Storyboard Artist Bridget Underwood shares what inspired them to become a Shop Steward, their love of collaborative work, and their desire to empower fellow TAG members at Sony Pictures Animation.
Name: Bridget Underwood
Job Title: Storyboard Artist
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
Contact Info: stewards-SPA@tag839.org
Tell us a bit about yourself and your career journey.
As a kid growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I fell in love with comics before discovering animation. I quickly became passionate about hand-drawn animation and attended school for it, but the increasing rarity of 2D animation gigs nudged me into 3D animation for games. After a brief stint in that world, I quit and began aiming toward storyboarding work, which felt like a perfect blend of all the things I loved most about comics and hand-drawn animation: work-hopping story beats, crafting performances, and exploring characters. I landed my first storyboarding gig at LAIKA Studios up in Portland, and over the subsequent years worked my way toward Los Angeles, first as a remote artist on a film being produced in L.A., and then making the move and working locally for DreamWorks and Disney as an Episodic Director, and now Sony as a feature Board Artist again. I feel lucky to have had a range of experiences: remote and local, TV and feature. I hope to be able to apply those experiences to better understand and help fellow union members!
What do you love most about working in animation?
The collaborative nature of this work! I love getting to make art with people who can do things I could never hope to. It’s incredibly inspiring, especially so when it all comes together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.
Bridget Underwood leading a Solidari-tea meeting during the 2024 Negotiations cycle.
Why did you volunteer to serve as a Shop Steward?
When I started working at studios in L.A., I joined TAG but had very little idea of what that meant beyond the fact that I was now on a really nice healthcare plan. Over the years many other members of this Union have helped show me the power and possibilities we have thanks to being a union! A significant tipping point for me was participating in our last negotiations cycle. It opened my eyes to how hard we have to fight just to keep the protections we do have, but also to what we have the potential to achieve when enough of us are active and pulling together. It got me interested in being a Shop Steward as a way to empower fellow TAG members at SPA!
As a steward, what are your priorities in helping TAG members at your studio?
Providing clear and helpful information is one of my top priorities. Knowledge is a huge source of power for union members! If you know your contract, or have someone who can quickly help you check it (like a Shop Steward!), it enables you to advocate for yourself and others, and to identify when something might be a grievance that TAG can help you with. I’d also like to foster more communication among TAG members at SPA and help build a greater sense of our collective union identity there.
Learn more about Bridget at their website.
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