[Tenure Period]
About ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER (2022) Runtime: 07:35
Featuring Lea Michele (GLEE), Written by Andrea Beaty, Illustrated by David Roberts
Executive Produced by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation
Directed & Produced by Amy Adrion
A beautifully illustrated tale of a girl and her dream to become a great engineer. Where some people see rubbish, Rosie Revere sees inspiration. Alone in her room at night, shy Rosie constructs great inventions from odds and ends. Hot dog dispensers, helium pants, python-repelling cheese hats. Rosie’s gizmos would astound—if she ever let anyone see them.
Afraid of failure, she hides them away under her bed. Until a fateful visit from her great-great-aunt Rose, who shows her that a first flop isn’t something to fear—it’s something to celebrate.
The Making of May 2022 was a busy month: I finished RIT’s Spring semester, posting grades and attending graduation on May 6, then on May 15th I flew to Los Angeles with RIT School of Film and Animation Director Shanti Thakur to scout locations and meet potential faculty for SOFA’s inaugural Semester in LA program that we were building for Fall 2022.
We looked at classroom and housing locations in Hollywood and Burbank, met with SOFA Semester in LA Director and Hollywood Screenwriter David Simkins, and hosted a gathering of LA based directors, writers, and editors to meet David, Shanti and RIT College of Art and Design’s Dean Todd Jokl at the Avalon Hotel.
From Los Angeles, I flew to NYC to prepare to film Storyline Online episodes with Lea Michele on May 25th and Sutton Foster on May 27th.
The Lea Michele episode was particularly special because she would be reading a book my own children and I loved titled ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER which is part of a series that includes the equally wonderful, IGGY PECK, ARCHITECT, ADA TWIST, SCIENTIST and SOFIA VALDEZ, FUTURE PREZ, all of which were staples of bedtime reading with my kids.
For these episodes I was lucky to work again with talented Production Designer Amy Mathews who created a bright and joyful set, and even found red and white polka dot pillows to perfectly match Rosie Revere’s scarf!
I hired former UCLA classmate Jonathan Schwarz as Cinematographer, who also shot our Seth Meyers episode, and recent RIT alum Sarah Alexander as Camera Operator. I worked with the incredibly talented Amelia Allen and Jaimee Jimin Park to write the score. The animation was again handled by RIT Assistant Professor Meghdad Asadilari and RIT graduate student Yuting Shao, with RIT professor Don Casper doing final Color Correction.
This wonderful team of collaborators both old and new, working with the generous and lovely Lea Michele, and the chance to be in NYC filming one of my all time favorite kids books made this episode a particular favorite.
Dissemination Storyline Online is used by teachers in classrooms, by parents at home and on mobile devices, and is endorsed by leading organizations including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Library Association.
I am proud that each of the 7 episodes I directed have been given the “Storyline Online Kids' Top Pick Seal of Approval,” recognizing books that have surpassed 1 million views, highlighting their popularity among children and their impact as trusted early literacy tools for parents and educators.
ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER has over 1.1 million views on YouTube
Peer Review The 2022 season of Storyline Online received a Children’s and Family Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Short Form Program.
The 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards were presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), to honor the best in American children's and family-oriented television programming in 2022 and 2023. The eligibility period ran from June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023, mirroring that of the Primetime Emmy Awards.
As a director of 3 episodes of the 2022 season, I was thrilled to be among the nominated team.
