Today we’d like to introduce you to David McAdoo.
Hi David, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born in Springfield, MO in 1970 and one of my first memories of going to a movie was my dad taking me to see Jaws at the theater. I’ve been an artist since before I can remember, drawing everything from the troll under the bridge to superheroes, Godzilla, dinosaurs and all creatures mythic and extraordinary, but I’ve loved films the most. Star Wars at the drive-in, horror on cable, all the ’80s movies I could see filled my vcr in those early years.
My childhood was spent watching movies, drawing monsters and comics, making a few simple animated films and writing stories. At 10 an author and producer from Kansas City published a story I had written and illustrated into a children’s book and I toured around pushing that for a few years.
I went to college and divided my major with as much film as my little mid-west town university could give me and a healthy dose of artistic and creative writing classes. But that only went so far, so when I graduated I decided to give LA a try.
Since then, I’ve accumulated a good portfolio of storyboards and creature and character design work in the industry on everything from independent short films, video games, music videos and features. I have written dozens of short film scripts and a handful of full-length scripts, always striving for improvement.
Directing has really always been my passion and even as a child, making short movies with the shoulder camcorder or animating on 8mm, I really just wanted to tell those fantastic stories in my head that even drawing couldn’t get out completely. I’ll never stop drawing or writing but the feeling of getting a great performance from an actor of a line that I wrote or seeing a cinematographer really nail a scene that I had storyboarded is still what drives me most.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think anyone really has a smooth road. Everybody’s got their ups and downs. How you deal with the unexpected bumps determines how smooth the rest of the road will be. Not having anyone in my family or friends in the industry was the biggest obstacle to discover, first of all, and then navigate. I tried my best to just not make waves but I also didn’t really ask enough questions in the beginning. It’s hard to balance that kind of thing. I think I did ok, but it’s been a long journey. The industry is maybe a bit tougher for the creatives like me simply because we want that artistry to make it to the audience first and foremost, but, as I know now, it’s still a business first. Those are the toughest obstacles and the hardest decisions when it comes to telling the story the right way. Egos be damned.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a creator. I tell stories, whether that’s through my art or my writing, that hopefully affect peoples’ lives. And directing is just another outlet for all of my creative endeavors, from writing and drawing, to music and photography, acting and movement and emotions. It’s a way to funnel all of that into one art form.
My specialty has really been storyboarding. It’s the first step to visualizing the script and often times the director has either given me full range to do what I want camera-wise or action-interpretation of the script or are very open to suggestions. So in a lot of ways, I’ve directed the movie before the director has. I come from a comic book and illustration background also, doing a lot of comic art over the years and self-publishing my own graphic novels and comics. Comic books are just storyboarded films with dramatic camera shots and dialogue.
A second specialty I have, coming from my love of monster movies and sci/fi fantasy films is creature design. Character design fits in there too but aliens and werewolves are near and dear to my heart! I’ve been smashing together unrelated animals since I can remember. Gorillas with bat wings, armadillo people and shark dragons couldn’t be more a part of my DNA if you’ll pardon the pun.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think being able to interpret what someone else is telling you in the moment is one of the most important aspects to this business. And really anywhere in life, being able to read someone accurately is fundamental. No one is perfect at it, there’s always degrees of any skill, and humans have some of the most unstable and unreliable personalities and quirks in the animal kingdom, arguably, but we also have some of the most acute senses and understandings of reasonings. It’s a funny conundrum. I feel fairly confident in a lot of aspects of the latter but I do think it’s gotten me pretty far, at least with what I’m comfortable with in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: davidmcadoo.com
- Instagram: @theartofdavemcadoo
