Brandon Violette - (Stretch Armstrong / T.O.T.S. / Cars: Lightning Racers / CoCoMelon Lane)

Brandon VioletteTake a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Brandon Violette. Brandon is a screenwriter for several children's animated television shows including: Stretch Armstrong, T.O.T.S., Cars: Lightning Racers, and the co-creator of the kid's show CoComelon Lane. In this episode, we chat about how his love of making up stories as a kid led to him writing television shows for kids. He has worked on some of the biggest shows in children's programing. Brandon shares the story of how he got hired at Hasbro and worked his way up to writing for Stretch Armstong. Then he tells me how that job led him to write for T.O.T.S. and then springboarded him to the co-creator position for CoComelon Lane! Obviously, we discuss how the opportunity to study at the Beijing Film Academy presented itself just as he was finishing up his degree in the US. We touch a little bit on his time in China, and what he learned from being immersed in that culture. We trade stories of being terrified by international travel, before we dive into his career in animation. From Hasbro's animation studios to Netflix shows, to Disney & Pixar; Brandon has earned his laurels. One of Brandon's more recent endeavors is his podcast. The Story Series Podcast was born out of the idea that writers could get together and share their experiences so that other writers, and future writers could learn some of the tricks and traps along the path of their chosen careers. His podcast is just over a year old and has nearly 60 episodes. Even as a non-writer, I really enjoyed getting to peek behind the curtain with some of the best screenwriters working today. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts.