Two recent Dartmouth alumni are getting paid to follow their dreams.
Phil Lord '97 and Chris Miller '97 spend their days brainstorming ideas for cartoons and "goofing off" at the Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles, Calif.
Disney learned of Lord and Miller after an executive saw an article about Miller in Dartmouth Life magazine titled "The Next Dr. Seuss." Miller sent copies of his and Lord's animated student films to Disney and landed an interview after they moved to Los Angeles.
The interview went better than Lord and Miller thought.
"We didn't know what happened -- it was just an interview," Miller said. "We got a call the next day saying they wanted to give us a development deal and pay us to make up cartoon shows."
One year later, Lord and Miller are drawing, writing and editing projects for Disney.
Currently they are filming a pilot for a series of live-action shorts, based on the 1970s series "Schoolhouse Rock."
"[The shorts] are supposed to teach kids something in a funny and witty way... They will supposedly air this fall on ABC on Saturday mornings," Miller said
"If everything gets approved and everyone likes it," Lord added.
In addition to the current pilot, Lord and Miller also have plans in the works to make a pilot of a variety show of different cartoon styles.
Although Lord and Miller started drawing in childhood, they developed their skills at Dartmouth by taking animation classes and drawing comic strips for The Dartmouth.
Lord created "Loudmouth" and Miller drew "Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel."
Lord and Miller achieved success outside of Dartmouth as well. Miller's film version of "Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel" was shown at the International Animation Festival in Stuttgart, Germany in spring 1996, and Lord's film "Self-Mambo" appeared on the Cartoon Network.
Lord and Miller cite many influences for their work, including Film Studies Professor David Ehrlich, who "introduced us to tons of animation styles and showed us the full and diverse world of animation informs everything we do. A lot of people out here don't have that," Lord said.
Other influences include animators Chuck Jones (of "Looney Tunes" fame), and Nick Park ("Wallace and Grommet"). They are also influenced by "The Simpsons" and "Dexter's Laboratory."
"We haven't modeled ourselves after them, but their work forms our visual and comedic vocabulary," Lord said.
Additionally, Lord explained "Art films are a bigger influence on us than traditional animators. A lot of what we're developing is sort of a non-traditional animation style."
Lord and Miller are not having much difficulty adjusting to life after Dartmouth.
"We don't live in a real world, really," Miller said. "We live in fantasy cartoon land. L.A. is a lot like Dartmouth, except that it is opposite in every way."
Lord and Miller are happy with their career choices. "I could follow my dream or become a corporate slave," Lord said. "We're so young, we have so much time to start over if things don't work out. We have no reason not to blow a couple years of our lives pursuing something exciting. It's so great to do something nuts."
