Conversations with Geramiah Profeta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Geramiah Profeta.

Hi Geramiah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
I would be honored to! I think my journey has been filled with so many subtle moments that could’ve easily changed my life that it’s impossible to not think: Everything happens for a reason and to never give up. 

I was born and raised in San Diego, CA (Specifically in Linda Vista) with my mom, grandma, and two older sisters. Although Linda Vista wasn’t the best neighborhood growing up, and we weren’t the richest family by any means, my mom made sure that I never felt that way. If I wasn’t playing outside with my neighborhood friends, I spent all day drawing, playing Pokémon, and watching A Bug’s Life on VHS over and over again. I fell in love with animation at a very early age since my mom’s old boxy TV and VHS tape rewinder were pretty much my best friend. Since my mom was at work, my dad didn’t live with us, my two sisters were 8 & 10 years apart from me and were going to school; it was mostly my grandma and I. When my grandma wasn’t watching the Filipino News in the morning and soaps in the evening, I had the TV to myself. Watching everything from Boomerang, Kids WB, Nickelodeon, KPBS Kids, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, and even Adult Swim (Sorry Mom!), all I really knew was the TV. Although all these cartoons, video games, and anime played a big factor in my life, no moment played a bigger factor than the scene from Spider-Man (2002) where my favorite superhero of all time starts drawing his own costume with the iconic music in the background. Wanting to be just like my role model, my 4-year-old brain thought if I drew his suit, then I too could become him…Sadly, that wasn’t the case, but it’s because of that moment that I started to love drawing, animation, and anything in that realm. 

I soon became the artist in all my group of friends and never won any standout award that wasn’t for my artwork. If I wasn’t drawing at home in my purple velvet Scooby Doo notebook, I would be drawing and selling comics at school for a dollar to friends and classmates, just like George and Harold from Captain Underpants. As someone who really liked making others happy, it gave me all the admiration and affirmation I needed to keep on drawing. As wonderful as that was, it honestly was a bit of a double-edged sword. Since everyone liked my art, even though it wasn’t the most amazing drawings, I didn’t feel the motivation to continue growing my skill levels. With that and just wanting to enjoy friends, school, video games, and life, I decided to put those dreams of mine on a shelf. 

It was not until my Senior Year in College that this dream of mine unknowingly started to reawaken. Like I said before, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and me getting rejected by the 5 colleges I got accepted into because I forgot to submit my transcript due to me playing Cards Against Humanity in AVID is indeed one of them. As much as that sucked at the time, this was what 18-year-old Geramiah unknowingly really needed. 

I ended up going to San Diego Mesa Community College for the longest 2 and a half years ever. I went in expecting nothing of it and thought it would only be a pitstop before I transferred to a Cal State, but ended up leaving with more than I could’ve ever asked for. I switched from Computer Science to X-Ray Tech to Health and to Forensics at one point. It wasn’t until I finally decided to be honest and try to pursue art once again that I didn’t feel lost. It took some time, but with the support of my art friends, teachers like my History Professor, Ms. Keller, and Transfer Center Coordinator, Ms. Hedekin, I went from being the most pessimistic person on the planet to someone who refused to give up on anything. With all of my hopes on the line, I felt so scared but yet so light. Although I knew it wasn’t going to get any easier, I knew that I’d rather die trying to do what I loved than be stuck in something I hated. 

I transferred to Cal State Fullerton Fall 2019. The next step to my dream of studying animation and one day becoming a storyboard artist was slowly turning into a reality. During my time there I joined Women In Animation @ CSUF, I improved my art, and I got accepted into the Entertainment Art/Animation Degree. 

I graduated in Fall 2021 after dealing with the pandemic and had no luck finding a job in animation; sadly, I still took it upon myself to keep pushing and scrapping for any job I could find. Even if this meant working in two unpaid art jobs, working as a Volunteer officer for AIA (Asians In Animation), AND working security…again. One day in May, after catching up with my fellow CSUF alumni/ Club officer/friend Lindsey, she suggested that I apply for a PA position at DreamWorks. I ended up applying thinking nothing of it, as I applied to so many jobs and never even made it to a positive email or talk to a recruiter. So, when a month passed by with no emails and I was lying in my bed at 4 am after getting off a 12-hour shift, you can best believe I was shocked to see an email to interview from almost 23 hours ago! As nervous as I was, I honestly knew I had nothing to lose and just made sure to give them my best self. Even if that meant me going all out wearing a full-out suit, dress shoes, and a tie for a virtual interview during 103-degree SD weather! Of course, I was going to do it! And to my surprise, two days later, I was notified that I would be starting in less than two weeks, and haven’t looked back since. 

Despite it being a confusing, frustrating, and mentally taxing road to travel to get to where I am now. I know I wouldn’t have traded it for the world since it’s because of all these moments, inconveniences, depressing and confusing times that I made it to DreamWorks as a Production Assistant for more than a year and a half! Forever thankful to my family, friends, girlfriend, CSUF, my teachers throughout the years, Women in Animation, UltraViolet Comics, Asians In Animation, and everyone at DreamWorks I’ve had the opportunity to meet/work with. The saying that continues to keep me going on and still rings true to me is, “You can’t appreciate the clouds if you’ve never felt the ground.” 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would 100% be lying if I said it was a smooth road to get to where I am. In hindsight, I’m glad it happened the way it did. Not only did it feel more rewarding when I did reach those goals for myself, but also molded me into the person I am today. 

As much as I’d love to say I woke up one day, decided to just pick up where I left off with art, and it was smooth sailing. That wouldn’t be the case. Going straightforward with an art career wasn’t met with the biggest enthusiasm from not only loved ones but myself. Art was always something that I would “do for fun” or do to make friends and family happy with. But when I added the new goal of trying to find a career in art/animation, that’s when there was a newfound pressure that made art not as fun anymore. Like many artists, I developed Imposter Syndrome. I felt worthless, I felt so far behind my contemporaries and I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. Every drawing stroke felt like so much figurative pressure that I couldn’t judge my artwork fairly. Anytime I showed friends and family my art, I felt like throwing up because I didn’t feel like any of my art was worth anything. What made this period even more mentally difficult was that it didn’t feel like anyone fully believed I could reach my goal, including myself. The quote that I’ll never forget after showing someone the art that I worked so hard to make was, “Are you sure you don’t want to just join the Navy first, Gera? At least they can fund your art school just in case”. When they said that with the most concerned and serious face, insecurity became my best friend. If one of my biggest supporters felt this level of concern, what made me possibly think that I could get into this ALREADY small industry? So, I wasn’t only fighting to prove to myself that I could make it but to prove to my loved ones that I could even survive. 

I started to diminish more and more to the point I couldn’t tell if I was improving as a person and as an artist. I developed such a toxic mindset for myself that I couldn’t tell it was killing me mentally inside. The game plan and schedule for myself was beyond unhealthy. A normal day for me was working from 10 PM to 6 AM watching over SI Patients/guarding Kaiser Hospital, driving to Community College, sleeping in my car till 9 AM, going to class from 9-4, being stuck in traffic for an hour, go home, shower, sleep, drive to work and repeat the process all over again while trying to fit in time for homework/drawing. It was a lonely and difficult time for sure, but I convinced myself that I couldn’t be a great artist if I didn’t don’t go through the trials and tribulations. If I complain, then I clearly don’t want it enough and don’t want to get better. When I was thinking I had the Kobe “Mamba Mentality”, I was actually torturing myself with the Whiplash “Teacher-Student” Implosive personality. I would work on my drawings to the bone for hours and would immediately say to myself, “Is this the drawing that’s going to get me to my goal? You’re not going to go far if you keep this up, you have to take it seriously Gera!”. 

It wasn’t until through years of therapy, learning self-love, and taking care of myself that I was slowly able to claw myself out of the depression and self-loathing I was facing. Everything that I thought was making me better was just hurting me more than I could’ve ever imagined. 

Right when I thought I was picking myself up and able to stand on my own feet, 2020 rolled around. Same as a lot of other artists graduating from college and trying to look for an animation job in the aftermath of a global pandemic, I felt opportunities were nothing but bleak. As positive as I was about never giving up, at some point, it felt I was just lying to myself and didn’t want to admit the real truth. It felt like everything I worked hard for and all the obstacles I conquered came crashing down. 

Thinking I finally got away from working security and doing late-night shifts when I moved to CSUF. Here I was once again working Security, but from 6:45 PM – 3:15 AM, telling rich people to leave their apartment pools after midnight. Days felt like weeks, my health declined once again, and talking to loved ones about my artistic goals felt like I was being brought back down to Earth about a silly dream I had. Overall, I just wasn’t in the best headspace. 

Despite everything I said before, I just couldn’t allow myself to give up on my dreams. There were too many people in my life, friends, family, and loved ones who have dedicated so much love and support to me that I’d be letting them down. The most important person I couldn’t let down was the little kid, me, who would’ve been so proud of everything I accomplished since I started drawing. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Before I start talking about my Professional Life and Career, I wanted to give flowers to the many people who’ve impacted me during my time here. To our amazing Production Team (Megan, Tatiana, Anjali, Elliott, Tay, Josh, Emily, Annie, Eric, Ross, Noel, Anna, and William), my therapist Charmaine, the Storyboard Artists and Directors, the Writers, Designers, Animation, Light/Comp, FX, Post, our Partner Studio, Executives, Creative Management (Anastasia & Joyce), Editors, Production Managers, Line Producer, Supervisors and of course, my Coordinator (Matt, Donnie, Rebecca, Scott, Z, Aaron, Bethany, Maria, Kelly, Ryan, Dan, JP, Eric, and of course Lindsey!). My life has changed so much for the better, professionally and personally. You all saved me, and I can never thank you enough for giving me this chance. 

In my professional life, I work as a production assistant on DreamWorks TV and handle the story side of our show primarily. Daily, I help out my Coordinator and Production Team with tasks mapped out on our Production Bar Schedule. Since we’re on an episodic schedule, we help prepare each storyboard team and director with all of the updated scripts, designs, and audio needed to make them successful on their episodes. Once that team is officially launched onto the sed episode, we continue to assist that specific team/episode throughout any new updates from Design, Story, Assets, and Execs. We keep chipping away at the episode until it’s so cleaned up that it’s ready to be sent out and animated across seas with our wonderful partner studio! Since we’re working with multiple episodes and multiple teams, then a lot of these tasks tend to overlap with one another throughout the week. After each team finishes, they move on to the next and repeat the cycle once more! With a constant flow of assisting each team on different tasks, there’s never a dull day in Prod, we always say! 

I would say I’m most proud to not only land on a crew as amazing as this but also to land on such a special project for my first-ever animation job. I’ve been made well aware that a group like this doesn’t come very often so to be a part of something such as this has been a dream of a lifetime. I’ve also been so proud of myself, who grew so much BECAUSE of this show and crew. From when the day they hired me until now, I’ve grown in more ways than I could’ve ever thought I could 

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Since being hired onto this show, I feel like three specific qualities/characteristics contributed to my success: 

#1: Positivity and wanting to be a great teammate. As much as you can be the most amazing artist on the planet and have skills beyond everyone else, if you don’t know how to work within a team, then there’s no point. A team would rather have someone who may not be as good yet but is a great teammate than someone talented but makes everyone feel worse. I always approached it as I did when I worked in Security watching “At Risk” patients, “you never know what people are going through or have gone through so you should always treat them kindly and calmly”. Leaving on a positive note can honestly help somebody out more than you’ll ever know 

#2: Knowing it’s 100% okay to fail! Failure is not only a part of learning at work but also in life! It’s impossible to improve if you’ve never failed. If anything, I always want to fail more since I’ll get one step closer to nailing it next time! The best advice I’ve gotten since working here was, “At the end of the day, we’re working on a show. It’s not the end of the world!” 

#3: Never Give Up! You may fall, mess up, stagger, or even feel like it’s impossible, but you’re wrong! The moment you say you can’t, you won’t. Nobody wants to work with somebody who doesn’t believe they can do it. There is always a way. If there’s one thing, I’ve learned from working in animation so far is that: “A team knows you can draw/write/design/etc. They just want to know if push comes, that you can figure it out or think it through. You’re here for a reason! 

It was through learning and growing these 3 qualities on Jurassic that I was able to become who I am. Getting to meet all these wonderful artists and peers on top of everything has only inspired me to further my career. Long-term-wise, I would want to work as an artist in Backgrounds. Ever since I could remember, my main goal in mind was to work on/create a show/movie that would help inspire the next generation. Animation has done so much for me growing up and played a big role in my core values that I only want to help do the same for others, and backgrounds are what I feel suits me best. Being able to create a world that feels lived in is just as important as the characters and stories that go along with it. I’m only just getting started so I’m glad that you’re able to see the beginning of it! 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geramiahvstheworld/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/geramiahprofeta
• Other: https://geramiahvstheworld.tumblr.com/