Hey Dawn!

Good news and bad news.

Bad news first: I tried with Pirelli, but he shot me down on switching places. Sorry.

Good news: an alum from my Dramatic Writing program just got tapped to do the movie version of Chrysanthemum. She talked about how she and the director had put some animation about the history of slavery into the opening sequence. I told her about LOVE ORIGINS. She made a call, and long story short, one of the animation directors over at Yinz Animation Studios wants to talk with you! All her info is below if you want to get in touch.

Best wishes,

Asher

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read Asher’s email just a few days after our conversation. Then I transcribed it by hand and deleted it from every conceivable folder before Victor or whoever he had monitoring my email could see it.

Chrysanthemum was a mega-popular opera about a woman who goes from slavery to working in Abraham Lincoln’s White House. It had been touring for years, and I saw it three times when it came through the Newport Performing Arts Center. Though sadly, never with Sirena Gale, the opera singer, who would also be playing the title role in the movie.

Even better, Yinz Animations was one of the most cutting-edge animation houses on the East Coast. They’d been behind some of my favorite opening and closing credit sequences, and their commercials consistently won awards that included words like “innovation” and “avant-garde.”

Even the disappointment of not being able to switch thesis presentation spots with Asher couldn’t eclipse the joy of getting an interview for my dream job.

I emailed them right away. And to my shock, Lucy Marr, the person who would be directing the animated sequence for Chrysanthemum, immediately asked to see my reel. Luckily, I’d just put it together as an assignment for our Thesis Production Seminar.

I shot it right off to her, and she called me for what she referred to as a “new hire conversation” right before my Friday Advanced Character Design seminar.

“Pre-production on the project begins in June, so we’d need you to move out to Pittsburgh then. Will that be a problem?”

“No, not a problem at all,” I assured her, happily ditching my plans to get an apartment in Rhode Island.

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t think of moving out of state sooner. In June, I’d be free. And I relished the thought of starting my dream job in a new city where I wasn’t a prisoner.

“Good, if you do well on this assignment, we’ll probably be able to keep you on full-time for other projects. Clients are always asking about animation with a fresh perspective. And yours is definitely that. I shed legit tears at your depiction of the Middle Passage.”

“Oh wow! Thank you!”

“Any questions for me?” she asked.