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It’s fitting that a film that pays tribute to those who inspire and mentor was created through a program that aims to do just that for undiscovered talent.
Taylor Meacham’s animated short To: Gerard — which made the Academy’s shortlist for this season’s animated short Oscar — was created through DreamWorks Animation‘s Shorts Program, which was conceived to identify and develop emerging animation talent at the studio, and its score was composed by Layla Minoui, who came to the DWA program through Universal Music’s similar initiative for composers.
But this story really starts with a father-and-son relationship, explains Meacham, a 2014 Emerson College grad who was working at DWA as a production coordinator on 2016’s Trolls when he began creating the moving story of Gerard, a mailman who once dreamed of becoming a magician. Even though Gerard doesn’t meet his goal, he finds joy in having inspired a young girl to follow that path.
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“The greatest magic in life is being able to inspire somebody else to follow their dreams, even if you haven’t accomplished your own,” Meacham says of the film’s universal theme, relating that his own father wanted to be a photographer, but shifted gears when he had kids. “I think that’s something that a lot of parents do,” he adds, recalling that when he called his father to tell him To: Gerard had been greenlit, “we had tears of joy.”
The goal of his film, Meacham says, is to “inspire hope, and to inspire others to do what Gerard did in this film. I think it’s important to pay it forward, but also to pay it back and remember those people who mentored you and inspired you and let them know what that meant to you, and thank them as well.”
In bringing the character of Gerard to life, Meacham says he gave him a “sprightly energy in the way he moved, especially when he was doing magic. We exaggerated a lot more of his animation in those moments. And then in more intimate, personal, emotional moments, we kind of dialed that back.”
In making the short through the DWA program, Meacham and others had the opportunity to work with experienced DWA talent such as producer Jeff Hermann, whose credits include the shorts Bird Karma and Bilby as well as the studio’s upcoming feature The Boss Baby: Family Business, and seasoned character designer Nicolas “Nico” Marlet, whose credits include How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda. Since beginning To: Gerard, Meacham has had the opportunity to be a storyboard artist on DWA’s Oscar contender The Croods: A New Age and is currently working on the studio’s Puss in Boots sequel.
Meacham met Iranian American composer Minoui (Vampirina) through the aforementioned Universal program, and she was brought on to the project after providing a demo of her ideas for To: Gerard. Says Meacham, “She gave us the emotion and heart that I was trying to convey with the story and with the characters. It fit so beautifully together.”
This story first appeared in a March stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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