Norman Stangl
Born thirty miles outside Toronto, Norm Stangl studied animation at Sheridan College in Oakville in the mid-70s, a brave move at the time. “I originally planned to go into photography, but I kind of fell into animation during a tour of the college when I happened upon a screening of some animation that the students had produced,” he says. “I loved the concept of making things move. I loved to draw, it all fit.”
When he qualified, Norm went to work for an animation shop called Nelvana Ltd, before moving to Mammoth Pictures to work on “animated FX for commercials.” In 1981 he returned to Nelvana to work on the feature film ‘Rock ‘n’ Rule’, and it was there that he took the call from Rush. “That was the first time that I met Geddy and Howard,” he explains. “We met, our minds connected and we were off to a brilliantly long working relationship.”
Shortly afterwards, Norm started Keen Pictures as an independent and took his Rush business with him. “Geddy was gracious enough to grant the loyalty of production and I continued to produce animated and live action work for the band’s tour films,” he says. After Keen, it was back to Nelvana for four years, before Norm joined SPIN Productions as a partner in 1992. Once again, he brought his loyal customers along. “Rush has stayed with me through all of my career path changes,” he says.
While it is not working for Rush, SPIN Productions currently works mainly for advertisers and broadcasters. “I am also developing some computer animated series for broadcast in 2006,” says Norm. It wasn’t such a bad career decision. “Animation was hardly considered a reliable career path 30 years ago,” he comments. “People would scratch their heads and question how anyone could make a living in animation. Today, the idea doesn’t seem so far out there. Call it dumb luck!”