We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vincent Scala a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vincent, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
For me this has always been a double path, that along with time has the separate roads starting to meet and follow together. When I was in college a great mentor told me that it took him 12 years to become a professional. For me, I spent almost 20 years working at Nickelodeon, Disney, Fisher Price and a few other small companies. I started as an animator, I pivoted to toys and then to advertising. Along this journey I learned so much about myself and all of these experiences have fed into my personal art which I was always doing. Fast forward and my personal art is starting to have a life of its own. I owe it to the experience and the life lessons learned at these creative jobs. My personal brand of art would not have been able to flourish without the knowledge I learned in all of these fields. Whether it’s earning money in your field or doing whatever you need to make ends meet, do it all. All of life’s twists and turns, joys and struggles will help to give your personal art the voice it’s been looking for.
Vincent, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
To quote the Grateful Dead “what a long strange trip it’s been” is what always comes to mind when I think if my career. From the age of 5 I always wanted to tell stories and become an animator for Disney. It was a straight path from there, I grew up in Brooklyn, to a non-creative but super supportive family. They supported my dreams and my goal of becoming an animator. While in college I landed myself an internship at Nickelodeon (Dora the Explorer) and luckily was able to stay on as an employee for the next 10 years. Here I learned some incredible story chops and what it really takes to tell a story visually as well as on paper.
These lessons would be essential in almost everything I would do going forward. What’s always helped me rise to the top or even to move forward is storytelling. Everything is a story, everyone has a story. Every brand has a story and a story to tell. I love being able to help tell these stories. From Nickelodeon I would go onto working for Disney, Fisher Price and in the advertising industry. Storytelling would be the thing that even with so many career pivots, would bring it all together.
During this time I would always be working on my own work and brand/story. It’s ever changing and ever evolving as is life. I have a had the honor and the privilege to have worked with some incredible talented using my art and brand. I have animated and directed music videos for Chelsea Peretti, Sublime with Rome, Steve Aoki, Flux Pavilion and even had the opportunity to design some toys for Ariana Grande. Just saying that line still leaves me speechless. I had some incredibly nice words said about me in Rolling Stone by Chelsea Peretti. I wonder if that 5 year old boy who wanted to animate would be proud, I know i sure am.
Earlier this year, I had the unfortunate event happen of losing my job in advertising. I woke up the next morning and said “I can do this!” Hence my latest path of starting my own creative ad agency. All of my experience has led to this moment where I now can choose the clients I want to work with and help them solve their creative issues. This new venture not only gives me a chance to do some 9-5 work that I love, but also gives me the chance to elevate my personal brand and see if the two paths can meet. Meet “Work Dog Studio” whose honest mission is to just “make cool shit!”. We are a full service creative agency, between myself and my partners we have over 50 years experience in the entertainment industry. There are not any creative problems we can’t solve. Actually I enjoy the challenge and love being able to work with a brand or vertical that we have not worked on before. We do everything from media buying to full service creative production in 2d,3d and live action. Again something that I never thought I would be able to say that I can work on. There’s no passing off of work either. I am there from doing the initial calls and brainstorms to writing and directing the creative. I love getting my hands dirty and at the end of the day I want to be covered in mud. This is my passion, this isn’t just a job or even a career. It’s not business it’s personal.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think my entire journey represents resilience and rebirth. The world is not all sunshine and rainbows, I have teen kicked, punched, fired, laid off and thrown out. I even quit a job once by throwing my computer across a room, smashing it into pieces. My skin is impenetrable. It comes with time, it comes with grief and heartache but eventually you start to learn that it’s not you. Most companies don’t understand creative or creative people. They have an agenda, it’s usually financially driven. They don’t mean any harm but eventually they will drive you mad enough where you need to move on. In the back of my mind I’ve always told myself that no matter what my “job” was I would always create my artwork. I’ve stuck by that mantra and have used it to propel myself and my career. It’s never easy, nothing easy is worth doing and being able to just push forward with a smile is something I try to do daily. I’ve had my moments of giving up and it’s natural, this all comes with the territory. It’s about being able to push that voice down and do what you love. Who knows where I’ll be in 5 years, even 10, buts that exciting and wouldn’t change it for the world.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I love telling stories. I love telling other peoples stories and helping brands elevate their storytelling. I’m not going to lie I’m good at this! It’s what I do best but it all feels like practice for a bigger picture that’s deep down in my heart. I want to tell my stories, I want to share my characters, I want the world to know my brand. I’ve gotten really close to this goal a few times. I had the opportunity to have my own pilot/short on Nickelodeon called “Dia de Los Tacos” and it was truly a dream come true! I was able to combine two things I love, animation and cooking and create something I truly cared about.
This will come in good time and everyday I get closer to that goal. My studio name is based on a character “Work Dog” which I created a few years back at what I would consider a low point in my career. It’s built up quite the cult following and it really resonates with its audience. Who is its audience? Well anyone that’s ever had a job in the history of jobs! Work Dog represents the common everyday person just trying to survive and I’ve been able to really wear my heart on my sleeve with him and share some personal thoughts, feelings and insights with the world. He’s become a great vessel for me creatively and even provided me with some relief and therapy by building up his world.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vincentscala.com
- Instagram: @vincentscala
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vincent.scala.1?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincent-scala-87092618?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Twitter: @vincentscala
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/-2sUnA9tIks?si=X8nrKOGoOj_h0_Nr
- Other: https://www.workdogstudios.com/