AMA: Dustyn Bailey Interviews Jay Brown 10/14/22
Dustyn Bailey 12:00 PM
Alllllllrighty then it's noon!
Welcome fellow MADE members to our 3rd Ask MADE Anything!
Best place to get to know your industry neighbors and get some cool insights
Today I'm joined by @Jay Brown
Give a wave and tell us a little something about yourself Jay
Jay Brown 12:03 PM
Hey there! Thanks for having me here :slightly_smiling_face: I'm excited to answer any questions you have. I'm a partner and creative director at ROVE and my favorite color is yellow :yellow_heart: (edited)
Dustyn Bailey 12:03 PM
Alright everybody, let's show some yellow hearts in the chat!
Let's start with the softball, @Jay Brown tell us a little something about Rove Lab and how you have attracted clients? (edited)
Jay Brown 12:05 PM
ROVE is a creative production company that creates both animation and live action videos! Up until about a year ago ROVE attracted all of its business by word of mouth, primarily through Gabe (my super handsome surfer business partner) and my past connections. We recently signed on with a couple of sales reps, which has changed our business outreach quite a bit. Jake, (ROVE’s head of production, also handsome) has been a super big help navigating this world with his past experience with ad agencies. Word of mouth is still super important but having the reps has broadened our horizons and allowed for many more opportunities that would be very hard to turn up organically. (edited)
Dustyn Bailey 12:06 PM
That's really cool - it's amazing that word of mouth has been so powerful in getting ROVE to where it is now. (edited)
Jay Brown 12:06 PM
It was all we had for about 4 years!
Dustyn Bailey 12:07 PM
So then did most of your music oriented clients come from that? ROVE Lab seems to have a passion for working in music with bands and Spotify, can you let us in on what that's like?
Jay Brown 12:08 PM
Oh yeah absolutely...
We love music. Pre-ROVE I was directing a bunch of music videos for a variety of record labels, both major and minor. This has played a part in our continued pursuit of the music industry but is definitely not the only contributing factor. All of us are music enthusiasts and when those types of projects come around, everyone gets giddy :) The Spotify relationship is one that came about through past connections and is a natural fit for us. We’ve sort of nestled ourselves into that company at this point which has been pretty great. Still no free memberships in our contracts no matter how hard we push for them :confused:
Dustyn Bailey 12:10 PM
C'mon Spotify. They've never looked better haha
Jay Brown 12:10 PM
:hugging_face:
Dustyn Bailey 12:10 PM
So for some of our members developing their skill sets: would you tell them to specialize or broaden themselves to obtain more work?
Jay Brown 12:11 PM
That's a really good question.
I’d say both. If you find that you’re interested in a specific thing, focus on that and don't get distracted. The industry loves people who have a niche. When pitching for jobs, if you're the person that does exactly what the prospective client is after, you're going to have a way better chance of landing that work than someone who is more spread out in their interests. But if you’re the type of person that's interested in everything, that's okay! Especially in the animation industry, generalists are huge assets. Jared (ROVE’s in-house 2d/3d generalist, arguably the most handsome) is a great example of someone who has many skills and we could not live without. (edited)
Dustyn Bailey 12:14 PM
That's pretty insightful, I know some people appreciate your take on this!
So for our membership, we only have so many animators working in the state. What does everyone in the industry get wrong, especially when it comes to animation?
Jay Brown 12:15 PM
Tough question!
Bradford Waugh 12:15 PM
It seems working with handsome people is important :smile:
Dustyn Bailey 12:15 PM
I don't bite, but I do have those tough ones now and then :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:
Jay Brown 12:16 PM
Lol
Dustyn Bailey 12:16 PM
Right?! @Bradford Waugh
Jay Brown 12:16 PM
@Bradford Waugh
Everyone is handsome in their own way :yellow_heart: (edited)
Peregrine Starr 12:16 PM
As someone who is new to the animation industry, all of my work so far has been solo - from concept through post-production, so I have skills in each area, expertise in none. I have completed a couple lyric videos, so would you say keep making those, while continuing to study in a more focused area?
Dustyn Bailey 12:17 PM
@Jay Brown thank you for that ray of sunshine for our AMA today haha
Jay Brown 12:18 PM
@Peregrine Starr I'd say keep doing what is working for you and the work that you're getting. If there is an area that you find interesting, it's definitely worth perusing and focusing on. The animation industry needs both generalists as well as specialists. There's a lot of work to be had out there!
As far as Dustyn's Q about mistakes - It’s hard to identify what everyone gets wrong since I feel like we all have such unique stories. I think one (of the many) things that I got wrong early on was thinking that being creative was enough to be successful. At least in my path I’ve had to balance my time spent being creative with being business minded. This has remained consistent from my time before ROVE as a freelancer all the way to now as a partner/creative director at the company. At least for me both of those practices are equally as important.
Peregrine Starr 12:19 PM
Thank you!
Dustyn Bailey 12:20 PM
Awesome, thank you @Jay Brown
I think that's a tough one - especially for creatives just starting out on their own.
Jay Brown 12:21 PM
100% it's okay to fail. It's good to make mistakes and learn from them. (edited)
Dustyn Bailey 12:21 PM
Okay, we love the insights into animation. But let's get to know the real Jay Brown. Give us something about Jay on the weekends! What's a good getaway for Rove Lab's creative director?
Jay Brown 12:22 PM
I have a few hobbies! Hanging out with my wife is probably my number one activity. We love going to the beach, grilling, watching fucked up sci fi-horror movies, and going out to eat. I always have and still love skateboarding even though my old bones disagree. Scouring antique shops, finding secret swimming holes, playing video games, or doing house projects are my other favorite ways to kill time :skateboard:
Dustyn Bailey 12:23 PM
I think we need to start a MADE Top 25 horror movies and hold a vote. I bet we would get something crazy in that.
Jay Brown 12:24 PM
John Carpenter's The Thing is up there for me - gotta watch during a blizzard tho..
Dustyn Bailey 12:24 PM
Is the beach your favorite place in Maine to escape to? Or are there other hidden nooks that make it special for you to be our lovely little state? (edited)
Layne Harris 12:25 PM
What are your favorite creative tools?
Jay Brown12:27 PM
@Layne Harris the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil are pretty great :slightly_smiling_face: I love drawing so that's essential. A point and shoot 35mm camera is fun to keep on hand for whatever the instance is! In my professional life, I don't think I could live w/o the Adobe suite
@Dustyn Bailey Tbh I love Portland. I know Portland is a bit of a hot-button topic right now. I grew up in Maine and have been coming to Portland for almost 20 years. A LOT has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the feeling of sitting on a street curb, catching my breath during a skate session and people watching. Portland is a great place for that. I think I’ll probably be doing that for the rest of my life, (or as long as my legs will let me). (edited)
Dustyn Bailey 12:28 PM
Cheers to that Jay!
Jay Brown 12:28 PM
That and the Rangeley Lakes region :slightly_smiling_face:
Dustyn Bailey 12:28 PM
Alright, we are closing out on our half hour and @Jay Brown you have been a great guest!
Jay Brown 12:29 PM
Thanks again for having me and the great questions!
Dustyn Bailey 12:29 PM
So my favorite question at the end is to ask everyone is always "if there is one thing you can tell young Jay about your career, what would it be and why?" (edited)
Jay Brown 12:30 PM
As cliche as it is, I’d probably tell him, "it’s all going to be okay". I spent a lot of time skateboarding and making skate videos. This was all good at the time but I always knew that it wasn’t a viable life-path and having that in the back of my head stressed me out. In all reality, I learned so much about filmmaking back then that I still apply to my career now. It was time well spent!
Dustyn Bailey 12:31 PM
That's awesome, some surefire wisdom!
Again, thank you for taking some time to jump on and answer questions for me and the membership.
Jay Brown 12:31 PM
Thank you! It's been fun :slightly_smiling_face:
Dustyn Bailey 12:32 PM
We are excited to see more stuff from you and all the handsome people at ROVE and we hope to see you at the next in person event. More to come on that this month everyone!
Jay Brown 12:33 PM
Appreciate it! Looking forward to meeting everyone in person :beers:
Dustyn Bailey 12:33 PM
As always feel free to DM you fellow MADE members and check out ROVE's stuff on their site: https://therovelab.com/
I hope everyone here on the @channel finishes off Friday in style and has good weekend!
Sabrina Volante 6:44 PM
Just catching up now, but loved reading this one!
Caroline S. Rogers 4:40 PM
Same here ^. thanks for this @Jay Brown & @Dustyn Bailey. Great stuff!