Stephen M. Levinson's Blog

Oh man, did I have a good time!! I did so much in just a week and met people I’ve been in touch with for awhile. Living here on the east coast for me, sucks and because I feel separated from the people in the industry and the industry itself. California is the place to be! So anyways, my flights were great and I arrived there and back safely and this is what I did in a week.

MONDAY:
I went to Cartoon Network for a pitch. I met with Lisa Jones and pitched her Ace & Aqua. It was really great and it was my first time pitching in person. I was a little bit nervous but before I actually pitched to her I was relieved of a bit of my nervousness. I was waiting on the couch in the lobby, when all of a sudden MUKPUDDY walked in. They were chatting with Lisa and another guy I didn’t get the name of, but I walked up to them and it was awesome! We made plan’s to meet but I didn’t think I’d run into them at CN! What an awesome surprise! We had a good laugh!

After CN I ran over to Frederator to meet up with Eric Homan. Eric invited me, my brother and my mom to a tour. What do you know, MUKPUDDY was there too and then we toured around the studio! These guys are ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Towards the end of the tour I got to meet Jorge Gutierrez and Steve Lambe. I had a special surprise for the Muk’s though! I originally was going to give Mukpuddy a cameo in A&A but time became less and less and there wasn’t enough time for it. I DID draw them as characters though and gave each of them their picture. Little did I know the Muk’s had a present of their own! Their sketchbook! And how could I leave without having them signed? I couldn’t! You can see the sketchbook below! It’s really awesome by the way! The drawings are incredible and it’s really one awesome treat!

After the tour, I pitched to Eric and I wasn’t nervous this time. Eric gave great advice, was very critical but VERY helpful! His advice is definitely going to help me when I develop a new cartoon, idea, or *short film*.. I also gave Eric two soundtracks on CD to listen to for my action idea, that a great musician named Fletcher Beasley created for me. Eric also told me about the Nicktoons Animation Festival Party but it happened to be on the same night I was leaving to go back home. A quick call to the airline and I’m ready to party!

TUESDAY:

I went to Animax and I got to meet the people I’ve been in touch with over the computer. It was great meeting them and it was great checking out the studio! I also pitched them two of my ideas! Pitching is fun!

After Animax, I headed over to Fletcher Beasley. He’s an amazing musician and is also one hell of a guy! He created two scores for one of my ideas. It’s called Charlie: A Young Hero. He did a theme song for Charlie, the good guy and for the Evil army, the bad guys ( obviously ). You can listen to them below!
Charlie Theme
Crimson Army Theme
He showed me, my brother and my mom how he does his thing and it was really awesome. I’m very interested in how musicians like Fletcher create such great music! My brother is an aspiring musician and was really interested! He had a great time! I should of gotten a photo with Fletcher for the blog…Me and him will definitely be in-touch so I’m sure I’ll see him soon! After Fletcher’s me, my brother and my mom went over to Guitar Center. Boy was my brother giddy! He got to rock out in the store, he got to see the hand prints of his favorite rock stars and he got a shirt! That was a good day, and for all of us!

WEDNESDAY:

I got to visit Cal Arts! It was awesome checking out the place and I CANT WAIT to apply. Gotta keep my options opened though, but it was definitely awesome to see the college I would like to go to!

THURSDAY:
We had a free day. We decided to go to the WB Backlot Tour. We had seen it before and the second time it was pretty much the exact same thing. Nothing new, kinda boring. We should have gone to the Universal tour. Movies filmed at the WB place weren’t really interesting to me. I went to the Universal tour. once before, but I REALLY enjoyed it! Movies I really liked were filmed there. I guess you can check them out for yourselves and decide which one you like better. Next time I go to Cali i’ll check out the Universal one again!

FRIDAY:

What a great day! At 11am I had a meeting with Dave Thomas over at Animax. He is the President and Creative Director there. I was suppose to pitch with him in the room on tuesday, but friday did just fine. I showed him the Ace & Aqua video. He had already seen the pitchbook for that and my What A Prikk idea since I left it on tuesday. He is a great guy and said some really positive things. Not about my ideas, but about me as an artist/animator/creator. Dave and I are definitely going to keep in touch and there is a lot of work to be had between me and him and Animax.

After Animax we relaxed in the room for acouple of hours. The sun is really so tiring, I had no idea. I was exhausted after only a couple of hours! Gonna have to get use to that when I move to Cali!

Later at night the festival party was on! It was huge! Nor me, or my brother or my mom, realized Nick would throw such a HUGE party! It was really great and the screening thing they had was awesome! I think they got me and my brother on video a couple times and pictured here and there…wonder when it’s going to be put online! Such an awesome experience! I also got to meet people I’ve been in touch with online like Floyd Bishop, Aaron Simpson, ….Mukpuddy, I spoke with Pen and just had an overall good time. These guys are so great and meeting them in person was terrific! It’s a shame though that I don’t know what most of the people I’m in-touch with look like. I’m sure there were people there I would have loved to meet but don’t know what the look like. Probably people there I know but just didn’t see. Would have liked to meet more people but those who I did meet were great! I also got to meet a few new people and passed out my business cards here and there

Thats me and Floyd. I’m using his picture since my mom’s picture didn’t come out good lol

That’s me with the Muk’s!. We just had to have a photo together! It’s rare to see them out in the wilderness of the US and this opportunity doesn’t come around all the time. They’re on the other side of the world! Maybe one day a tele-porter will be invented to make it much easier for people to travel anywhere and at anytime, anywhere on the globe. These guys are really great. Talking to them individually was just awesome because over the computer it’s like they’re one person. You don’t know which one you’re talking to! Getting to know them as individuals rather than as Mukpuddy, was probably one of the best parts about meeting them!They’re great guys and we’re definitely going to stay in-touch! They’re one hell of a group!

SATURDAY:
I flew home in the morning and got home safely… Well that was my crazy awesome adventure.. See the things I do in just 1 week being in Cali than being in NY…tisk tisk lol. But hey, if NY is for you, cheers to that!

-Steve