IP Picks🔎: Miyazaki's Fave Kids’ Book
âž• An inspirational Olympic sports story and a 'Daisy Jones'-like tale with a mystery twist
Welcome to The Optionist. As always, thanks for reading along. I hope everyone had a good Labor Day.
Last week I got invited to observe the projects at SCI-Arc’s Fiction and Entertainment MS program and meet the students. It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon and recharge my enthusiasm at a moment when the lack of progress in resolving the strike weighs on everyone. Most students create a short film or a presentation reel, a mix of animation and live-action (with heavy CGI and VFX). As always, I’m blown away by the polished final products students can produce with their equipment. I’m also fascinated by the way the visual grammar of video games showed up in all the projects, regardless of whether the creators were gamers or not. The influence of games — from Super Mario to Tomb Raider to The Last of Us — is so pervasive in their lives that it shapes everything on the screen. I really believe there’s a generational divide that separates those who grew up in the gamer era and those who predated it. I loved how the students harnessed these tools to tell a variety of fascinating stories. One project imagined a near-future Bangkok flooded because of climate change, while another digitally demoed a theme park influenced by classical music (sounds weird but cool!), and a third rethought the idea of the game show in a VR world — and these just scratch the surface. Mostly, I was inspired by the the students’ love of entertainment and their enthusiasm for the industry they’re trying to enter. Sure, for those in the business bearing the brunt of the strikes and the financial problems brought on by the transition to streaming everywhere, things can feel pretty downbeat. But seeing the world, even for a few minutes, through the eyes of Hollywood’s next generation of creatives was invigorating.
On to this week’s picks, which are highlighted by a backlist title beloved by animation god Hayao Miyazaki. The full rundown:
A Daisy Jones-like drama that finds a ghostwriter who’s working on a book about a beloved rock band investigating what really happened that night in 1969 when the lead singer died.
A YA drama about two teens haunted by tragedies and dashed Olympic dreams who fall in love over their shared traumas.
A weird true-life drama centered on an American man who became the star of a Soviet propaganda film in the hopes of reconnecting with a lost love. (Spoiler: Be careful what you wish for.)
An inspirational sports drama about one of the most unlikely qualifiers for the 2023 Olympics.
A kids’ adventure story about four siblings who discover a magical flying Norse ship that can travel through time and takes them to ancient Egypt, Sherwood Forest and beyond.
