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Andrew Gordon    

Directing Animator at Pixar, Award-Winning Animator, Creative Educator

Master storyteller and directing animator at Pixar Animation Studios, Andrew Gordon leverages his extensive experience to teach business audiences how to harness storytelling and creativity for innovation and effective communication. With over 20 years at Pixar, Gordon has animated and directed beloved characters such as Mike Wazowski in "Monsters Inc." and Gill in "Finding Nemo." His work on "Finding Nemo" earned him the "Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture" award from the Visual Effects Society.

During his tenure at Pixar, Gordon contributed significantly to films including "A Bug’s Life," "The Incredibles," and others. Utilizing insights from Pixar’s filmmaking process, he illustrates how profound storytelling transcends the film industry and becomes an invaluable tool in business environments. His interactive workshops and keynotes, such as "The Anatomy of a Great Story" and "How to Crank Up Creativity – Even for Non-Creatives," provide practical tools that foster creativity, facilitate effective feedback, and underline the importance of learning from failure in achieving success.

Gordon is also deeply involved in educating and mentoring new generations of animators and storytellers. He has taught animation and storytelling since 2000, led the Pixar Animation Internship program multiple times, and co-founded The Animation Collaborative as well as the animation programs at California College of the Arts and The One Academy of Communication Design. He has collaborated with major companies like Facebook, Pinterest, and Deloitte, helping them cultivate a creative culture and implement innovative storytelling strategies in their leadership and management practices. Currently, Gordon is contributing his expertise to a new film project with Illumination Entertainment and continues to influence a wide range of professionals around the world by demystifying the story process and emphasizing its fundamental role in human culture.

Speech Topics


Creating a culture of Creativity

This talk is about the 20 years spent at Pixar, and all the lessons I learned about why this company rose to the top and how the culture played such a large influence on the products.

Story and Why it Matters

Story no Glory was the saying and this talk speaks to all the ingredients of what makes a great story and how to get that into your work. We look at story structures as well as business stories and break down the why of each.

Feedback, Failure and Fun

The secret sauce of great movies is sometime how the feedback is given and received. This talk looks at how the brain trust worked during my time at Pixar and how other companies do similar work. We look at how to understand what good feedback is and also how rapid iteration is key in making great work.

Hero's in Film and Business

Many people believe the customer should be the hero in the business story. In this talk we discuss what makes a great hero in a film and how businesses can also utilize this information when marketing.

The Meta-verse. All you need to know

Having worked for a startup in the Web 3.0 space, this talk looks at all the innovations in Avatars, NFT's and how they will play a larger role in the years to come as we develop our digital identity.

News


Fantasy Animated Drama 'Hawkmaster' In The Works At Fox From ...
Oct 4, 2021 ... EXCLUSIVE: Brave director Mark Andrews and his former Pixar colleague Andrew Gordon have teamed up with Israeli producer Oded Turgeman to develop an ...

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