Episode 38 - Tony Grillo: Animator / Creator / Problem Solver at Mighty Pants Media
As owner and sole full-time employee of Mighty Pants Media, Tony Grillo is a producer of dynamic video and animated content for advertising, messaging, training and entertainment. He has Directed ads as well as celebrated series for high-profile creative and corporate clients like Mark Cuban, Adam Sandler, and Tim Burton. He regularly works as a Story editor, writer, and development partner for short format content. Pat sat down with him to talk about his lengthy career that has spanned 3 decades and multiple states, and ask him what advice he has for industry hopefuls.
- [Tim Burton: Stain Boy Animated Series](http://www.openculture.com/2012/01/tim_burtons_the_world_of_stainboy_watch_the_complete_animated_series.html)
- [Gracie Films](http://www.closinglogos.com/page/Gracie+Films)
- Bottom Line Productions (where he worked in Atlanta while still at ACA)
- [Atlanta College of Art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_College_of_Art)
- [X-Sheet format](http://www.dsource.in/course/exposure-sheet/introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbBwuPX3UyM)
- [Atlanta College of Art (only history I can find)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_College_of_Art)
- [First Movie made in Flash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Flash_animated_films)
- [Jib Jab](https://www.jibjab.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwoebsBRCHARIsAC3JP0Lp-pEFXbe2VzqHcR4X-60IbN0vJBo9_DW-1LylluXHXnFKDAAZSvcaAl_yEALw_wcB)
- [This Land](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Q-sRdV7SY)
- [Toon Boom](https://www.toonboom.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwoebsBRCHARIsAC3JP0Jka0q4lF8I_y1SeitPR_fJ4YIgxMTQGwL6UfrLSYaxQYKhdXYcKxcaAjStEALw_wcB)
- [SCRUM](https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum)
_Audio Editing by [Adam Greenlee](http://bit.ly/AdamGreenlee)
- “Don’t ever stop Drawing... you have to Draw Every Day... its like an Olympic sport! You have to constantly be in good shape for it.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “As well meaning and as brilliant as a lot of [outsource clients] are that we work for, they’re not always the most organized people.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “Ive kind of developed a real gift with pipeline development.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “If you are going to get through [a major project] in under a year, you have to find a way to streamline the process without loosing quality.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “Being able to say, ‘It’s not what I do’, was a nice place to get to when I was doing freelance work.”
~ Pat Bollin
- “You need to do [client work] to keep the lights on while you’re moving towards your overarching goals.”
~ Pat Bollin
- “That’s why we’re called ‘Mighty Pants Media’, by the way, ideas are born naked.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “Most of us NEED to be exposed to the [creative] process over and over again to see what works and what doesn’t work before moving on [to higher levels of achievement].”
~ Paraphrased from Tony Grillo
- When asked,“What did you learn in art school?”
“How to make pizzas… Just kidding, the most important thing I learned there was that I could draw.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “The dot com crashes hit us [Flinch Studio] REAL hard... in 2001.”
~ Tony Grillo
- “Most [established] people in the [animation] industry don’t take kindly to you trying to change the way they do things.”
~ Tony Grillo
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