jeff gomez

Content warning: this episode contains discussion of emotional struggles, mental health, and neurodiversity. These are in an empathetic and supportive context, but as always, please stay safe and look after yourself.

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Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, is a leading expert in narrative, story worlds, and transmedia development. Jeff was a creator on the original story world of Magic: The Gathering, and since then has helped develop and expand universes like Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar, Transformers, Spider-Man, Halo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that they play out across multiple media platforms in concert. Most recently he has served as a creative producer on the worldwide revival of Ultraman.

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Follow Jeff’s work at starlightrunner.com, on twitter and LinkedIn. 

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Outline

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) - Introduction 
(01:02) - Formative experiences: Dungeons & Dragons and finding community
(10:25) - Teenage years 
(17:31) - Magic the Gathering. Reality vs characters. Communal storytelling: Gateways Magazine
(22:02) - Licensing and building a universe. Hero’s journey vs collective journey.  
(37:58) - Systemic narratives and repetition. Star Wars, Marvel 
(42:22) - Personal journey and discovery. Artistic expression 
(49:22) - Neurodiversity. Tessellation - a world of imagination 
(52:17) - Collective journey through madness. Liminal spaces. Mental health.  Necessity of storytelling. Folk horror in Aotearoa 
(01:02:41) - Deep in the Nikau cave. Assertion of will
(01:14:06) - Advice to younger creators
(01:19:18) - Finishing up

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