Maddie Wagg (2010)
You’ve seen them, but possibly not considered how they came to be, or who might be behind them. The opening title sequences, visual effects on screens and logos on billboards for shows like ‘The Thing About Pam’ starring Renee Zellweger, or ‘Australian Survivor’, are the work of Maddie Wagg (2010).
Maddie is the Creative Director of her business Moonwalkers Motion, based in L.A.. Working with executive producers from Netflix, HBO, Amazon, NBC, FOX, and more, Maddie designs the graphics that are not shot in camera, for their shows.
“We normally start the process about halfway through the edit of the show so it’s not a finished piece yet. It’s more of a collaboration and they are trying to figure out their direction, and have us make graphics to fit into the show so it all lives in one seamless world.”
In Maddie’s kit, mind reading would be a useful tool to have.
“I’m trying to pull a visual in my brain out of someone who has a storyteller’s brain, who’s creating a TV show. I make sure I understand the tone because typically I don’t watch the show – it hasn’t been made yet. I have no reference. Then I create up to eight mood boards of very different creative visual directions, they pick their favourite, and we start making it. A typical graphics show package takes around three months.”
Maddie loves her life on Venice Beach and credits lucky opportunities for bringing her to this point.
“It is a wonderful thing in this industry to have someone believe in you and give you that break. Every single step forward in my career has been because someone has believed in me. I can pinpoint all those moments of elevation and they came from a decision based on faith in my abilities.”
Maddie’s first job after completing her Bachelor of Design (Communications Design) at RMIT was with Channel 10 in motion design. Then came the move to L.A. with Burnish where she was Creative Director, which led to her starting her own company. College life too played its part in her trajectory.
“Queen’s was really wonderful at facilitating people who were interested in creative endeavours, particularly with the tower space. I thought that was the coolest thing ever when they decided that was for creatives and as there’s not very many creatives, I felt like I had that space to myself.”
Watch out for Maddie’s next creation, a 30-second promotion for “The Secrets of Miss America”. Hint: crowns will shatter.