On Tuesday, Disney announced they would be closing Blue Sky Studios. To some this may not be a big surprise. The ongoing pandemic has had lasting effects, not just on small, local businesses, but even the biggest of corporations. Nonetheless, it's harder to say goodbye to a place when you've called it home for the past seven years. And that's what Blue Sky was to me: a home.
The films I've worked on, and even those I grew up with long before I got to work at Blue Sky, will always be close to my heart. But even closer to my heart will be the people who became family and the memories we formed together. The late nights eating takeout dinner while getting increasingly loopy. The inside jokes and even inside language. The hours in a dark room with directors, agonizing over every frame. The inside scoops and juicy goss'. The long, post-lunch walks. The private screenings of films shipped from 20th Century Fox. The wine and cheese plates. The heavenly weeks at Skywalker Ranch. The good cooks on the paper cutter.
The list goes on and on...
I've spent the past week wrestling with every stage of grief. Frankly, it would be strange if I haven't. But I've come to a place that's free of blame. Covid-19 has always acted indiscriminately, and I'm now one of millions of people affected by it. And in many ways, I'm far more fortunate in how I've been affected. I know we'll all go on to work on meaningful films, build new homes, form new memories. And it will always be more about the journey getting there than a name in an end credits crawl.