What drew you to this position at LAIKA?
Handmade mediums are my jam, so I was drawn to departments that center on practical work. Of the roles available at the time, the Puppet Coordinator position made the most sense with my work experience, since I was switching over from working in marketing and video production. I’ve since advanced to a Senior Puppet Coordinator role. It’s a funny job title without the context of this industry, and I love it.
WHAT IS IT LIKE WORKING IN THE Puppets DEPARTMENT AT LAIKA?
It’s fun! It’s extremely supportive and collaborative—there are always open lines of communication. The department is very much a mix of engineering and artistry, and everyone’s got a knack for diving into details and committing to the bit. The Puppets department also interacts heavily with other parts of production, so we get to work closely with Stages, Development, Rapid Prototype, Animation, Rigging, Model Shop, and more.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WORKDAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
My typical workday includes several meetings, from puppet production planning to asset reviews to fabrication check-ins, as well as a lot of walkie calls, funny GIFs, and message threads in between. There are administrative tasks like notetaking and scheduling, and a lot of running around the studio with puppet parts, whether to usher something to its next fabrication step, get it in front of a camera for documentation or review, or hand off a completed puppet to the Puppet Hospital for prepping and distribution to Stages.
What DO YOU MOST ENJOY ABOUT WORKING AT LAIKA?
I find people have a shared sense of humor, besides having a shared passion and work ethic, which means a lot to me as a rather giggly person. I like that my 40 hours a week are spent actively engaged with real humans and practical objects around me, and it feels really satisfying to do a job where a lot of little tasks get done in a day.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE Your Role?
I describe it as a project coordinator but for puppet fabrication. Similar to a project coordinator in other contexts, the overall gist is tracking deadlines and approvals, connecting the right people to talk to each other for problem-solving, and in general helping to shepherd a project towards its finish line. The fun part is that in this case, the projects happen to be gorgeous, small-scale, articulated characters, and I spend half my days waving to coworkers in the halls with tiny puppet body parts in my hands.
What’s your favorite project you’ve been involved in here and why?
I was the primary coordinator for Prue, the main character in Wildwood, and we made many duplicates of her (this is standard practice in a large-scale stop-motion production, so that several shots with the same character can be shooting at the same time). It’s rewarding as a coordinator to get several iterations to fine-tune the flow of a build and hopefully contribute to a smoother experience for the fabricators, but also selfishly, it’s fun that I got to spend so much quality time with Prue. She’s got the most adorable shoes, and it adds another layer of sentiment seeing the film come together around her as the lead, because she’s so tangibly familiar to us now.
How did you get started in the industry?
I was always an artsy kid, and I loved miniatures and movies. When I was a teenager, I taught myself stop-motion animation on a whim, and it stuck. On the production/coordination side, I participated in an interdisciplinary arts program, YoungArts, when I was 18 that introduced me to backstage production life, as well as arts admin. It really resonated with me to use my left brain in helping to organize and support artistic production.
Though I fell into stop-motion animation when I was in high school and attended CalArts with the intention of working in the industry, other mediums and experiences had big roles in my life: drawing/painting, miniature sculpting, hand-drawn animation, writing, and interdisciplinary work with live performance. During college, I had a side gig doing social media for a national non-profit arts organization and did a summer internship for a dance festival. When I graduated from CalArts, I had a closer community in the broader arts world than in animation, so I took a full-time job in Miami working with that same non-profit. I was there for seven years, continuing to do art on the side, before following this more recent path to LAIKA in 2021.
How would you describe the workplace culture here?
It’s a workplace full of artists! There’s an inherent level of casualness with professionalism, and workspaces are covered with knick-knacks and strewn with materials and tools. People are generally accepting of others without question, and I’ve found people to be surprisingly generous with their knowledge and experience. People work hard and have suitably high standards, but there’s an awareness that we make movies with puppets for a living.
What's something that continues to surprise you about life at LAIKA?
I’m continuously surprised at the innovations and feats of engineering that come from our fabricators. Just when you think something is beyond physics or beyond the materials at hand, someone on the team casually comes by your desk and says, “squish this!” with an incredible new material or method of construction.
Are there any events or extracurriculars at LAIKA that you particularly enjoy?
I’m a loyal participant in a monthly lunchtime trivia series here at LAIKA. I play with four coworkers in a team called “Puppet Like It’s Hott” (the name and legacy precede me). We are regular champions, and as I type this, the championship belt—handcrafted and decorated over the years by various employees—hangs behind my desk from last month’s showdown.
What advice do you have for people considering a career at LAIKA?
My main advice is to remember that LAIKA is just a workplace, like any workplace—in a good way! Don’t count yourself out by thinking it’s an unattainable, mystical goal. There are many different roles in the studio and paths to get here, whether you’re a fabricator or in admin, coming straight from an arts degree or doing a mid-career shift from another industry. I applied to my role on the Careers page, and you can, too, at any point in your life! I took a seven-year detour before landing at LAIKA, and I’m very glad I got to practice how to show up at a job authentically, respectfully, collaboratively, and lightheartedly prior to coming to work here. That mindset, and a preference for a city like Portland as opposed to LA or NYC, have been most important to me enjoying my time here.
Handmade mediums are my jam, so I was drawn to departments that center on practical work. Of the roles available at the time, the Puppet Coordinator position made the most sense with my work experience, since I was switching over from working in marketing and video production. I’ve since advanced to a Senior Puppet Coordinator role. It’s a funny job title without the context of this industry, and I love it.
WHAT IS IT LIKE WORKING IN THE Puppets DEPARTMENT AT LAIKA?
It’s fun! It’s extremely supportive and collaborative—there are always open lines of communication. The department is very much a mix of engineering and artistry, and everyone’s got a knack for diving into details and committing to the bit. The Puppets department also interacts heavily with other parts of production, so we get to work closely with Stages, Development, Rapid Prototype, Animation, Rigging, Model Shop, and more.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL WORKDAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
My typical workday includes several meetings, from puppet production planning to asset reviews to fabrication check-ins, as well as a lot of walkie calls, funny GIFs, and message threads in between. There are administrative tasks like notetaking and scheduling, and a lot of running around the studio with puppet parts, whether to usher something to its next fabrication step, get it in front of a camera for documentation or review, or hand off a completed puppet to the Puppet Hospital for prepping and distribution to Stages.
What DO YOU MOST ENJOY ABOUT WORKING AT LAIKA?
I find people have a shared sense of humor, besides having a shared passion and work ethic, which means a lot to me as a rather giggly person. I like that my 40 hours a week are spent actively engaged with real humans and practical objects around me, and it feels really satisfying to do a job where a lot of little tasks get done in a day.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE Your Role?
I describe it as a project coordinator but for puppet fabrication. Similar to a project coordinator in other contexts, the overall gist is tracking deadlines and approvals, connecting the right people to talk to each other for problem-solving, and in general helping to shepherd a project towards its finish line. The fun part is that in this case, the projects happen to be gorgeous, small-scale, articulated characters, and I spend half my days waving to coworkers in the halls with tiny puppet body parts in my hands.
What’s your favorite project you’ve been involved in here and why?
I was the primary coordinator for Prue, the main character in Wildwood, and we made many duplicates of her (this is standard practice in a large-scale stop-motion production, so that several shots with the same character can be shooting at the same time). It’s rewarding as a coordinator to get several iterations to fine-tune the flow of a build and hopefully contribute to a smoother experience for the fabricators, but also selfishly, it’s fun that I got to spend so much quality time with Prue. She’s got the most adorable shoes, and it adds another layer of sentiment seeing the film come together around her as the lead, because she’s so tangibly familiar to us now.
How did you get started in the industry?
I was always an artsy kid, and I loved miniatures and movies. When I was a teenager, I taught myself stop-motion animation on a whim, and it stuck. On the production/coordination side, I participated in an interdisciplinary arts program, YoungArts, when I was 18 that introduced me to backstage production life, as well as arts admin. It really resonated with me to use my left brain in helping to organize and support artistic production.
Though I fell into stop-motion animation when I was in high school and attended CalArts with the intention of working in the industry, other mediums and experiences had big roles in my life: drawing/painting, miniature sculpting, hand-drawn animation, writing, and interdisciplinary work with live performance. During college, I had a side gig doing social media for a national non-profit arts organization and did a summer internship for a dance festival. When I graduated from CalArts, I had a closer community in the broader arts world than in animation, so I took a full-time job in Miami working with that same non-profit. I was there for seven years, continuing to do art on the side, before following this more recent path to LAIKA in 2021.
How would you describe the workplace culture here?
It’s a workplace full of artists! There’s an inherent level of casualness with professionalism, and workspaces are covered with knick-knacks and strewn with materials and tools. People are generally accepting of others without question, and I’ve found people to be surprisingly generous with their knowledge and experience. People work hard and have suitably high standards, but there’s an awareness that we make movies with puppets for a living.
What's something that continues to surprise you about life at LAIKA?
I’m continuously surprised at the innovations and feats of engineering that come from our fabricators. Just when you think something is beyond physics or beyond the materials at hand, someone on the team casually comes by your desk and says, “squish this!” with an incredible new material or method of construction.
Are there any events or extracurriculars at LAIKA that you particularly enjoy?
I’m a loyal participant in a monthly lunchtime trivia series here at LAIKA. I play with four coworkers in a team called “Puppet Like It’s Hott” (the name and legacy precede me). We are regular champions, and as I type this, the championship belt—handcrafted and decorated over the years by various employees—hangs behind my desk from last month’s showdown.
What advice do you have for people considering a career at LAIKA?
My main advice is to remember that LAIKA is just a workplace, like any workplace—in a good way! Don’t count yourself out by thinking it’s an unattainable, mystical goal. There are many different roles in the studio and paths to get here, whether you’re a fabricator or in admin, coming straight from an arts degree or doing a mid-career shift from another industry. I applied to my role on the Careers page, and you can, too, at any point in your life! I took a seven-year detour before landing at LAIKA, and I’m very glad I got to practice how to show up at a job authentically, respectfully, collaboratively, and lightheartedly prior to coming to work here. That mindset, and a preference for a city like Portland as opposed to LA or NYC, have been most important to me enjoying my time here.