Prescott Wright
Encyclopedia
Prescott J. Wright was best known as the longtime producer
and film distributor
of the annual touring programs of animated films from around the world known as the International Tournée of Animation
. In addition, he was one of the founding directors of the Ottawa International Animated Film Festival in Canada
, which began in 1976 and which is now held annually, as well as being instrumental in fostering the art of animated films throughout his working life.
, and went to Monterey Peninsula College
. The school had a film series run by Phil Chamberlin and Pres became active with it, running the projectors and helping in other ways. His resume says he was president of the film society and jazz club. In 1963, Chamberlin recommended Prescott, who had recently married, for a job at Brandon Films (also known as Western Cinema Guild) in San Francisco as an assistant and, when the manager left, Prescott became head of the San Francisco office. Brandon was a major 16mm film distributor of American and foreign features and shorts.
In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles to work at the American Film Institute
(AFI). They sent him to New York City
in January 1970 to market films produced with AFI grants. In a letter to a friend dated December 1970 he wrote, “By September I had sold about $50 grand worth of films and was applying for my own iron lung. There were some good $$ deals with some major companies if I would stay in New York.”
In 1971 he returned to college. He received a BA in communication and the visual arts in 1973 from what was then called California State University, San Francisco and an MA in Film in 1977 from the renamed San Francisco State University
. He was a teaching assistant and then a part-time instructor at SF State from 1972-1980. He also taught an extension course in film for the University of California at Berkeley in 1975.
About 1966 several members of ASIFA-Hollywood
(Bill Scott, Bill Littlejohn
, Les Goldman and June Foray
) decided to put together an international animation program to be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
. Since it was almost impossible to see quality animation in the US at that time, Prescott became active with the group when he joined the AFI in 1969 and, having worked previously in film distribution, he was asked to head the project when they decided to show the program in other cities. Under his guidance, the program became known as the International Tournee of Animation
and, in late 1970 or early 1971, he began to book the program at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, university campuses and other cultural institutions around this country.
FilmWright offered animators an interesting and generous contract when Wright produced the Tournee. As producer, the company received 50% of the gross while the remaining 50% was split among the artists. About half of the money going to the animators was split evenly between each filmmaker and the remaining amount was split based the length of each short film. This meant that a very short film got slightly less than one which was a minute or two longer.
In the 1970s Gary Meyer, who ran the U.C. Theater in Berkeley, California
and became a co-founder Landmark Theatres
, convinced Prescott to expand his distribution of the Tournee of Animation to theaters:
Author and animation historian Jerry Beck
noted:
, which had over 30 chapters around the world. Until the Iron Curtain collapsed, ASIFA helped bridge the gap between East and West by helping animators from Eastern Europe attend festivals in the West, to visit studios in the Europe and North America, and to show their films in-person. Pres, David Ehrlich, Howard Beckerman, Charles Samu, John Halas
, John Hubley
and others worked hard to further international relations and to arrange for these screenings in cities with ASIFA chapters.
He was also a founder of ASIFA-San Francisco in 1975. Thanks to his guidance, the chapter grew over the years, and it is known for presenting great programs and having a very informative newsletter.
Prescott served as an advisor to major animation festivals around the world, and regularly attended the ASIFA-sponsored festivals in Annecy
, France
, and Zagreb
, (then in Yugoslavia).
He was a founder and the first International Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival
in 1976 and served in that capacity in 1978, 1980, 1982, and also in 1992. In 2004, the Ottawa festival made him an Honorary President of the festival, but he was unable to attend the event due to his health problems. ASIFA-Hollywood has also honored him with the “June Foray Award” for benevolent and significant contributions to the art of animation at the “Annie Awards”.
, Rudy Zamora
, Sally Cruickshank and Marcy Page.
Organized by ASIFA-Hollywood during the Los Angeles
Summer Olympic Games
of 1984, Prescott was involved, as Director, with the creation and management of the "Olympiad of Animation", which was shown in Los Angeles at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater. For one program, the organizers polled one hundred animation professionals around the world to determine which animated films were regarded as the greatest of all time; over 30 of the films were shown. He was proud of the fact that he brought the project in under budget.
In 1990, Prescott worked for Disney’s Feature Division as a “Creative Staffing Specialist”. He spent 4- months traveling to international animation festivals as a spotter and recruiter of animation talent. He planned to travel to festivals in Hiroshima
, Annecy, Zagreb and also in Russia
.
After Disney, he worked in both the Philippines
and Southern India
as an instructor and festival director for emerging animation studios. While he was in India he programmed and managed the first “Week with the Masters” for Toonz India, an emerging animation studio at Trivandrum in October 1999.
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and film distributor
Film distributor
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...
of the annual touring programs of animated films from around the world known as the International Tournée of Animation
International Tournée of Animation
The International Tournée of Animation was an annual touring program of animated films selected and assembled from films from many countries around the world and which existed from about 1970 to the late 1980s...
. In addition, he was one of the founding directors of the Ottawa International Animated Film Festival in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, which began in 1976 and which is now held annually, as well as being instrumental in fostering the art of animated films throughout his working life.
Early life
Prescott Wright was raised in the Bronx, was stationed in the Army at Fort OrdFort Ord
Fort Ord was a U.S. Army post on Monterey Bay in California. It was established in 1917 as a maneuver area and field artillery target range and was closed in September 1994. Fort Ord was one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California...
, and went to Monterey Peninsula College
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
. The school had a film series run by Phil Chamberlin and Pres became active with it, running the projectors and helping in other ways. His resume says he was president of the film society and jazz club. In 1963, Chamberlin recommended Prescott, who had recently married, for a job at Brandon Films (also known as Western Cinema Guild) in San Francisco as an assistant and, when the manager left, Prescott became head of the San Francisco office. Brandon was a major 16mm film distributor of American and foreign features and shorts.
In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles to work at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
(AFI). They sent him to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in January 1970 to market films produced with AFI grants. In a letter to a friend dated December 1970 he wrote, “By September I had sold about $50 grand worth of films and was applying for my own iron lung. There were some good $$ deals with some major companies if I would stay in New York.”
In 1971 he returned to college. He received a BA in communication and the visual arts in 1973 from what was then called California State University, San Francisco and an MA in Film in 1977 from the renamed San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
. He was a teaching assistant and then a part-time instructor at SF State from 1972-1980. He also taught an extension course in film for the University of California at Berkeley in 1975.
International Tournee of Animation
Taking up an offer to take on distribution of the “Tourney (sic) of Animation” (as it was written), he acquired eight films from KQED-TV and began FilmWright, his small film distribution company, to late 1970.About 1966 several members of ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood, a non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, USA, which is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA"...
(Bill Scott, Bill Littlejohn
Bill Littlejohn
William Charles Littlejohn was an American animator and union organizer. Littlejohn worked on both animated shorts and features from the 1930s through to the 1990s...
, Les Goldman and June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
) decided to put together an international animation program to be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
. Since it was almost impossible to see quality animation in the US at that time, Prescott became active with the group when he joined the AFI in 1969 and, having worked previously in film distribution, he was asked to head the project when they decided to show the program in other cities. Under his guidance, the program became known as the International Tournee of Animation
International Tournée of Animation
The International Tournée of Animation was an annual touring program of animated films selected and assembled from films from many countries around the world and which existed from about 1970 to the late 1980s...
and, in late 1970 or early 1971, he began to book the program at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, university campuses and other cultural institutions around this country.
FilmWright offered animators an interesting and generous contract when Wright produced the Tournee. As producer, the company received 50% of the gross while the remaining 50% was split among the artists. About half of the money going to the animators was split evenly between each filmmaker and the remaining amount was split based the length of each short film. This meant that a very short film got slightly less than one which was a minute or two longer.
In the 1970s Gary Meyer, who ran the U.C. Theater in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and became a co-founder Landmark Theatres
Landmark Theatres
Landmark Theatres is the largest art house movie theater chain in the United States. It is owned by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner through their 2929 Entertainment. The chain shows mostly first run independent, foreign film, and restored classics though some Landmark theaters also show more mainstream...
, convinced Prescott to expand his distribution of the Tournee of Animation to theaters:
- “We needed interesting new programming and approached Prescott about showing the Tournee in theaters. He had only screened at colleges and museums. He took the leap with us and the result was a greatly expanded audience for animated shorts. At a certain point, he was burned out. Assembling a feature length package, distributing it and keeping a couple dozen filmmakers happy is an overwhelming task. Steve Gilula, Terry Thoren and I agreed to buy the Tournee with the understanding that Prescott would continue to provide guidance as we moved forward. And what a mentor he was!”
Author and animation historian Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck
Jerry Beck is a well-known animation historian, with ten books and numerous articles to his credit. He is also an animation producer, an industry consultant to Warner Bros., and has been an executive with Nickelodeon and Disney....
noted:
- “I met Prescott shortly after I moved to L.A. in 1986, when I came to work with Terry Thoren to distribute the Tournee for Expanded Entertainment. Prescott was always friendly, knowledgeable and eager to help us communicate with filmmakers and theatre owners across the country and around the world. Prescott was a pioneer - in those pre-cable, pre-Internet days - in getting independent and international animation showcased and making those films accessible to those unable to attend festivals in far off lands. Without Wright's vision, the Ottawa festival would not be what it is; successor-touring programs like Spike and Mike’s shows and “The Animation Show” would not be, and ASIFA-SF would not be the strong chapter it is.”
Involvement with ASIFA internationally and locally and with animated film festivals
Between 1975 and 1985, Prescott was on the Board of Directors of ASIFA, the International Animated Film AssociationInternational Animated Film Association
The International Animated Film Association or ASIFA is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France by the best known animation artists of the time such as the Canadian animator, Norman McLaren...
, which had over 30 chapters around the world. Until the Iron Curtain collapsed, ASIFA helped bridge the gap between East and West by helping animators from Eastern Europe attend festivals in the West, to visit studios in the Europe and North America, and to show their films in-person. Pres, David Ehrlich, Howard Beckerman, Charles Samu, John Halas
John Halas
John Halas was a Hungarian animator. . He learned his craft under George Pal, but launched his own career in 1934, and two years later moved to England where he and his wife Joy Batchelor founded Halas and Batchelor.Over the years they made over 70 short subjects during the war, using propaganda...
, John Hubley
John Hubley
John Hubley was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer of traditional animation films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.- Biography :Hubley was...
and others worked hard to further international relations and to arrange for these screenings in cities with ASIFA chapters.
He was also a founder of ASIFA-San Francisco in 1975. Thanks to his guidance, the chapter grew over the years, and it is known for presenting great programs and having a very informative newsletter.
Prescott served as an advisor to major animation festivals around the world, and regularly attended the ASIFA-sponsored festivals in Annecy
Annecy
Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, (then in Yugoslavia).
He was a founder and the first International Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ottawa International Animation Festival
-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...
in 1976 and served in that capacity in 1978, 1980, 1982, and also in 1992. In 2004, the Ottawa festival made him an Honorary President of the festival, but he was unable to attend the event due to his health problems. ASIFA-Hollywood has also honored him with the “June Foray Award” for benevolent and significant contributions to the art of animation at the “Annie Awards”.
Film festivals and television
Pres served a year as director of the Denver International Film Festival (1980/81) and, returning to San Francisco, became the producer of “The Animators”, a series of TV programs made in 1982 for KQED-TV in San Francisco which featured Bay Area talent such as Jeff Hale, Bud LuckeyBud Luckey
William "Bud" Luckey is an American cartoonist, animator, singer, musician, composer and voice actor. He is best known for his work at Pixar as a character designer for Toy Story, Boundin, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille...
, Rudy Zamora
Rudy Zamora
Rudy Zamora was a Mexican American animator and a prolific animation director who was a veteran actor in George of the Jungle.-External links:...
, Sally Cruickshank and Marcy Page.
Organized by ASIFA-Hollywood during the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Summer Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
of 1984, Prescott was involved, as Director, with the creation and management of the "Olympiad of Animation", which was shown in Los Angeles at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater. For one program, the organizers polled one hundred animation professionals around the world to determine which animated films were regarded as the greatest of all time; over 30 of the films were shown. He was proud of the fact that he brought the project in under budget.
Other cultural events
He also was involved with many other cultural events over the years. These included serving as a member of the Film Arts Foundation Board of Directors in San Francisco from the late 1960s (and as President of the Board from 1978 to 1979), and as Treasurer of the Society for Animation Studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s (with Harvey Deneroff, the founder and first president of that association).In 1990, Prescott worked for Disney’s Feature Division as a “Creative Staffing Specialist”. He spent 4- months traveling to international animation festivals as a spotter and recruiter of animation talent. He planned to travel to festivals in Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
, Annecy, Zagreb and also in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
After Disney, he worked in both the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as an instructor and festival director for emerging animation studios. While he was in India he programmed and managed the first “Week with the Masters” for Toonz India, an emerging animation studio at Trivandrum in October 1999.