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Orlando Business Journal
March 28, 1997
By CINDY BARTH Copy Editor
Excerpts:
Mark Simon is a real-life example of someone who creates the one picture that is easily worth a thousand words- or, as he like to point out in his book Storyboards: Motion In Art, one picture can be worth more than $1,000 to a TV or film producer…Simon, 32, is a storyboard artist, or “translator” – an artist who takes a film or TV script and visually represents the ideas on paper…
But film and TV are only a small part of what Simon and his wife, Jeanne Pappas Simon, do… they are expanding their business into new areas, including what Mark Simon calls corporate storyboarding – using storyboards and animation in the boardroom to make presentation – and even Web site animation.
The potential for growth “is endless,” Mark Simon says, “because most business people don’t have any idea of the possibilities of what can be done through storyboards and animation.”
The Simons moved to Orlando in 1989…. and found work as freelancers for Nickelodeon. It was also at Nickelodeon that Jeanne Simon, 36, went on to work as a producer, line producer and unit manager on such hits as Clarissa Explains It All and Weinerville, building a reputation as one of the most respected producers in children’s television today, according to Mitchel Kriegman, the creative producer for Clarissa Explains It All.
“Both Jeanne and Mark have great creative eyes,” Kriegman says. “They’re the best, absolutely, and their work is in demand.”
Glenn Wilder, second unit director for McHale’s Navy, says in working with storyboard artists, Mark Simon’s name always comes up.
“He’s very good at what he does and has a good reputation in the industry,” Wilder says. “People know they’re going to get something done well with Mark & Jeanne.”
Mark Simon says along the way he realized how easy it would be to incorporate animatics into work for corporate clients.
“When we were hired to do this presentation with Disney Business Productions for Yamaha, I came up with the idea of doing something different involving animatics,” Mark Simon says.
We did the usual (presentation) stuff with them at first, then I asked the Yamaha reps if they would like to see what it would be like to actually go through the annual water vehicle rollout show they were working on first person. They were absolutely floored and said they had never seen anything like it before.”
Even more important for Simon and Disney: “They bought into the Disney proposal right there on the spot.”
…”I can’t imagine having a better job,” Mark Simon adds. “I get to draw, still be a big kid and work in film and TV. Does it get much better than this? I don’t think so.”
