Hello, my son Leo!
You’re just eight months old, and when the time comes for you to decide who you want to be, I hope to read this letter to you. Not to make you follow my career path, but to share my journey with you. To show you who you can become, at the very least, if you choose to. Why "at the very least"? Because I believe children grow to surpass their parents, and I’m doing my best to set the bar high for you! Ho-ho-ho!
In this letter, I want to tell you about Tongal and our nearly decade-long collaboration, which has had a profound impact on my life.
Why a letter, and why can’t I just tell you this myself? It’s because I have tongue cancer, and I don’t know if I’ll still be alive when we’re able to talk about work-related topics. Thankfully, I’m currently in remission, and things are going well, but cancer is something that can come back. So, let’s preserve this story here.
Before Tongal, I worked in television in Surgut (Siberia), then at advertising agencies in Moscow, including a couple of top international ones (BBDO and Dentsu). I started as a creative motion designer, transitioned into other creative roles, became a digital art director, then a group head of a creative team, and eventually left the office to work for myself as a motion designer. I combined hands-on technical experience with creative conceptual work. This mix helps to see and understand processes from all perspectives.
About ten years ago, I won my first project on Tongal (after 27 attempts!). I tried other platforms, winning on almost all of them, gaining experience along the way. It was exciting, though not always stable.
Then in 2020, when the world was dealing with COVID, I was diagnosed with cancer. This began a variety of treatments that lasted almost 2.5 years. It was, to put it mildly, a tough time. Hope came and went, and eventually, the treatment worked, and the disease retreated.
During that time, I needed to escape dark thoughts, so I dove into work, focusing entirely on Tongal. There were moments when I worked from the hospital during chemotherapy because I always try to meet deadlines and didn’t want any leniency or pity. So, no-one at Tongal even knew about the illness. Work was a great distraction from the routine of treatment. The volume of projects grew, and brands began reaching out regularly without requiring pitches. A big shoutout to T-Mobile (for whom I’ve created so many videos and visuals that I couldn’t count them even if I tried), The Pokémon Company (we produced several series of educational videos in seven languages with them, teaching the world how to play their trading card game), and britbox (who is giving my work a chance to shine on the screens of Times Square).
The years 2022 to 2024 were the most remarkable — I collaborated with Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, and Paramount+.
Here are a few projects:
For the Warner Bros. film Blue Beetle:
For the Warner Bros. film Wonka:
For the Sony Pictures film Venom: The Last Dance:
For Columbia Pictures’ centennial, we created an epic video for their highest-rated series of all time, Breaking Bad:
And this year, my work appeared on screens in Times Square six times!
I often think about why I enjoy working with Tongal so much. And here are the 10 reasons:
1. Freedom to manage time. Yes, work takes a lot of it, but at least I don’t have to ask anyone for permission to travel, run errands on a weekday, or take a nap.
2. Freedom to work from anywhere.
3. Freedom to choose projects and clients to work with.
4. Competitive pay that allowed us to travel and immigrate to the US.
5. Freedom from paperwork — special thanks to Tongal’s accounting team and producers. When you understand the value of time, you’d rather spend it creating than filling out forms.
6. No need for cold sales or searching for projects.
7. Collaborating with world-famous brands.
8. Easy and comfortable communication with Tongal employees. It feels like person-to-person interaction rather than company-to-company. Many people here are open and willing to help. For instance, Director of Production Steve Iwanyk greatly assisted with recommendation letters for my U.S. talent visa during our immigration process.
9. Variety of projects of all kinds.
10. Quick payments (twice a month), without the infamous 30/60/90 business-day delays found on other platforms.
Tongal offers amazing opportunities. But, of course, it’s not all that simple — competition in the pitches literally comes from all over the globe.
So, how can you succeed here, or wherever you choose to apply your talents? Here are my five tips:
1. Run. Running relieves stress, clears the mind, and boosts mental activity. It’s like a reset button and a source of energy.
2. Brief. Read the assignment multiple times. Understand what the brand wants, not just what you’d like to create for your portfolio. You can combine it later, but first, deliver what’s needed.
3. Focus. This is the key to productivity. With focus, you can accomplish in 30 minutes what might take an entire day(s) otherwise. Find what works for you — for me, it’s a private workspace, music, turning off the phone, and disconnecting from the internet.
4. Daily planning. If you set tasks for the day, you already know where you're heading each day.
5. Work hard. Victory isn’t handed to you. Before beating the competition, you must first overcome yourself, your laziness, and your weaknesses. It takes immense effort.
The good news is that anything is possible.
Want some extra motivation? I’m inspired by a copywriter I admire — a blind woman. Despite her blindness, she writes articles for various media outlets, runs a blog where she shares her experiences of working, living with a blind husband, navigating the city, grocery shopping, chasing her cat around the house to give it medicine, and using household items and gadgets. She even chooses emojis, never having seen them. Her strength is incredible. She’s a unique person who demonstrates the limitless potential of the human spirit.
I hope I get to read this letter to you in person, but if not, I’ve written down part of the advice here. And by the way, these tips apply to any field of life if you want to succeed, no matter the time or place.
Love,
Dad
Filmmakers are working with the world's biggest brands on Tongal.
