Meet Jason Meier | CG Supervising Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Meier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
When I was a kid, all I was interested in was watching movies\TV\Animation and was fascinated about all of the people behind the scenes that made that thing possible. I would often take the time to read the credits even before I knew what any of those jobs were. In Highschool, my good friend Tom started making short films in Lightwave 3D and I took interest in it as well. I knew I didn’t want to go to a 4 year college so after Highschool I kept expanding my knowledge of 3D animation and around the age of 19 got my first foot in the door at a company called Foundation Imaging. After about 6 months of working there we got the bid for a 3D animated series based on Starship Troopers called “Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles” I did some animation tests for it and got placed on a team. It totally changed my life and started my career. I owe everything to those first few years as an animator. I got to touch every side of the pipeline and got to see my name in the credits, the way I used to read other’s names in the credits. I felt like I belonged.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The thing about my art and what I do is really supporting other’s vision. When you’re an animator or producer for a studio, chances are you’re working on a project where there’s a supervisor or show runner who’s vision funnels up through the creative chain of command. I do enjoy that collaboration very much. I’m very much used to listening to what they want creatively and doing everything that I can to support it. If you don’t have that mindset you can turn people off very quickly and they probably won’t want to work with you again. I think that’s been a huge asset of mine over the past 25 years. Careers take a long time to build and once they’re built, you have to keep shaping the edges so you can be better and better at knowing which decisions are yours to make, and which ones you have to roll up to the people above you. You have to keep the train moving so artists don’t get burned out and not to kill the momentum of the production. I’ve been lucky to be a part of some big franchises and my goal is to bring integrity and quality to whatever I’m a part of. That’s what I’d like to be known for. When I’m on your project, you know it will be treated with care.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m one of the people that LOVE L.A. But to me a good time is taking on the Hogback trail in Griffith Park, followed up by a Crispy Rice Breakfast at All Time in Los Feliz. Then head for a beer at Forman’s Tavern in Toluca Lake. I love me a dive bar like the Fox Fire Room. But I prefer the hidden gems that haven’t been totally mined yet.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My big shout out goes to my very good friend and talented artist, Tom MacDougall. Because if our lockers weren’t next to each other in P.E. and if I didn’t go over to his house to get exposed to 3D software then I probably would be in a very different career right now.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatmeierboy/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-meier-a997151/

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1073327/

Image Credits
Fan Boy and Chum Chum – Nickelodeon
TMNT – Nickelodeon
Star Trek Prodigy – Nickeldeon / Netflix
Freddy Vs Jason – New Line Cinema

Photo Credit – Jason Meier