For surveyors out there who like to goof off (I can't imagine there are any, but what the hey), I have an exciting announcement. Among us is a member by the name of Clay Ostrom, animator, artist and the creator of a new animated series called "Surveyors of Land." This show is centered around the lives of two land surveyors who get in all sorts of adventures and troubles, while doing practically anything they can to get out of actually doing work. I had a chance to catch up with Clay briefly to ask a few questions and this is what I got:
Do you have any background experience as a land surveyor? If so, how long did you survey? Nope, no experience as a surveyor. I just really liked the profession as a concept because I wanted my characters to be smart but also work in a non-office setting where they'd have plenty of time to chat without being harassed by a boss. Plus, I couldn't think of anyone else doing a show around this genre of work.
Do you have plans for more episodes of Surveyors of Land? I actually do have plans for more episodes. The next one is recorded and waiting to be animated. And the story for the episode after that has been roughly outlined.
One my my favorite aspects of the cartoon is that the guys never get around to actual surveying. Will the guys ever actually survey any land? If so, we could incorporate some surveying jargon and real life industry stuff that is comical. The guys will eventually get back to work, whether or not they actually get some surveying done remains to be seen. The one character, Burt, is meant to be a 5th generation surveyor so he'd be more likely to say something semi-professional sounding -- again it would just depend on where the episodes go and ultimately if I thought I could make it funny. But again, love hearing suggestions -- especially cool from actual surveyors. Please encourage LSU members to send me anything they think might be funny enough to work into the series.
Anything you want to ask me or the group? The only thing I'd ask is that I'm pretty much working on word of mouth here, so if you have friends or family that you think might get a chuckle out of this please forward it. The more eyes on it the better -- keeps encouraging me to do more!
Thoughts