Erik Moxcey '83
What was it like to be one of the first Glen Urquhart students?
“Amazing,” according to Erik Moxcey who entered what was then called North Shore Middle School in 1980 as one of a handful of students in the seventh grade. “I was in the local public school in Topsfield which was great, but I was always kind of a daydreamer and not necessarily conforming to the typical student in the elementary public school system,” he explains, speaking from his office in Los Angeles where he is a storyboard artist and revisionist for the animated TV series, Family Guy.
“My parents knew Isabella and Harry Groblewski and Harry became headmaster of North Shore Middle School around this time. He talked to my parents about this new school and about the founder, Lynne Warren. He said the school was focused on the individual and was more nurturing and would allow me to seek my inspiration and be supported for my art since I wasn’t learning in the typical liberal arts fashion. This sounded great to my parents.”
When Erik began in seventh grade, that was the highest grade in the school, but the next year an eighth grade was planned, and a ninth grade after that with six students in the first graduating class of 1983. “It was super cool because we were always the oldest!” he recalls. “We were so fortunate - thesix of us - to know each other and our teachers so intimately. We had a feeling of being treated as such individuals.” When Erik started, the school still met in a church, and the students would walk over to the new property and see the greenhouses and the buildings they would soon move into on Hart Street.
After GUS, Erik went to Proctor Academy for high school where he focused on his art and developed his interest in film and writing feature scripts. Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) came next. “Once I got to RISD, I really found my environment. I didn’t have to worry about anything except studying and making art, especially film,” he says. “I learned more by just being exposed to other talented students who were making art. It set the foundation for how important it is to find your own voice and just do your own thing.” But he still credits that state of mind going back to what he learned and developed at Glen Urquhart.
During his time at RISD, Erik worked on scripts, even co-writing with Harry Groblewski a story concerning societal class prejudices about a janitor and a businessman trapped in an elevator together. He attended several summer film workshops in Rockport, Maine, inspired by teachers like Janet Roach (a writer for John Huston) who encouraged him to tell stories of depth and meaning. Los Angeles soon beckoned and, after a short stint with a computer animation game company, Erik passed the character layout test for The Simpsons after three attempts and had a job on one of the most popular shows of the decade. “The Simpsons really taught me how to draw,” Erik says. “this was a time in the animation industry when they would spend a lot of time with you showing you how to draw in perspective, constructing characters on model, creating dynamic poses, backgrounds, etc. Working on The Simpsons was great; it was like getting paid to go to college again for illustration, which was not my major at RISD. I eventually moved up to storyboarding on the show where you are actually composing and setting up shots, which I loved because now it was more related to live-action filmaking.” Next came Rugrats, Rocket Power, As Told By Ginger and then Family Guy, where Erik has been for the past 13 years. What he likes best about his job are the other artists. “There is a great talent pool there,” he says, “and it is not appreciated or acknowledged by production as much as it should be. They make the show look good, even when the writing is less than par.”
While his “day job” might be the envy of many, Erik’s primary focus is still on creating his own ideas for live action films. He is working now on a pilot for a live action television series and developing other spec script ideas. “Film is really an emotional medium, more than an intellectual one. Most stories that become great movies are emotional stories. What are the films you really remember? Profound scripts, inspiring ones. I was inspired by films like Harold and Maude, Dead Poet’s Society, or Ît’s a Wonderful Life. Ultimately, my goal is to inspire and make some kind of a difference with relevant issues. Otherwise, what are you doing here?”
What does he see in his future? About to turn 50 and celebrate his tenth wedding anniversary, Erik would welcome a return to the East Coast with his wife Aldenir and three-year-old son, John Winston, who was named both after Erik’s middle name and one of his idols, John Winston Lennon. “I’d love for Johnny to go to Glen Urquhart!”