Category: TAFT Club Video Mini Podcast approximatly 90 second insights into both the creative process and the business of the industry of entertainment

Transcription of video above featuring Jeff Goodwin on the topic of creative collaborating.

I think the most important thing for me always was looking for a good script that was connected to a good director and hopefully a director that was collaborative like you’re talking about and welcomed, you know, input and creativity

And that’s a rare thing in our business, but for me I worked with many great directors that I was fortunate to do that with, David Lynch being one of my favorite.

And I felt very strongly about a certain aspect of Dorothy’s character that I felt like when I was reading the script originally that the audience does not know yet what is going to come, but the character of Dorothy knew what was coming once she got that phone call from Frank Booth.

So I felt very strongly that she would want to rid herself of everything that was Frank Booth and just be Dorothy before Frank comes. And so I wrote this up and presented it to David and it is in the film.

And I’ve done that over the years of many great directors Ang Lee, Michael Apted. Many who were very, you know, welcoming to that kind of thing.

And I just think that you know, when it’s a collaborative effort, and everybody’s there to hopefully work on film and do the best they can to make a great film, I think everyone should have a little input and say it. And I welcome that and I was glad that I worked with people that did welcome that.

I’m the writer of “Nandi and the Castle in the Sea”. This is a fantasy steampunk graphic novel.

I wrote it as a movie script. The initial idea was to sell it to a movie studio. I realized if you just have a script, they’re going to put it on their pile of a thousand other scripts and ever look at it again.

For now, my focus is getting it into as many hands as possible, which is why I lowered my price point. Right now, exposure is my primary goal. More than just making my money back for it.

I’ve done a convention almost every week this year. Which is not the norm. I think a lot of people do a lot less. You can’t find it weekly in the tri state alone.

But if you’re willing to expand a little bit, you can pretty much find it every week. I’m trying to go all in on conventions and online sales.

If you’re an indie like me you know this is how you’re going to get most of your sales. It’s how you’re gonna meet most of the people in the industry that you meet.

Regardless of your sales, the connections you make in these places, if you’re willing to be social, are huge.

I’ve been loving comic books since forever. I was a big fan of Spider-Man as a kid. I’m a Marvel DC. I don’t pick. The perfect thing as a strategy as a vendor is always be prepared and don’t be so upset when you don’t make the sale.

Be humble. You know, listen to criticism. Even if you don’t fully understand it or agree with it, that will help you grow. I think the
goal is that you learn from the experience you get people to know who you are.

Get people to understand who you are and more importantly as the years progress people will start seeing you more and more and then that’s when you’ll start seeing things happen.

Just talking. Really that’s probably the number one thing, telling a story they’re really buying you they’re not buying the art.

The art is the secondary part but if they hear a story they understand who you are they know that you’re real, then they’re more inclined to buy something from you because now I want to support this guy who I
feel is a good person.

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Watch above to see Video Mini Podcast featuring J.C.

JC on Founding Bronx Anime and Comic Expo:

It started as a hobby. I started selling and then I’m like, oh, I really enjoy selling comic books. I do a little show here and there myself, and I like it because it’s a hobby that pays for itself.

So that’s how I started. And like, I love comic books, so I always will buy comic books no matter what I do. I will always buy comics.

Since I was a vendor myself, I knew a lot of friends. We started in the banquet hall with twenty five tables and now we’re up to almost one hundred tables.

So it’s, it got bigger, but bigger means more work.

We’re like one big family. Everybody. Everybody helps one way or the other because they want to see this goal and keep going in the right direction. And I’m very lucky that way. I actually met these people and they show me their respect and support. I’m very lucky.

How Mickey Mouse Came to Be as Told by Writer Jeff Ryan in an approximately 1 Minute Filmisode from TAFT Club Video Mini Podcast

Here is how writer Jeff Ryan puts it:

“I love the interconnectedness between the characters and the creators behind them, because their real life bleeds into the characters in ways that you would never imagine. And the characters lives in turn reflect their creators. Mickey Mouse, for instance, there’s two Mickey’s. There’s one who’s citizen Mickey who’s a good public citizen. And then there’s the swashbuckler, and the swashbuckler is what the mild mannered co-creator of Mickey Mouse always wanted to be, and who he saw in his best friend Walt Disney and the Public Citizen was who Walt Disney couldn’t ever be but always saw in his best friend Ub Iwerks. Mickey Mouse is a child of two fathers, and he represents the best parts of both of them.”

The mission of TAFT Club (TAFT is the acronym for True Art For Truth) is creative collaborating since 1982 and has a focus on fostering collaborations and partnership between creative performing artists and businesses in any industry building visibility for the arts and its importance in the world.

In this approximately one minute installment of “TAFT Club Video Mini Podcast” writer Jeff Ryan shares a story of character creation that emphasizes the power of drawing from real human relationships rather than inventing personalities in isolation.

It suggests that memorable fictional characters often emerge when creators blend the qualities, aspirations, and limitations of real people into a single figure.

According to this account, Mickey Mouse was not simply the product of one creator’s imagination but the result of two complementary personalities.

One version of Mickey—the responsible, civic-minded “Citizen Mickey”—embodied qualities admired by Walt Disney’s collaborator of Mickey Mouse Ub Iwerks.

Ub Iwerks (1901–1971) was an American animator, cartoonist, and animation pioneer whose artistic skill and technical innovation played a major role in the early success of Disney animation.

Contradictions create realism. A character who can be both a responsible citizen and a fearless adventurer mirrors the complexity of real people, making the character more believable and enduring.

TAFT Club Video Mini Podcast How to Make Your Dreams a Reality with Martin Mejia-Ruiz From Fan to Friend: How Small Business Owners Build Real Relationships with Celebrities

Watch the TAFT Club Video Mini Podcast How to Make Your Dreams a Reality with Martin Mejia-Ruiz who in around a minute tells an interesting story of how he has gotten to develop relationships with celebrities.

From the outside looking in, it can seem impossible. Celebrities appear larger than life, their schedules are packed, and meaningful friendships with them may feel out of reach. But within the industry of entertainment, many lasting relationships don’t begin with fame or status—they begin with professionalism, consistency, and genuine respect.

For small business owners, success isn’t just measured by sales or event attendance. It’s often measured by the relationships they build over time. Those relationships can transform what once seemed like an impossible dream into an everyday reality.

A perfect example is voice actor David Vincent. To anime fans, he’s best known as the voice of Grimmjow from Bleach. For years, he was simply a recognizable name and a familiar voice that audiences admired from afar.

Today, that relationship has evolved far beyond fandom.

Recently, David Vincent was flown out to Indiana Comic Con to represent the company of Martin Mejia-Ruiz called Chaotic Empire at its booth. Throughout the event, he signed autographs, met fans, and became a featured part of the company’s presence. His participation extended beyond the convention floor, appearing across the company’s social media and helping create memorable experiences for attendees.

The company even displays David Vincent’s autographs—a reminder of how far the relationship has come.

Looking at moments like these, it’s easy to assume they happen because of luck or connections. In reality, friendships with celebrities are rarely built overnight. They develop through repeated interactions, mutual trust, reliability, and a shared passion for the entertainment industry.

Small business owners who thrive in this space understand that celebrities are more than recognizable names. They’re collaborators, professionals, and people. By approaching every partnership with authenticity instead of simply chasing celebrity status, business relationships often grow into genuine friendships.

That evolution is one of the most rewarding aspects of working in entertainment. The people once admired from convention stages, television screens, or favorite shows can eventually become trusted partners and friends.

What begins as recognizing a familiar name can, over time, become working together at conventions, creating content side by side, and celebrating shared successes. It’s a reminder that in the entertainment industry, relationships are built one interaction at a time—and sometimes, those relationships become friendships that once seemed impossible.

My name is Michael Blank. I do fantasy art.

So I work primarily traditional in traditional medium with oils, pencils. I used to do digital, so currently my inventory is traditional art and some digital pieces as well.

My whole core idea is having humans interacting with beast animals and creatures showcasing conflicts and emotions of our innermost feelings and it’s sort of my way of making sense of life.

I always write a little poem as soon as I finish a painting sort of a way to get a little insight into what I was thinking.

I really like dark fantasy. So most of the pieces have to deal with this symbiotic relationship between human, beast and the alchemy of good and evil.

Julie Newmar is an actress possibly best known for her portrayal of Catwoman in the 1960s TV series Batman. Yianni Stamas wrote an article about her for Entertainment Entrepreneurship.

Julie also won a Platinum PIA back in 2016. The Platinum PIAs is the awards show that Yianni and TAFT Club Collaborators started in 2010 at Robert Deniro’s Tribeca Screening Room.

The Platinum PIAs recognition ceremonies were held annually from 2010 – 2019 and included over the years honorees who like Julie Newmar are well-known actors and members of the industry of entertainment.

Julie won the lifetime achievement award Platinum PIA in 2016 the year she did the interview and has already been nominated for a “TAFT Club” at the ceremony that is going to occur in conjunction with the premiere of the community feature film TAFT Club project called “Dr. Wacko” in May, 2027. Join us then for a movie screening premiere of “Dr. Wacko” plus find out who will hear their name in conjunction with the phrase “And the TAFT Club goes to…?”