Brad Ableson, 28, attended USC's School of Cinema-Television where his live-action/animated student film, "My Ding-A-Ling," won 11 international awards and scored him his dream-job working as a character animator on "The Simpsons." After graduation he was promoted to storyboard artist and is now completing his ninth season on "The Simpsons."

In his free time Brad enjoys movies, surfing, and teaching. He has taught Storyboarding at USC's School of Cinema-Television, Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and the Academy of Entertainment & Technology in Santa Monica. Though animation is his first love, Brad hopes to make a career directing live-action feature films.

Currently he is writing a high school screenplay based on three weeks he spent undercover in a Northern California high school. Also, Brad recently wrote/directed/produced a short film called "Save Virgil," which combines live-action and animation and stars Adam Carolla as the voice of Virgil, a cartoon boy accidentally born into the real world. Though still a work-in-progress, Brad hopes that "Save Virgil" will inspire a TV series, feature film, or at least the opportunity to direct his high school movie.

Brad's thoughts on Production: Between being educated at USC's film school and trained by the finely oiled machine that is "The Simpsons," my thoughts on production are probably old fashioned, for a young guy. In other words, I believe in an organized, well planned approach to every project. If you go into production without final scripts, models, and storyboards, your project may be inspired, but it will probably lack focus. Personally, I like to enter production with a specific plan, and then I can decide when it's appropriate to be spontaneous.