BATON ROUGE – Al Bohl of Bossier City, Louisiana has attended the Red Stick International Animation Festival every year to see the newest content and trends. And this year, after much hard work and mentoring, some of the new content showcased at Red Stick 2009 will be his very own.
Bohl, Art Director at Sci-Port: LOUISIANA’S Science Center in Shreveport, has made a development deal with 9 Story Entertainment to produce and distribute his original animated TV series “Way Out There,” a story about a tween-age boy from Earth who becomes the first foreign-exchange student to another planet.
Bohl, an artist and cartoonist who has contributed to more than 70 publications, wrote a high school and college text book, “Guide to Cartooning,” and was a regular contributor to Cartoonist Profiles magazine, credits his regular Red Stick participation with helping him break into the animation industry.
“I feel that if anyone is interested in animation, Red Stick International Animation Festival is imperative to launching their career,” Bohl said. “The expert teachers, friendly professionals and eager attendees make each Red Stick festival unique and profitable. I can never thank them enough.”
Bohl developed “Way Out There” through the workshops as part of the 2008 Red Stick International Animation Festival’s Pitch! Contest, where it won second place. He submitted the pitch to the Pitch This! Contest at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada, where it won first place. Bohl plans to attend Red Stick 2009 and participate in this year’s Pitch! Contest with a new TV series idea, “The Crystal Forest.”
“We created the American Animation Market and Pitch! Contest components of Red Stick for this very reason, to help people like Al who have good ideas for animated content but need to make connections and get tips on how to get their ideas in front of the studios and producers,” said Red Stick Festival Director Stacey Simmons. “We are very proud that we could help him move his television show forward, and we look forward to hearing from him and others with new ideas at this year’s Pitch! Contest.”
At Red Stick 2007, Bohl won “Best New Idea” for another animated TV show idea, “Tales from the Bayou.” At the festival that year, Bohl met frequent festival speaker Rachelle Lewis, a professional talent scout in the animation and visual effects industry who runs her own company, Rachelle Lewis Talent. Lewis became Bohl’s agent, and worked with him to move his properties in the right direction and develop pitches to major animation companies and networks.
“I have attended Red Stick every year, and am very excited about coming back,” Bohl said. “I have taken every workshop I could, and some of them several times. While I have worked very hard through the years to prepare myself, Red Stick put my animation education into hyper-drive. God willing, Red Stick is one thing I plan to attend every year.”
In addition to his animated work, Bohl is producing a live-action documentary film called "Tarzan: Lord of the Louisiana Jungle" about the 1918 silent motion picture "Tarzan of the Apes" that was shot in Louisiana.
Bohl will present his success story during the Profiles of New Content lecture on Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. in the Manship Theatre as part of events for the 2009 Red Stick International Animation Festival, which takes place April 22-25 in downtown Baton Rouge’s Arts District.
Participants can purchase a Gold Pass for $50 (discounts for students and educators) to attend this and other festival lectures, or register for a free Red Pass to attend all festival screenings. Both passes are available through the festival Web site at http://redstickfestival.org/events_schedule.asp .
LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the festival, in partnership with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and Louisiana Economic Development.
For a complete schedule of Red Stick events and more information about the festival, please visit www.redstickfestival.org or contact the festival office at 225-389-7182.
Bohl, Art Director at Sci-Port: LOUISIANA’S Science Center in Shreveport, has made a development deal with 9 Story Entertainment to produce and distribute his original animated TV series “Way Out There,” a story about a tween-age boy from Earth who becomes the first foreign-exchange student to another planet.
Bohl, an artist and cartoonist who has contributed to more than 70 publications, wrote a high school and college text book, “Guide to Cartooning,” and was a regular contributor to Cartoonist Profiles magazine, credits his regular Red Stick participation with helping him break into the animation industry.
“I feel that if anyone is interested in animation, Red Stick International Animation Festival is imperative to launching their career,” Bohl said. “The expert teachers, friendly professionals and eager attendees make each Red Stick festival unique and profitable. I can never thank them enough.”
Bohl developed “Way Out There” through the workshops as part of the 2008 Red Stick International Animation Festival’s Pitch! Contest, where it won second place. He submitted the pitch to the Pitch This! Contest at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada, where it won first place. Bohl plans to attend Red Stick 2009 and participate in this year’s Pitch! Contest with a new TV series idea, “The Crystal Forest.”
“We created the American Animation Market and Pitch! Contest components of Red Stick for this very reason, to help people like Al who have good ideas for animated content but need to make connections and get tips on how to get their ideas in front of the studios and producers,” said Red Stick Festival Director Stacey Simmons. “We are very proud that we could help him move his television show forward, and we look forward to hearing from him and others with new ideas at this year’s Pitch! Contest.”
At Red Stick 2007, Bohl won “Best New Idea” for another animated TV show idea, “Tales from the Bayou.” At the festival that year, Bohl met frequent festival speaker Rachelle Lewis, a professional talent scout in the animation and visual effects industry who runs her own company, Rachelle Lewis Talent. Lewis became Bohl’s agent, and worked with him to move his properties in the right direction and develop pitches to major animation companies and networks.
“I have attended Red Stick every year, and am very excited about coming back,” Bohl said. “I have taken every workshop I could, and some of them several times. While I have worked very hard through the years to prepare myself, Red Stick put my animation education into hyper-drive. God willing, Red Stick is one thing I plan to attend every year.”
In addition to his animated work, Bohl is producing a live-action documentary film called "Tarzan: Lord of the Louisiana Jungle" about the 1918 silent motion picture "Tarzan of the Apes" that was shot in Louisiana.
Bohl will present his success story during the Profiles of New Content lecture on Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. in the Manship Theatre as part of events for the 2009 Red Stick International Animation Festival, which takes place April 22-25 in downtown Baton Rouge’s Arts District.
Participants can purchase a Gold Pass for $50 (discounts for students and educators) to attend this and other festival lectures, or register for a free Red Pass to attend all festival screenings. Both passes are available through the festival Web site at http://redstickfestival.org/events_schedule.asp .
LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the festival, in partnership with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and Louisiana Economic Development.
For a complete schedule of Red Stick events and more information about the festival, please visit www.redstickfestival.org or contact the festival office at 225-389-7182.
Publish Date:
04-21-2009
