Dear Friends:

Immediately following the premiere of Disney's "Inner Workings" in France this summer, I didn't come home without first soaking in the magic of Italy's Amalfi Coast, cruising the blue waters of the Adriatic's Croatia/Montenegro/Greece, and savoring the flavors of the South of France.

Stateside, I hiked and camped in Joshua Tree, Cabrillo, and Yosemite to celebrate the centennial anniversary of our National Park System, taking advantage of my annual pass from the photo contest you all helped me win last spring.  Traveling fueled my appetite for photography, investing in my Sony A7RII with upgraded glass, filter system, carbon fiber tripod, and dedicated pack.  Same joker behind the lens, but hopefully you'll see a difference!

On the family front, we welcomed my second nephew, Tobias Finn, on September 18 which quickly followed with a visit to San Diego to congratulate first time/sleep deprived parents Pete and Rica.  Not to be overlooked, I made additional visits to San Francisco for my older nephew and Philadelphia for the granddaddy of them all.  The Huang dynasty is growing!

Professionally, this year has allowed for a tremendous variety of experience not only with my elevated role on the short, but also through the mentorship workshops with Ed Catmull and my peers.  This earned me the opportunity to assist with Disney Animation's workforce planning process for the past 4 months, in which we gather production resources to inform talent management and guide studio strategy.  While business operations and analytics is something I hope to revisit in my career, I am still driven by production and the art of storytelling at this time.

As a result, I am transitioning to a new senior supervisor role on the forefront of the creative story process for Disney's feature film "Gigantic" (Holiday 2018) - from the director of "Tangled", co-writer of "Inside Out", and songwriters of "Frozen".

Meanwhile, "Inner Workings" continues to run the circuit of film festivals and screenings, but will finally be in theaters worldwide this Thanksgiving playing in front of Disney's epic adventure "Moana" - so be sure not to leave your seats.

Onward,
-Mike