Los Angeles is too often considered the end all, be all of everything cinematic.
But before you make the big move to L.A., listen up, film fanatics. Especially those who are artistic and/or reluctant to leave Oregon.
Have you ever heard of Laika? It’s not necessarily a household name, but many of their movies are major animated films like Coraline, The Boxtrolls and ParaNorman. They create animation the old-fashioned way, from hand, using a variety of tools and techniques such as drawings and sculptures from hand or machinery.
What might ring an even louder bell is Phil Knight’s son, Travis Knight. That’s right, Laika studios are co-owned by Phil Knight and his son, Travis, who serves as the company’s president and CEO.
Laika is located in Hillsboro, which is just 15 miles outside of Portland. Their goal is to bring handcrafted, original animated content to the big screen. Their first produced short was Moongirl back in 2005, which may strike a nostalgic chord from most of our childhoods. Even more exciting: ParaNorman was nominated for an Academy Award and Coraline was highly critically acclaimed.
What may seem like a company that spurted out of nowhere actually developed from the financially struggling Will Vinton Studios back in the late 1990s.
One of its outside investors, Phil Knight made Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, the supervising director of the studio. Out of this came Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house, used for commercial work.
A major animation company like Laika highly prides itself on giving its employees freedom in what they enjoy to do. There are opportunities for both business and artist professionals.
Even more beneficial: Laika offers paid internships year round for college juniors and seniors. On their website, current job postings are updated frequently and have specific steps, so if you’re considering applying, the FAQs serve as the most helpful guide you can get.
And with Knight’s name somewhere on the credits, Laika is the next big thing you need to add to your to-do list for post-grad, future jobs applications.
Whether it’s a gateway into the business aspect of the film industry you’re looking for, a place where you can truly make your artistic ability shine or somewhere close to home, be sure to check out Laika on your next job hunting excursion because the traffic is a hell of a lot better in Portland than it is in L.A.
