Joey DeMers, '18
“I have my dream job,” Joey DeMers confessed. DeMers is working for DreamWorks Animation in Los Angeles, which is the best of all possible worlds for this 2018 theatre graduate.
DeMers moved to California shortly after graduation. He signed with a few agencies and started auditioning for acting roles. In an all-too-typical story, COVID-19 forced the closure of Los Angeles studios. After restrictions were lifted, DeMers began to audition again, but something had changed. “I lost a lot of my confidence in auditioning,” he explained.
Believing that things are not always fixed in a set plan and knowing that life was throwing him a curveball, he applied for a job with DreamWorks and landed it. “It combines all three of my loves: animation arts, marketing and the entertainment world,” DeMers said.
His official job title is TV Marketing Asset. “Basically, I’m watching every program,” explained DeMers, “then I’m part of the creative marketing meetings and they look to me to confirm information that was in a program.” DeMers is like a walking library of information for each of the shows he is assigned.
DeMers is also a liaison for other departments, curating all of the company’s assets which requires him to assemble, organize and manage portions of each program for content use in other departments such as animation stills, GIFs and flat images. “I’m moving every piece of the puzzle to whoever needs it,” stated DeMers.
“DreamWorks is the coolest employer to work for. I know a lot of people say they run their company like family, but they really do. They go above and beyond,” explained DeMers. Remembered by many of the faculty in the CMU theatre department as a tenacious individual with a winning smile, it can be said that Joey DeMers goes above and beyond as well.