Jim Hardison is the creative director for Character and brings the knowledge of character and story he gained as a writer, animator and director in commercials and entertainment to his exploration of brand characters. Jim has a BA in film and animation production from Columbia College in Chicago. He started his professional career by producing a low-budget direct-to-video feature, The Creature From Lake Michigan. Making a bad film can be a crash course in the essential elements of good character and story, and The Creature From Lake Michigan was a tremendously bad film. Jim learned his lesson well, and after a brief stint recuperating as a freelance writer and film editor, founded his own production company. During its seven-year run, he wrote, directed and edited live-action and animation productions, including educational films, television commercials and television pilots. Shifting his focus to animation, Jim joined Will Vinton Studios in 1997. There he directed animated commercial and entertainment projects, including spots for M&M’s, AT&T, Cingular Wireless and Kellogg’s as well as episodic television. David recruited him to work on character development projects in 2000, and Jim assumed creative director duties in 2001 as the business took shape.
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