Storyboarding & The Art of Pitching with Patrick Harpin

Description Patrick Harpin attended CalArts as part of their character animation program, before training at the Pixar story internship and later the Blue Sky story apprenticeship.  While in NYC, Patrick also storyboarded the bulk of Wes Anderson’s live-action feature film Moonrise Kingdom. Patrick first tried his hand at writing while helping develop Cartoon Network’s Clarence, where he wrote the show bible and the first 8 episodes. He later worked on Hotel Transylvania 2, and Hotel Transylvania 3  for director Genndy Tartakovsky. While at Sony, Patrick hatched a plan with a friend to pitch their own series to Netflix Animation, which became My Dad the Bounty Hunter. As a director-creator-showrunner on My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Patrick developed episodes starting from scripts in the writer’s room through storyboards, edit, and final picture. He showran both seasons, with each breaking into the Netflix’s coveted “Top Ten” rankings. Currently, Patrick pitches original and existing IP projects with his producing partner Yuhki Demers. He and Yuhki most recently “broke the internet” with the Batman Beyond feature pitch the they developed for Warner Brothers DC. STUDENT EXPERIENCES “Patrick’s class was an excellent introduction to Storyboard Art. It was great to also learn about pitching. I learned a lot on what makes for more effective Storyboard Art through this class.” — Ji Mun “This covered some solid basics of storyboarding for those starting out, and also provided great hands-on experience with pitching to the class. Patrick provided good feedback and did his best to fit in everyone who wanted to pitch, regardless of their tier level. Very generous with his time in answering questions, too. Even for those who don’t do the pitch, you’re still able to learn a lot from watching those who do. Happy to have taken this course, it was inspiring and informative. “I definitely would have appreciated a longer class just to get into things more deeply, but for a four-week class this covered a lot and gave people first-hand experience.” — Bevin Brand “I was debating which class to take as a first time in Underpaint this fall, and I couldn’t be more than happy that I took Patrick’s Storyboarding & The Art of Pitching class! I challenged myself to take a class I was most unfamiliar with. Patrick explained everything really well and was super entertaining in acting out scenes. I learned so much more than I expected. The whole class also inspired me a lot! Great people all around! Tessa, our Underpaint host, had everything organized too. Def will take another class next time!” — Hanna Dee “Patrick is a very dynamic and energetic mentor, he is always open to share his knowledge with the members of the class with well structured examples.” — Daniel Rubio “I signed up to learn how to become a story artist in the animation industry and how to make my projects presentable. I am someone who works in the industry. Learning from Patrick Harpin has broadened my vision. Class changed my perspective on work and helped me learn how to pitch.” — Basak Buse Ozer STUDENT WORK