Phil Lord & Chris Miller Join Initiative to Mentor the New Generation of Creators

VFX Online October 3, 2020, 5:49 am 1.3k Views

Phil Lord & Chris Miller Join Initiative to Mentor the New Generation of Creators

The prolific duo can be your new mentors. Here’s how.

October 2, 2020 – What if you could be mentored by legendary artists and get funding to make your ideas happen? Thanks to the Sony Talent League by THU, now you can.

Phil Lord & Chris Miller, the duo behind some of today’s most successful films and television series, just joined the panel of mentors for the Talent League, a challenge that aims to empower the new generation of creativity from all areas: film, animation, games, music, VR, and more.

Lord and Miller have recently produced Sony Animation’s latest feature film, the Academy Award-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, which Lord also wrote. Peter Ramsey, who made history as the first black Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature for the movie, is also part of the mentors, and is “excited to see ideas that have passion behind them, from creators who want to connect with the world around them.”

The challenge, aimed at creators between 18 and 30 years old, is looking for the best cross-border ideas on a worldwide scale and wants to discover the next generation of creative minds in the digital entertainment industry. Participants can submit alone or in a group up to three members, and applications are open until October 19.

As for the prize, in order to take their ideas to the next level, three finalists will get ten weeks of mentorships and funding of up to 12.500€. To find the winner among the three finalists, the public will vote on the best idea, and, in addition to the finalist’s prize, the winner gets tickets for THU Japan 2021 and 10.000€ of prize money.

The star-studded lineup of jury and mentors also includes:

● Kim Jung Gi: Korean artist who holds a Guinness World Record in the Illustration category;
● David O’Reilly: Multidisciplinary Artist. Writer for Adventure Time, South Park, and fictional video games creator in Spike Jonze’s Academy Award-winning film Her.
● Shuzo John Shiota: President & CEO of Polygon Pictures;
● Alistair Thompson: Head of Innovation Lab – London at Epic Games;
● Tyree Dillihay: Director at Sony Pictures Animation. Previously a Director on Fox’s animated hit sitcom, “Bob’s Burgers,” with 32 episodes and two consecutive Primetime Emmy® nominations to his credit.
● Scot Stafford: Composer and Sound Supervisor at Pollen Music Group;
● Maggie Malone: Executive Producer at Illumination Entertainment;
● Sally Slade: Lead AR/ VR developer at Magnopus;
● Kris Pearn: Director at Sony Pictures Animation. His credits include: Surf’s Up, Arthur Christmas, and Shaun the Sheep, to name a few.
● Sharon Bridgeman: Joined Sony Pictures Animation as a story artist for Smurfs: The Lost Village. Most recently, Bridgeman served as a story artist on the Academy Award® winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
● Justin K. Thompson: Director at Sony Pictures,
● Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Video Games Designer & CEO of EDGEof;
● Craig Berry: Prior to joining Sony Pictures Animation, Berry worked at Warner Animation Group as head of story on features The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Storks, and Space Jam 2.
● Saraswathi Balgam: Executive Director of Rhythm & Hues India, Academy Award winning Animation and VFX studio. She has served as the President of ASIFA India and Women In Animation India for 10 years.

More information about Sony Talent League by THU is available at https://bit.ly/SONYTALENTLEAGUE.

ABOUT THU:

Founded in 2013, THU is on a mission to empower creators through access to opportunities and inspiration, opening the door to a creative world. More than a global brand that focuses on technology, art, and creativity, THU is a networking ecosystem that brings together all areas of the digital entertainment & interactive industry.

ABOUT SONY CREATOR’S GATE:

Sony established Sony Creators Gate in February 2020 with the goal of providing the next generation of creators with exciting opportunities for future growth, and launched the U24 CO-CHALLENGE 2020, ENTERTAINMENT CAMP, STEAM Studio, and Short Film Festival initiatives.