The Godfather of Storyboarding, Mark Simon, Meets Ryan Millsap

Ryan Millsap, Chairman & CEO of Atlanta-based Blackhall Studios, is one of today’s top entertainment executives! With a vision for Blackhall that’s ambitious, energizing, and boundless, Millsap is blazing a trail through the heart of the South – and setting his sights on the future of entertainment. Listen and learn as Ryan Millsap journeys through the myriad industries, people, and landscapes that traverse the complex and dynamic world of film production.

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Ryan: I'm Ryan Millsap, CEO of Blackhall Studios in Atlanta, and this is the Blackhall Studios Podcast. Why does a busy Hollywood studio do a podcast, you might ask? Blackhall is the home of great movies like Jumanji: The Next Level and fan-favorite series like HBO's Lovecraft Country. But for me, hosting a podcast is an amazing way to meet people and to connect to the community. I learn from each interview and from each person. My roots are actually in America's heartland. My mother's from Nebraska. My father's from Missouri. And though some folks might think I've ‘gone Hollywood,’ I'm now just an Atlanta boy who loves to meet new and interesting people. And yes, some of them will just happen to be famous Hollywood types.

I'm a dad; a businessman. I live on a farm out in Social Circle, and I love the peace and quiet there. But I also love to learn about the philosophy of human nature. So why a podcast? That's why. Thank you for joining me on this journey. I appreciate you.

Today on the podcast, I have renowned storyboard artist Mark Simon – a hugely accomplished artist. Mark has worked on Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Black Lightning, Creepshow, Dynasty, Cult of Chucky, Little Rascals, Woody Woodpecker, The Waterboy, Spielberg's SeaQuest DSV, and more. An author as well, Mark has penned his autobiography, entitled Attacked, which shares his deeply inspiring story of being bullied, and how he got the legal system to hold the parents accountable for their children's actions. I'm inspired by Mark – the artist, and the storyteller. Listen up, and you will be, too.

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Ryan: Hi, this is Ryan Millsap. Welcome to the Blackhall Studios Podcast. Today, we have Mark Simon, the godfather of storyboarding. Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark: Hey, thanks. Thanks for having me. This is great. I love your studio here.

Ryan: How did you get the title “The Godfather of Storyboarding?”

Mark: A lot of people have asked me about that – if I was just egotistical enough to come up with it. But it was actually... I'm in the press a lot about storytelling and pitching and everything, and periodical had come out. When they looked at my background, in the article, they called me the “godfather of storyboarding.” Then the next article that came out – they had researched me, and read that periodical that called me that. And I thought, “Yeah, it sounds cool. I'll take that on.” So, it's just now become a thing, and I've taken it on.

Ryan: So, a lot of people who listen to this podcast are not in the entertainment industry.

Mark: They should be.

Ryan: Well, there's a lot of cool stuff going on in this space. And it's a fun space. But walk people through what storyboarding is, and how people develop ideas around television and movies – and then how those stories are laid out relative to planning to produce.

Mark: Well, right before this, we were talking about my background, and my background was construction. I was running a construction company before I moved out to Hollywood. And so, one of the ways I like to describe storyboarding is, it's the blueprint of the house you're going to build. If you read a script, and I read a script, we're seeing completely different images in our head. But the only image that matters is the director's vision. So, the storyboards are the blueprint of the director's vision. All of the 3 or 400 people who are working on that production can see the director's vision, so we can all work towards one common vision.

Ryan: And then, how is it broken down? I mean, it's broken down by scene.

Mark: Yeah. Scene and shot. And, of course, it varies if we're talking about animation or live action, because the nomenclature is different.

Ryan: Let's do a live action for this conversation. And what live action is, for those of you that don't speak entertainment – it's just the movies with human beings in it. So movies with human beings: live action film. Movies with animated characters: animated film.

Mark: Right. So, for live action, when we're shooting, anytime you're in a new location, that's a new scene. And then, every time the camera goes to a different position in that location, that's a shot within that scene. Some shots take more than one drawing. If there's a lot of action that's happening in it, I'll call it ‘Shot 1.’ But it might take me 3 or 4 drawings to represent everything that happens – whether it's camera moves, or a fight sequence, or cars exploding; whatever it is.

Generally, what we'll do is, we'll take the big stunt and effects scenes and we'll storyboard those, because those are the things that are the hardest to schedule and to budget. Again, it's the blueprint. Build me a house – what's going to cost? Well, how many bathrooms; how many bedrooms? What kind of detail do you want? An action sequence could be something that is short as ‘the two leads fight.’ Well, what is that? Well, maybe there's explosions and gun battles and chases down the Riviera. So that one line on a script that looks like it's nothing could take you a week, if the director's vision is that big.

The only way to get that across is for me to translate the director's thoughts into visuals that kind of look like a comic book, or comic strip, that everyone can now look at. They go, “Oh, we have to do all this. We have to have this many people, and these special effects,” and all the different crews get together and determine that it's going to take us this long and cost this much.

Ryan: So you're clearly working with the director?

Mark: Yes.

Ryan: Who else are you working with in that process? And where does that fit in the whole timeline of a production?

Mark: Oftentimes, the DP will be in there – which I love, when the DP's around, because then...

Ryan: A DP is a director of photography.

Mark: Sorry. Yeah. Keep forgetting who else might be listening to this.

Ryan: That’s right. Any industry has its own jargon. If I started talking about real estate on here, only the real estate guys would understand what I was saying. Just like when you start talking about entertainment, only the people in entertainment know that ‘DP’ means director of photography – which means the guy who is actually controlling all of the shots.

Mark: Yeah – controlling how the camera sees it, what lenses, and the lighting. So, they're in charge of all of that. On big fight scenes, our stunt coordinator will be there. If it's a big effects scene, sometimes the effects supervisor will be there – not generally, but sometimes. Or, if there's a creative producer, and they’re the one pushing the visual agenda – they'll be in there as well. But it's always the director and I, and sometimes other people come in.

Ryan: So, in the timeline, when you think of developing a concept – this is before a movie gets greenlit, which means it gets funded, and is ready to go. So, before a television show or a movie gets greenlit, how much storyboarding is taking place?

Mark: Well, if you're talking about pitch boards – that’s something before it's greenlit. A pitch board is illustrations that give you an idea of what it could look like, to help you if you're presenting your idea. Well, that could be any time beforehand – generally, before they get into a meeting with an executive. Most of the storyboards that I do, we call shooting boards, or production boards; those are the ones that represent every shot that the director wants, that they'll use on set.

Ryan: So, that's post-greenlit.

Mark: I’ll give you an idea of exactly how that flows. For instance, on The Walking Dead, we have an eight-day shooting schedule – which means we have eight days of prep. They're still finishing the script, so on about day three of that eight days, we get a shooting script. The director takes a look at it and realizes, “Okay, we need to do these sequences in it.”

So, day four of prep, I come in and sit down with the director, do my thumbnails of the director, get approvals, and then clean them up. I'll have 2 or 3 days to storyboard and get them done before the big pre-production meeting – which is when all the main crew heads come together to figure out “How are we going to shoot this, starting in two days?” So, it's a very limited time that I have on a TV schedule when we come in. Now, for a movie...

Ryan: Yeah, that's what I was going to ask – because I think a movie is a better place to start, because it's one long timeline, whereas a television show is kind of like a reoccurring timeline. You do one show, one episode, and then you're on to the next, or whatever. So, let's start with movies.

Mark: All right. So, for instance, right now, I'm storyboarding a Disney Plus movie that's shooting up in Vancouver, called Under Wraps. It's a comedic horror movie for next Halloween. And it's a director I've worked with 5 or 6 times on different things.

Ryan: Did you see that comedic one that came out recently?

Mark: The one with Adam Sandler?

Ryan: No, with... what's his name, from Wedding Crashers?

Mark: Oh, I know who you mean, but no, I haven't seen that.

Ryan: I just saw the preview for it, and it's a body exchange between Vince Vaughn – okay, Vince Vaughn; there we go. Between Vince Vaughn and a girl I didn't recognize. But it looks like a hilarious premise, where Vince Vaughn is a serial killer, and he comes to kill this girl, and somehow they swap bodies. So now he's a serial killer – and it's called Freaky. I love that. I love when the producers come up with answers for me like that.

So, there's this movie. It’s called Freaky, and now this serial killer is trapped in the body of one of his victims. But he's still a serial killer.

Mark: Nice.

Ryan: That was the first time I’ve seen a funny horror movie in a long, long time. What was the other one – Scream – that was so big years and years ago?

Mark: Yeah. Luckily, there's been a few. And there's more coming now, especially now with Netflix and Amazon pumping out so much production. We've got a lot more coming out.

Ryan: Anyway, tell us about this funny one.

Mark: So, for Under Wraps, we start shooting – from about the time we're recording this – in about three weeks. And they just started prep. Four and a half weeks out, they started prep, so a week and a half ago. Half a week into that, the director knew what he needed – and he had written the script, so he knew it anyway.

I started a week ago on doing the storyboards. And on this, I'll have between 2 and 3 weeks to finish storyboarding, so that they have everything about two weeks – 1 to 2 weeks – before they start shooting. They've got everything they need to finish doing their planning and scheduling, and putting together the elements they need for the big stunts and effect scenes.

Ryan: Do they need the storyboards before they can build the sets?

Mark: No. Although, sometimes, depending on what the director wants to see, the storyboards will affect how they build elements of the set. I always ask for set designs, or location photos, cast shots – all that kind of stuff – because then I know how to work with the director on how we can plan all the different shots to fit within that location. I don't want to just come up with it off the top of my head, because what I come up with might not be practical, depending on what the location is. And the location will also inspire... “Oh, it'd be really cool to do this for a shot.”

So, for instance, there's this one sequence where we have the bad guy – and I'm not giving anything away here. The bad guy is chasing someone. And I saw this really great-looking chandelier. I said, “Well, let's have the bad guy knock that chandelier so it's swinging. Let's bring the camera up next to the ceiling, looking past the swinging chandelier, as he's approaching his victim.” And the director was like, “Oh, yeah, I love that shot.”

It's almost always exactly the director's vision. But my job is to take the director's vision and ‘plus’ it where possible. It doesn't become my breakdowns. But my expertise helps the director on ‘plusing’ as much as possible.

Ryan: Yeah. You're one of his key guys in trying to figure out how to tell the story – because that's his main job. If you're the director, your primary job is, “How do I actually convey the feelings and the messages of this story to the people watching?”

Mark: Yeah, there's two main things for the director. One, it's visually, “How am I going to tell the story?” And two, it's working with the actors to have them emote how he sees, or she sees, the story.

Ryan: So, the director has to sit down with the script at the beginning. And he then starts pulling his key members in – which, you're going to be one of the early members in a movie sequence. Then he's got to lay out the vision, and translate that vision into a series of shots, series of scenes, a series of storyboards, and a whole bunch of sets. And then the locations guys get involved, obviously. Right? Because you might draw something, and they’ve gotta find that location, if they're not going to build the set.

Mark: Right. Or, times like right now, there's a sequence that needs a very specific location. They're not going to build it. They're going to use an existing place. So, the director and I had to put off working on those until they found a location – so that we can actually plan and make use of the elements that are there for all the scares and stunts and everything that has to happen.

Ryan: Because storyboarding, at that point, is so practical. It's not just vision; it's not like you're storyboarding and then saying, “This is what we need to find.”

Mark: Yeah. In fact, this is where my background in construction helps so much, because I can look at a blueprint, and I know what it's going to be like in 3D and how to move through it. And because I've been in the industry so long, and I also direct a lot of things, when a director says, “I want a long shot on this,” or “Put a ten on that,” I know what he needs.

A long shot needs a long lens, so it flattens everything. You don't see very wide. It's all very narrow. Even if people are ten feet apart, they look right next to each other. If they say a ‘ten,’ that means a ten-millimeter ultra-wide lens. So, you see a whole lot. So, I have to know all the lingo of the director – and then I have to be able to draw it so it actually visually represents.

One of the things that's really fun – I have a bunch of videos on YouTube, if you just look up my name and ‘Storyboard Comparisons,’ you'll find a bunch of them, where I'll edit my storyboards and animatics. An animatic is just a video storyboard, where I put timing to what I illustrate. And I'll edit that along with the final cut on a lot of the shows that I work on.

It’s so cool to see how exact it is. And it's because, since I've done this so long, I know how to get in the director’s head. I'm illustrating the director's vision. And I love being able to see how accurate I've been able to get to what they saw in their head – because what you see on the screen is what they saw in their head. If I drew that, I did my job.

Ryan: Does anything bring you more joy than creativity?

Mark: Telling a story. I mean, obviously, that's the ultimate in creativity. I absolutely love drawing. I love telling stories. I love watching people react to it. And I love teaching people how to do all these different things. So, I literally have the best job in the world. I wake up in the morning; I can't wait to get into whatever it is – whether I'm going off to set, or if I was hanging out here working on something, or if I'm just at my home studio drawing. There's nothing better than what I do.

Ryan: You've been able to work with some of the best directors on the planet. Who are some of your favorites? And tell us some good stories. Not, like, good stories that would be bad for them, but good stories about who they are as people that you find delightful.

Mark: You know, every director – I learn something about storytelling from every one. Way back, I was working on a Spielberg series called seaQuest. I don't know if you remember that, back in the early 90s. It was Star Trek underwater, basically. It was a futuristic submarine. Roy Scheider was the star. Spielberg was producing it.

So, before we started shooting the second season, I'm going back and forth with Spielberg's office all the time, getting approvals on all my art and the storyboards and everything. That was freaking awesome. But one of the great things – and I wish I could remember the director's name, for this one episode – but we get out to location. I was out there with him on location, because I was doing some revisions on a couple sequences last second. And we had two camera crews with us. He said, “Look, you broke down this sequence. Why don't you take the crew? You go direct it.”

So, all of a sudden, I'm doing second-unit direction on a Spielberg series, just because of what I do. And a lot of story artists become directors. A lot of people don't realize it, but that's a direct route. Jim Cameron was a storyboard artist. Alfred Hitchcock was a storyboard artist. Joe Johnston – he storyboarded Star Wars, and then he did The Rocketeer, and a whole bunch of other movies over the years. So, yeah – it's a direct route. And I've ended up directing a lot of things because of all that.

But every director is just so much fun. Like, right now, I'm working with Alex Zamm on, I think, our fifth movie together. Plus, I did a TV series with him – and it's a shortcut, because we know each other so well. It's like you and your best bud. You’re telling stories, and you get in sync. Well, that's the way he and I are. And our kids are the same age. So, in the middle of breaking down a scene, we'll start talking about, “Oh, my kid's doing this in college.” “Oh, mine was doing that.” And then that'll bring up an idea. “Oh, how about if we did this?” It's just this ongoing flow of ideas. So, it's not work. It's fun. We're being really creative, and really productive, all at the same time. Come on – there can't be anything better than this.

Oh. I was on a movie called The Walking Dead – not the series, although I did work with Greg Nicotero on both. But they were completely different, 20 years apart from each other, which I thought was wild. But the director on that was Preston Whitmore. And Preston really liked to act out things. Every director is different. So, I adjust how I work depending on how a director likes to work. That’s the easiest way to get in their head.

So, Preston liked to act out things. This was a black man's experience in Vietnam. And he was talking about this one sequence where this gunman is running, and he has to leap over something, and he grabs a Viet Cong and slices his throat. Well, unfortunately for his assistant, she walked into the room as he's getting really excited and animated about this – and he grabs her without warning her, and spins her around, grabs her around the neck, pretends to slice her throat. All the paperwork she's carrying goes flying up in the air.

I'm down on the ground holding my hands up like a camera frame. And I'm going, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Oh, yeah.” And then he starts jumping across the furniture, showing how he’s leaping over this gorge. It's like playtime. But I got it. I saw instantly what he wanted, and I started sketching it away.

Ryan: What would you be doing if someone gave you $1 billion?

Mark: Same thing.

Ryan: I love that. How would it change? What if you had $1 billion in cash?

Mark: If I had $1 billion? I've got some other ideas that I would end up funding on my own.

Ryan: What kind? Would you actually just fund productions? Would you fund companies? What would you do?

Mark: Productions? I mean, I have two companies now that I've been running for years. But, yeah – there's two productions in particular. One, my book, Attacked; my memoir. I definitely want that as a movie. And I've there's a couple studios I'm talking to now about it. But if they don't do it, and if I had the money, I would fund it – because it's a great story. I want to get it out there.

Ryan: Tell everybody that story.

Mark: So, 40 years ago this month, I became the first person in the country to hold parents responsible for the actions of their kids. And what that means is, my bullies in high school got a bunch of people together and attacked me one night. As I ran away from them, they tried to stop my car. I ran over one of them. A bunch of them followed me home and attacked my parents – my whole family, in our front yard. And then, that started months of absolute hell. Death threats, attacking all my friends. Everyone avoided me. I became an island in the largest high school in Texas.

This all took place in Houston. 4000 kids at the school. No one would even talk to me except one person. One friend. The only one who stuck with me. And he's still my best friend to this day. But we ended up calling... there was a cop, Officer Ogden. He was a cop everybody knew. He spent off-time working at the school as well, as security. So he knew these guys, who were horrible. I mean, they were known for it.

They snapped the femur of one kid who saw them spray painting the school. They had broken into the school, crawled through the ceiling, and burned their own records. But no one did anything, because they ruled the school by threats, intimidation, and beating the crap out of people. But I stood up to this.

Ryan: What year was this?

Mark: 1980. I was a junior in high school. And, because, at that point, I'd already been working as a superintendent of a construction company for years, what are high schoolers going to do to intimidate me? I told big construction guys – all they did was lift stuff every day, three times my weight and size – I told them what to do. So, a high schooler pretending to intimidate me? I was rock-solid muscle, because all I ever did was work construction at that time.

So, they didn't like it. I was shorter than everybody, but they would bounce off of me. Nothing they did bothered me. So, they got 30 kids together to attack me at an outdoor bonfire one night. That was the only way they could get me. And they did. I mean, it scared the hell out of me. So we called Officer Ogden – ‘we’ being my family, because we knew him. He came over to the house, and he's the one who told us about this new law that had been instituted in Texas – but no one had ever used it. People were afraid. No one had used it.

So, he told us what to do. We had to bring the families into court to warn them first; to give them the opportunity to stop the actions of their kids. And we did. There were four families that we brought in; the four that showed up and attacked my family. Two families dealt with their kids instantly. One kid came up and apologized, and I understood why he'd gotten into it. The other kid just never talked to me again. But the other two only had mothers. And one of the mothers called me a ‘pussy’ in court, in front of the judge. That kind of told me everything I need to know about those families.

And so, the judge said, “Okay, you have been warned. If these attacks continue, you – the parents – are going to be thrown in jail.” And they did. The judge and I sat down afterwards, and he said, “Look; it's up to you to call us. But don't make it if they're just looking at you sideways or calling you a name. Make it worthwhile, so it'll hold up in court – and we can actually have them put away, and you could win the case.” So, it's a fine line. How do I not die, versus making sure it was bad enough that I would win a court trial?

It was tough. I mean, we were armed. We had private security. It was on and on. And finally, eight of them attacked me while I was on a date. I finally got a girl who didn't know what was going on to go out with me. And my first date with her, they see me, and they come after me with tire irons, bats, and chains. I barely escaped away from them. And I had a nervous breakdown that night.

Once I kind of got my mind together, I found a phone. I didn't know where I was. I found a phone, called my parents, and said, “That's it. Eight of them came after me. Call it.” And, the next morning, the two parents who didn't control the kids who’d been warned – their mothers were thrown in jail. And then, about three weeks after that – I don't remember the exact timeline. I wrote the book so I don't have to remember it. We went to court, and we had four charges against each of the families. We brought two into court so we could keep two outstanding. We were thinking ahead.

The first person came in. We won that court trial – it's a fascinating story on how that happened. But the second mother just pled ‘no contest.’ She didn’t want to go through that. It was so obvious. And my principal and vice principal showed up and testified in court for me. It was amazing. In fact, one friend...

One of the really funny moments in the book is, I had this one friend, Paul, who was with me during the first attack in my car. It was an old ‘63 T-Bird that I had rebuilt that we were in. I wanted him to testify in court, and his mom wouldn't let him. She's just an angry bitch. And, to my face – I said, “Well, I'll just subpoena Paul.” She goes, “Oh, don't do that. Fine. He can go.” I walked out, and I looked at my dad. I said, “Subpoena that bitch. I know she's lying to my face.” So we did. We subpoenaed Paul. And she lit up.

Paul told me later. He said, “But, Mom, you told him I could show up anyway.” She goes, “Yeah, but he wasn't supposed to know I was lying.” She was all mad because I called her on it. So he was there, and laughing through this thing – because at that point we had won. And then the guys never showed back up at school again. I mean, that was it. That was everything the school needed to finally get rid of these guys.

About three weeks or a month after that was the last time two guys I didn't know attacked me and threatened me. But they made a mistake. It freaked me out. I mean, everyone cleared away. It was at the school. It was in one of the big stairwells. And these two guys – big, thuggish kids I'd never seen – threw me up against the wall and got my face. Can I curse here? Because, I mean, I will.

Ryan: You already started, so...

Mark: Oh, that was nothing.

Ryan: We’ll just have to put a little disclaimer on the front of this podcast, but speak freely.

Mark: So, they were saying, “What, did you decide what we're going to do? You're going to have our parents arrested? You motherfucker!” On and on, and just hitting me and slapping me and smacking me up against this concrete wall. And they said, “Are you going to have our parents arrested, too?”

And all of a sudden, my world straightened out, and I smiled. I caught one of the guy’s fists, and I leaned forward. I looked at him, and I said, “You fuck with me? Yeah, I'll do it to you, too.” Their eyes went wide, and they both took a step or two back, and that was it. No one ever messed with me again after that.

Ryan: How did this whole process psychologically change you?

Mark: It was interesting, looking at my artwork – especially as I was writing the book. I went back to all my art. I've always been an artist. And you could see, as it was going on, my art got darker and darker. And I found a lot of the pieces, so you can actually see the transition in the book. I've got a lot of photos of everything that was going on in there.

It came out really dark. I wasn't talking to my best friend who stuck with me. He said I was no longer the ‘take charge’ guy. I got very quiet, which is definitely not like me. Very withdrawn. And what I didn't realize is that I suffered from PTSD for years after that. Always thinking someone's behind me; someone's going to stab me in my back. And the first time I wrote this story – which was well over 20 years ago, but it was it was terribly written, so no one ever saw it – it was a catharsis writing it. By the time I wrote the end, it was like I'd flushed my system of remembering everything. It's the last time I had a bad night's sleep. I never looked back over my shoulder again. I never had a bad feeling. It literally flushed me from that moment.

Ryan: Like a spiritual cleansing.

Mark: It was unbelievable. And I realize it's kind of like how writing lists of things to do allows you to sleep at night, because your mind doesn't have to try to remember everything. It’s written down; you don't have to remember it. It's there. So, that's what writing the story did for me.

Ryan: How did your body change? I mean, sometimes, when people go through PTSD – the kind of experiences that result in PTSD – they carry a lot of weight in their body. Not necessarily like they're heavy, but just like...

Mark: That is a thing that happens to a lot of people. It's a protection. Look; I was always working construction, and that didn't stop. And it was in a different area that no one... the guys at school, no one, really knew what I did. They just knew I was a short, little solid dude. So, that was another catharsis. I was away from things, and I was in control of what was going on. So, physically, nothing really changed – other than that I held my stomach really tense. That's where I hold pressure; in my stomach.

But I was lucky. I had a tremendous amount of support from my family. I made the final decisions on things, and I won. I beat them my way. And it worked. They were gone. They were out of my life, and they were out of everyone else's life that they were in. So I got over it pretty quickly – other than some of the PTSD of thinking someone's behind me. But physically, I think I got through it scot-free. I didn't gain any weight. I kept working the way I had been.

Ryan: Well, when you said you had the first good night's sleep in however many years...

Mark: Well, it was not like it was every night. But I had some recurring nightmares that would show up at times. It wasn't constant. But you know when it's gone. And I didn't have any more after that. But it was that feeling of always... Sitting in a restaurant with my back against the wall was a natural thing that I would do. Or sitting in a movie theater, wondering if someone was behind me who didn't like me, and would do something. That was because one of the guys was in a theater behind me, and I realized it partway through the movie. One of the ringleaders, Steve, frightened me. And so, that was an ongoing thing until I first wrote the story – and I’ve never thought about it since.

Ryan: Do you know how it's affected the school?

Mark: Well, the school got a lot better immediately afterwards. One of the things I had done after, after I won the court trial... well, let me back up just a little bit. Before the court trial, there were four families who I knew had also been assaulted – or, at least, their kids had been severely hurt by this gang. And every single family slammed the door in my face. They wanted nothing to do with it. They were afraid of retribution. I told them what I was doing, but they literally just screamed at me and slammed the door in my face.

After I won the court trial, I went back to every family and I said, “Okay, I won. I want to show you how to do it, and how you can beat them as well.” And all four doors stayed open for me. I helped them on what to do. Then I went to seven local businesses where I knew the guys had also done things, and I taught them what to do. And then I was deputized for my work on getting rid of the gang – all when I was 16 or 17. I don't remember how old I was.

Ryan: Deputized by the Houston Police Department, or the sheriff's office?

Mark: Yeah, the sheriff's office there in Harris County, in northern Houston. So, I think I did a lot of good. Now, what's really interesting – and you'll probably find this fascinating – is... This book just came out a couple months ago.

Ryan: Can we find it on Amazon?

Mark: Yeah, it's on Amazon. It's on Kindle and in print.

Ryan: The title is “Attacked: Bullied, Surviving Terror, and Finding Justice; a memoir by Mark Simon.”

Mark: Yeah. And once I started promoting that, I started getting messages from people I'd gone to high school with, who I didn't particularly know – I knew who they were, but we didn't hang out – reaching out to me and telling me their story of having been attacked by those guys. They had never spoken about it before, and it was a catharsis for them, reading it – because I was the one who brought it out and talked about it. So, they were able to then kind of release their story for the first time ever to me, which gave them a feeling of release. That was awesome.

Ryan: That makes perfect sense. Now, post the catharsis of letting go of this PTSD, have you stayed involved in that space, or has it felt like you kind of said, “All right, that was a season of my life, but I'm moving away.”

Mark: It's always been a great story, but I didn't do a whole lot on that other than raising kids. They knew the story. And they were bullied once, and we were able to take care of that pretty quickly. Another thing – I did get heavy into martial arts.

Ryan: What did you study?

Mark: I studied taekwondo and judo; judo in college, afterwards. Once my kids got of age – they were 5 or 6 – we did taekwondo together, because I wanted them to have that feeling of self-control. We're second-degree black belts. We tested together. I'm also a two-time national champion in taekwondo.

Ryan: Well, that'll make you feel more comfortable walking around the streets.

Mark: Absolutely. And it was a great workout. It was great father-son time. I mean, it was benefit, benefit, benefit across the board.

Ryan: A good buddy of mine, who's German – when he was growing up, his father said, “You must choose one sport for the mind and one sport for the body.” And so he learned to play chess, and he did judo for all his youth. And he says the same thing. It was incredibly centering, from a ‘being connected to your body’ standpoint; feeling really secure in yourself, as you know you can handle yourself and your body, and handle people trying to hurt your body, and feel like you're self-sufficient.

Mark: Yeah. And there's one other great thing as a father, doing it with your sons. You can kick him in the head and not get in trouble.

Ryan: Haha, that's pretty good. “Hey, you better be careful. We have judo practice tonight. I'm going to take you down.”

Mark: There you go. Yeah.

Ryan: Well, it also gives sons that that very male opportunity to take on their dads.

Mark: Yeah. And my boys are identical twins. So, every competition we went to, they were going for silver and gold against each other – because they always beat everyone up. Everyone, until we got right down to just them. So, it's funny as a parent on the sideline, yelling “kick them in the head; do this body shot.” It doesn't matter which one's listening, because I'm going for both of them. And it's exciting and frightening all at the same time.

But it was great. It taught them proper respect. Respect for adults. Respect for other people – because, yeah, we're fighting. But martial arts is all about respect, if you've got the right school. And we searched. In fact, the biggest thing I can tell people – what I did was, I went to a lot of different taekwondo schools, and I said, “How long is it going to take for my kids to get a black belt?” And if they gave me a time, I would walk out. I don't want to buy a black belt. I finally got to one teacher. She said, “Well, it depends on when they're capable. When they earn it, they'll get it.” You're my teacher. You're my sensei, right there.

Ryan: When did you move to Atlanta?

Mark: About two and a half years ago. I started in LA in the 80s, and then we moved to Orlando when it was starting to grow. My wife and I helped open up the Nickelodeon studios. I was the second designer there. She became their top producer on Clarissa Explains It All, Gullah-Gullah, all those shows. We worked together on a couple shows there, and then I left Nick to work with Spielberg. That's when I went full-time storyboarding on seaQuest. We had worldwide clients. But we saw everything that was happening in Atlanta. And once my kids graduated high school, we could move without uprooting them in their high school years.

Ryan: How much do you love Atlanta after leaving LA?

Mark: Oh, I love being here.

Ryan: It's amazing, isn't it?

Mark: Yeah. One of the things I miss most about being in LA was all the behind-the-scenes things. I love everything ‘behind the scenes.’ I'm not jaded at all about this industry, and there's so many things – and I've gotten involved in a lot of it. So, I'm speaking at conferences and events, for all the different groups, constantly – because I love being involved in it, and I love going and listening to other people talk about it. There's no way I'm leaving here without looking through your studio.

Ryan: Good. No, you're welcome to. I can actually get somebody to take you around wherever you want to go.

Mark: Awesome. That's great, because I totally geek out on this kind of stuff – and it's happening here. I mean, Atlanta shoots more productions than LA does. So, baby, I'm home. This is great. I love the weather here. There's no earthquakes. There's no forest fires. I love the southern cooking. I love the people. I mean, it's awesome.

Ryan: I agree with you. I think that I tell my friends from LA all the time. I say, “Listen, LA is an amazing place to visit, but Atlanta is a ten-times-better place to live.”

Mark: Look, I love that I have the L.A. credits. I love that I was there. I never have to say ‘what if.’ It was great. But, baby, you couldn't take me back there for anything. I am here; this is my home.

Ryan: Let's imagine the next five years. What are some of the things you would hope to see happen in the industry in Atlanta?

Mark: I love the way it's been growing. Obviously, we've got the whole pandemic thing that we're dealing with. So, just across the board, I hope that we can finally conquer this thing and get back to somewhat normalcy. Luckily, because I can work long-distance, I'm staying busy. But, beyond that, I want more people to... especially in story artists. I'm constantly trying to train them how to use the latest technologies, because we can do so much more than a lot of people realize. So, I want I want more people working the way I work, because that helps everybody in our industry. And one of my big goals is to turn my memoir into something, so I can share my story with more people.

Ryan: I love that. What do you think the best software for storyboarding is right now?

Mark: Storyboard Pro. I mean, there's no doubt there. It's made by Toon Boom. And it was originally developed just for animation. When I first saw it – because I work in both live action and animation – when I first saw it, I thought, “This is awesome. But it doesn't work for live action,” for a number of different reasons we don't need to get into here. I told them about it, and working back and forth a little bit, they said, “You know everything about this.” So they hired me.

I worked with them on how to redevelop the software. To this day, over ten years later, I'm still working with them on the development of the software. And we won an Emmy for it in 2012 – a primetime engineering Emmy. It works the way I want it to work for live action. So it's awesome. It makes me faster, it helps me be better, and I can deliver more, quicker, to my clients. It's a win-win across the board.

Ryan: Mark, we're out of time.

Mark: No!

Ryan: I know. We'll have to do it again. You have such fantastic energy; I love it. If people want to find you, or your company, do you have social media? What's the best way for them to reach out?

Mark: The best way is my website, at storyboards-east.com. You can look me up on LinkedIn. I do a lot on LinkedIn. Just look up Mark Simon in storyboarding; you'll find me. Or just look up my name on YouTube. I'm pretty easy to find.

Ryan: Well, you're living a hell of a story, so I appreciate you coming on and sharing some of it.

Mark: Yeah. Thanks for having me. This has really been fun.

Ryan: Thank you. I'm Ryan Millsap. Thanks for listening to the Blackhall Studios Podcast.

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