Film Conference Call featuring Andy Crouch, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin & Robert Velarde
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Join the Wedgwood Circle team for our September Conference Call on Story and Film moderated by Andy Crouch with special guests Kiel Murray and Phil Lorin from Pixar Animation Studios and Robert Velarde, author of The Wisdom of Pixar & The Heart of Narnia.
———-
Listen to a recording of the call here.
———-
Andy Crouch is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership. A senior editor at Christianity Today International, he has served as executive producer of the documentary films, Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip and was editorial director of the Christian Vision Project from 2005 to 2008. He is a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture, a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission’s IJM Institute, and serves on the board of Equitas Group, a philanthropic organization focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia. His writing has appeared in several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
Kiel Murray works as a Development Executive at Pixar Animation Studios, where she helps directors shape their stories. She and her writing partner (and husband), Phil Lorin, were writers on the Pixar/Disney film, Cars. Since writing on Cars, Kiel and Phil returned to the live action world with KILO, their directorial debut. Drawing on a Philosophy degree and six years in the San Francisco Police Department – two of which were undercover in Vice Crimes – Phil brings a unique voice to his writing and his films. Kiel and Phil continue to write scripts while they raise their three children and develop their next projects.
Robert Velarde is a writer, educator and philosopher. In addition to The Wisdom of Pixar, he is the author of several books including Conversations with C.S. Lewis, The Heart of Narnia, and Inside the Screwtape Letters. A Pixar fan since Toy Story (1995), Robert is the father of four wonderful children who share his love of all things Pixar. Robert resides in Colorado with his wife, kids and lots of Pixar toys. Visit his blog, A Reasonable Imagination.
Hi,
Thank you for the film conference call (22nd September). Your guests from Pixar really grabbed my attention when they said they see a lot of scripts but they ‘all have the same voice’ and how they wished to find ‘new voices’.
This latter hope is of course problematic for angel investors, as the ‘new voice’ will not have a ‘strong brand’ already developed, because it does not come from within the establishment, but from without where resources are thin. There is, it seems, no place for new or emerging talent in this area.
The writer of the new voice takes the seeds of inspiration given; the story, plot, character, etc. plants them in good soil, waters and nourishes them and then the investor comes along and builds a concrete mausoleum to the God of Transformation on top of it!
The writer’s response is of course heartfelt!! Prayers ascend like incense but evaporate before they can reach heaven. They hoped their tears would be collected in a jar for God to count them, but instead they hit the dust on the ground caused by the detritus of human endeavour and decay.
If cultural transformation is a goal, then the new voice has to be encouraged and resourced, for the old voice, is the voice of conformity and doesn’t bring transformation. It is the new voice that achieves this wonderful aspiration.
Geoff Hall. Bristol, UK.
for the latest on my views, please check out:
http://arts-mentoring-group.blogspot.com/
Thanks again for the conference call.
Geoff