With Star Wars Resistance premiering, head writer and EP, Brandon Auman, spoke to The Writer Experience Podcast, discussing the animated Star Wars show.
You might not know it but Brandon Auman, head writer for Star Wars Resistance, has worked behind the scenes on some of your favorite live-action and animation features, performing as a jack of all trades in production. He’s worked his way up writing, producing and developing for heavy weights such as Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon and many others, building an impressive resume that caught the eye of Dave Filoni.
With Star Wars Resistance premiering this week, Auman spoke to Writer Experience Podcast that focuses on the life of a writer and their experiences. The Writer Experience Podcast has featured some important writers in the Star Wars Universe, including Alan Dean Foster, writer of the original extended universe feature “Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye,” and Michael Kogge, author of The Last Jedi Junior Novel.
The chat isn’t all about Star Wars, though. With Auman discussing his early career, how he wanted to be an indie film auteur – writing scripts and even trying to make small budget features – and how he fell into animation:
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"Basically, like, none of the films were getting made. They were just sitting on shelves, so I kind of got into animation because I loved it and it was like that was one of my majors but, also, just to get stuff made because it’s just very difficult in Hollywood–getting anything made. Even if you’re a super successful writer, a lot of times your scripts are gonna sit on a shelf so I thought animation was a great, you know, just a great outlet and I just love it."
There’s also a long discussion in which Auman talk about meeting with Filoni and what the Star Wars animated guru expected:
"He (Dave Filoni) was like, look I want to like bring it back to how I felt when I was a kid when I watched Star Wars for that very first time."
Auman mentions that he wanted Resistance to be a kids show that could be enjoyed by the whole family, melding elements of comedy with some of that feeling. But, Filoni gave some other advice to Auman, mentioning the need to create something different and new from the movies and always break new ground.
When pressed about the process of creating a whole new Star Wars show, Auman replies:
"So, when I came on board, there was a lot of stuff that was already in place, then we started working on it together. We started developing more of it, fleshed out the world, I got to really help bring these characters to life, named a bunch of new characters, created a bunch of new characters. so it’s always a collaborative process."
But, in one of the most important parts of the interview, Auman talks about what it takes to make it in the business. That there is only one way to truly become a writer:
"Don’t give up, don’t. If this is what you really want, if you really want to do this, don’t give up. Keep writing and writing and writing and writing."
The you can hear the 49-minute interview here. And, don’t forget to check out The Writer Experience Podcast on Soundcloud.
Tune into Star Wars Resistance Sundays at 10/9c p.m. on Disney Channel.