West Central raised Bob Bowen admits he didn’t think much about being nominated for an Emmy award. Bob was part of the writing team for the Disney produced Phineas & Ferb, The Movie: Candace Against the Universe. The team was nominated for Outstanding Writing for an Animated Program and they were nominated among some tough and well-known company.

“It was not something I was thinking about or looking for,” Bob admitted on a Zoom call from his home office in Los Angeles. “I mean we’re grateful we won. Even to get nominated. But you first ask what are we up against? And you see the words Star Wars. You think someone else will win this. Then all of a sudden... it happened! I was shaking my head for probably week. I couldn’t believe that it somehow worked out.”

There is no roadmap showing the way from growing up on a farm near Sovereign to an eventual Emmy statue for writing. Growing up in the 1970s and 80s meant Bob couldn’t just google the answers to questions he had about drawing and filmmaking. His pathway, his education, began on a healthy diet of VHS tapes and Star Trek reruns.

“I had a Grade 5 teacher that definitely did encourage drawing. In Milden, his name was Mr. George. We had a little class newspaper and I was the guy doing the cartoons,” Bob shared. “I certainly watched a lot of movies. This will make me sound old. It was the advent of the VCR and renting movies. There was a furniture store in town (Sovereign) and we rented a VCR and seven or eight movies that came in a bag for the weekend. My dad would come home with the popular stuff of the day. On TV I watched all the same shows as everyone else. Saturday morning cartoons, Spiderman, Rocket Robinhood, and Star Trek was on at 11 every Saturday morning. I am a big, big, fan of Star Trek. So that was a big thing.”

While attending high school in Rosetown, Bob continued drawing. In class he would regularly create jokes and caricatures of friends, and he would doodle in the margins of text books. As he entered his grade 12 year Bob finally began seriously considering a career in art. He booked a tour of a fine arts school in Alberta.

“It was a very fine arts school. A great place. But as I toured, I saw people painting, sculpting, doing photography, and I didn’t see what I was looking for. I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time.”

Instead of art school in Alberta, Bob opted to attend the University of Saskatchewan. For summer employment he took a job with SaskPower. It was there that he thought he saw his future.

“My dad spent a career at SaskPower. My grandfather was with SaskPower his whole career. And I decided I was going to be Line Man. I went to school for that. I went to work in the power plants near Estevan. That was the plan.”

While working in Estevan Bob never put the pencil down. With his free time, he continued to doodle and make jokes with his friends. Then for the first time, Bob admits, he finally recognize the skill he had developed.

“I would draw on napkins at lunch, making jokes about my fellow coworkers. And this is sort of pathetic, but for the first time in my life I realized I was getting better. It’s something that should be obvious, but when your young it isn’t,” Bob said. “Drawing is like everything else; you get better at it as you practice. Prior to this realization I believed it was something you were good at or not.”

As his Emmy win already indicates, he opted to chase his dream.

Bob took a leave of absence from SaskPower and began attending art school in New York. In New York he fell in love with story boarding and he decided to focus his attention towards narrative art. After graduation he landed his first ‘Hollywood’ job working on the story boards for the 2000 film Dungeons & Dragons starring Jeremy Irons.

After concluding work on D&D Bob began working story boards for television shows. He found work on Futurama, American Dad, and Family Guy. In 2016 he began working as a director on a show called Milo’s Murphy Law for Disney. It was the new show from the creators of the wildly successful Phineas & Ferb. Entering their orbit is how Bob ended up nabbing the director’s chair for Candace Against the Universe.

As Director Bob was tasked with guiding the production from concepts to finished film. Turning what was in the ever-changing script into reality. His fingerprints can be found all over the movie. Early in the feature there is a gag/parody of Star Trek. When asked about the bit, Bob admits he worked to get it onto the screen. The desire to do so came from his love of Star Trek.

“In the script the Baljeet character keeps bringing up the series. That’s when I said ‘I think it would be funny as he mentions it, that we see it this pseudo credit sequence.’ Then I drew what you saw in the movie. And you’re right it comes from a complete love of Star Trek.”

Now with a well-received feature length directing credit and an Emmy win, Bob finds himself looking through some newly opened doors. He's currently developing ideas for possible pilots.

“I had goals that I had set, that I wanted. I was working in a pitching style initially with Disney, but suddenly everything changed,” Bob admits. “I entered a development deal at Disney. I pitch the ideas they want to see in an attempt to get a series going. Television is incredibly competitive. It’s a bit like catching lightning in a bottle. But I love doing it. It was the movie that gave me these opportunities that I find myself in right now.”

While Bob works on his next pitch for Disney, he’s also working through a ‘to-do’ list at home. First on the list, deciding where to put his Emmy statue.

“I don't know where to put it yet. I just shoved the Xbox over and set it on a shelf. It sits with the other non-sense back there,” Bob laughed. “My wife says I have to organize my workspace. As the peter pan that I am, I keep gathering more nonsense. For now, it’s on the nearest available shelf space.”

For the budding movie maker or artist living in the west central region now, Bob wanted to add that the path forward looks different today than it did twenty-five years ago. He encourages them to not be discouraged.

“Look at the great asset they all have now. The internet. Look it up! Do research. See how things are made that you might want to do. Animation for instance is at a crazy high right now with all these streaming services. There's a ton of work being done in Canada. Be prepared to move. Be prepared to go, because that’s the reality and I think the hardest notion. You’re going to be moving away from people you know and grew up with.”

You might move away from them but you never forget them.

“I still keep in touch with quite a few,” Bob laughed.