Rebecca Sugar

Rebecca Sugar (born July 9, 1987) is an American animator, director, screenwriter, producer, and singer/songwriter. She is the creator of the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe, making her the first woman to independently create a series for the network.[1] Until 2013, Sugar was a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series Adventure Time. Her work on the two series has earned her six Primetime Emmy Award nominations.[2] Sugar is a bisexual non-binary woman,[3] which has encouraged her to stress the importance of LGBT representation in art, especially in children's entertainment.[4]

Rebecca Sugar
Sugar at the 2014 New York Comic Con
Born
Rebecca Rea Sugar

(1987-07-09) July 9, 1987
Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materSchool of Visual Arts
Occupation
  • Animator
  • storyboard artist
  • director
  • writer
  • producer
  • songwriter
Years active2009−present
Spouse(s)

Early life

Sugar was raised in the Sligo Park Hills area of Silver Spring, Maryland. She simultaneously attended Montgomery Blair High School and the Visual Arts Center at Albert Einstein High School[5] (where she was an arts semifinalist in the Presidential Scholar competition,[6] and won Montgomery County's prestigious Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Arts Award),[7] both of which are located in Maryland. While at Blair, she drew several comics (called "The Strip" for the school's newspaper, Silver Chips) which won first place for comics in the Newspaper Individual Writing and Editing Contest. "The Strip" ran a comic challenging MCPS's new grading policy from 2005.[8] She went on to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York.[9]

According to Sugar's father Rob, Rebecca Sugar and her younger brother Steven were raised with what he called "Jewish sensibilities", and both siblings observe the lighting of Hanukkah candles with their parents via Skype.[10]

Personal life

In February 2016, Ian Jones-Quartey confirmed via Twitter that he and Sugar were in a romantic relationship; at the time of the tweet, the two had been together for eight years.[11] He added that they met when Sugar was at the School of Visual Arts in New York. They were married on December 4, 2019.[12]

In July 2016, Sugar said at a San Diego Comic-Con panel that the LGBT themes in Steven Universe are in large part based on her own experience as a bisexual woman.[13] In a July 2018 interview on NPR,[14] Sugar said that she created the series' Gems as non-binary women in order to express herself, as a non-binary woman, through them.[3][15] As of 2019, Sugar goes by both "she/her" and "they/them" pronouns.[16]

Career

Early work

During her time at the School of Visual Arts, Sugar directed short animated films, including Johnny Noodleneck (2008).[17] In 2009, she wrote and animated Singles, in which frequent collaborator Ian Jones-Quartey acted as an assistant animator, assistant inker and voice actor on the project, while Sugar's brother Steven Sugar acted as an assistant colorist.[18] Sugar completed this film as her thesis.[18]

Sugar also played an important role in the creation of nockFORCE, a cartoon series created by Ian Jones-Quartey and Jim Gisriel and launched in 2007 on YouTube. In particular, she contributed to the cartoon's backgrounds and characters.[19]

In 2010, Sugar published her first graphic novel, Pug Davis, featuring an astronaut dog and his gay sidekick Blouse.[20][21]

She is also known for her comic "Don't Cry for Me, I'm Already Dead", a story about two brothers whose shared love of The Simpsons takes a tragic turn.[17]

Television

Sugar first joined the crew of Adventure Time as a storyboard revisionist during the show's first season.[22] Due to the quality of her work, within a month of being hired she was promoted to a storyboard artist, making her debut during the production of the second season.[10] Her first episode was "It Came from the Nightosphere".[23]

Production for Steven Universe began while Sugar was still working on Adventure Time. She continued working on Adventure Time until the show's fifth season, whereupon she left in order to focus on Steven Universe. Her last episode for Adventure Time was "Simon & Marcy"; following that episode, working on both series simultaneously "became impossible to do". She had also previously encountered difficulty in the production of the Adventure Time episode "Bad Little Boy".[24] Sugar returned temporarily to write the song "Everything Stays" for the seventh season miniseries Stakes.[25][26]

She has been an executive producer for Steven Universe for its entire run, and a storyboard artist for several of its episodes; the series premiered on November 4, 2013 and concluded on January 21, 2019. She directed the full-length television movie taking place after the fifth season of Steven Universe, called Steven Universe: The Movie, which premiered on September 2, 2019 on Cartoon Network.[27] On October 4, 2019, it was announced at New York Comic Con that Steven Universe would not have a sixth season but an epilogue limited series titled Steven Universe Future, premiered on December 7, 2019[28] and concluded on March 27, 2020.

Themes

Sugar has discussed the importance of creating LGBT representation and content, especially in children's entertainment. On Cameron Esposito's podcast QUEERY, Sugar stated "I want to champion LGBTQIA, all of it, content...in G-Rated, family entertainment. I want to do that forever".[4] She also explained how Steven Universe has helped her come to terms with her own identity as bisexual and non-binary. She believes that early and positive exposure to the LGBT community can help queer identifying children avoid experiencing shame in their own identities.[29][30]

Other work

Sugar designed the album cover of True Romance for Estelle, the voice of Garnet on Steven Universe.[31] In December 2016, comic book publisher Youth in Decline featured Sugar's sketches and story notes for her unpublished comic Margo in Bed as issue #14 of the art/comics anthology series Frontier.[32][33]

In 2018, Sugar was featured on Gallant's 2018 R&B/Soul track TOOGOODTOBETRUE, along with Sufjan Stevens.[34]

In April 2020, Sugar narrated a video titled Let My People Go, a video created by the organization Never Again Action. The video talks about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and the poor living conditions they are experiencing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]

Accolades

Adventure Time

Rebecca Sugar's work on Adventure Time gained Primetime Emmy Award for Short-format Animation nominations for the episode "It Came from the Nightosphere" in 2011 and for the episode "Simon & Marcy" in 2013.[36] The show also earned multiple Annie Award nominations. These included, Best Storyboarding in a Television Production in 2012[37] and Story-boarding in an Animated Television Production in 2013.[38]

Steven Universe
Main article: Steven Universe § Awards and nominations

For Steven Universe, Sugar has been nominated for several media industry awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards. She and the series have received, among others, the 2018 Peabody Award for Children's & Youth Programming and the 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Program; in 2015 the series was named to the James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List.

Honors

In 2012, Forbes magazine included her on its "30 Under 30 in Entertainment" list, noting that she was responsible for writing "many of the best episodes" of Adventure Time.[1]

Variety included Sugar in "Hollywood's New Leaders 2016: The Creatives", a list celebrating upcoming filmmakers, show-runners and creators in both traditional and digital media.[39]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Singles Director, story writer, animator and composer[18] Short film
2010–2013
2015, 2018		 Adventure Time Story writer, storyboard artist, songwriter, storyboard revisionist
Voice role: Marceline's mother		 Television series
2012 Hotel Transylvania Storyboard artist[40] Film
2013–2019 Steven Universe Creator, executive producer, storyline writer, storyboard artist, songwriter Television series
2017–2019 OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Writer and performer of end titles Television series
2019 Steven Universe: The Movie Director, Executive Producer, Writer, Storyboard Artist, Composer, Songwriter Television film
2019–2020 Steven Universe Future Creator, executive producer Limited television series
2020 Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie Storyboard Artist Television film

References
  1. "Rebecca Sugar – 30 Under 30: Hollywood". Forbes. December 17, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  2. "Rebecca Sugar". Television Academy. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  3. Pulliam-Moore, Charles (July 16, 2018). "Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar on How She Expresses Her Identity Through the Non-binary Crystal Gems". io9. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  4. Esposito, Cameron (October 9, 2017). "Rebecca Sugar, episode #13 of Queery with Cameron Esposito on Earwolf". Earwolf. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  5. Cavna, Michael (November 1, 2013). "'Steven Universe' creator Rebecca Sugar is a Cartoon Network trailblazer". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  6. "Two Students are Named Presidential Scholars". Montgomery Schools Maryland. May 10, 2005. Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  7. French, Esther (January 14, 2013). "Successful Animator Credits Einstein's Visual Arts Center". Patch Media. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  8. Goldstein, Jordan; Sekaran, Adith (November 14, 2005). "Silver Chips, Silver Chips Online, Silver Quill win in journalism competitions". Silver Chips Online. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  9. Amidi, Amid (October 5, 2012). "Rebecca Sugar Is Cartoon Network's First Solo Woman Show Creator". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  10. Grossman, Ed; Moskowitz, Dan (May 14, 2015). "Rebecca Sugar takes Hollywood by storm with hit cartoon show "Steven Universe"". templemicah.org. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  11. Jones-Quartey, Ian [@ianjq] (February 13, 2016). "@CreeperGuy1337 yeah! We've been together over 8 years now" (Tweet). Retrieved December 27, 2019 – via Twitter.
  12. Jones-Quartey, Ian [@ianjq] (December 5, 2019). "Hey so @rebeccasugar and I have been a couple for 12 years... and yesterday we got married! To each other!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 27, 2019 – via Twitter.
  13. Rude, Mey (July 22, 2016). "Rebecca Sugar is Bisexual: "Steven Universe" Creator Comes Out at Comic-Con". Autostraddle. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  14. Johnson, Joshua (July 9, 2018). "The Mind Behind America's Most Empathetic Cartoon". 1A. NPR. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  15. Necessary, Terra (July 18, 2018). "Rebecca Sugar Opens Up About Being Non-binary". Pride.com. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  16. "Rebecca Sugar (@rebeccasugar)". Twitter. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  17. Villarreal, Daniel (April 22, 2017). "The Weird, Heartbreaking Pre-'Steven Universe' Work of Rebecca Sugar". Hornet Stories. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  18. Amidi, Amid (August 10, 2009). "Cartoon Brew TV #21: "Singles" by Rebecca Sugar". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  19. Jones-Quartey, Ian [@ianjq] (August 25, 2015). "@captainzulas @rebeccasugar @JimmFORCE actually Rebecca helped a number of things in nockFORCE including backgrounds and characters" (Tweet). Retrieved October 28, 2018 – via Twitter.
  20. Homan, Eric (December 9, 2010). "Rebecca Sugar's "Pug Davis"". The Adventure Time Blog. Frederator Studios Blogs. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  21. "Pug Davis". Goodreads. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  22. Ward, Pendleton (2011). "Rainy Day Daydream" [Animatic commentary track], Adventure Time Season One [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Cartoon Network.
  23. Homan, Eric (October 11, 2010). "Rebecca Sugar's First Board (Nightosphere)". Frederator Studios. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  24. Kohn, Eric (November 1, 2013). "'Adventure Time' Writer Rebecca Sugar on 'Steven Universe,' Being Cartoon Network's First Female Show Creator And Why Pop Art Is 'Offensive'". IndieWire. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  25. Brown, Tracy (August 23, 2018). "The 'Adventure Time' songs that make you cry". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  26. "[Olivia Olson confirms when 'Stakes' will air]". Instagram. July 10, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  27. Bojalad, Alec (August 29, 2019). "Steven Universe: The Movie Toonami Trailer Released". Den of Geek. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  28. Miller, Shannon (November 26, 2019). "The titles, air dates, and episode details for Steven Universe Future are here". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  29. Brown, Tracy (May 24, 2018). "Rebecca Sugar's commitment to LGBTQ visibility continues to drive 'Steven Universe'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  30. Romano, Nick (August 13, 2018). "'Steven Universe' creator is doing more for LGBTQ visibility than you might know". EW.com. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  31. Sugar, Rebecca [@rebeccasugar] (February 20, 2015). "Ahh!!! Completely surreal experience of seeing my album artwork for Estelle's new album True Romance… instagram.com/p/zWX0QRqBox/" (Tweet). Retrieved December 27, 2019 – via Twitter.
  32. "Frontier #14: Rebecca Sugar". Youth in Decline. December 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  33. Leblanc, Philippe (January 16, 2017). "Review – Frontier #14 by Rebecca Sugar: Movement, Poetry & Family". The Beat. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  34. Murphy, Sarah (September 21, 2018). "Gallant, Sufjan Stevens and Rebecca Sugar Join Forces for "TOOGOODTOBETRUE"". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  35. Hughes, William (April 8, 2020). "Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar narrates video calling for closure of ICE camps". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  36. "Adventure Time - Emmy Awards, Nominations and Wins". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  37. "39th Annual Annie Awards". ASIFA-Hollywood. 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  38. "40th Annual Annie Awards". ASIFA-Hollywood. 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  39. Variety Staff (October 19, 2016). "Hollywood's New Leaders 2016: The Creatives". Variety. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  40. Sugar, Rebecca (November 25, 2012). "I did some storyboards for Hotel Transylvania!". Tumblr. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.