Award-winning designers Eddie Newquist & Robin Stapley have spent a lifetime working at the forefront of attractions and brand experiences. Most recently they have successfully designed and delivered large-scale projects with Studio MinaLima including Enchanted Journeys: Adventures in Storytelling for the Moat Brae Peter Pan Museum in Scotland, and the Game of Thrones Studio Tour in Northern Ireland.
Stapley and Newquist have created immersive experiences for the Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros Studios, HBO and Universal Studios. They have also developed projects for many high-profile museums, visitor centres and malls around the world. Their work has received numerous awards from the Themed Entertainment Association and several MAXI awards from ICSC (Innovating Commerce Serving Communities). Together, they have worked with blockbuster brands such as Harry Potter, Frozen, Cars, and Avatar.
The latest news from the pair is that they will begin work on the design and development of the National Animation Museum in California at the start of 2023. As well as this, they will be continuing to collaborate with MinaLima on special projects and offering their best practice design and project consultation services through Retlaw Enterprises.
As the National Animation Museum project picks up steam, blooloop spoke to Newquist and Stapley to find out more about their passion for the industry, the lessons they have learned throughout their extensive career experiences and their insights into where the attractions sector is heading.
Robin Stapley’s theatre background
Robin Stapley trained as a theatre designer in South Africa. He then moved to the UK where he initially worked at the iconic Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company, as well as contributing to projects at the Royal Opera House. While living in London, he also worked as a design assistant for several renowned designers on West End theatre and international opera productions.
From there, he segued into designing and building model sets for stop-motion animated films. He also did some work with Madame Tussauds, developing their first dark ride.
“After moving to the US, I spent several years working as a set and costume designer for various theatres throughout the country. From there I started working at the Becker Group,” says Stapley.
“That’s where Eddie and I met. Essentially, it was a company pioneering large-scale holiday experiences for mall developers and special venues. What Eddie and I brought to the table was the ability to take those programs and turn them into something more experiential. Whereas before, they were just elaborate sets where people would get their holiday photos.”
Working with leading IPs
During their time at the Becker Group, Stapley and Newquist also started working with big IPs from companies such as Disney and Warner Bros. They were integrating blockbuster brands into holiday experiences and turning them into interactive attractions.
“From there, we started developing touring exhibitions, working with different IPs like Narnia and Harry Potter,” adds Stapley. “To me, it was exciting to bring best practices learned from all those years in theatre into creating an immersive experience for a brand like Harry Potter. At the time, there were a few other touring exhibitions out there. However, nothing reached the levels that we had done in terms of immersion and interactivity.
“When you work with blockbuster brands like Harry Potter, there’s a lot of stakeholders with high expectations, from the IP owners to the fans. Being able to deliver for all was key to the success of that experience.”
Special effects and Universal Studios Orlando
Eddie Newquist grew up in a large family creating Super 8 films, making haunted houses, and getting involved with theatre projects. He received a film scholarship at Loyola Marymount University in California. While he was a senior, he discovered a nearby company called Showscan, headed by film director Douglas Trumbull, a pioneer in special effects who created epic visuals for films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
“In my senior year of college, I was offered a full-time job at Showscan,” he explains. “We were creating the first simulator ride for an entertainment complex, called Tour of the Universe, in Toronto. This was before Star Tours and before anybody had done anything like that. We were shooting the special effects film and building the simulator mock-up.
“For the next several years, I had the opportunity to work as an assistant cameraman with some terrific people who were showing me the ropes of the film industry as well as special effects. And then Doug got a call from Universal Studios. They told him that they were building a theme park from the ground up in Orlando.
“I went down to Universal Studios and that began a four-year project, building that studio tour from the ground up. I was able to learn so much, working with people like Keith James, Bob Ward, Richard Crane, and Mark Woodbury, who now heads up the theme park division at Universal. That experience really helped me learn the ropes of the theme park business.”
Creating experiences
Once Universal Studios Florida opened, Eddie Newquist went to Universal Studios in Hollywood, where he helped to create the World of Cinemagic, before moving on to Iwerks Entertainment where he was the VP of Iwerks Studios.
“That was an amazing experience. We had the opportunity not only to do simulator projects all over the world but also to create 3D films, virtual reality projects, and 360-degree projects. We did some ground-breaking installations, such as the first multiplayer pod-based virtual reality project.
“During the four years that I worked there, we took the company public. So, I learned quite a bit about IPOs and running a division for a large, ground-breaking public company.”
Following this, Newquist returned to Universal to help create T2:3D, Jurassic Park and WaterWorld. Ultimately, he became vice president for Universal Corporate, focusing on new business initiatives.
“During that time, I got a great sense of what the challenges were for theme parks in designing and developing large-scale attractions on time and on budget that also had to meet strict operations and attendance goals.
“In the years when we weren’t launching a major attraction, we would do something small that would still be relevant to guests. So, I created an Apollo 13 exhibition and several others in our soundstages. These gave people an authentic behind-the-scenes look at the making of the films. They were much less expensive than building a multimillion-dollar theme park attraction, but still very engaging in terms of giving people that insight into Hollywood.”
Newquist took that forward into a couple of different businesses, such as BBH in San Antonio, which was later sold to Clear Channel. Here, he worked on projects for Universal Studios, Discovery Channel, and exhibitions like Titanic and SPACE: A Journey to Our Future.
Eddie Newquist and Robin Stapley meet
This was the point where Eddie Newquist began working at the Becker Group and met Robin Stapley.
“When I met the folks at the Becker Group and saw Robin’s work, I was completely blown away. They were also starting to dip a toe into experiential marketing, working with big brands and getting their message out. I thought, if we could pull all this together, we may be able to grow this company. We sold to GES and then Robin and I worked together at GES for several years, heading up the experiential marketing and exhibition division.”
Following this, Newquist and Stapley formed a collaboration with Studio MinaLima. This is a company they had previously encountered while creating the Harry Potter global touring exhibition.
“We always liked them and thought there might be some great collaboration there,” says Newquist. “Together, we built on what we did with the Game of Thrones exhibition to help open the Studio Tour outside of Belfast earlier this year.”
In many ways, the Moat Brae project and the Game of Thrones Studio Tour were an amalgamation of many of the best practices that the pair have learned during their time in the industry, not only from working with large-scale theme parks and large-scale museums, but also with smaller projects where it’s important to be on time, on budget and on brand, and to assist the client in driving traffic.
Reflecting on their time in the industry, Stapley adds:
“What we love about this business is that it is a collaborative art. It’s not only about collaborating with your clients or IP holders. It’s also about collaborating with other creative team members. Through our experience, we can help align the stars and bring an experience to life. It’s truly magical when everything comes together.”
Eddie Newquist: “Authenticity is key“
With more than 60 years of industry experience between them, Eddie Newquist and Robin Stapley discuss some of the key lessons they have learned over the years. Firstly, for Newquist, one lesson that stands out is the importance of authenticity:
“Authenticity is such an important part of everything we do. And it’s a big reason people leave the comfort of their homes and go to an experience. That emotional connection to an authentic experience creates great guest value in the short and long term.”
Through their consulting work at Retlaw Enterprises they bring clients and partners industry best practices. They stress a keen focus on what they call the three Ds:
“Projects on any scale can be challenging. They are often led by passion, vision, and creativity, but can quickly fail if they don’t focus on the three Ds. The dollars, dates, and deliverables of every project must be a critical focus. These must be in constant balance, or you risk failure.”
Robin Stapley: “Fun is vital“
In addition to this, Stapley points out another vital factor: it needs to be fun. Projects also need to cater to a wide audience.
“In creating these experiences, especially when you do IP-based experiences like Game of Thrones or Harry Potter or Avatar, you need to think about all guests. So, you need to step in the shoes of both the guest that is a fan and the guest who is not yet a fan. You want it to have a broad appeal, so you don’t want to dumb it down. But you also want everyone to have fun and to connect on multiple levels.”
Newquist adds:
“I was fortunate enough to be on the board of Ryman Arts with Marty Sklar, who was a Disney Legend from Walt Disney Imagineering and who has inspired so many people. His 10 commandments, and the books that he’s written, are something that everybody in the industry should read. There are some great lessons in Mickey’s 10 commandments, as he calls them. They are such great reminders of how to create great guest experiences.”
Trends to watch
In terms of how the industry looks right now and what trends that they see continuing in the guest experiences of the future, both Newquist and Stapley are wary of buzzwords, and of jumping on trend bandwagons, again focusing on the fact that it is often authenticity that makes or breaks a project.
“There is a massive overuse of the word immersive right now, I think that we all recognise that,” says Newquist. “I think that we must be careful because it’s such a buzzword, and it’s been interpreted in so many ways.”
“Going into an environment that is strictly projection screens can be cool. But one of the risks we see for the industry is that constantly using video projection and media to create an environment is not dissimilar to sitting in front of your TV. I am concerned that if we start focusing only on large projected images, it is going to wear thin quickly. People still yearn for tactile experiences, authentic artefacts, and dimensional environments that feel real.”
In a world where most of us spend hours at screens each day, Newquist believes that people are looking for something different in terms of out-of-home entertainment.
The same goes for the overuse of new technologies, adds Stapley.
“To me, things like AR and VR are tools and can be an amazing enhancement to an experience. But you shouldn’t be putting in massive projections or using AR or VR just for the sake of it. It should further the experience and be complimentary, it should be seamless. I think that’s the key to creating unique guest experiences.”
Ultimately, people are looking for an emotional connection and the best way to deliver that is through storytelling and compelling characters that everyone can relate to.
Top tips
With Retlaw Enterprises, Robin Stapley and Eddie Newquist draw on their extensive experience to offer design and project consultation services. But what are their top tips for those new to experiential design?
“If you’re interested in doing a project, and you’re new to the industry, it’s important to separate the blue-sky phase of your project from your formal design development phase,” says Newquist. “Blue sky needs to be quickly followed by a critical focus on the numbers. Only after the business pencils out should you commit dollars and time to a design development phase. So many people get excited by the creative and then try to figure out the business later. Typically, that does not end well.”
Essentially, you can have a great idea or vision, and it can test well. However, if Newquist’s three Ds – the dollars, dates, and deliverables – don’t stack up, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
The National Animation Museum
The next chapter for Eddie Newquist and Robin Stapley is the National Animation Museum, a new project set to get underway in California. The museum will celebrate the history and inspire the future of animation, through a range of immersive, interactive, and educational programmes. Earlier this year, Senator Anthony J. Portantino announced that his budget request of $2.5 million for the National Animation Museum has been approved in the 2022-2023 State Budget.
“The National Animation Museum is something that we started talking about four years ago, in conversation with industry veterans like Chris Buck and Chris deFaria. We want to focus on the power of animation and how it is used today in so many different fields, from entertainment to architecture, virtual reality to augmented reality, and in video games and scientific visualisations.”
“The museum will acknowledge the past and celebrate all of the animation industry’s great achievements. But it will also look at animation in a new way, exploring how we can utilise it in the future. Part of the plan is to have a resource centre loaded with the tools students need to begin creating.
“It’s something that we’re passionate about, and it’s the combination and the continuation of a lot of the wonderful things that we’ve worked on. We’re right now putting together our administrative team and then we will begin further fundraising efforts.”
Successful collaborations from Eddie Newquist and Robin Stapley
Newquist is the founder and president of the non-profit museum and Stapley is one of the Board Members.
“Robin and I have been very collaborative throughout our entire careers. We have been blessed to work with great people and great teams,” says Newquist. “So, we’re doing that again with the National Animation Museum. We are reaching out to potential collaborators and organizations who have a passion for creativity and education.”
In addition to this project, the pair will continue to collaborate with Studio MinaLima, and consult through Retlaw Enterprises, as well as exploring ideas for new brand and IP-based experiences.
“We really enjoyed designing the Game of Thrones Studio Tour over the past few years and we love collaborating on large and small projects from concept through completion,” says Newquist. “We look forward to partnering with individuals and organizations as the industry continues to grow and evolve.”
