“Actually, yes,” I answered, beyond excited about the prospect of working with Yinz Animation into the foreseeable future. “Do you think after I prove myself, I’ll be able to pitch a few more things on my own? The more I work on Love Origins, the more I think it could actually be worth produc—”

“Listen, I’m going to be truthful with you; we don’t do much pitching in-house,” Lucy answered, her tone brisk and sharp. “It’s more like the client comes to us because of our stellar reputation, and we give them what they want. We’re not Studio Ghibli or Pixar. We’re the people productions call when they’ve got a great script, and they want a final film that could compete with Studio Ghibli or Pixar for an Oscar.”

“Oh,” I said, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“But a lot of animators work on their own thing in between projects,” Lucy told me, and her tone became a little more encouraging. “That’s what I do, and it’s way more fun if you ask me. Less pressure and no deadlines. Although, the boss on those side projects can be a bitch. She’s kind of neurotic too. Never know what you’re going to get with her.”

I laughed, appreciating her self-deprecating sense of humor. And she had a point. I’d chosen Love Origins as my thesis production. But before that, I’d only been able to work on it during breaks and in between class assignments. This wouldn’t be any different.

“Plus, you’d be surprised how the stars align in some cases. Like, your Love Origins project? A lot of times, the client will come through looking for something that sounds really specific. But it will turn out that one of our animators had a personal project just sitting around that exactly matches their needs. Serendipity like that happens shockingly often in this business.”

“Wow, that sounds great. And I hear Pittsburgh’s a great place to live and raise a family.”

“It is,” she confirmed, her voice becoming a bit more careful. “But I’ll be frank with you, woman to woman. A few of the guys here have families. But if you’re serious about climbing the animation ranks, it’s pretty hard to have both. Especially for women. The long hours we keep and raising kids don’t exactly mix. Would that be a dealbreaker for you?”

“Um…” It was strange, but I had never thought seriously about whether I wanted to have children and raise a family before.

I’d been so busy keeping my head down as I served out the rest of my sentence, it had seemed dangerous to dream about the future. Much less make practical decisions in the firm Yes and No columns of milestones.