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Jon Dean learned something important for his life when he moved from England to the United States.
“Utah turned out to be a great place to raise a family,” Dean said.
It means that he and Jeff Peters have worked together since 1990. They moved forward their Utah Digital Entertainment Network last month with their first Hive Ignite Week.
The event mirrored the mission of the all-volunteer UDEN: to bring about synergy with digital entertainment professionals in the state.
Dean worked at Electronic Arts studies in northern Utah. As a member of EA, he was not invited to events by the independent digital entertainment professionals because Dean’s organization was the “big, bad EA,” he told me.
“So we started inviting the indies over,” Dean said.
Dean then returned to the state after working outside it for seven years.
And he went to work.
“Everyone complained about there not being enough in the ecosystem here,” Dean remarked. “I said ‘well, what’s anybody doing about this?’ And the answer that came: nothing; we just like complaining.
“I said, ‘if I start something, who is with me?’” Dean explained.
In response, Peters stepped forward.
Also, Utah Film Commission Director Virginia Pearce and WildWorks CEO Clark Stacey reportedly have been involved.
The biology of the ‘ecosystem’
Dean mentioned the word “ecosystem” again when he mentioned Austin, Texas, as an example of a healthy one of digital entertainment professionals, saying that they are “collaborating.”
“Other people wanted to work with (the network), which meant they grew,” Dean said. “It’s a culture; it’s a mentality thing.”
Dean reckons that education to the professions figures into the success of the network.
“To share knowledge,” Dean said before adding: “And to actually meet.”
“So many people in this state in digital entertainment work with people outside the state because they say ‘we can’t find people over here,’” Dean added before saying that people in Utah who do that job are around, and UDEN is designed to provide the “connective dots.”
And what has Dean and Peters learned?
“We realize people really like to come to our meetings and they really like the food we provide,” Dean said.
But the good eats, along with the venue, are possible only because of sponsorships, Dean later said.
But UDEN can be “more substantial … than a group of people who like meeting regularly,” Dean added, saying the word “ecosystem” a third time.
Dean and Peters have determined that more startups would help and that UDEN can help them with a “culture of … collaboration,” Dean said.
Dean then said that a great feature of Silicon Valley is that starting as academic, it is structured for the very purpose of “collaborating and sharing information.”
“Whereas companies or states like Utah, it’s built on defense-type contractors and so on, not to share information, but to be secretive and insular,” Dean said, adding that UDEN seeks to change that “mindset” as found in the Beehive State.
“We believe in the … ecosystem here,” Peters then said. “It’s hard to get old dogs to do … new tricks … (and) see the benefit of working with other people.”
A ready climate
There’s a “thriving entertainment community” in Utah, Peters said. Dean then pointed out that Disney Infinity was a $4 billion business with “about 300 local people.”
“Nobody knew it came from Utah,” Dean said of the “studio,” now a part of Warner Bros. (A “Harry Potter” incarnation of the Disney Infinity framework reportedly is on its way.)
And “BYU creates some of the best animators in the film and games industry,” Dean also said. “The cream of the crop go on to other states every year.”
“The game program at the University of Utah has some of the top (students) in the nation year in and year out,” Dean then said. “They graduate more students than we can take locally.”
Major games have been made in Utah, Peters added. Among others, he mentioned five home versions of Mortal Kombat; the Infinity Blade series; many “Star Wars” games, including Super Star Wars; the Tiger Woods personal computer version; and Sims 3 and 4.
“Animal Jam (another Utah product) is so big, it just had its 90th account created,” Peters said last month.
Also, WWF series started in the state, Peters said.
Dean has told the Utah State Legislature about economic benefits for Quebec for digital entertainment work, as he managed communications for EA with the legislature, he said.
“Yes, we’ve been down that path,” Dean said.
More than 10,000 people have video game jobs in the province, Peters remarked.
“Montreal is now the world’s fifth-largest video game center,” Peters added. “Utah could be on that list if we had a nice community working together and the legislature on down, all working together to embrace (digital entertainment work).”
“We know the pieces are here,” Dean said, citing his 20 years of working in the industry in Utah.
Then came a fourth mention of a particular word.
“The ecosystem, the renewable job source, the talent, the ability to create stuff … it’s all here,” Dean said.
Later, Peters spoke to getting involved with the non-profit.
“We’ve never been known to turn away willing and able bodies willing to help,” he said.
The last three years of UDEN meetings are posted on its YouTube page.
Note: The author was a guest speaker for UDEN’s Hive Ignite Week.
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Photo courtesy Jon Dean via LinkedIn.