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Entertainment Design

A B O U T T H E J U R O R

Jason Surrell

Jason Surrell is an author, screenwriter and a former Executive Creative Director at Universal Creative, with 30 years of experience as a writer, producer and director in the entertainment industry. For fifteen years, Jason was a Senior Show Writer, Show Producer and Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative design division of the Walt Disney Company.

Jason Surrell is an author, screenwriter and a former Executive Creative Director at Universal Creative, with 30 years of experience as a writer, producer and director in the entertainment industry. For fifteen years, Jason was a Senior Show Writer, Show Producer and Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative design division of the Walt Disney Company.
Jason wrote and directed the independent feature film, Characters.
Jason’s major theme park credits include the overall creative direction of Universal’s Epic Universe, Universal Studios Beijing and Universal Studios United Kingdom, a project that company is currently considering building outside London; Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon; unannounced Universal projects at the attraction, land, theme park and resort levels; the creation of multiple entirely new lines of business for Universal Destinations & Experiences, including Universal Kids Park and Universal Horror Unleashed; New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom; The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow Starring Johnny Depp; Star Tours: The Adventures Continue; Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom; Symphony in the Stars: A Star Wars Fireworks Spectacular; Star Wars Weekends; The Great Movie Ride; Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor; The American Idol Experience; Jurassic Park River Adventure; A Day in the Park with Barney; The Magic of Disney Animation and enhancements to Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Jason is the author of The Art of Marvel’s The Avengers, The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic, The Disney Mountains: Imagineering at Its Peak, Screenplay by Disney: Tips and Techniques to Bring Magic to Your Moviemaking, Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies and The Art of the Haunted Mansion. He contributed essays and feature articles to The Imagineering Way, The Imagineering Workout, The Disney Insider Yearbook and Disney Twenty-three magazine. Jason also wrote for Walt Disney Television’s internationally syndicated television series, Secrets of the Animal Kingdom.
Jason most recently served as the overall creative director of Universal Studios United Kingdom, Universal Epic Universe and Universal Studios Beijing, the company’s first destination resort in China, and the Executive Creative Director of Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, which opened in April of 2017 at Universal Orlando Resort. He is currently working on a variety of new projects for the film and themed entertainment industries.

W I N N E R S

PRESIDENT’S AWARD

*Soo Min Shim*
*Wolcheon*

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GOLD JUROR’S AWARD

*EDES Class of '26*
*Ignythos*

Great world-building, amazing art and compelling original storytelling that evoked enough well-known properties to hit guests right in their emotions!

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SILVER JUROR’S AWARD

*Julia Nicolaus*
*Until Then*

This is a perfectly SCALED experience for the right venue – a museum – but could also go into any number of other venues: science centers, houses of worship, hospitals – anything that remotely relates to the subject matter and could economically and feasible play host to such a temporary or semi-permanent installation. It could also travel as its own thing.

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BRONZE JUROR’S AWARD

*Alex Endicott*
*Quantum Skipper*

REALLY liked the concept – it combines meaningful interaction and gameplay with a compelling story; at first I worried that Cosmo’s inclusion could be too much (I dislike interactive rides that are too complicated for me to fully enjoy), but in this case it provided emotionally-driven motivation in addition to the scientific, which would be the majority of the gameplay. I liked the characters and world-building, and, in the IP-driven world we live in now, I can totally see this compelling ORIGINAL story being easily adapted into an IP-based story such as Ant-Man, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Star Wars etc. Thoroughly thought out and masterfully presented with excellent visuals, tech solutions and schematic designs. This deck was just as good if not better than some of the development material I saw when working for Herschend on Big Bear Mountain.