Mike Gabriel
Director Mike Gabriel 2003
(Photo care of Ed Ghertner)
Words care of Mike Gabriel:
This picture of me holding a cardboard over my head is me pretending the rain from my second proposed short for Don Hahn called Parasol, was also falling. I alternated between Parasol and Lorenzo during those 2003 days of ticking clocks as I wound down my Disney contract. The umbrella theme was a running symbol for me in those days. I was trying to get out of the rain from all the layoffs and firings and shutting down of 2D animation at the place we all believed would be there forever Walt Disney Studios. It seemed to stand for other things in those days. And we all know what those things were—and what they weren’t. They weren’t the things that brought us to Disney. So it was a time of saying goodbye to all things Disney as I stood there under that cardboard hoping to get to make one more little film called Parasol, before my 7 year contract would run out and I would be let go. And I was. But letting go is a good way to find out what you should be hanging onto.
Tags: Legends