Creation and Business Tips from the World's Top Toy Designer

 Inventor Eddy Goldfarb Shares His Thoughts.

Who is Eddy Goldfarb?

Eddy Goldfarb at age 102, is probably the world's most successful, living toy/game designer alive. He has been designing and building toys and games for over 70  years and has over 800 toys to his credit along with 300 patents.


In fact, he claims his longevity to his constant curiosity and creativity towards building things. “When you start with nothing and create something it stimulates your brain and body.”

Keep your curiosity and creativity flowing.


Wanting to be a physicist in the1920, but lacking money for college he wound up serving in the Navy aboard a submarine. He got the idea of designing toys that were cheap to make and kept a notebook of all his ideas. Doing the math he figured if a toy could sell a million units he could do pretty well, with the bonus of entertaining families.

Play to your strengths.

His first hit was in 1949; the infamous chattering teeth called Yakity Yak. The toy sold millions of sets, but he only made $900 when he sold the rights. He learned the lesson about owning royalty rights for future creations.

Own the idea! Learn from your mistakes.

At Eddy's height of popularity, he owned 3 buildings and employed 39 people. Eddy was creating so prolifically that he was not able to play most of his creations. His family and friends reaped the rewards but was sworn to secrecy to not reveal the ideas until they were released.

Don’t spill the beans until you are ready.

Eddy’s secret for living? “You have to be an optimist but you have to love rejection”
He mentions that your next idea could be that next big thing.



Take the hint from 102-year-old Eddy, the creator of KerPlunk, Battle Tops, Giant Bubble Gun, and Chutes Away. He knows a thing or two. The 6-lesson recap from Eddy Goldfarb is:

• Keep your curiosity and creativity flowing.

• Play to your strengths.

• Own the idea 

• Learn from your mistakes.

• Don’t spill the beans until you are ready.

• Be an optimist and love rejection.

Taiyou Con Panel on January 7 2024

 

If you are in AZ in January check out

my panel at the Taiyou Anime Con

STARTING UP 
Strategies for Beginning Artist, Writers, and Content Creators

Topics covered: Skills required in the industry, higher education vs. 
self-learning, top resources & strategies to jumpstart your career.

It will be awesome.

 

Mesa Convention Center

263 N Center St, Mesa, AZ 85201

Panel Time: Sunday, January 7th, at 3:30 PM
Panel Room: Palo Verde 1

How to Beat the Entertainment Business at Its Own Game

The Main Problem and Solution.

Performers, Writers, and Artists, Get Prepared!

Current State of the Industry
We have seen how the industry handles creativity/talent. Somewhat as disposable entities. Take a look at the writers and actors strike. “In Content Creation & Ownership”, I wrote about how entertainment companies are scrambling to buy up new or existing content. Ownership is key. If you own it, you make the money.

The Problem
 “Work for Hire” and the “Intellectual Property Clause”. What does this mean? These terms basically state that if you work for a business, any ideas or content you create becomes the property of the company you work for. If this language is buried in the contract you signed, you are screwed.

In the case of the show Squid Game, Netflix made over $900 million. The creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk got the standard paycheck as the writer, forfeiting all intellectual property rights, and received no residuals.

The Marvel movies, Infinity War and Endgame generated a combined whopping gross of 4.7 billion dollars. The true creator of these properties (Captain America. Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and the Avengers), Jack Kirby, was considered a work-for-hire employee back in the 1960's. After his death in 1994, his family had to take legal action to get a slice of the pie.

Granted, in order to maximize profit you need full control of the property, but why not spread the wealth a bit more with the actual creators?

The Deeper Problem
It seems that the industry is set on a select few to reap the rewards, and they are not creators but are recipients/acquirers of the content.

One of the concerns of writers is that they will be replaced by AI. With a large enough database of stories, that could be possible. Do you recall when Netflix was looking for AI specialists with an average salary of 900,000?

Actors are afraid that their likeness can be mapped to a motion-captured stand-in. These deep fakes are becoming more and more convincing.
 
 
A Solution
So if you are dealing with entities that don’t value or diminish your contribution, what do you do? Band together and form your own production company. Actors do this all the time to get promising projects made. Michael B. Jordan, Brad Pritt, Adam Sandler, Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis, and Ice Cube are a small list to name a few.

Ice Cube said wisely in an interview, “We got the idea that you don’t have to spend $100 million to make $100 million,” he said. “If you got a good story, good actors, people willing to work, if you can keep the budget down, at the end of the day everybody’s happy and you get a chance to do another one.”

If you can figure out your own marketing/advertising strategy and distribution you are set.

Social Media & Crowdfunding
So you are not a name actor with deep pockets. What do you do?
Crowdfunding is a possibility to get funding for your film. Who would have thought that Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe could be viable platforms for film funding?

The use of social media is a way to market and advertise your movie. TikTok videos and YouTube have been used to advertise just about anything to great effect when done properly. The use of the Facebook Groups community is another way to generate interest. Building up anticipation with your fanbase is the way to get the ball rolling.

The Budget
The budget is the thing that will make or break your filmmaking odyssey.
Going indie means you have to keep your costs down. A low budget does not mean low quality. Roberto Rodriguez filmed “El Mariachi” on a budget of $7225. His little film got him a three-picture deal with Sony Pictures, set off his career as a professional filmmaker and allowed him to create his own production company, Troublemaker Studios.

Robert Town was a frustrated black actor who maxed out his credit cards to co-write, produce, and direct “Hollywood Shuffle”. The movie was not only a smash hit but paved the way for future stars like Keenen Ivory Wayans, Anne Marie Johnson, Damon Wayans and John Witherspoon.

So-called Micro-Budget movies when executed properly can give a big payoff to the producers/writers/directors involved. The Blair Witch Project, Clerks, Eraserhead, Night of the Living Dead, Pi, She’s Gotta Have It, Following, Roger and Me, and Paranormal Activity are all prime examples that started the careers of Kevin Smith, David Lynch, George Romero, Spike Lee, Chris Nolan, Daron Aronofsky, and Micheal Moore.

Tyler Perry is a breakout producer and studio owner who didn’t let a lack of funds keep him down. Perry had nothing but a dream back in the 90’s sleeping in his car wanting to be in entertainment. He started writing stage plays and built that success into movie production and studio ownership.

“Don’t wait for someone to green light your project, build your own intersection.” — Tyler Perry

What are your thoughts on this subject? Do you think Hollywood can be beat at its own game? Let me know for a follow-up on this.


Want to generate ideas quickly for film, novels, and comics? 
Get the Idea Genesis ebook here.

Check out Part II of this article here.


You may also like these articles:

Top Ten Tips When Writing for the Entertainment Medium

Secrets to Overcoming Writers Block

Is Film School Really Necessary?

Creativity: Your Purpose Promotes the Process

 

 

Writers and Artists - Coko Con Sept. 1st-4th

Doubletree by Hilton Phoenix-Tempe, 2100 S Priest Dr,Tempe,AZ

If you are in Arizona this weekend, come see me at the
Coko-Con, Sept 1-4th.
,

I will be hosting these panels. See details below:

INDUSTRY UPDATE
Sat, 4pm-5pm—Coronado
 Strategies for beginning artists, writers, and content creators.


DRAWING FOR EVERYONE: TIPS AND LIFE LESSONS
Sun, 2:30pm-3:30pm—Redrock
Lorelei Esther, Gilead, Jon LeMond

IDEA GENESIS
Mon, 2:30pm-3:30pm—Coronado
 Creating great ideas for your comics, stories, and films

I will be showcasing my new book, Idea Genesis, as well as the Cartoon Production Resource Guide and the Audio Production Resource Guide.

(Click on links or images for book details)

      

There will also be freebies for anyone who attends.
Look forward to seeing you there.

Fiction vs. Nonfiction

 Getting the Best from Both Worlds.

I finished work on a book to help writers with writer’s block. The book called 
Idea Genesis was vetted with techniques discovered while teaching storytelling/filmmaking to high school and college students. I experienced about a 100 percent success rate with students struggling to create a good idea.

The Good and Bad News

During a panel event at Phoenix comic con this past June, the presentation for the book was very well received. Everyone really enjoyed the concepts & techniques used to generate great ideas quickly. I realized afterward however that there probably should have been a chapter for nonfiction writers as well.

Fiction

Fiction is imagined stories featuring characters, situations, and locations for the purpose of dramatic impact and entertainment. If done right, we live vicariously through these characters to experience the thrill and the joyride of the journey.

Genres add more to the experience by adding specific elements to the story in terms of form, style, and subject matter to appeal to a certain audience.

Fans have certain expectations that must be met when reading fantasy, romance, sci-fi, humor, or horror. The primary thing the writer must do is create interesting characters and situations leading to conflict and unique resolutions. Using 3 act structure can help pace your story and keep forward momentum.

Nonfiction

Nonfiction takes a completely different approach. The style of the writing is done to point out the truth and facts of a given example or situation. The reader is expecting to gain knowledge, inspiration, critical thing skills, and wisdom based on what you reveal.

Does nonfiction have genres too? Why yes it does. History, philosophy, biographies, self-help, science, and business are a few of the notables.

Some things to consider with nonfiction would be the usefulness of the material and the authenticity of the writing. If you are not touching on solutions to problems people are experiencing, real-world life lessons, ways to inspire, or knowledge/ tips to benefit the reader emotionally or financially you may not have much luck. Drawing from your own experiences is key to authenticity.

Best of Both Worlds

The advantage of fiction is that it doesn’t have to be based on reality, and you can build to climatic situations with the correct structure. Is this possible with nonfiction? Can you apply elements of storytelling in your work? You sure can.

Though you are dealing with facts, there is no reason not to think beginning, middle, and end, building to a climatic revelation or inspirational moment. How about writing your nonfiction with genre trappings like a mystery, action/adventure or humor? The readers are following you on your journey and hopefully, your trip is worth the ride

Some techniques that work well with nonfiction are meaningful questioning, being the devil’s advocate, listicles, do’s and don’ts, and instructional steps to achieve an objective or overcome problems. Alternately, some of these techniques when applied to fiction could help you generate more situations and scenarios for your characters.

Lessons Learned

If you are truly creative enough you can use the best of both worlds to help in whatever type of writing or genre you attempt to tackle.

• Genre conventions can help add excitement/ interest to your style/form of writing in both camps.

• Storytelling structure can help build to climatic points regardless of writing fiction or nonfiction.

• Certain nonfiction techniques can be used to generate additional situations and scenarios for your fiction writing.
  
  
• Use the best of both worlds, be creative, and have fun.

Want to generate ideas quickly with your writing? Get the Ideas Genesis ebook here.

 

Inspiration, Information, and Resources Part II: Phoenix Fan Fusion 2023

Phoenix Fan Fusion was a blast. The bottom floor of the convention center held the massive exhibition hall. Anything you could possibly want was there. Comics, model kits, action figures, books, T-Shirts,  original comic art, etc..

I usually seek out my favorite comic artists and strike up a conversation to find out art tips, advice, and industry survival secrets. The two gentlemen I ran into this year were Alan Davis & Arthur Suydam. Here is what they said.

Note: some art links below may contain nudity

Alan Davis
Check out Davis's work here.

Davis began his career in comics on an English fanzine. His first professional work was a strip called The Crusader for a revamped Marvel UK line.

Davis's big break was drawing the revamped Captain Britain story in Marvel Superheroes. He considered drawing as a hobby until Alan Moore (later to create The Watchman) took over writing duties on Captain Britain. Davis and Moore formed a close working partnership as creators working on 2000AD (home of Judge Dread).

In 1985, Davis received his big break in the US when he was hired by DC Comics to draw Batman. In 1987, Davis accepted an offer by Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont to work on Marvel Comics' X-Men books. Davis bounced between Marvel and DC during the 90’s till now working on JLA, The Avengers, Marvel’s Killraven, Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Conan. Davis is “self-taught”, and credits the fantastic British artists Frank Bellamy, John M Burns, Jesus Blasco, Syd Jordan, and Frank Hampson as influences.

Check out Davis's influences page here. 

 

Alan Davis Tips page

- (About the comic business)
  Do this because you love drawing.

- Build your knowledge carefully.
- Don't try to learn everything at once.
- Take things a step at a time, a piece at a time.

Arthur Suydam
Check out Suydam's work here.

Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, and Black Panther. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.  

In high school, Suydam discovered a collection of workbooks from the Famous Artist Correspondance Course from which he discovered Albert Dorne, and Norman Rockwell. Some of his other influences are the classic illustrators Franklin Booth, Henrich Kley, and the amazing Frank Frazetta (also take a look at galleries 2-3). Frazetta's bio is here

Suydam  Tips

- Develop your skills as an artist. Work at your craft.
- Your work should be comparable to the pros.
- Hit your deadlines.
- Show companies their characters only.
- Suggested learning resource - Proko (YouTube) 

Must See - Here is a free link to the Famous Artist Correspondence Course.

A fantastic learning resource!

Want more resources?

The Cartoon Production Resource Guide has over 200 more resources for comic artists, animators, character designers, and illustrators. Get it here.

Inspiration, Information, and Resources Part I here.
Enjoy. More to come!


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Inspiration, Information, and Resources: Phoenix Fan Fusion 2023

 

Going to the Phoenix Fan Fusion Comic Com was awesome.
I learned quite a bit from the discussion panel guests. So what happened?

Animation 101/102: Learn the Basics of Animation
Ricardo Jimenez & Leonardo Beltran

Ricardo and Leo discussed the 12 principles of animation and showcased their work.
Leo showed an awesome traditional animated short he worked on with mentor James Lopez called Cowabunga.

Ricardo has online 3D courses on animation, modeling, and motion graphics. Check it out here.

How to Seek Grants for Comics and Other Projects:
Jeffrey  Kronenefeld, Sophia McGovern,  Russ Kazmierczak, and Ricardo Jimenez

Jeffrey was the lead presenter and had great tips and a checklist for the grant writing process.
He has had several graphic novel projects funded through grant writing. 
- Research grant opportunities
- Read the filing instructions carefully 

- When responding, show how your project meets the requirements of the grant

- Sell yourself, your experience, and your project 

A grant is money provided to your project that does not have to be paid back.

Contact Jeffrey on his website to get more information.

How to Market and Crowdfund Indy Comics Like a Pro
Brian Pulido, Mike MacLean, and Nick Galegos / Coffin Comics

Brian Pulido, the creator of Coffin Comics has been using Kickstarter to produce his line of comics. Here are some pointers:

- Have your project ready to print
- Have tiers worked out 
- Have a mailing list and keep fans engaged

- Include all fees talent and expenses in your ask

- Have biweekly offerings after the initial crowdfund

- Don't have simultaneous campaigns running

- Make sure bonus items are no bigger in size than the initial offer - Seduce fans with your vision

- Know your costs, ask for less, and hope for more Check out Kickstarter here.

Kubert School

Started in 1976, The Joe Kubert School is still in business. Joe Kubert was best known for his  DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He is also known for his own creations, such as Tor, Son of Sinbad, and the Viking Prince, and the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret. Starting professional at age twelve he has had a 70-plus year run in the comic business

The highly regarded school offers online classes, correspondence courses, and on-premise learning if you happen to be in the N.J. area. Click here for more info.
 

Check out Kubert's awesome art here and Kubert's videos here

Want more resources?

The Cartoon Production Resource Guide has over 200 more resources for comic artists, animators, character designers, and illustrators. Get it here.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Triple A Dude is now on Facebook. Check it out here.