I recently visited a website for the book, Majesty. I found the author, David Murray, very interesting. I decided to ask him for an interview so that I could learn more about his past work with Disney, his present work on Curious George by Universal Pictures, and his books which have been likened to, The Chronicles of Narnia.

His answers have been very inspiring...

[Wendy at Dreamish.com] How did you get started doing animation for Disney?

[David W. Murray] In 1996 the Florida studio was looking worldwide for background painters. Background painters, paint all of those beautiful scenes behind the animated characters. Basically, we are the unsung heroes. Anyway, a good friend from college, the best man at my wedding, submitted his portfolio and was accepted. He suggested I submit my portfolio as well. I took the standard test in November of that year. The test consisted of copying an existing background painting, rather a photo of the BG painting. At that time I was a fashion illustrator and worked primarily in black and white for newspaper print. So painting full color in acrylics was quite a challenge. But things went well and three months later we moved the family to Florida and I was working on Mulan.



[Wendy at Dreamish.com] What have you worked on for Disney? Do you write or animate or both?

[David W. Murray] I worked on Mulan, which was the first animated Disney film to be produced, start to finish, at the Florida studio. It was a big feather in our cap. Next we helped the California studio with Tarzan. Then came Lilo and Stitch, then Brother Bear. I also worked on John Henry, an 8 minute film short. That was a lot of fun. I was the voice of John Henry, in pre-production. Later, they used someone with a deeper voice for the final cut, but still used me for another character, Man 1. I'm sure you remember him well. I never got a chance to write for Disney, which is a very difficult thing. Even John Lassiter of Pixar fame had to leave the company before he was taken seriously. I did however submitted numerous treatments for new story ideas, just as a way of exercising my writing skills.



[Wendy at Dreamish.com] What is the best experience or influence you have had working with Disney?

[David W. Murray] The best experience was working with all of those talented Disney artists. The Florida studio closed in 2004, but it was something I'll never forget. Not coming from an animation background, I was amazed at how fast the animators could draw. They also did caricatures of fellow workers that were hysterical. Working late nights to get the films done was a memorable experience as well, especially the catered meals.



[Wendy at Dreamish.com] How did you come to work on the new animated “Curious George” film by Universal Pictures?

[David W. Murray] After the Disney studio closed I finally got my chance to write for a smaller studio call Ravenmoon. There I helped re-design an animated character they needed developed for a 3D film short, entitled Mr. Bicycle Man. I art directed and story boarded the project and later won the Golden Aurora award for the film short. 8 months later I joined Project Firefly, an animated studio started by some very ambitious friends from the Disney studio. They were just starting work on Curious George. It was good to see a lot of the old crew.



[Wendy at Dreamish.com] Why did you decide to become an author?


[David W. Murray] Like many closet writers, writing just seemed to be in my blood. I had written 4 screenplays prior to working at Disney and prior to writing Majesty. My first screenplay was a comedy ghost story which takes place in a haunted mansion. The script was an original idea written for Eddie Murphy in 1987. Ten years later I showed it to Disney. They took the concept and the rest is history. The second screenplay was also a secular project, a classy, classic sci-fi, sort of a combination of Close Encounters and Terminator, no slime. My third was entitled GODSEND The Encounter. The folks at Touched By An Angel were fascinated with the script. Godsend is essentially a spiritual warfare thriller, where angels and demons do battle in the streets of modern day New York City, basically Touched By An Angel on steroids. If ever you wanted to see AWESOME ANGELS kick demon butt, this is the movie for you. I have since changed the title Godsend, to In The Night, due to the movie with the same name. My fourth screenplay some say may be my best, although I have a lot of die hard fans for Godsend. The fourth script is entitled Retroshock, a Christian Sci-fi. A literary agent liked it so much he had me adapt the story to a novel, which will probably be released between book two and three of the Majesty series. It's a story of a young genius inventor, a modern day Einstein who makes millions as a weapons designer for a defense contractor. When he tinkers together a time machine, he opens Pandora's box and realizes that ... -READ THE FULL INTERVIEW



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