Wynne Communications

PRESS RELEASES

Julie has written countless press releases for various clients to publicize events and businesses, promote capital campaigns, and note prestigious awards and honors. Sample releases follow.

--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--

Tommy G Warren Breaks Ground in Texas Animation

Spiderwood Studios Founder Produces Award-Winning Short

 

(Austin, Texas, September 2012)—Flight of Magic, a 3D animated short film about an elf who saves the day when Santa’s reindeer are hurt, has had an enchanted journey of its own. It is the first animated project to be completed entirely in the state of Texas, from pre- to post-production, and already has garnered a slew of awards on the film festival circuit, including one for its theme song. And it’s all thanks to Tommy Warren, the mastermind behind Spiderwood Studios just outside of Austin, who boasts decades of experience in the movie industry and wrote, directed and produced the short. 

“Flight of Magic is 100% Texan-made,” says Warren proudly in his friendly and forthcoming Southern drawl. “I was trying to prove a point—that Texas can do the same thing as LA, especially when it comes to animation.”

Indeed, Flight of Magic has been extremely well received, earning 12 awards—among them the Grand Jury Prize at the Colorado Film Festival and the Official Selection of both the Newport Beach Film Festival and Park City Film Music Festival.

Warren has bigger plans for the acclaimed short, with plans to expand it to either a 30-minute television show or a feature-length film. He also is now nurturing Spiderwood Animation and has since developed a distribution model for video-on-demand, DVD and Netflix sales for animated features and TV programs.

His motivation to delve into animation after serial success with live-action was spurred by his childhood as well as his tendency to take on challenges. “I’ve always liked cartoons, since I was a kid,” he remarks. “And animation was on my mind when I came back to Texas [from California]. At that time, the government was working on its incentives program and people were just not enthusiastic about animation. That’s what got me going. I’d been around and I thought I had enough wisdom.”

With a wealth of experience, Warren certainly has the smarts—and a fascinating back-story to boot. Born in Missouri and raised in Arkansas, he took off for Texas after high-school graduation with $27 to his name and his 1953 Chevy as his ride and home. He scored some construction gigs to pay his way and eventually attended Texas A&M University on a scholarship. After his mechanical engineering studies, he designed and built correctional facilities throughout Texas, which segued into coordinating political campaigns and shooting political commercials.

Soon, however, Texas beckoned and he returned to build a motion-picture studio just outside of Austin. The enormous undertaking took three years, but benefited enormously from his correctional-construction expertise. “I design and build my own buildings efficiently and at lower cost,” offers Warren, who recently was called upon to do the technical design for the upcoming Stallone-Schwarzenegger thriller The Tomb, set in a prison.

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