Saturday, January 24, 2004

The Hillbilly In The Machine


I’m just an ole boy born and raised in Athens, GA who watched a little too much television and movies growing up. But with the help of a little schoolin’ and a lot of luck, I got a chance to work in the on-air creative department of Cartoon Network. I write and produce promos, interstitials, etc. for the network – that’s all the stuff what don’t appear to be a commercial or an actual program.

I am the token hillbilly of my department. I have a very thick southern accent, and even though Cartoon Network headquarters is based in Atlanta, GA, I’m one of a small few in my department that talk the way I do. I wouldn’t consider these other folks hillbillies, though, for the simple fact that they've been around. Everyone in my department is well-traveled or they’re from somewhere else. They get kick out of the fact that I haven’t been around a lot, seen the world, or worked somewhere outside the state of Georgia.

But all of that is about to change. Next week I’m heading to L.A. for my first live-action shoot. Most of my projects up to this point have ranged from just being made up of clips from shows and graphics all the way to having new animation made, but never live-action. So I’m stoked.

My other big project right now is losing my fat can. I’ve lost 80 lbs over the past year and still going. No big secret program, either. I’m just going to the gym and seeing a nutritionist once a week. So you’ll see what happens there, too.

You may find this fun or boring as all-get-out. I don’t know; you tell me. People are always saying how great they think my job is, and I would agree with them. But there are days. No matter what, I hope you enjoy reading about it.