FAQ

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Live class times of tiers 2 and 3 will be set based on enrollment. Live Q&A’s will be about 2-3 hrs/week, scheduled for 1-2 days after the week’s lessons drop so you have time to view it all, do the exercises, and have time to form any questions on it while leaving the rest of the week for assignments.

The class will be offered based on my availability. I'm hoping to offer the class at least twice a year in spring and fall going forward.

Absolutely not. Anyone who tells you it will clearly has no experience making successful films. That said it will have some role in the process, but more like what grammerly is for writers.

Ex: When I started out, we were still working analog with paper and pins, creating our boards by hand. A small startup called Pixar had made a toy movie with CG, and everyone was worried it would destroy the industry and all its jobs. Instead, it became bigger than it's ever been before.

Even as technology evolves, the core craft and skill that informs those technologies is timeless, and it's been a genuine comfort knowing that I have some of the most transferable skills in the business.

I can't promise that obviously, but what I CAN guarantee however, is that this class will absolutely be one of if not the best chance of increasing those odds! If someone promises you an 'instant story artist' class, they are lying to you.

This course will teach you the same foundational skills that have allowed me to build a successful career for 25 years, never experience a single layoff, never want for work, be consistently promoted into more responsibility everywhere I go, somehow raise a family doing what I enjoy, and is why studios continue to seek me out for story leadership and training. If your goal is to land a story artist job, this will give you a proven foundation and focus to get there more efficiently, and more reliably.

It's different for everyone but in general - most people start as interns or junior story artists, then work their way up to full story artist roles. After a few shows and about a decade of experience, it’s common to step into positions like story lead or senior story artist.

From there, some move into Head of Story or Supervising Director roles, and eventually director or writer, if that’s your aim. Many of the best people also just enjoy being in story and remain story artists their entire career, becoming senior story artists and creative development.

Most directors tend to come from story, probably because it’s the closest parallel to that job. So, it makes sense for that to be the most common career path. It’s also where many of my writer-director friends go between projects, picking up freelance or support work to help struggling shows find their way to the finish line.

That is definitely a possibility. Stay tuned.

You do NOT need to be the worlds best draftsperson to take this class. As long as you're comfortable sketching with ideally about a third or fourth year art school level competency (figure drawing, composition, perspective, anatomy, color & design, illustration, some basic animation) you should be good to go. You'll spend your entire career refining those skills but you only need a basic level of clarity to get started.

You should feel comfortable using a word processor like Word or Google Docs, though screenwriting tools like Final Draft or Scrivener are great options too. You don’t need to be an exceptional writer to begin. As long as you understand the basics of storytelling (something happens, someone reacts, something else happens), you can build from there.

Enrollment secures a limited spot. Once it’s claimed, it prevents someone else from joining during the open window. It’s important to be sure you can commit before enrolling, both out of fairness to others and because class schedules are based on confirmed enrollment. I plan accordingly and can’t accommodate last-minute changes.

I don’t offer discounts. To make them as accessible as possible, I’ve created three tiers of pricing and access so you can choose what fits best. I’ve been there, student loans and all - but consider this: entry-level story artist salaries start around $65–80K a year and can grow to over $250K. These skills also translate into plenty of other well-paying creative roles. Ultimately, it’s your call. For me, it’s been the best return on investment I’ve ever made.

The less fun part of entering the professional world of story arts is getting used to legal docs. Many art schools actually include language saying they own everything you do outright. I'm not doing that. The terms and conditions for this class ensure that you own whatever you create in class, while the class itself retains ownership of the material provided.

It also guarantees that anything we discuss in class is fair game, so later on no students or even myself can claim you ripped off an idea, or vice versa. That said, if you have a super special idea you're working on - I highly recommend NOT bringing that to class, but rather apply what you learn in class to that on your own. This is a class, not a place to develop a personal project.

Some kids draw because they love the act of drawing itself. I drew because I had story ideas to get on paper. Whether it was sketching out movie scenes for permission to borrow a camcorder, or creating shot plans so the grown-ups (usually my mom) who were allowed to actually use the camera could help me film, those early sketches were my first story pitches, long before I knew what a story artist was.

Later, I got into stop motion and 2D animation, but all I had were flipbooks until some experimenting with A/V cables led me to build a makeshift digital sketch-edit bay using two junk TVs, a pair of VCRs, and my SNES running Mario Paint. A high school counselor discovered I was making all these short films and had me write to Disney for advice. They sent back a list of art schools and Jurassic Park had just dropped, so I picked the one in San Francisco that had SGI machines.

Within weeks of my first term, I switched my major from 3D animation to fine arts-visual storytelling when I realized the tech would always change, but the craft of storytelling wouldn’t. As luck would have it, my school was just across the bay from a small studio called Pixar who's CG toy movie had just come out, and founders of their story dept were teaching at our school, trying to make it their version of Cal-Arts to train their next generation at! While the school administration may not have realized the goldmine they had, we students soaked up every second.

Outside of class, I worked overnight shifts to pay the bills, took on extra responsibilities in large group projects, picked up freelance gigs, and even co-founded an animation studio along the way. By the time I graduated, that mix of formal education and real-world hustle landed me a full-time role as a story artist.

A lot. You can visit my website: jeddiffenderfer.com to learn more.

The nature of this business, especially what we do is pretty secretive so I can never say - but right now I am focused on writing and directing.

Many reasons, but two main ones.

One, I enjoy it. It sneaks up on us how much we've learned over time, so when I get to share that with others it's really cool getting to see those things help people improve and make their own breakthroughs!

Two, the industry needs this. It's become a part of my job for the studio, but I figure why not make it a job for myself, and in the process help solve this problem for more than myself or a single studio. I have had my share of “those who can’t, teach” classes, but also my share of “those who already did, teach really f’ing good!” Looking back, I can't believe how lucky I was to get trained by so many absolute legends, and I want to now take my turn passing things along to others too.