Prescott Wright

Prescott J. Wright (May 8, 1935 in Bronx, New York – December 28, 2006 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) was best known as the longtime producer and film distributor of the annual touring programs of animated films from around the world known as the International Tournée of Animation.

These included serving as a member of the Film Arts Foundation board of directors in San Francisco from the late 1960s (and as President of the Board from 1978 to 1979), and as Treasurer of the Society for Animation Studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s (with Harvey Deneroff, the founder and first president of that association).

In 1963, Chamberlin recommended Prescott, who had recently married, for a job at Brandon Films (also known as Western Cinema Guild) in San Francisco as an assistant and, when the manager left, Prescott became head of the San Francisco office.

Brandon was a major 16mm film distributor of American and foreign features and shorts.

About 1966 several members of ASIFA-Hollywood (Bill Scott, Bill Littlejohn, Les Goldman and June Foray) decided to put together an international animation program to be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles to work at the American Film Institute (AFI).

Since it was almost impossible to see quality animation in the US at that time, Prescott became active with the group when he joined the AFI in 1969 and, having worked previously in film distribution, he was asked to head the project when they decided to show the program in other cities.

They sent him to New York City in January 1970 to market films produced with AFI grants.

In a letter to a friend dated December 1970 he wrote, "By September I had sold about $50 grand worth of films and was applying for my own iron lung. There were some good $$ deals with some major companies if I would stay in New York."

Taking up an offer to take on distribution of the "Tourney (sic) of Animation" (as it was initially written), he acquired eight films from KQED-TV and began FilmWright, his small film distribution company, to late 1970.

Under his guidance, the program became known as the International Tournee of Animation and, in late 1970 or early 1971, he began to book the program at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, university campuses and other cultural institutions around this country.

FilmWright offered animators an interesting and generous contract when Wright produced the Tournee.

As producer, the company received 50% of the gross while the remaining 50% was split among the artists.

About half of the money going to the animators was split evenly between each filmmaker and the remaining amount was split based the length of each short film.

This meant that a very short film got slightly less than one which was a minute or two longer.

In the 1970s Gary Meyer, who ran the U.C. Theater in Berkeley, California and became a co-founder Landmark Theatres, convinced Prescott to expand his distribution of the Tournee of Animation to theaters:

Author and animation historian Jerry Beck noted:

In 1971 he returned to college.

He was a teaching assistant and then a part-time instructor at SF State from 1972–1980.

He received a BA in communication and the visual arts in 1973 from what was then called California State University, San Francisco and an MA in Film in 1977 from the renamed San Francisco State University.

He also taught an extension course in film for the University of California at Berkeley in 1975.

Between 1975 and 1985, Prescott was on the board of directors of ASIFA, the International Animated Film Association, which had over 30 chapters around the world.

Until the Iron Curtain collapsed, ASIFA helped bridge the gap between East and West by helping animators from Eastern Europe attend festivals in the West, to visit studios in the Europe and North America, and to show their films in-person.

Pres, David Ehrlich, Howard Beckerman, Charles Samu, John Halas, John Hubley and others worked hard to further international relations and to arrange for these screenings in cities with ASIFA chapters.

He was also a founder of ASIFA-San Francisco in 1975.

Thanks to his guidance, the chapter grew over the years, and it is known for presenting great programs and having a very informative newsletter.

Prescott served as an advisor to major animation festivals around the world, and regularly attended the ASIFA-sponsored festivals in Annecy, France, and Zagreb, (then in Yugoslavia).

In addition, he was one of the founding directors of the Ottawa International Animated Film Festival in Canada, which began in 1976 and which is now held annually, as well as being instrumental in fostering the art of animated films throughout his working life.

Prescott Wright was raised in the Bronx, was stationed in the Army at Fort Ord, and went to Monterey Peninsula College.

The school had a film series run by Phil Chamberlin and Pres became active with it, running the projectors and helping in other ways.

His resume says he was president of the film society and jazz club.

He was a founder and the first International Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 1976 and served in that capacity in 1978, 1980, 1982, and also in 1992.

Pres served a year as director of the Denver International Film Festival (1980/81) and, returning to San Francisco, became the producer of "The Animators", a series of TV programs made in 1982 for KQED-TV in San Francisco which featured Bay Area talent such as Jeff Hale, Bud Luckey, Rudy Zamora, Sally Cruickshank and Marcy Page.

Organized by ASIFA-Hollywood during the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games of 1984, Prescott was involved, as Director, with the creation and management of the "Olympiad of Animation", which was shown in Los Angeles at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

For one program, the organizers polled one hundred animation professionals around the world to determine which animated films were regarded as the greatest of all time; over 30 of the films were shown.

He was proud of the fact that he brought the project in under budget.

He also was involved with many other cultural events over the years.

In 1990, Prescott worked for Disney's Feature Division as a "Creative Staffing Specialist".

In 2004, the Ottawa festival made him an Honorary President of the festival, but he was unable to attend the event due to his health problems.

ASIFA-Hollywood has also honored him with the "June Foray Award" for benevolent and significant contributions to the art of animation at the “Annie Awards”.