was working. In 2021, I was working on two part-time jobs. One was a digital marketing company. That was a startup one that I got through a job center. Yeah, I forgot to mention I was at Job Center during the pandemic, as most people were, you know, helping us find jobs and all that. So I found that through Job Center. And I also was working at Apple.

Starting point is 00:41:02 as well. So I was working at two part-time jobs. After that, I got a full-time job at the media agency because both of my contracts for Apple Marketing Agency were finished. So I went on that one. So that's my current job at the moment. And what we're doing in that startup competitive? Oh yeah. I had to reach out to people who, you know, like small businesses and pitch are difficult though because small businesses are struggling, like, with finding work and all of that. So, like, I had to, like, provide leads and all of that. Think about small businesses who need our services. Yeah, I can imagine.

Starting point is 00:41:39 And how did you find the current job? Oh, yeah, through Prince's Trust again. Yeah, as soon as my contracts ended, I went back to the job fair, and then they said, here's this opening. And then I was like, no idea what this is, but I'll give a shot. I needed the job. So, like, yeah, I went to the job. there and they said like, all right, cool.

Starting point is 00:41:59 And then the second interview and then, yeah, I got the job. I mean, I would ask you how you find it, but I guess if you don't like it, you cannot really say it. Okay, I've got to be honest. Like, I've never known about it. I've never known about how PPC works. And also, it's not creative. It's not animation. It's not film.

Starting point is 00:42:14 It's not even marketing. It's just basically accounting for Google ads and stuff. So this isn't the field that I want to get into. It's just that situation where you have to have a full-time day job so that you can use the job to work something out. And I'm doing good at the job. No one has problems with me. Touch what I'm doing fine. Like the people that are lovely, the people that are really lovely and they are patient enough to teach me about how these things work. And they're generous enough to teach me about these things about how to talk to clients and email inquiries and all that. So I am learning a lot. And it is really

Starting point is 00:42:50 interesting how PPC works. It is really interesting how paid search works and how Google Ads works. is very interesting because whenever I'm at a party or a meh money which is a party in Farsi because when you're family friends gather and they when I say I'm working as this and then they say so when I click on something it's not going to fit my bank account is it

Starting point is 00:43:11 I was like no it's not going to have it your bank account nothing is going to happen it's just that advertises money they're relying on you to buy something it's like YouTube in fact the thing is do you watch The Simpsons yeah when I was younger

Starting point is 00:43:23 I used to watch it all the time do you know that part the Simpsons where the guy says to Homer, Homer wants to do an advertisement, and the guy who's going to give him the advertisement for him, he says, do you know those annoying radio conversations where two people yammer back and forth? I invented those, and then Homer punches him in the face, and he's completely unfazed and says, happens all the time. I feel like that. I hope to people. I don't know much about this. So I will be curious to find out more. probably next time because the time is running now

Starting point is 00:43:57 but how long can you be working there? I've been working there for about a year I recently got transferred to another agency so I've been working in that field for like two years not two years like about 11 months 12 probably 14 months so like a year and a half you still enjoy it? Like I'm an assistant right now

Starting point is 00:44:16 and I honestly am seeking to be full time in animation industry this isn't what I want to do honestly yeah it's not what I want to do but like It's fine. I'm working in an office job. It beats retail. It beats catering. You just sit on your ass and you just work on a computer. No, it's understood because it's, as you said, not your passion as animation. Yeah. In the beginning when I was working there, I was frustrated. I wasn't doing well. And then I learned like, take pride in what you do. Even if you're not working at something that you want to do, just take pride. So yeah, I followed that advice.

Starting point is 00:44:48 Something that I've never had experience in, I just have to learn as much as I can and just work hard. fine now, but like my goal is to find, you know, gateway to pursuing a Korean animation, whether it is one of our projects takes off, like the Lava Moon one, or the Singapore offers me a full-time one or whatever, but like, yeah, but I'm comfortable at this job because people are nice there. It's just, that's my whole answer. I mean, fingers crossed that it works out. But I would finish it for today. And I would agree to do part two if you were up for it because there are still plenty of things to discuss. Yeah, that'd be lovely. I really enjoyed myself.

Starting point is 00:45:28 I found it very interesting to discuss animation because I like animation as well. And I don't really know anyone who would know as much as you do or would be as passionate about it as you are. So it was great chat. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Produce by. Subscribe to our podcast when your favorite podcast app, leave a review or send us your feedback. For more information about the host, links. from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes. If you know someone who would be an ideal guest for our podcast, please get in touch.

Starting point is 00:46:02 Thank you and see you soon.

Produced By - #20 - Dariush Asadi: Love For Animation Expressed Through Proficient Scriptwriting

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.