Fandango brings panel to Norris Cinema

Fandango, the premier movie ticketing service, hosted a taping of its new video series, “Frontrunners,” at the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre last Friday. The series, which is  part of Fandango’s effort to expand beyond ticket sales and into movie discovery, features a variety of A-list talent discussing their work. Previous episodes have starred Amy Adams, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey.

The taping, hosted by Fandango’s Chief Correspondent Dave Karger, featured the filmmakers behind the animated blockbuster Despicable Me 2: Chris Meledandri, Founder of Illumination Entertainment, screenwriter Cinco Paul and composer Heitor Pereira.

The episode began with an introduction by Sandro Corsaro, chief creative executive of Fandango. Having worked with Disney as the creator of “Kick Buttowski” and as creative director at Disney Interactive, he is one of the primary forces behind Fandango’s initiative in expanding its video content. A USC alumnus himself, Corsaro also wanted an opportunity to bring the “Frontrunners” series directly to campus.

The setup of the event was different from most panel discussions that have occurred at USC; since it was a filmed session, the stage had film lighting, grips on the side, a tracking dolly and even takes between topics. Though this made it seem a bit claustrophobic, the experience was akin to being an audience member at any other type of talk show.

After introducing the guests, the host then showed a taped intro by Steve Carell, the voice of the movies’ lead anti-villain, Gru, showing the process behind creating an animated feature, beginning with storyboarding and proceeding to animatics and an assortment of CGI-related effects. It was a good foundation for the conversation that followed, though there were issues with the audio.

After that, the panel discussed the origins of the feature, where they showed concept art for Gru and the design process behind the creation of the Minions, the mega-popular pill-shaped rascals that have contributed to the franchise, grossing more than $1.5 billion. The panelists also discussed sequences from Despicable Me 2, the appeal of the father-daughter dynamic and some ideas for the upcoming Minions spinoff.

The episode then shifted to discussing the filmmakers’ backgrounds. Meledandri recollected his experience starting out working for producers on Footloose and how he was able to take the success of the Ice Age movies, of which he produced the first two, and use it to develop new projects at Illumination. Paul mentioned his struggles and successes as a USC student in the screenwriting program, while Pereira brought up his own tumultuous journey from Brazil, including having to take a cargo ship to come to the country.

Though having it filmed could have made everything forced, the mood of the panel was always casual, informative and engaging to the audience.

“This was the most attentive audience I’ve ever seen,” Karger said.

Members of the audience also got a surprise halfway through the episode, as free Fandango tickets were planted underneath their seats. This did cause a bit of a commotion, but many attendees calmed down at the behest of the host.

The panel then opened up to questions from the audience. Audience members were encouraged to ask questions on Twitter with the hashtag #FandangoFrontrunners, though they were  also allowed to come up to a microphone to ask them in person. Most of the questions were about the animation industry, in regards to both the process of creating a screenplay and the challenges of developing an animated feature.

Meledandri said after the event that the more that people appreciate animation, the more they’ll seek out this type of public forum, especially for a medium, such as animation, that is arguably more consistent quality-wise than any other genre in the business. Cinco Paul also expressed a similar sentiment, saying that he doesn’t write a screenplay thinking it’ll be animated or for families, but as a good story that just so happens to appeal to all ages.

Corsaro sees this series as the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Fandango and USC, with plans for more Frontrunner episodes, additional video content and even internship opportunities for students. As the ticketing service develops its video content, it will also develop its relationship with the university.