Ariel Freeman on Anime to Live Action
This week, we talk to Ariel Freeman about Netflix's continuing to turn animation projects into live action projects! As a production coordinator at Dreamworks, she has some awesome insight!
Transcript
This is Film Center.
Speaker:Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Film Center news.
Speaker:My name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And what are we doing today, Nicholas?
Speaker:We are introducing a very special guest today.
Speaker:Could you please introduce yourself?
Speaker:Oh, hi my name is Arielle Freeman Never really done this before.
Speaker:You're all good!
Speaker:So what do you do, Arielle?
Speaker:I'm a production coordinator at DreamWorks.
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:Oh so basically, a production coordinator helps with the logistics of an animated TV
Speaker:show, and basically, we help the artists make sure they have everything they need,
Speaker:and are able to get everything in on time, and also, we, give them we, we cheer them
Speaker:on when they need it, that kind of thing.
Speaker:The moral support.
Speaker:Yeah, that too.
Speaker:Moral support is important, especially for artists and other creatives.
Speaker:Because you have such, a lot of artists have such imposter syndrome so it's
Speaker:important to tell them like, yeah, no, hey, listen, it's all good, just, you
Speaker:know you're already hired here, right?
Speaker:We wouldn't have couldn't do it if you didn't get hired.
Speaker:No it's more just I don't know, it's just it's, Just a way to explain, but
Speaker:like really our art is just amazing.
Speaker:Every artist I've ever met in this industry is just incredible.
Speaker:And I'm just, man, I'm just so lucky to be able to like, just
Speaker:be around their artwork and just.
Speaker:work and see what they make.
Speaker:It's just incredible.
Speaker:As you guys know, Film Center News is on the road and we are at Westlake Yen.
Speaker:Yeah, Westlake.
Speaker:We're at Westlake once again.
Speaker:Why don't you tell everyone a little bit about where you're from?
Speaker:You're not from LA.
Speaker:I'm not.
Speaker:No, you can tell by the accent.
Speaker:I'm from Highland Park, Illinois, which is a little bit outside Chicago.
Speaker:Shout out to Illinois.
Speaker:Shout out, Illinois.
Speaker:Illinois, this is, you finally succeeded.
Speaker:You got on the map.
Speaker:Because someone's out here.
Speaker:Great job, Illinois.
Speaker:There's a few other ways to show they are on the map, if you've ever
Speaker:seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Mean Girls that's also Chicago area.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:In Chi Town, you also have Kanye.
Speaker:Yeah but all of them pale in comparison.
Speaker:And Obama.
Speaker:Actually, yeah.
Speaker:But forget all that.
Speaker:We have a different alien away in here.
Speaker:I guess so.
Speaker:Yeah You work in an animation You work in the animation industry.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah were you always interested in animation?
Speaker:Yes, actually growing up, I, grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons
Speaker:a big favorite in my family was Bugs Bunny cartoons I was a very stubborn
Speaker:kid, and if it wasn't a Bugs Bunny cartoon, that TV was going off.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:You were that picky about it?
Speaker:I was very picky, because if you've ever watched Bugs Bunny cartoons he is,
Speaker:he's the hero, he is a very fun, goofy character, but he At least when he's
Speaker:directed by Chuck Jones, for example.
Speaker:Chuck Jones is a master.
Speaker:Incredible.
Speaker:Such a master.
Speaker:He would always have Bugs Bunny reacting to someone, starting
Speaker:the fight, his famous saying of course you realize this means war.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It would always come from like a Chuck Jones episode, and I, he
Speaker:always felt like a hero to me.
Speaker:So I refused to watch episodes where he lost, and I refused to
Speaker:watch episodes he wasn't there.
Speaker:This kind Of course!
Speaker:He's such an amazing character he's perfected over 80 years of
Speaker:people working with the character to make him feel like the one that
Speaker:we know and love and care about.
Speaker:And it was such a big part of my family My family I grew up with a relatively
Speaker:observant Jewish household, and we'd go to synagogue every week, and my
Speaker:dad would wear a Bugs Bunny tie.
Speaker:Nice!
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what's up.
Speaker:Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker:What made you say oh, I'm interested in animation I think
Speaker:I might go further in this.
Speaker:Did you originally go to college for animation, or?
Speaker:I did, actually.
Speaker:I went to Columbia College, Chicago.
Speaker:It's an art school in Chicago.
Speaker:It's pretty Do your parents have support?
Speaker:Have you gone to For animation.
Speaker:That's actually an interesting story.
Speaker:So actually I've always been interested in animation.
Speaker:It's not just Bugs Bunny.
Speaker:That was just like the first time I noticed.
Speaker:I loved Disney movies.
Speaker:Loved them.
Speaker:Loved Little Mermaid.
Speaker:Mulan were probably my favorites.
Speaker:And I think one of the movies that really inspired me was Prince of Egypt.
Speaker:It's just Oh my god, it's so one of the best.
Speaker:And I love the story behind it where they say if you got in trouble on Prince
Speaker:of Egypt, you had to go work on Shrek.
Speaker:Yeah, I did hear about that.
Speaker:But like Prince of Egypt, I think one of the things about it every time I see it,
Speaker:there's something new I love about it the most recent time I watched it was last
Speaker:year on the DreamWorks campus, which, oh my god, was magical, it was amazing,
Speaker:because people worked with the people that worked on it, so every time their names
Speaker:came up, you saw, you heard clapping, it was Just an incredible experience.
Speaker:And that time when I was watching, I noticed how little dialogue
Speaker:was actually in the movie.
Speaker:And it was mostly just like acting and boarding just masterful.
Speaker:I don't think I've ever seen another movie that has come out of America that has
Speaker:really had an impact like Prince of Egypt.
Speaker:It's such an interesting genre because it's Christian Christian,
Speaker:Jewish, religious, as you say, they had consultants from religious
Speaker:leadership of a Christian, Muslim, and Jewish organizations.
Speaker:Yeah, but it's religious in general.
Speaker:And so it's I don't, there's not a whole bunch of stories that are told, especially
Speaker:nowadays, that are even anywhere close to.
Speaker:The way it's done in that genre.
Speaker:I feel like one of the things about watching it is I have a tough time
Speaker:watching it with my parents because my mom likes to point out all the
Speaker:inaccuracies to the actual story.
Speaker:However, I feel like the thing about it that really just makes it
Speaker:universal is that it takes bits and pieces from each of the tellings.
Speaker:and makes it into a strong coherent story of its own.
Speaker:So they really push like the brotherly relationships between Moses and Ramses
Speaker:and they Push the arc so you can see beginning middle end for all the
Speaker:characters and I think that just makes it even more incredible because you're
Speaker:able to be inspired by the original story and create something new from it.
Speaker:I definitely understand there's a lot of inaccuracies.
Speaker:It's not completely exactly the same as the Exodus story.
Speaker:But it's just, it's, you can tell the inspiration, you can tell the love
Speaker:for the original source material.
Speaker:Plus the cast!
Speaker:Incredible, yes!
Speaker:Incredible!
Speaker:Val Kilmer took it very seriously.
Speaker:I read that he did method acting for it, but I'm not completely sure.
Speaker:So don't quote me on that.
Speaker:So going back to your parents, what is the, you said that was an interesting
Speaker:story about getting into animation.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I didn't really know that I actually wanted to pursue animation till watching
Speaker:Avatar The Last Airbender, because that was the first show where I realized
Speaker:that an animated TV show could be something other than comedic and can
Speaker:really teach you Such a great show.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:On so many different levels.
Speaker:Man, Zuko's story just made me realize that when a bully was mean to you or
Speaker:something going back to mundane human life when a bully was mean to you, they
Speaker:probably had something going on with them.
Speaker:With Zuko's story he learned his entire life that about how the
Speaker:Fire Nation was trying to share his greatness, how he believed that
Speaker:they were doing the right thing, and then he had to learn on his own.
Speaker:No one could tell him, no one could force him that what he was doing was wrong.
Speaker:One of the greatest redemption arcs.
Speaker:Period.
Speaker:Period.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Because it was genuine, because it was, it took 50 episodes, it wasn't
Speaker:super fast and it was super fast.
Speaker:Oh, excuse me.
Speaker:So thought throw there, DJ . Something it teaches kids that you gotta give
Speaker:people patience to maybe learn that something that they're doing is wrong
Speaker:and give them the support like Uncle Iro did to Zuko, to give them the
Speaker:opportunity to grow from something that they might've done in the past.
Speaker:To be able to understand that it was wrong and be able to.
Speaker:Become better on their own.
Speaker:Before we get too deep into this conversation my family if you're
Speaker:listening, this is obviously something she's very passionate about.
Speaker:My, my parents are very aware of their kids, their likes and dislikes and stuff.
Speaker:And one thing that I didn't know until I was ready to graduate was when we
Speaker:had a trip to Disney World when I was around six, and that was right
Speaker:before the animation studio over in Florida was finished, like they were
Speaker:They lost funding and had to close.
Speaker:And then they really moved more towards Pixar.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So that was closing down.
Speaker:I believe it was like, they're working on like maybe legal and stitch.
Speaker:Maybe.
Speaker:I can't remember, but yeah, exactly.
Speaker:But I bel we had a tour to, to the animator's work, and found out later
Speaker:that my dad was talking to one of the animators, and they gave him a
Speaker:pencil to give to me, because he knew that I wanted to get into animation.
Speaker:I was six.
Speaker:That's so cool!
Speaker:So that's when he gave me the pencil, cause I was telling him I think it
Speaker:was maybe my junior, senior year.
Speaker:That I wanted to get into animation, that I wanted to start working my portfolio
Speaker:and really getting serious about it.
Speaker:And he gave me the pencil and told me the story and I still have it.
Speaker:So very supportive.
Speaker:Very supportive.
Speaker:That's so great to hear.
Speaker:We very rarely hear supportive stories.
Speaker:That is great position.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Both Nicholas and I have already told our horror stories, so it's really
Speaker:great to hear, that, someone's.
Speaker:being supportive of what you wanted to do.
Speaker:After, so when you went to college, how did you end up out here in Los Angeles?
Speaker:Oh, that's another fun story.
Speaker:I felt that when I was, getting ready to graduate college that my portfolio
Speaker:wasn't exactly where it needed to be.
Speaker:I actually had this amazing teacher, Julian Grant, who taught this class,
Speaker:Business of Animated Content, and I, he also taught another one that
Speaker:was like Portfolio Development for Animation, and in both those
Speaker:classes, he really pushed networking.
Speaker:He pushed to meet people in the industry, reach out to them with
Speaker:emailing, with cold calling with cold emailing with basically just find a way
Speaker:to talk to people in the industry and learn from them and gain mentorship.
Speaker:And just like just me as many people as possible.
Speaker:And when especially when you're first starting out, and we've
Speaker:said this before, it's important that, you get those experiences.
Speaker:And not everything is about money up front.
Speaker:When you're first starting to learn.
Speaker:Experience is more valuable than money up front.
Speaker:With animation, they go by this, like I heard this I should probably continue.
Speaker:So yeah, so when I graduated, my parents pushed me out of the house.
Speaker:They're like, just get started already, just go out there
Speaker:and start talking to people.
Speaker:Out the bird's nest.
Speaker:Exactly, because my parents they both have like MBAs, so they, they learn
Speaker:networking basically like second nature.
Speaker:What do you, what do your parents do?
Speaker:So my mom she did marketing for global marketing for mostly dental companies
Speaker:Marketing means networking expert.
Speaker:Getting that job means networking expert but marketing means people expert.
Speaker:At least that's how I see it.
Speaker:And then my father he had many different jobs, but he did mostly
Speaker:internet marketing in the beginning, and then he started his own dog
Speaker:food business, which is incredible.
Speaker:And you guys have a dog?
Speaker:We do.
Speaker:Actually.
Speaker:He's a little Bijan poodle mix named jazz.
Speaker:He's a grumpy little guy and I love him.
Speaker:Then my dad, I recently got in he, he got into his new newest career, which is he's
Speaker:a financial advisor at Goldman Sachs.
Speaker:So it basically, yeah, that's quite the flex.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:He started.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That, that one is just I'm just he's my hero.
Speaker:So being able to like change direction in your career so many times and just
Speaker:doing it with and being able to keep up with all the, the young'uns, he
Speaker:just it really teaches you that, How did he get the job at Goldman Sachs?
Speaker:Oh that one also with networking.
Speaker:With some family friends that like were financial advisors as well.
Speaker:And they I believe he I, you'd have to talk to him about the story, but he had
Speaker:to but they like he did informational interviews with them, I believe.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:You're, so He's gonna have to tell you.
Speaker:What networking skills did you usually What usual skills did you
Speaker:say that you really leaned on?
Speaker:I, so when I first moved out here, it was around like late 2018, early 2019,
Speaker:and I just hit the ground running.
Speaker:I got You said late 2018, early 2019.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That's when I got here.
Speaker:Hey, they were practically neighbors.
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:When I got out here, I just like.
Speaker:I started immediately trying to get some kind of income, so I started
Speaker:teaching swimming at the local JCC, did that for a little while, and
Speaker:then found something that was, like, a little bit easier to manage which
Speaker:was private swim lessons in West L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:for with a company called Head Above Water.
Speaker:It's basically just With that, it gave me the freedom to take my
Speaker:weeks and use them for networking.
Speaker:So what I did was I would go to networking events, meet people, then schedule
Speaker:coffee chats throughout the week, where it, I would basically go to one place
Speaker:to meet one person, then go to another place to meet another person, and that
Speaker:was my day for a couple months there.
Speaker:Hollywood runs on coffee meets.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Lunches, dinners.
Speaker:I, in the South, we, more people play golf to do a lot of their networking.
Speaker:Yeah, back.
Speaker:But over here in LA, it's oh.
Speaker:The coffee.
Speaker:The interesting thing is I actually not really much of a coffee
Speaker:drinker, more of a tea person.
Speaker:How did you survive?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's like it was touch and go for a little while there.
Speaker:Each new person I met gave me some new advice and some new understanding
Speaker:of their experiences in the industry.
Speaker:And everyone had a different story.
Speaker:No one went into the industry in the same way.
Speaker:And that was just incredible to be able to see that.
Speaker:And they all said the same thing paid forward.
Speaker:Like this industry runs on basically kindness from others and being able
Speaker:to give that kindness to another person who's looking for it.
Speaker:And I just I was in awe with how many people were just willing and excited
Speaker:to just help out the next generation get to where they wanted to go.
Speaker:And I just I found that incredible.
Speaker:I ended up networking like this for a few months.
Speaker:It was, getting it was getting tough.
Speaker:I was I wasn't working as much as I needed to still keep rent and
Speaker:everything, but it Right here is hiiii.
Speaker:Of course it is, exactly.
Speaker:But I was cold emailing and basically, for anyone who wants to know, cold emailing
Speaker:is essentially, you find names of people who've worked on things you wanted to
Speaker:work on, that you wanted to work on, that you like, that you respect, that you
Speaker:want to like, understand their stories, and you reach out to them through email.
Speaker:And to basically just try to find a way to just talk to them.
Speaker:And keep in mind that networking is about making friends.
Speaker:You're learning about new people.
Speaker:You're asking for help.
Speaker:You're learning about their experiences because learning is the most important
Speaker:thing when getting into this industry.
Speaker:It's very off putting when someone says, Oh, give me something.
Speaker:From the job, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker:Why don't you try to become their friend?
Speaker:And keep in mind, these people are good people, and if they
Speaker:could, they would give you a job.
Speaker:They really would.
Speaker:But it's, they also, the best thing they can do is just give you their story.
Speaker:And that is always great for when you're just starting out, because
Speaker:you can learn from their experiences.
Speaker:So in this case, I cold emailed I sent maybe like 10 emails a day, give or take,
Speaker:to different people in the industry.
Speaker:And I rarely got a response because, Life is crazy, and people do the best they
Speaker:can, and sometimes an email falls through the cracks and that's okay, and keep in
Speaker:mind, if you guys, if anybody listening to this is getting started in the
Speaker:industry and going out on their own and networking, if somebody doesn't respond
Speaker:or somebody responds and takes a while to respond again, don't, it's never on you.
Speaker:Life is just tough, and people, have important responsibilities that they
Speaker:have in their own lives, so never blame yourself, just keep going, and keep
Speaker:trying, and keep talking to new people.
Speaker:And sometimes you need to send a reminder hey, I emailed you
Speaker:two months ago, how are you?
Speaker:Yeah also just yeah, checking on them.
Speaker:If they give you their time, they're giving you a great treasure
Speaker:because people can't get time back.
Speaker:Please take it with you and be able to pay it forward when
Speaker:someone asks for your help.
Speaker:In this case, one of the people I cold emailed, it was Tobias Trost,
Speaker:who worked on things like Gravity Falls and Shout out to Tobias!
Speaker:Yeah, and Young Justice, and he gave me my first shot.
Speaker:I was interviewing with other companies for a while, actually,
Speaker:and I got an interview with him and they gave me an opportunity on the
Speaker:show final space for season two.
Speaker:Incredible show.
Speaker:Please watch it if you can.
Speaker:It's so good, so fun.
Speaker:And I'm just so lucky to be able to, as an artist people have different art
Speaker:styles that they're that they favor.
Speaker:Is there any art styles that you can think of from some show or something like man?
Speaker:I love the way that this is drawn.
Speaker:Oh man, Avatar Lester Banner holds a special place in my heart I'm a sucker
Speaker:for like anime style I'm a sucker for just the emotions that it gives and
Speaker:like the storytelling that it allows.
Speaker:I just I love it And it just but I learned to see Like different art styles and
Speaker:see what went into them and just learn to love those as well But avatar will
Speaker:always hold a special place in my heart.
Speaker:Speaking of avatar.
Speaker:We've had a previous guests Avatar that holds such a special place in your heart.
Speaker:I think I got into a little bit with Zuko storyline It was the first time like where
Speaker:as a kid I noticed that Animation can tell darker storylines and like life lessons
Speaker:and it gets into some really interesting Ideas like it gets into government
Speaker:corruption it gets into Embossing say exactly what that's not the line.
Speaker:What is the line?
Speaker:It's like there's nothing there is no more embossing Say that's what it is.
Speaker:That's what it is.
Speaker:Yeah and it just as a kid, like I think I was 10 when I started
Speaker:watching after our last Airbender, I would watch with my brothers.
Speaker:I have two brothers older and younger, and we rarely agreed on what to watch.
Speaker:Watch you.
Speaker:You're the middle child.
Speaker:I am, yeah.
Speaker:I give off that energy, , classic middle child classic middle child.
Speaker:Me and Nicholas are both the oldest.
Speaker:The oldest, yeah.
Speaker:I Know how you feel, but I also know how the youngest feels.
Speaker:So you usually were you like a mediator in the house or you were like.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No?
Speaker:Cause I was also the You were the instigator?
Speaker:She's also you were also the only girl.
Speaker:I was also the only girl it was a little bit different dynamic.
Speaker:But, the point is, Avatar was one of the shows we would always watch together
Speaker:and we'd always love to watch together.
Speaker:So it also holds a special place in my heart because it was a way
Speaker:for me to bond with my brothers and I will always like enjoy that.
Speaker:Like even in college when Legend of Korra was out my brother would
Speaker:reach out being like, did you see the new Avatar Legend of Korra episode?
Speaker:And I would be like, oh yay, he's reaching out about something.
Speaker:This is great.
Speaker:So what is your, so you know Netflix is Live action it's gonna come out.
Speaker:Yeah, pretty soon.
Speaker:Yeah, and a lot of people are Wary of what it might look like some of the shots
Speaker:They look okay, but it's hard to judge something from a picture, and Once again,
Speaker:we cannot ignore the previous live action attempt of Avatar The Last Airbender
Speaker:that's been banished to other live actions such as Dragon Ball Z Evolution.
Speaker:I don't know what you're talking about, it doesn't exist.
Speaker:There is no movie in Ba Sing Se.
Speaker:There is no movie in Ba Sing Se, exactly.
Speaker:From what I've heard and seen, they've done really well with One Piece.
Speaker:And they've done really well with Yu Hakusho.
Speaker:With those two successes, and those being animes as well.
Speaker:Success meaning they were rated highly.
Speaker:What do you, does that give you more hope that this time around, the
Speaker:live action Avatar will do better?
Speaker:Because, just cause it's Netflix, I mean they did mess
Speaker:up that Death Note pretty bad.
Speaker:And Death Note is mostly dialogue, so I don't even know how they failed that.
Speaker:So I think they actually, I think Cowboy Bebop was, it needed to happen
Speaker:so they can learn their lesson.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about Cowboy Bebop.
Speaker:They messed up that one too.
Speaker:Yeah, so for those who don't know, Cowboy Bebop was panned in its release and the
Speaker:original creator was barely involved.
Speaker:I think was mostly involved with music?
Speaker:I can't remember, but it was not good.
Speaker:And please don't time, like I said, you can't get back.
Speaker:Just keep that in mind.
Speaker:But with, one Piece, it I feel like that proved that they learned their
Speaker:lesson because I'm a huge One Piece fan.
Speaker:I love One Piece.
Speaker:Didn't they say they worked a lot really close with the creator for it?
Speaker:Yeah I, yeah, so I'm Imagine that!
Speaker:Work closely with the person who created the show, and you'll get a good show!
Speaker:Yeah yes, I'm a huge fan of One Piece.
Speaker:I've seen every episode.
Speaker:I'm caught up completely with the manga.
Speaker:I know where the story's gonna go, and So good, it's really great.
Speaker:There's over a thousand episodes.
Speaker:Actually.
Speaker:I've been up to date since I was in high school, so It's easier now.
Speaker:You have to go back in time to keep up with her.
Speaker:If there's another pandemic, you have something to do for a little while.
Speaker:God forbid.
Speaker:With the one people's live action, I watched it.
Speaker:I was like, wow, it retains the like whimsy and wonder that the
Speaker:original had the casting was perfect.
Speaker:I don't think that could have gotten better people for each character.
Speaker:Gotten.
Speaker:Luffy was incredible.
Speaker:He had the same energy.
Speaker:He was warm.
Speaker:He was welcoming.
Speaker:And he just you can just see the passion ooze from this character
Speaker:that Everyone fell in love with her in the original animated show.
Speaker:So props, Netflix, great job on one.
Speaker:So you, we can confirm that you do the live action one piece.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So what do they have to do in the avatar, the anime avatar, a live
Speaker:action for you to get someone like you to get the same reaction?
Speaker:I think is they just need to love the original and just
Speaker:want to do right by the fans.
Speaker:Which is what they did with one piece.
Speaker:They were very like from what I've heard from friends that.
Speaker:I used to work at Netflix.
Speaker:They worked very close.
Speaker:Here in Los Angeles, we do sign NDAs, once again.
Speaker:But people, our audience knows that, but we can't talk about everything.
Speaker:Yeah, so from what I've heard the showrunner of the live action One
Speaker:Piece was, is a huge fan of One Piece himself, and basically can name what
Speaker:scene, what chapter, what happened in each one, and just is an encyclopedia.
Speaker:The passion's there.
Speaker:Exactly, and the cast is also a big fan Nami.
Speaker:The woman playing Nami just loves the character and just
Speaker:cares about the character.
Speaker:So that's just an example.
Speaker:So they also worked very closely with Oda.
Speaker:Yutaro Oda, who is the creator of One Piece.
Speaker:And just, and Amazing writer and just incredible writer.
Speaker:So they were able to like, check in with him to make sure that the
Speaker:storylines they were going with and things they cut for time, of course
Speaker:were okay with him as they move forward.
Speaker:Although I don't know all the details because I didn't work on it, but, um,
Speaker:that's what I hope they were able to do with with Avatar because I think
Speaker:that the closest thing you can get without the creators because it,
Speaker:famously the creators left in I think 2019 as the show is being developed.
Speaker:I don't know what went on with that.
Speaker:There's always, that always gives me, uh, it always makes me nervous when
Speaker:you hear that the creators have left.
Speaker:Not that they were removed, but they themselves decided to
Speaker:leave because of some reason.
Speaker:For that reason, I don't really know.
Speaker:But who do you think is gonna be?
Speaker:Who, what I say is your favorite Avatar character?
Speaker:Zuko.
Speaker:For Zuko.
Speaker:I'm a sucker for redemption arcs.
Speaker:I just, like, I love the, the philosophical side and morality
Speaker:side when it comes to that.
Speaker:I, with him, with his character, he was just, you can tell how lost he was.
Speaker:You can tell that he was a good person at his core.
Speaker:He just grew up with such negative Ideas that it pushed him in an evil
Speaker:direction, and he was just given the opportunity to show that his capacity for
Speaker:good outweighed his capacity for evil.
Speaker:And I think that's something that everyone can learn and everyone can grow from.
Speaker:It's like people have the ability to change and have the ability
Speaker:to adapt and become better.
Speaker:And I want to think that growing up, seeing that character being able to learn
Speaker:from his mistakes and become better and be accepted by the people that he wronged.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:It is really incredible for someone who's just like growing up and seeing
Speaker:the negative sides of school, like grade school, middle school, high school.
Speaker:People are bullies.
Speaker:People are mean.
Speaker:The scene that really resonates with me in Avatar, we're talking Zuko.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:I could talk about Zuko for hours.
Speaker:It's the one with so where he finds the, where he finds their bison, right?
Speaker:And Iroh's who do you want to be?
Speaker:And he's I know my destiny, uncle.
Speaker:Is it your destiny?
Speaker:Or is it destiny that someone has put on you?
Speaker:And that is, I remember watching that and being like, oh my
Speaker:gosh, just straight up chills.
Speaker:Cause it does strike a huge core, and one of the things that people really
Speaker:like about the live action One Piece is that the writing is still there because
Speaker:of, because It's core is there, right?
Speaker:Yes, some quotes are directly from the manga itself, like Hawkeye's quote
Speaker:I don't hunt rabbits with a cannon.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, so then it's I think that if they try, if they don't have that core.
Speaker:The core of the characters in the live action Avatar, it's
Speaker:going to go down pretty The reaction's going to be really bad.
Speaker:Oh gosh, if they mess it up it's going to be a horrible reaction.
Speaker:I'm going in with some semblance of hope because I do believe
Speaker:One Piece was is probably the thing that's given me that hope.
Speaker:Because One Piece was like they did such a good job with One Piece.
Speaker:They understand what's at stake and they understand who they need to make this for.
Speaker:They need to make this for The fanbase of the original who want to watch with
Speaker:their kids and want to watch it with a different medium and see if the story
Speaker:is able to work well in that medium.
Speaker:And, I have, I'm a little curious.
Speaker:I'm curious to see how they do it and if there's a Technology is better.
Speaker:It is, but I also think that They're gonna take it seriously and the
Speaker:trailers have been pretty solid and it's really like showing like
Speaker:bits and pieces of things that we remember from the original cartoon.
Speaker:Although I do think the cartoon can't be beat.
Speaker:The original is just incredible and they just Something I
Speaker:worry about is the lighting.
Speaker:Cause especially, we have fire.
Speaker:It's just It's so easy to animate beautiful fi not easy, but it's
Speaker:animated fire looks better a lot of times when it comes to lighting.
Speaker:Than actual fire.
Speaker:Because, when you're using cameras you have your white balance and you
Speaker:have that ex light source, right?
Speaker:So then the camera wants to, compensate for that.
Speaker:And I honestly, some fire is usually something that's pretty hard to capture.
Speaker:Is that is that a worry for you?
Speaker:Or you think they're just gonna CGI all the fire?
Speaker:There's obviously some of it, but I would like to see some real fire.
Speaker:Honestly, if the story's there, and the characters are there, acted, and still
Speaker:hitting as the original did, I think the effects will if it, if they're not that
Speaker:bad, they could probably be like, add a certain kind of character to the show.
Speaker:If I've been re watching a lot of older TV shows, and one of
Speaker:them is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Speaker:And with that show it's got really bad effects, but I feel like that kind of
Speaker:gives it a little bit of that charm.
Speaker:You think it g You think that but it's dated, though.
Speaker:People watch it knowing that it's dated.
Speaker:Oh, it's incredibly dated, but I think, but they talk about the effects alone,
Speaker:or the it's just, I feel like Even though effects can be a detriment,
Speaker:sometimes it can be very charming.
Speaker:Even if it's not exactly perfect, so As long as you care about the characters,
Speaker:yeah, I'm Yeah, what I'm saying is I'm not super worried about that because I think
Speaker:if the writing's there and the characters are there it's gonna just be a fun watch.
Speaker:You think it's gonna give it a piece of charm that we would
Speaker:have never thought of before.
Speaker:Yeah, so that's possible.
Speaker:I, like I said, I've never I don't know what to expect but I'm
Speaker:going in to expect it to be fun.
Speaker:With the One Piece live action show The rubber powers that Luffy has is
Speaker:not, it's, they do the best they can.
Speaker:And it does give it a little bit of charm, especially how they
Speaker:have to maneuver through their, the difficulty that it gives.
Speaker:I think that was really smart choice.
Speaker:And they are really pushing with practical effects in that show.
Speaker:If you've noticed, like a lot of the ships, I loved that.
Speaker:So great to me personally, that's what made that show worked for me
Speaker:is that they were like, all right, if we're going to do it live action.
Speaker:We're it's live action.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:I, there's so many instances where I was watching the live action one piece.
Speaker:And I was like, if this was CGI, I don't think I would have liked
Speaker:it as much, at certain parts.
Speaker:And the fact that you see them try to push for the practicals also shows
Speaker:the amount of love they have for it.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And I think that also gives it a lot of charm.
Speaker:Like it's the campy adventure story.
Speaker:They should have genetically engineered a real flying bison.
Speaker:No, I'm kidding.
Speaker:It's the campy adventure story that we fell in love with when
Speaker:we were kids growing up with some of this like non exact, great.
Speaker:Special effects stuff.
Speaker:Like it's I grew up watching the 1960s Batman live action show.
Speaker:It's so campy with the dry eyebrows.
Speaker:Oh, man, it's I love it so much because it's just it's so campy and just so
Speaker:all over the place, but it's just fun.
Speaker:And you don't have to like really think about it.
Speaker:It's just like an enjoyable And it's an enjoyable show, but it's just
Speaker:you also have Batman, like drinking orange juice and it's it's so And
Speaker:having shark repellent, but that goes back to loving the character
Speaker:and loving the execution of it.
Speaker:But it's a different version of the character.
Speaker:So Batman's actually my favorite superhero of all time.
Speaker:And I think that probably the best version of him is Batman the Animated
Speaker:Series, but I can gain some enjoyment from the 1960s one because it's got its
Speaker:own style and it's like a unique take and it's still, you can still tell there's
Speaker:some kind of it's just a different Take on the character but, Batman,
Speaker:the animated series perfect iteration.
Speaker:One thing that I would ask you is, do you think nowadays audiences are
Speaker:more forgiving and understandable more so than they were in the past?
Speaker:So I feel like with a fan base, I've seen a lot of forgiveness come out of them
Speaker:in certain cases they just want their favorite characters that have given them
Speaker:so much joy, they just want them to be portrayed just well, they just want to
Speaker:see love for the characters, they want to see excitement for the characters from
Speaker:the people who are working with them, and that's all they want, that's all
Speaker:they want to see, and I feel like with One Piece, you can see that with live
Speaker:action, you can see there's care, you can see there's love, you can see they're
Speaker:trying their best to honor each other.
Speaker:What gave so many people so much joy and and I feel like if we're given
Speaker:that with characters that have given, have had a tough go about it as of
Speaker:recently, I see that you're going to be surprised with how the fan base reacts
Speaker:and how they can be very forgiving.
Speaker:They just want to see the thing they love so much that has maybe connected them
Speaker:to their spouse or their children and.
Speaker:Ways that people don't understand I grew up watching Star Wars, for example,
Speaker:with my dad, and it's just, I grew up watching the prequels with my brother,
Speaker:and I love the prequels because of that, because it gave me such great memories
Speaker:of spending time with your family.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:When I see people insult the prequels, and most I can forgive that, of course,
Speaker:with the fanbase, because they want so badly to see what they love, but
Speaker:when it comes to the shows insulting the prequels, I'm just like, hey now.
Speaker:Wait, what's going on with this?
Speaker:Yeah this has given a lot of people a lot of joy.
Speaker:Look at Star Wars Clone Wars.
Speaker:Amazing show!
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Amazing show.
Speaker:Great show.
Speaker:Ariel, thank you so much for coming on to the show and speaking with us.
Speaker:Absolutely, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker:Is there anything that you want to is there any way people can follow you
Speaker:or, some things you want to shout out?
Speaker:Oh oh my follow me?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I, man, social media is a scary place, but, um, I don't know, check out some of
Speaker:the shows I've worked on, I don't know.
Speaker:You, what shows like?
Speaker:I worked on Final Space Season 2, but Season 3's great,
Speaker:Season 1's great, please watch.
Speaker:I worked on The Simpsons of course, watch it, it's great.
Speaker:The Simpsons is also really great.
Speaker:Oh, it's such a great show, please watch, it's so great.
Speaker:I won an Emmy this year, yay, go Simpsons!
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, And I'm currently working on an animated preschool show
Speaker:called Gabby's Dollhouse.
Speaker:So incredible.
Speaker:If you have little kids, or if you have family that's
Speaker:little kids, they will love it.
Speaker:It's so fun.
Speaker:They'll learn something new.
Speaker:You'll enjoy it.
Speaker:Check it out.
Speaker:Super fun.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Guys, this has been Film Center News.
Speaker:My II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with Arielle Freeman.
Speaker:And we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See y'all.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
Speaker:Hey, do you like anime and manga?
Speaker:Nick and I are Big fans of the genre.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We recently discovered a manga named Thomas.
Speaker:She, it's written and created by Ryan McCarthy, and it recently just
Speaker:came out with its 10th volume now, Thomas, she is an is Kai about a
Speaker:girl who gets transported to another world called the Ancient Lands.
Speaker:She gains mysterious powers and must fight demons and monsters.
Speaker:To find her way home.
Speaker:Check it out on Amazon Blurp and get a physical copy@ryanmccarthyproductions.com.
