Connect with the artists behind-the-scenes, and get insight into the making of some of today’s greatest animation features, shorts, and series.
The journey from page to production can be full of twists and turns (as well as the occasional soulfang serpent). In the case of developing The Dragon Prince, finding the right creative partner played a key role in overcoming these obstacles and achieving critical success. Join writers, creators, directors, and artists from both Wonderstorm and Bardel Entertainment as they discuss the making of the Emmy Award®-winning animated series and share their uniquely collaborative approach to visualizing the magical world of Xadia.
SPEAKERS
Aaron Ehasz
CEO & Co-Creator // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama)
Aaron was the Head Writer on Avatar: The Last Airbender, and is now the CEO of Wonderstorm, the company behind The Dragon Prince. With The Dragon Prince, Aaron wanted not only to craft a story full of drama and heart but to grow his team into a group of visionary creators. Aaron finds inspiration in kind people who want to make a difference for others: people who face significant challenges and setbacks, but still fight to overcome them, and have a meaningful impact on their friends, family and the world.
Aaron loves spending time with his family, whether it’s playing games together, watching movies, or hanging outdoors. Most of all, Aaron loves drinking good coffee, though the rest of Wonderstorm disagrees with his taste.
Devon Giehl
Lead Writer & Co-Producer // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, League of Legends)
As Lead Writer for The Dragon Prince, Devon Giehl is responsible for the entire scripting process, overseeing everything that involves words on a page — including running the writers' room, managing script revisions, leading brainstorms, and more. She is a huge sucker for heart-wrenching drama and tries as hard as she can to make sure everyone weeps openly when they watch The Dragon Prince series.
In her free time, Devon likes to hang out with her husband and writing partner, Iain, draw elves, and write a lot of fanfiction. Also about elves.
Edison Yan
Art Director // Bardel Entertainment
(The Dragon Prince, Invincible, The Adventure of Puss in Boots, Scribblenauts)
As Art Director for The Dragon Prince at Bardel Entertainment, Edison Yan helps define and create the visual style for the whole show. This means taking a script and working with artists of all specialties to bring it to life on the screen. He’s inspired by all his coworker artists, artists from cyberspace, Ghibli films, and soundtracks from his favourite movies, video games, and anime.
Edison spends his free time drawing and painting, watching videos on Netflix and YouTube, and playing with his dogs. He also plays video games, and recently re-played his favourite game of all time, Final Fantasy VI.
George Samilski
Supervising Director // Bardel Entertainment
(The Beachbuds, Dead Rising 3, Storm Hawks, Reboot)
George Samilski oversees all aspects of The Dragon Prince’s production as the show’s Supervising Director and helps talented artists at Bardel deliver the best possible animated show. He draws inspiration from all mediums — including comics, literature, cartoons, and games — but is a huge movie geek at heart who enjoys attending film fests and pushing 80's nostalgia on his kids.
Justin Richmond
Executive Producer & Co-Creator // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama)
From Uncharted and League of Legends to The Dragon Prince, Justin Richmond — in his own words — "helps make things awesome." As Executive Producer at Wonderstorm, Justin's goal is and always has been to tell great stories that are accessible to any audience without "dumbing it down." He’s inspired by great fantasies and sci-fi epics, but also by taking hikes, travelling to new places, and hanging out with his family and seeing what they love.
Justin is a huge gamer and loves playing board games and video games. He plays EVERYTHING… except sports games. His favourite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Villads Spangsberg
Executive Producer // Wonderstorm
(LEGO Monkie Kid, The Dragon Prince, LEGO Elves)
Previously a supervising director at Bardel Entertainment, Villads Spangsberg is now the Showrunner for The Dragon Prince at Wonderstorm, playing an integral part in storyboarding, voice directing, editing, design, and more. He's inspired by anything related to Akira, The Iron Giant, Ghost in the Shell, Lord of the Rings, or Blade Runner… you know, the classics!
Villads' tablet is filled with drawings of giant robots, and he also plays older computer games like Myst and Civilization during his spare time. But when the wind is right and the sun shines, you can always find Villads sailing with his labrador, Bowie.
MODERATOR
Amy Tang
Line Producer // Mainframes Studios
(Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams, Barbie: YouTube Vlog)
Amy Tang is a line producer at Mainframe Studios, a Division of WOW! Unlimited Media. Also, she co-chairs Mainframe Studios’ Culture Club to keep the fun and excitement of working at an animation studio bright and alive. Amy proudly volunteers on the leadership team for Spark CG Society, holds the Vice-Chair position with the Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH chapter, sits on the Board of Directors for Vancouver Animation Network, and is part of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, a partnership with the Animation & VFX Alliance of British Columbia.
Amy’s ability to maintain a grassroots and organic yet structured approach, along with a loud voice and vibrant energy, compliments the teams she oversees and events she helps organize and run. Amy needs to evoke strong community connections to help the CG industry grow and thrive.
As a small girl growing up in Manitoba, Canada, under open skies and endless fields, Amy has nourished her soul and mind with music, theatre, and film. This has helped build creative solid legs that help carry visions, imagination and networking into Vancouver, BC, Canada’s expressive lifestyle.
Website // IMDb // Facebook // LinkedIn
Connect with the artists behind-the-scenes, and get insight into the making of some of today’s greatest animation features, shorts, and series.
The journey from page to production can be full of twists and turns (as well as the occasional soulfang serpent). In the case of developing The Dragon Prince, finding the right creative partner played a key role in overcoming these obstacles and achieving critical success. Join writers, creators, directors, and artists from both Wonderstorm and Bardel Entertainment as they discuss the making of the Emmy Award®-winning animated series and share their uniquely collaborative approach to visualizing the magical world of Xadia.
SPEAKERS
Aaron Ehasz
CEO & Co-Creator // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama)
Aaron was the Head Writer on Avatar: The Last Airbender, and is now the CEO of Wonderstorm, the company behind The Dragon Prince. With The Dragon Prince, Aaron wanted not only to craft a story full of drama and heart but to grow his team into a group of visionary creators. Aaron finds inspiration in kind people who want to make a difference for others: people who face significant challenges and setbacks, but still fight to overcome them, and have a meaningful impact on their friends, family and the world.
Aaron loves spending time with his family, whether it’s playing games together, watching movies, or hanging outdoors. Most of all, Aaron loves drinking good coffee, though the rest of Wonderstorm disagrees with his taste.
Devon Giehl
Lead Writer & Co-Producer // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, League of Legends)
As Lead Writer for The Dragon Prince, Devon Giehl is responsible for the entire scripting process, overseeing everything that involves words on a page — including running the writers' room, managing script revisions, leading brainstorms, and more. She is a huge sucker for heart-wrenching drama and tries as hard as she can to make sure everyone weeps openly when they watch The Dragon Prince series.
In her free time, Devon likes to hang out with her husband and writing partner, Iain, draw elves, and write a lot of fanfiction. Also about elves.
Edison Yan
Art Director // Bardel Entertainment
(The Dragon Prince, Invincible, The Adventure of Puss in Boots, Scribblenauts)
As Art Director for The Dragon Prince at Bardel Entertainment, Edison Yan helps define and create the visual style for the whole show. This means taking a script and working with artists of all specialties to bring it to life on the screen. He’s inspired by all his coworker artists, artists from cyberspace, Ghibli films, and soundtracks from his favourite movies, video games, and anime.
Edison spends his free time drawing and painting, watching videos on Netflix and YouTube, and playing with his dogs. He also plays video games, and recently re-played his favourite game of all time, Final Fantasy VI.
George Samilski
Supervising Director // Bardel Entertainment
(The Beachbuds, Dead Rising 3, Storm Hawks, Reboot)
George Samilski oversees all aspects of The Dragon Prince’s production as the show’s Supervising Director and helps talented artists at Bardel deliver the best possible animated show. He draws inspiration from all mediums — including comics, literature, cartoons, and games — but is a huge movie geek at heart who enjoys attending film fests and pushing 80's nostalgia on his kids.
Justin Richmond
Executive Producer & Co-Creator // Wonderstorm
(The Dragon Prince, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama)
From Uncharted and League of Legends to The Dragon Prince, Justin Richmond — in his own words — "helps make things awesome." As Executive Producer at Wonderstorm, Justin's goal is and always has been to tell great stories that are accessible to any audience without "dumbing it down." He’s inspired by great fantasies and sci-fi epics, but also by taking hikes, travelling to new places, and hanging out with his family and seeing what they love.
Justin is a huge gamer and loves playing board games and video games. He plays EVERYTHING… except sports games. His favourite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Villads Spangsberg
Executive Producer // Wonderstorm
(LEGO Monkie Kid, The Dragon Prince, LEGO Elves)
Previously a supervising director at Bardel Entertainment, Villads Spangsberg is now the Showrunner for The Dragon Prince at Wonderstorm, playing an integral part in storyboarding, voice directing, editing, design, and more. He's inspired by anything related to Akira, The Iron Giant, Ghost in the Shell, Lord of the Rings, or Blade Runner… you know, the classics!
Villads' tablet is filled with drawings of giant robots, and he also plays older computer games like Myst and Civilization during his spare time. But when the wind is right and the sun shines, you can always find Villads sailing with his labrador, Bowie.
MODERATOR
Amy Tang
Line Producer // Mainframes Studios
(Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams, Barbie: YouTube Vlog)
Amy Tang is a line producer at Mainframe Studios, a Division of WOW! Unlimited Media. Also, she co-chairs Mainframe Studios’ Culture Club to keep the fun and excitement of working at an animation studio bright and alive. Amy proudly volunteers on the leadership team for Spark CG Society, holds the Vice-Chair position with the Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH chapter, sits on the Board of Directors for Vancouver Animation Network, and is part of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, a partnership with the Animation & VFX Alliance of British Columbia.
Amy’s ability to maintain a grassroots and organic yet structured approach, along with a loud voice and vibrant energy, compliments the teams she oversees and events she helps organize and run. Amy needs to evoke strong community connections to help the CG industry grow and thrive.
As a small girl growing up in Manitoba, Canada, under open skies and endless fields, Amy has nourished her soul and mind with music, theatre, and film. This has helped build creative solid legs that help carry visions, imagination and networking into Vancouver, BC, Canada’s expressive lifestyle.
Website // IMDb // Facebook // LinkedIn
