Entertainment Design Turns 35, Part IV: How We Got Here

This is Part IV of ED's 35th Anniversary Special Report. To go back to Part III, "Futurama," click here.

Everyone has a story.

To help us celebrate our 35th anniversary, we asked you for yours. More specifically, we wanted to know how you arrived at the place, position, and life in which you find yourself today: which person, project, or event served as the inspiration for your entrée into the world of entertainment design and technology?

The results were astonishing. We received responses from an incredibly diverse group of people both here and abroad who told an incredibly diverse set of stories: from industry legends on their first musical to tyros on important teachers; from sound people on their first rock-and-roll gig to projection designers on their early days in lighting. Some were influenced by parents and mentors, some by a particular show. Some were fascinated by qualities of light, some obsessed with the terrain of their youth. Taken together, these stories provide a glimpse of who we are and where we've been. They may also shed some light on where we're headed .

Editor's Note: The ensuing pages offer only a slice of the myriad contributions we received; indeed, the response was so overwhelming we've decided to include additional contributions in future issues of Entertainment Design . So, if you'd like to tell us how you got here, please send your response to [email protected] .