"NO" Nonsense
Hard to believe My Life as a Teenage Robot just celebrated 20 years since it first aired on Nickelodeon.
MLAATR was a special show for me because it marked a crucial turning point in my career in animation.
But it almost didn’t happen.
The year was 2004 and I had been in the business awhile. My work up to that point had been on realistic action/adventure shows and I was hoping to expand my repertoire style-wise.
A friend at Nickelodeon told me about a position on Teenage Robot, which had a BG design slot open for its second season. I had only seen the show in passing but I saw it was very stylized and different from anything I’d done before.
I submitted my portfolio and waited.
They weren’t impressed.
The production manager called me on a Friday and said my portfolio didn’t reflect the design needs of the show so I wasn’t a good fit. They wouldn’t even give me a test to see if I could learn the style.
I don’t like being told I can’t do something.
So I made my own test.
Over the weekend I watched as much MAALTR as I could, pausing the TV to study the BGs and drew a scene that I felt matched the style they were looking for.
Sent it in Monday morning and got an interview. Turns out the BG lead was Joseph Holt, who I’d briefly worked with on Eight Crazy Nights so that acquaintance along with my not taking "NO" for an answer got me the job!
And what a job it was!
I worked harder and learned more about stylized design following Joseph’s lead than at any job previously. The talent on that show was insane! Aside from Joseph creating that amazing “future deco” BG style, we had Alex Kirwan leading character design, Seonna Hong leading color along with the best designers and storyboard artists in the business all led by the creator, Rob Renzetti, who inspired us all with these wonderful stories and characters.
None of this would have happened if I took “NO” for an answer.
But that’s what we often do. We see rejection as a final judgement on who we are and what we’re capable of.
It’s a bunch of nonsense.
Most of us have no idea what our true limits are. We just accept what parents or teachers or society tells us we can or can’t do.
Don’t just take "NO" for an answer. If a door of opportunity closes, find a ladder and climb in through the window.
Till next time,
Chris
P.S.—To celebrate MLAATR’s 20th anniversary, Rob is writing a new MLAATR story to be released in chapters through his newsletter. You can sign up at robrenzetti.com !
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