Mark Simon got his first Hollywood job on a small 1987 sexploitation science fiction film called “Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity.” Decades later, he’s worked on everything from “The Walking Dead” to “P-Valley,” making a name for himself as a storyboard artist across genres.
This year, Simon – who moved to Atlanta in 2018 and heads up the company Storyboards & Animatics – is celebrating 40 years in TV and film. He recently sat down with Rough Draft to discuss his career, including his love for virtual storyboarding and some of his favorite moments from the past 40 years. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I know you’re from Texas, and then you lived in L.A. for a while, but when did you move to Atlanta, and how did you decide to come here?
Mark Simon: Well, from L.A., I met my wife out there working at HBO. When the big quake hit [San Francisco] in ‘89, it freaked her out, and she said, “We have to get out of California.”
At that time, Orlando was really growing, and Universal and Disney were opening studios, so she and I moved to Orlando. We opened up Nickelodeon together, the new studios down there, and then we raised our boys there. As our boys were about to graduate, we both had done work – she, in particular, had done a lot of work – in Atlanta. We’d wanted to move here, but we waited until the boys were out of high school. So about eight years ago, as they were graduating, I reached out to a friend of mine who was on “The Walking Dead,” because I really wanted to work on that show. I landed being story artist on season nine of “The Walking Dead” about three months prior to the move. I started working virtually, and then as I was working, I bought a house and moved up here. That was in 2018.
So as far as production in Atlanta, things were pretty much already in full swing by the time you got here.
Simon: It was, yeah. Luckily, just because I’ve got so many credits, I can kind of go anywhere. But we wanted to be here. Obviously, the tax incentive was huge. I knew that my being here would open up more Atlanta productions who would want to be able to take advantage of that for the budget line I’m on.
I imagine storyboarding is something you can do anywhere. Obviously, it’s nice to work with people in person, but it’s something you can do no matter where you are.
Simon: It is. I actually pioneered virtual storyboarding in the industry way back when, probably like 20 years ago or so. So I’ve gotten it down to fine art. I work on productions all over the world every month. But it is nice, at least for the first meeting or two, to be in person. But that does not happen very often anymore [laughs].
I’m sure COVID also made that even more so.
Simon: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it helps for me to walk a location, or walk a set with a director and act out and really walk it through with them on how the action is going to flow. It’s really helpful, because I’m illustrating the director’s vision. The more I can get into it, the better I’m going to be and the quicker I can draw it out.
Did you know from a young age that you wanted to work in film? Because, when I think about the kind of jobs that a little kid would want to get involved with in the film industry, storyboard artist isn’t the first one that pops to mind. How did you decide that’s what you wanted to do?
Simon: I wanted to be a cartoonist … I did have a syndicated strip back in the ‘90s, and I was an editorial cartoonist for a while. I loved all that. But I didn’t even think about Hollywood until I was 13 in 1977 sitting in the front row for “Star Wars.” When that ship came over, I was like, “Ahh!! I want to do this!” So I studied film in college. I graduated college in Texas, went to Stephen F. Austin [State University], and just moved. I didn’t know anyone in LA, I’d never been there. I just moved to L.A., figured I could do it.
Do you remember the first job you got?
Simon: Prior to going out there, my family owned a custom home building company, and I was the superintendent for years. So I knew how to design and build homes, and in high school and college, I was designing theater sets. I figured my way into Hollywood would be set design and set construction. When I first moved out there, I found the biggest set building company in town … I just walked in and asked to speak to the owner. I sat down with him, showed him all the stuff I designed and built over the years, and he hired me on the spot.
I started learning about how Hollywood was designed right away, and after a couple months I started looking in the trades for movies that were looking for something in Roger Corman’s studio … They were looking for a construction coordinator on a sci-fi movie called “Beyond Infinity.” I went down, I interviewed, I got the job, and two weeks later I became the art director, because I knew how to run crews. Then I got the script – the final script – and it’s called “Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity.” So, not quite the high-end sci-fi I thought it might be. But anyway, that launched my career. I just started art directing, literally from my very first movie.
I would imagine that having sort of a background, in set construction or theater set construction, would help you as a storyboard artist, just because you know what space looks like, how it operates.
Simon: Well, that helps in particular, because when I’m doing shot breakdowns with the director or the director of photography, or both often, I’ll be able to look at a plot plan overhead, like a blueprint. I can envision what it looks like in 3D, because that was my life for so long. So that really does help. They say, “Alright, we want to put the camera here,” and I just start sketching what it would look like. They’re like, “Wow, you haven’t even been here, and you know that.” So, yeah, my background definitely did help a lot.
Speaking of the collaborative aspect of it, what is your creative process? How are you working with the director, what are the steps there?
Simon: Well, first thing is I get the script, and I read the entire thing. A lot of times they only want to send you, “Here’s the scene you’re going to be working on.” But as a story artist, story is literally in my job title. I have to understand what led up to [a scene]. Like, if a character was shot on the page before, I kind of need to know that when I’m drawing them in this scene. So it’s important to know the entire thing.
I read it a couple times. I generally study up a little bit on the director, on what they’ve done previously, hopefully on the same show if it’s a TV show, to understand their visual way of telling stories. So when I first start drawing with them, I’m instantly drawing the way they like to frame their shot. I do study each director. Then, when the director knows what they want and where the location is that we’re going to be shooting, I get on a Zoom and I pull up my storyboard software – which I actually helped develop. So it’s nice, it works the way I want it to. I share my screen so as we’re talking about the shots, I do a really quick thumbnail, and I get approvals instantly.
As we’re going … they can literally see it play out. Is this how they envision it? Very few people work that way, but it makes it incredibly efficient, and it also makes sure that the director is getting absolutely what they want. That becomes the blueprint for all the other crew heads to work from. They can look at it and go, we know exactly what we need to provide, where the camera needs to go, what stunt equipment they need – anything that the crew needs, they’ll be able to see by looking at my boards.
You’ve talked about developing your own software and virtual storyboarding. How has technology changed since you started doing this, and how have you incorporated that into your work?
Simon: I love tech. I love using all the latest tech. I’ve always been testing things. So it allows me to provide more, better, faster. There are few times in life when you get all three – more, better, faster. Drawing digitally means I don’t have to scan, It means I can draw on separate layers, as if you’re in Photoshop, for those who are familiar with that. I’ll draw a character on one layer, background on another layer, a car on another layer, so that if the director goes, no, let’s move this over here, I don’t have to redraw anything. I just grab that layer and move it. Even when I’m drawing, I’m planning on how I can make this most efficient for any potential changes there are going to be.
Technology, as it’s gotten better and better, it also allows me to simulate camera moves and simulate animation all in real time, even as I’m doing my rough sketches. That’s called an animatic. A motion storyboard is an animatic. It’s amazing how much that helps really see, is the flow of these shots working? Is the scene really funny? Is it scary, because of the way I’m putting it together? So it’s a true pre-production, pre-visualization.
Once the director and I go through and I plus it however I can to make sure that it’s really telling the story as well as possible. I’ll even add scratch audio into it, so then everybody – producers, even editorial, the visual effects people – can see exactly how this needs to go. The director can see maybe we need to change this, maybe we need to adjust that. This shot isn’t as funny as I want it to be. Work it out with me, and it’s a lot less expensive than sitting around with 700 people a day on the crew, shooting and reshooting, or not getting something and having to go back and reshoot. Make those adjustments with me and perfect it – it’s just by far the best way to work.
Jumping off the tech thing, how do you feel about AI?
Simon: I use AI all the time. I do not use it for image generation. That is actually time consuming. It’s slow. It’s one of the least efficient ways to work. I can make pretty pictures, but it doesn’t make for a good storyboard. I use it for generating references of the actors, so I can take one picture of an actor in costume and in AI, can then see it in 3D, so I can see it from any angle to draw from. If they send me a reference photo of a set, but there’s a bunch of people in it, I can have AI take those people out, and I can see the set better. I use it for things like that, that help me. But I can sketch an idea much faster than someone can type in a prompt, and then go through a bunch of revisions in AI.
I feel the same way about writing. I can just write this up myself, I don’t need to put it into a prompt. But as far as efficiency, I can see how it might be helpful.
Simon: It’s a tool. If you use it as a tool instead of a replacement, it’s fantastic.
I’d love to hear some examples of creative moments you’ve had over the years, or if there’s any particular show or movie that you had a wonderful time storyboarding.
Simon: I love horror. Drawing all the blood and guts is super fun. One of the things that’s really funny is a lot of these big shows I work on, like “The Walking Dead” and “Stranger Things,” and “You,” and the “Chucky” movie. All these different things – about half of the directors are women … Across the board, the women want it gorier, which is so funny. I hadn’t really expected that, but as I’ve gotten into doing more and more horror – I mean, when we were doing “The Bondsman,” which was the Kevin Bacon series we shot down in Senoia at the old “Walking Dead” studios, there was a part where we drop a refrigerator on this one guy’s head and his head kind of explodes. [The director] said, “Oh, can you put more chunks of brain and skull all over the grid?” I was like, “Oh my god – this is so fun!”
Then there’s times where you’re just laughing. This Friday is “The Breadwinner,” Nate Bargatze’s new movie. I storyboarded that too. The great thing about doing comedy – first of all, you’re laughing the whole time you’re working, but you’re really working out the beats. Literally, there’s nothing harder to do than comedy. To make someone laugh is by far the hardest type of storytelling you can do, and so working with a director who was really funny – just a goofy guy, but so much fun to work with – to come up with the humor, that is just some of the most fun you can have, when you’re working with someone and you’re throwing ideas back and forth off each other, and you get to draw funny stuff. I haven’t seen the movie yet. I’m going to see it this weekend, like everybody else. I can’t wait to just sit there and laugh, and see all my drawings come to life. Across the board, that’s one of the most fun things, is going back and seeing what I drew. I also did “Dutton Ranch,” so the latest “Yellowstone” spin off. I boarded all the scenes of the wildfire and Rip saving all the cattle and everything … Seeing that come to life, still after 40 years, gives me a thrill. I just love it.
I can imagine. I would kind of compare it to being a musician and having people sing your lyrics back at you. I feel like that never probably gets old.
Simon: It’s funny you say that. I speak at a lot of conferences around the world, and there was.. there was one – I don’t remember the name of it, but it was one of the many, many “Walking Dead” conferences. Because I’ve now done 10 seasons of “The Walking Dead” across five different shows. I was speaking at this one event, and this one guy came up to me. He was from Great Britain, and I was selling posters of my storyboard work. He buys a couple of posters, and he looks at me, and he starts to cry. He was like, “I can’t believe all of you are here, and will just talk to us!” He was so emotional about getting some of this behind the scenes, personal interaction. I mean, it was really sweet! But you can tell the fandom on some of these big shows is absolutely unbelievable.
