An Open Letter to All Who Treasured Monty Oum

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum

byShaneNewville

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Summary

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I had big dreams for a long time but never believed in myself. I started going for it anyway and                   

met Monty Oum, who helped the crap out of me. After years of teaching myself, loads of                

practice, picking his brain, and taking his advice, I eventually got a job that allowed me to work                 

with him and get paid for it. It was the dream job, for a time. Regardless of what follows I am                    

forevergratefulforthat.WorkingwithhimwasreallymyonlyreasonforbeingatRoosterTeeth.

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Monty met one of the greatest women on earth (Sheena Duquette) and got married. For close               

to a year both he and she worked together on RWBY Volumes 2 & 3 (herself unofficially and                 

uncredited). He spent more time at home working with her at his side than he did at the office,                  

hoping to bring RWBY back on track to the way he wanted to tell the story. Too soon, Monty                  

passed away. Sheena was not allowed to continue working on RWBY. After Rooster Teeth             

closed the door in her face, she moved to LA to be around people who loved and supported her.                  

It was a long 4 months of politics and fighting to protect Monty’s legacy, as we cared about him                  

andhisvisionmorethanwecaredaboutthecompanysellingitsIPandmakingbank.

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My wife left with our kids. She wanted a divorce. It was difficult for her to deal with me, my                   

issues, and the insane amount of work I took on. She was hurting and lonely. I was still                 

supporting my family though as the main income provider, and because I cared so much about               

honoring Monty I had 2 reasons for spending 7 months alone in Austin, TX: 1) To provide for                 

my family. 2) To do what I could to ensure every bit of Monty’s finished and unfinished work still                  

madeitintotheshowintact.

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I was not allowed to work the way I did with Monty, but was instead pushed to meet the new                   

standards— effectively doubling or tripling the amount of work I had to do. This meant more               

time spent trying to make everything fit the new, “proper”, way, and leaving less time for making                

cool stuff. At times I had to animate scenes without the assets, then do it all over again when                  

they were given to me later, often last minute or close to the due date. It was very discouraging,                  

among many other things, but I still looked forward to doing Monty proud and finishing his               

scenes. Scenes which, several times, got completely cut or changed so that they no longer had               

anyrelevance,orjustwaylessofanimpact.

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum

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byShaneNewville

As much as I wanted to leave throughout 2015, I was still committed to trying my best and not                  

quitting until my job was complete. I imagine Rooster Teeth knew this about me and chose to                

let me go (for whatever reason they decided) in the middle of working on the last fight. It made                  

no sense to anyone who knew me and what I was dealing with. Especially so close to the end.                  

I was lied to and totally caught off guard. Without explanation or warning I was brought to the                 

office where I was given a speech about my performance not being that great. They escorted               

me back to collect my things but they had already removed the computers and my personal               

harddrivesandwouldnotreturnthemuntiltheyfinishedarchivingthemall.Andthatwasthat.

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum

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byShaneNewville

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Introduction

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While I have many thoughts and opinions about other people and their actions, I can’t speak for                

them. But what I can do is tell you my story so you might understand who and what Monty was                   

(andstillis)tome.Ifeelit’stheonlywayIcantrulyexplainthosethingsIwantyoutoknow.

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I spent a large portion of my life wishing I could make awesome animations. I wanted to go to                  

school but no opportunities came my way, not that I even believed in myself enough to attempt                

to enroll. I doubted my ability to keep up with the average person and learn, even if I were to                   

findawayin.

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In late 90's I installed a trueSpace demo, pushed buttons, got lost, and uninstalled. I tried               

Blender, didn’t get far before letting the UI overwhelm me, and uninstalled. I got the furthest               

with DOGAL1/L2, but had to delete any finished animation to make space on the computer for               

thenext.EventuallyIputanimationonholdtopursuemusic.

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2007

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BabySteps

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This was the year that it hit me. No one was going to make it happen for me so I needed to                     

make it happen for myself. I needed to be the one to pursue my own passions and stop making                  

excuses for why I couldn’t. The only thing I was ensuring by not doing anything was my own                 

failure, which was the biggest thing I feared, and it kept me from even trying. I was stuck in a                   

neverending loop of nothing happening. It was time to start taking steps whether I felt I could                

or not. Even if I was taking baby steps I knew that that was still progression toward my goals.                  

Andsoitbegan.

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I grew up being a fan of ninjas and martial arts, so naturally I wanted to make awesome fights. I                   

loved watching cut scenes in games like Panzer Dragoon, the Final Fantasy series, etc., and              

anything 3D. I began researching 3D martial arts animations and right away came across             

Monty Oum’s “Haloid". It was the first time I saw the work of someone doing exactly what I                 

wanted to do and it blew my mind. I wrote a letter to him thinking slim chance I would get a                    

reply,butIhadtotryanyway.Ihadquestions.Lotsandlotsofquestions.

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum

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byShaneNewville

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LettersfromMonty

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To my surprise, about a week later I got a response. Maybe his inboxes were not yet flooded                 

with fan letters. Monty had just begun gaining popularity from his work so maybe the timing just                

happened to work in my favor. I don’t know. Either way, I was overwhelmed with excitement               

and couldn’t wait to read his response. I soaked in every single word he wrote to me, typos and                  

all. I tasked myself with doing the research and working to figure out what he was talking about                 

before I would even think about sending another message of questions. I valued his time and               

did not want to waste a moment of it. If I was going to bother him to pick his brain, I better have                      

some results to show from our last talk. Lots of people show interest and ask questions but                

thenvanish.

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The years went on. Sometimes months would pass between letters. But I was learning, I was               

moving forward. Any time I got stuck I had to remind myself that other people most likely ran                 

into these problems too, and that the answers were out there. Research. Practice. Practice.             

Research.



2008



I made my first 3D test fight animation. I did it one night while housesitting with my wife Katie.                  

It was total crap but a lot of fun to make. Most importantly, it was another step towards doing                  

whatIwantedtodo. 



TestFightAnimation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyY3ROG7eI

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2009



I finally met up with Monty in person at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Meeting him facetoface                

was the sole reason I went. I prepared so many questions in advance, and I even offered to                 

buy him lunch to make it more worth his time. This is one of the few photos I have of he and I                      

together:

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http://shanenewville.deviantart.com/art/MontyOumandShaneNewville128509564

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum

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byShaneNewville

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It was such a great time. I showed him my work on Little Ninja Project and, thankfully, he saw                  

potentialinmyworkandgavemetonsofhelpfulfeedbackandtipsforthingstoworkon.

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LittleNinjaProject:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJX2pjbxAsc

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DeathofLittleNinjaProject:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe3nchjxpzc

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I regret not taking more photos with him. I was always afraid of coming off as a fanboy. I was                   

insecure. I loved him as my brother and close friend, and I was worried pictures would take                

away from that. But it is now a regret of mine. I no longer have the opportunity to take photos.                   

I saw Monty write before, “Life is short, take more photos”. Whether he was quoting someone               

elseornot,itisgoodadvice,andIwishIhadtakenittoheart.

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2010



I started working on another Test Fight animation, deciding to continue the “story”. I was hoping               

to slowly develop it into something more as I learned how to animate. I met up with Monty again                  

atAnimeExpo2010inLA,andagainthatmonthwhenheattendedSanDiegoComicCon.



He gave me lots of helpful feedback and showed me some incredible, still unreleased work for               

future Dead Fantasy episodes. It was like being on cloud nine any time I got to have a                 

discussion with him. Not just from being a fan of his work, but here was a guy doing something                  

amazing… why the heck was he talking to me? Regardless, I soaked it in and learned all I                 

couldfrommytimewithhim. 



AlmostTooMuch



After he had gone back to Austin, my wife Katie snuck his number off my phone, called him and                  

set up the best birthday gift ever. She sent me off in November to spend a weekend with him at                   

an empty Rooster Teeth building. Everyone was out of the office all weekend except for him.               

Whatdidwedo?Nothingbutwork.



It was glorious. I learned so much— so so much. I saw, finally, first hand, how he created his                  

amazing choreographed scenes in Poser. The Test Fight Animation 2 project I had spent             

months working on… he took the whole thing and recreated it with me, in Poser, in less than 2                  

Page5

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

days. Everything I thought I knew about how one was supposed to approach animation got              

shredded to bits, scattered across the ground, and used as fertilizer for the new seeds planted               

in my mind to grow and flourish. It was almost too much. But at the same time, no, it was not                    

too much. In fact, it was way less because this way allowed much more time for actually                

creating things. His way of work was so pure, raw, unorthodox, and efficient. It was flawed— not                

stuck in the cookie cutter shapes of standardization, and that is what made it perfect. He was                

actuallyabletoaccomplishthings.Allthethingsthatwe’vecometoknowhimfor. 



TestFightAnimation2–Original:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shfQ6G6Yp4I



Test–FightAnimation2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwlCZzTZYI



Challenges



I had a lot working against me. Diagnosed with major depression at a very young age (4 or 5),                  

my self esteem had been shot to pieces by many things that happened or were told to me from                  

early childhood all the way into adulthood. I felt I had no right to call myself an artist, or a real                    

animatorforthatmatter,evenwhileworkingdirectlywithMonty.



I have had people tell me right to my face that I was not going to stand a chance because I just                     

don’t have what it takes. I was working fulltime at a job that did not pay me enough for rent.                   

My wife and I had to live in special situations where extra labor (yard work, house cleaning,                

taking care of animals on a ranch, etc.) was required as trade for a place to stay. I thought                  

negatively about waiting this long to start pursuing my passion. I was married. I had 2 kids.                

Where is there room for not only teaching myself animation, but getting good enough to make               

anything worth watching? No matter what, I kept going. Monty’s undying drive and motivation             

tocreatethings,nomatterwhat,keptmegoing.



I had hope. I took the many difficulties as simply a challenge to overcome. Because if I could                 

accomplish something even remotely cool with all of those obstacles, how much more would it              

encourage others to keep going and overcome their own challenges? Even if one had greater              

challenges, could I give them the motivation to face them anyway and overcome? It’s so              

importanttokeephopealiveinthefaceofwhatseemsimpossible.



 

Page6

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

2011



I felt trapped out in the desert. It was the second year my wife and I had spent living in a house                     

where it was over 100 degrees most of the year. This was southeast of San Diego, where the                 

people don’t believe in air conditioning either. I would spend all day working at the studio,               

feeling uninspired and uncertain if what I was doing was worth it. We were making too little                

income to even rent our own place and working too many hours to have room for a second job.                  

If any emergencies had come up we would have been screwed. We didn't even have enough               

moneytomove.Wewerejusttrapped.Itwasaverydifficultandtryingtime.



Finally things started to work out after what seemed like forever. Katie, myself, and our 2 kids                

hopped in the car and we made our way across the country, back to Michigan. I made it a                  

priority to work on my Megaman X Fanimation project, feeling as if that was all I had to show for                   

myself in hopes of getting a job anywhere. I applied at McDonald’s, Blockbuster, local             

restaurants, a pizza joint. Nobody had room for me. I took on freelance jobs, the kind where                

they pay you peanuts and require you to work around the clock to get unrealistic tasks done. It                 

was incredibly stressful and I had little to nothing to show for it. I was almost certain I’d be                  

gettingkickedoutandlivingonthestreetsasafailurenottoofarfromthen.



2012



After 3 months of unemployment hell I decided to check Rooster Teeth’s job openings on              

LinkedIn for the heck of it. The only opening was for Technical Director (which I definitely didn't                

qualify to do). Katie was very enthusiastic about me applying, and even though I doubted              

myself, I applied anyway. I explained how I was not qualified for the TD position, but               

mentioned my animation skills. Kathleen was in charge of some things at the time and called               

me up to tell me they were interested in bringing me on board. I think a week went by. Katie,                   

surprised with the lack of info in my initial email, encouraged me to send a better resume as well                  

as a portfolio of my work. I was later told that Kathleen showed Monty my email, he immediately                 

knew who I was, and said “yes”. So I got the job. I am very grateful to her for helping make it                     

possible for me to work alongside Monty. The next day Matt called to welcome me onto the                

team.



I headed down to Texas right away without a plan or much money. It was tough being away                 

from my family for a few weeks and not having a place to live until I finally got sorted. I’m sure I                     

Page7

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

could have asked Monty or someone if I could have used their couch until I could afford a place,                  

butIdidnotwanttobeaninconveniencetoanyone.



RedVsBlueSeason10



When I arrived there were only a couple people on the team working on Red vs Blue Season                 

10. It was finally time for me to put into practice all I had learned from Monty. I adopted his                   

workflow as my workflow. He first tasked me with making some general oneonone fight             

animations. The cool thing about using Poser is we could easily reuse or repurpose whatever              

we made for any character we might work on in the future. Because of this feature Monty                

convinced Rooster Teeth to let me finish my own project, Megaman X Fanimation, on company              

time. Usually this meant working all morning and day on RvB, then all night on MMXF. It was                 

tough on Katie— I was not home very much. I felt I needed to do this though, to establish                  

myself, especially since I had no prior schooling or experience in the industry like everyone else               

there did. I was just some kid who worked at a pizza place and had nothing to show but a few                    

personaltestanimationsandunfinishedprojects.



After making some awesome and fun stuff with Monty on RvB, Season 10 came to an end. I                 

was then brought on as fulltime employee. Even though the season was over work never              

stopped. I went into hardcore mode, finishing Megaman X Fanimation and doing some            

researchanddevelopmentwithMontyforwhatevercamenext.



MegamanXFanimation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F991RSOU00Y



RWBY



It was Monty’s turn to come up with his own show, so there was a period of time in which much                    

brainstorming took place. He formulated the ideas of who Ruby would be, and what the              

universe and all of its rules would be. I remember being there while he tried explaining his ideas                 

to his other colleagues, and some of their responses were very underwhelming (it’s difficult to              

get others to see your vision without showing them). Regardless, he got to work on something.               

He spent the next week designing what we now know as the Crescent Rose. Of course,               

everyonewhosawthetransformationanimationonhiscomputergotexcited.



Then he spent about a week, by himself, making the Red Trailer. Jeff and Casey Williams were                

also a huge part of it, coming up with the sound for the show. Finally, at the Monday                 

companywide meeting Monty came out, set the laptop on the table, and showed the trailer.              

Jawsdropped.Youcouldseeeveryoneunderstoodnowthatthiswassomethingbig.



RedTrailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYW2GmHB5xs

Page8

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



Right away he got started on the White Trailer, which was also done solo. Around the time of its                  

completionIfinishedmakingMMXF. 



WhiteTrailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9vl8iAN5Q



2013



Now that I was freed up, Monty and I were fully able to join forces to make the Black and Yellow                    

trailers. It was quite possibly the most fun, hard work I have done with him. Since Monty was in                  

charge, we could do whatever we wanted. We were constantly brainstorming things that were             

too crazy, but then we went and did them anyway. Really, we had too many ideas to fit into the                   

trailers, so lots were put on hold for use at a different time. All the while, the show’s direction                  

wassolidifying.



We were still finishing up the Black Trailer in the hotel at PAX East before our panel, where we                  

wouldshowtheworldwhatwascooking.



BlackTrailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKCt7BD4U4



The same thing happened with the Yellow Trailer, which we premiered at our panel at Akon in                

Dallas,TX.



YellowTrailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCw_aAS7vWI



RWBYVolume1



When official production started a lot more people became involved. This was good because             

we needed a team. It was also bad because it meant that suddenly other people were calling                

the shots on his show in ways different from how Monty intended. I was there to witness his                 

frustrations. The look of the show changed. The process of creating assets and the art style               

changed. The quality in animation varied drastically from scene to scene. People were hired             

who we said no to. People we wanted on the team were passed over. He never let it slow him                   

down though, he was not the type to confront people unless absolutely necessary. He just did               

his best and made all of his contributions to the show stand out, and I did my best to do the                    

Page9

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

same. After all, we were still able to use our unorthodox methods to bring our imagination to                

lifewithverylittlelimitation.



2014



Early in the year Katie told me she wanted a divorce. It was devastating and I become ill for a                   

time. I still went to work, but it was allconsuming. I would escape to the bathroom to try and                  

dealwiththepainjustenoughtogetbacktomydesk.



I still managed to do my work on RWBY Volume 2. It was one of the few things I could do that                     

gave me a sense of accomplishment, and was something I could feel good about. Still, I'd be                

lying if I said my productivity didn't take a major hit because of it. I did all I could to work on my                      

marriage even after being told nothing I did mattered. I began going to counseling, and then               

marriage counseling. I really thought things were looking hopeful. Still, I could only focus on              

onedayatatime.Ididmybest.



ThoseMontyMoments



Pretty much every single day I worked with him we would get coffee and talk. They were always                 

productive conversations. We were always figuring out new and more efficient ways to make             

cool things happen. There was so much value in our (his) workflow— the workflow that caused               

people on the same team to begin to dislike him and how much power he had. But his power                  

was never about control. He used it to make beautiful things, and no one could replicate what                

he did. Because of this, no matter what kind of changes and attempts to standardize our               

workflow were made, he continued to do what he did best. And because of that we got those                 

insanely awesome scenes people watched the show to see. Those Monty moments. The parts             

that were memorable and meaningful way beyond just making things that look pretty, just to              

lookpretty.



It was not as easy for me though, as I was in a unique position: I tried to stick to Monty's                    

workflow but Rooster Teeth would not allow me to. I was the only person who worked this                

closely with Monty, the only other person to keep my secondary hard drive synced with his, and                

the only other person who seemed to see the value of working the way we worked.               

Unfortunately, I wasn’t untouchable and I did not have the same sway that he had. I felt them                 

prying me away from him, little by little, throughout my time there. I had to fall into the                 

company’s standardized ways of working, just like the rest of the team. I had to work harder                

than most just to get my simple tasks accomplished because I still worked closely with Monty               

and stuck to the way we did things. I then had to go back and spend a good amount of time                    

Page10

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

making it fit the new system. But I didn’t complain because it was doable and I still had the                  

freedom to make the things happen that Monty and I discussed. Either way, we always ended               

up hitting a place where there was just no time left to make my work fit their new standards. It                   

came to a point where I simply had to get stuff done. So those moments allowed me little                 

windows of time to go full Monty. Some examples are the Zwei fireball (RWBY Volume 2),               

making Penny slice a gunship in half with lasers (specifically to tease Miles), and having a               

velociraptorfalloutofit(RWBYVolume1).Wedidalotofthingsthatwerenotscripted.



 

Velociraptor



The Velociraptor easter eggs were really sort of our thing, between Monty and I. Monty started it                

just to be silly. After each girl from team RWBY was revealed in their individual trailers, he                

posted a ridiculous series of pictures on Twitter of all of them doing something with the               

velociraptor (a default asset that comes with Poser). It was just senseless fun. These were              

much needed wtf moments. It was a reminder that Monty was still Monty and could still have fun                 

doing great things. It was never once about money or fame— it was about making people               

happy. It was about giving a gift to the world, something new and fun to enjoy. It was amazing                  

and perfect. We always talked about putting the velociraptor in the show and that became my               

personal task to ensure that it happened. Unfortunately, the way things went in Volume 3 made               

that much more difficult and I did not put it in the show. Later I heard someone else did. While I                    

appreciatetheefforts,ifdonebysomeonewhohadnoclueofitsorigin,it’snotquitethesame.



It took a lot of work and was a lot of fun, but we finally made it through Volume 2. No matter                     

how difficult things were, it was no problem as long as Monty was there. No matter what                

anyone else thought, we were a team. It was starting to become clear though that some people                

did not see it that way within the company’s walls. They tried to pull me away from Monty and                  

referred to me as “an asset”. I had to fight to continue working alongside Monty, the only reason                 

I was there in the first place. A whole month’s worth of time was wasted trying to get an official                   

word, just so they would stop trying to pull me over to RvB. Monty was aware of this too and he                    

would have public conversations with me on Twitter to show that we were actually working on               

things.



2015



January



Page11

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

A new year. I was sure it was going to be such a great year. We were finally through two                   

volumes of RWBY and had advanced our workflow significantly for Volume 3. Although I was              

not allowed to fully work the way Monty worked anymore, I still considered his workflow our               

workflow no matter how much people might have tried to separate us. Since Volume 2 ended               

Monty and I had been working on developing some extremely helpful animation tools and             

effects.



NewTools



After much discussion over coffee he came up with an awesome tool for Poser he called the                

“Pivot Tool”, where we could easily animate the change of weapon parenting from its holster,              

from one hand to the other, or both, etc. It would let us change between world and local                 

rotation, and it had a builtin blur tool for weapon spinning. It was something we had been                

hoping to make for years and it was finally ready to go. However, for Volume 3 they decided we                  

weren’t allowed to use this awesome tool because it “breaks” the new pipeline they             

implemented. 



Monty also developed a facial rig to make all the new animators happy. Everyone else on the                

team came from the professional industry where they are used to using Maya and standard face               

rigs with little objects off to the side representing the eyes, brows, mouth, etc. Monty’s tool               

simulated those facial rigs that Maya animators were used to using because they kept             

complaining about how much easier it was to do in Maya. Unfortunately, no one got to use it                 

because it was later decided not to be important enough, or something. So this tool went to                

waste.



Monty’sWorkflow



A lot of the things that Monty made ultimately did not work out because once he was gone they                  

scrapped his workflow in a hurry. I believe they wanted this for some time (even during Volume                

1). Now they were calling the shots and decided that their way of doing things was far superior                 

and hella more efficient. I 100% fought against many of these changes and tried to voice my                

opinions and reasoning as much as I could without sounding like a complainer. The workflow              

he spoke of so often, when he would describe how it allowed us to do things so quickly and                  

efficiently… that was not him speaking on behalf of Rooster Teeth Animation. That was him              

talking about how he and I got things done. Speaking of which, let me remind you that the                 

Rooster Teeth Animation department only exists because of Monty and how much of a huge              

and positive impact he had on the company as a whole. His workflow defined 100% how he did                 

things.Anditwasdefinitely100%howIwantedtodothings.Forexample:



Page12

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

http://www.creativebloq.com/animation/rbwyanimeactiondynamic3dtwist9134477



ASmallTeam



In fact, throughout Volume 2 and up to his death, Monty was trying to figure out a way to take                   

RWBY offsite to his own studio (likely somewhere in LA), with his own team (myself, Sheena,               

Kristina Haku Nguyen, Max Song, Ein Lee, maybe a few more animators, etc.) so we could craft                

it the way he intended it to be from the start. Also, keep in mind the insane amount of work he                    

was capable of doing with no help from a single other person. He was convinced we could do                 

this and I absolutely agreed with him. We wanted a small office with a mocap stage at the                 

center for easy access. We didn’t need much— just enough do what we did best and we would                 

deliver. With Monty in charge of things and Sheena at his side, I believe we would have                

surpassedwhatmostpeoplethinkimpossiblewithsuchasmallteam. 



Of course that was not exactly a realistic situation… at least not yet. But he wanted to do things                  

his way. He did not like what was happening and where production was taking things as it                

continuedtogrowbiggerandlessefficient.



AGoodPlace



There was a very fruitful yet short season of R&D with Monty. I had come up with new ways to                   

create FX in Poser to make them more comparable to what we saw and loved in anime and                 

games (like the Naruto Ninja Storm series). Things were looking good, even my marriage             

seemed to be getting better. Finally, everything looked like it was in such a good place that I                 

was convinced that Volume 3 would be the greatest and most fun to work on yet. Monty had                 

even set up folders in his main project directory, all of them titled for the many fights that were                  

supposed to take place. We were so excited to make use of the new tools and methods we had                  

justspentsomuchtimedeveloping.Thensuddenly…



January22



Around 5:00pm I received news that Sheena had been trying to reach me for hours through               

every social media and chat platform possible. Monty was in trouble. I dropped everything and              

rushedtothehospitalasfastasIcould.



Page13

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

 

Page14

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

AttheHospital



When I got there she was in the waiting room crying. We didn’t know what to expect. He had                  

only gone in for a maintenance allergy shot— this sort of thing doesn’t happen. I spent as much                 

time at the hospital as I could because I wanted to be there if anything came up. I did my best to                     

stay strong and positive while facing an uncertain future. Over the course of the next week and                

a half there were many ups and downs. Someone would give us good news and then someone                

would give us bad news. This had happened about three times when finally the neurologist              

came in and told us the extent of the damage… and that there was no coming back from it. At                   

thatmomentallIcanrememberistheheartwrenchingcryofthepersonwholovedhimmost. 



Monty was everything to Sheena. She gave up everything to be with him. She did everything               

for him. She was the best partner that man could possibly have had and at this point only a                  

miraclewouldbringhimback.Andthatisexactlywhatwewereprayingfor. 



SoftLights



Dan Ham (Danjitsu) and Sonja Carter (SoulFirePhotography) came out as soon as they could             

and stayed right beside Sheena the entire time. Personally, I felt safer knowing they were              

around, and they were pretty much Monty and Sheena’s guardian angels. The “Montourage”            

crew (Jason Rose, Chloe (Sushimonstuh), Aku, Max Song, Kristina Haku, Johnny Junkers, Max            

Song, Amie Lynn (sorry in advance if I missed someone) came out as soon as they could. They                 

were such a gentle, bright light while we were in this dark place. They stayed strong. They                

brought good memories and sweet laughter in the face of ugliness. Monty’s siblings came out.              

It was surreal to finally meet them and see the resemblance. People from the office came and                

tookturnssayingtheirlastwordstoMonty.



During this time I kept seeing people from work show up and consult amongst themselves about               

what to do. They even stepped in and tried to call the shots, “managing” who could come see                 

Monty and when. They claimed they were there for Sheena. I heard so many people say to her,                 

“Ifyouneedanything,anythingatall,justask.”



 

Page15

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

February1



MontyOumpassedaway.



March



I had a few weeks off from work to mourn and deal with the loss. It was quiet at the office as                     

people wondered what would happen next, but I kept working on the scenes I discussed doing               

with Monty. I thought long and hard about what might be the best way to move forward. It’s                 

true that RWBY was Rooster Teeth’s IP and that ultimately they were the ones who were going                

todecidewhattodowithit,butIwasnotgoingtoletthatstopmefromtryingtokeepitMonty’s.



It was at some point in March that we finally had our first prepreproduction meeting to start                

talking about how to move forward with the show. Right away, one of the producers made a                

strongstatementthatIdidnotlike.



“Just so you know, Sheena has absolutely no business, whatsoever, with          

anypartofRWBY.”



It was clearly aimed at me, the only one in the room who actually spent time with Sheena and                  

Monty discussing RWBY. At that moment I had to make a choice. Do I just go along with it,                  

doing whatever they wanted to do with the show without question, betraying Monty and Sheena,              

andregrettingittherestofmylife?Noway.



SheenaDuquetteOum



I felt I was being forced into isolation and pushed into secrecy about Sheena. I dealt with it                 

because I knew that she was a major… no, the most important part— the key person we                

needed in order to truly move forward with RWBY, while keeping the show intact. Bringing her               

into Rooster Teeth so she could be an official part of the production was the best shot we had to                   

do things right. One of the biggest reasons I felt this way is because Monty included her. He                 

had her stay at his side as he worked because he wanted her there. She assisted him however                 

she could. She cared so much and she wanted this as well, and not because she felt entitled or                  

thatshehadsomethingtogainfromit.Hellno!Shewasthereforlove.



As hard as it was for her being alone, she was more ready than anyone to pick herself up and                   

do everything she could in Monty’s stead. Not to mention she is also a professional more               

qualified than most of the people who got hired on as contract workers for the show. She cared                 

Page16

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

about keeping Monty’s show as Monty’s show. For him! Not her. She had already done so               

many things completely uncredited in Volume 2, for Volume 3, and for future volumes as well.               

She knew the RWBY universe better than any of the people who still “officially” worked on the                

show. 



Why?BecauseshewasrighttherenexttoMonty.Why?



Becausethat’srightwhereMontywantedher. 



And when Rooster Teeth made her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome at the office, Monty             

beganworkingfromhomesoshecouldstaynexttohim—whereshedeservedtobe.



If Monty believed in her enough to have her at his side and trusted her enough to include her,                  

thenIsureashellbelieveinher100%andwithoutadoubt.



There were, without question, many gaps in the story and a lack of understanding of the RWBY                

universe amongst those in production. There were many characters only she and Monty (and             

certain close friends) knew the exact purpose of. Without her being an official part of the show,                

what was left but to make things up as we went and to fill the gaps with new ideas? Ideas that                    

did not fit the vision and plans of the one who made the show to begin with. Even if she did not                     

have Monty’s skills, as no one does, she’s the closest thing to Monty’s mind that exists in the                 

world we live in. As terrified as I was of the thought, I was even ready to take on the role of                     

director of the show. I would only do it with her there, because I wanted to ensure Monty’s                 

legacywaskeptintact.



Everything was there. All the details. All the plans. All the events, story, characters, meanings,              

etc. So much had already been thought out and meticulously planned by Monty with Sheena at               

his side. But Rooster Teeth was so bent on keeping her out of the picture that it didn’t matter                  

how much the show might suffer, or how much things would stray from Monty’s vision as a                

result. The intentions, the characters, the weapons… so many parts of it had depth and              

meaning, but now the people running things and calling the shots had only a partial or no idea                 

whattheoriginalplanswere.



Several times I suggested contacting Sheena to find out what certain things meant in the RWBY               

universe, or why certain events were supposed to take place… but just even mentioning her              

namearoundthemfeltlikesayinganunforgivablecurseword.



Throughout the next 4 months of politics, one by one, the people Sheena and I thought we                

could trust turned out to be a part of the decisions being made. She finally left Texas— moving                 

acrossthecountryafterbeingtold,



Page17

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



“Trying to find a place for you to work on RWBY is like trying to fit a square                 

pegintoaroundhole”. 



It was clear that honoring Monty, protecting his legacy, and his vision were not important. Well,               

it was important to appear that way to the public, but internally RWBY was just another               

company IP. I reminded them on several occasions that one of the biggest reasons RWBY was               

popular was because it was Monty’s show, but it was clear they believed otherwise. They felt it                

was their great team that was responsible for RWBY’s popularity, and for making the show              

betterthanithaseverbeen.



TheypridethemselvesinwhattheyhaveaccomplishedwithoutMontyinthepicture.



Of course without him things were bound to go off in another direction eventually. But Monty left                

RWBY in such a way that if only someone had dropped their pride and stopped treating Sheena                

like a nobody, or as a threat to their power… we would have been able to keep things intact for                   

quiteawhile.



Ravenvs.JNPR



One of the first scenes to get cut as writing began for Volume 3 was a scene Monty planned to                   

do of Raven attacking team JNPR while they were sitting at a cafe. It was meant to                

foreshadow things to come. However, I believe that Rooster Teeth did not know the purpose of               

the scene and did not care to ask if Sheena knew, so they cut it altogether. I questioned their                  

decision and they made light of it. It made me worry about what other things they might                

change.



Previously, in Volume 2, they treated Monty poorly with regards to him adding the scene with               

Raven after the credits. They tried very hard to cut it but obviously were not successful. I was                 

even told how stupid they thought his decision was. Because of that, it was no surprise to me                 

that they would not hesitate to make drastic changes— since he was no longer around to tell                

thestoryhewanted.



WinterSchnee



Monty liked to create characters based on people that he knew. Winter Schnee was created in               

Sheena’s likeness, and it was his intention that she would also be doing her voice. Sheena is a                 

great concept artist and had already crafted her design. This had been approved by Monty for               

Page18

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

Volume 3 back in December of 2013. Not only did Rooster Teeth take away any possibility of                

Sheena playing the part, the design was scrapped and recreated as what we eventually saw in               

Volume3.



After it felt like everything had been taken away or changed so that the show could be “the best                  

it can possibly be”, the last thing I felt I had to fight for was her part as Winter. However, at one                     

of the meetings I had with the CEO they said they would give her a “fair chance” by making her                   

audition next to a whole lineup of professional and well known voice actors. “May the best               

oneforthepartwin.”



That was it. They did it, they took it all away. In my mind the show was turned into something                   

completely different, with little to no respect for Monty unless it made them look good to the                

public, as though they were honoring him with his own show. It was clear to me this was going                  

to be a battle we could not win. Even so, it didn’t stop me. I knew I’d regret it for the rest of my                       

lifeifIdidn’tdomybesttokeepwhatlittleIcouldofhisdreamalive. 



May



I took Sheena to go see Mad Max: Fury Road. It was good, but she was not able to enjoy the                    

movie because of a tweet Rooster Teeth had just sent, thanking the voice actors for making               

RWBY what it is. There was no thanks to Monty. It was given to only those who were still alive                   

and in the spotlight, ready to receive it. Even that soon after his death. It seemed more like a                  

strategic effort to draw people’s attention to those who were still there, to reassure the public               

thatthey’vegotthis,noproblem.Focusonthem.Focusontheirshow.



MarriageTroubles



My already broken marriage was taking more hits from this too. It’s understandable that Katie              

didn’t want me alone with another woman, except… I wanted my wife to stand with me in this                 

too. But she had her hands full with our kids and her own issues, and wanted nothing to do with                   

it. I have nothing but respect for Sheena, and full intention of being a man of integrity—                

honoring Monty with my interactions with his widow. But it wasn’t enough for her and I was                

accusedoftryingtohaveanaffair.



Regardless, Katie was still following through with the plans she had made a year before: to               

leave with the kids and go back to Michigan. I felt like there were no right choices in our                  

relationship. I was reminded daily that nothing I did mattered, but I still tried. All I knew was that                  

I had to do my best, to do what I could in this mess, and I wanted to do what was right. That                      

Page19

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

meant that I was going to be there to support the wife of my closest friend, mentor, colleague,                 

andbrother:MontyOum. 



It seemed like 99% of the people in Austin who said, “if you need anything…” soon turned their                 

backs on her. The people who did support her were the people who valued their friendship with                

Monty, and who had great respect for him. Because Sheena is just as important. You don’t               

abandon family. JJ (Jose Jones, voice of Mercury) and his girlfriend Jenny Gacy were among              

the few people in Austin I knew of that were still helping her out. These difficult times revealed                 

thepeoplewhoactuallycaredliketheysaidtheydid. 



Monty gave so much to me, and now I was never going to be able to repay him. The least I                    

could do was help his wife, who was now alone, without a US driver’s license, with unfinished                

immigration paperwork, endless court documentation, etc… it was this overwhelming mess piled           

on top of her loss. I didn’t know what I could do to help, but I made myself available as much as                     

IcouldandItriedtofollowherleadonthingsasitcametimetodealwitheachsuccessivepart.



RWBYVolume3Preparations



I put together a well thought out list of issues, concerns, solutions, and suggestions for moving               

forward. I came up with a list of people who I thought would be the RWBY dream team. People                  

I knew and believed in— that if anyone could pull it off, we could with this team. Because they                  

were also people that Monty believed in. They were people that he wanted on his team. I                

spoke my concerns to the powers that be several times in hopes of bringing awareness. After               

all, I was told that no matter what we were going to do everything we could do to make RWBY                   

the best it could possibly be, moving forward. I was told things that made me believe that my                 

inputactuallymattered.Sadly,itturnedouttobequitetheopposite.



The things I had to say might as well have been written out on a giant chalkboard and erased                  

before anyone saw it. My concerns were ignored, and in most cases the opposite of my               

suggestions is what they decided to go with. These suggestions were not just my own, however,               

they were things I knew Monty was trying to make happen— things that came from our               

countlessbrainfartsessionsanddiscussions.



Monty’sOffice



One weekend I was feeling motivated to come into the office like I normally would, while Monty                

was there, just to make something cool that we could use in the show. The best time to go in,                   

for us, was when things were quiet and we could get as much work done as possible. I decided                  

Page20

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

to sit in Monty’s office with the laptop to work. It was hard, but it was also a reminder of all the                     

goodtimes.

 

I made sure to keep all of his monitors rolling footage of fighting games, fight clips, anime /                 

sakuga, kpop videos, everything you’d see going while he was working. As I sat there getting               

pumped,oneoftheproducersshowedupandcorneredme. 



First I was questioned for being in his office. Then I was told that he was going to move the new                    

game dev guy into that office. Then I was told we were likely going to be leaving Poser in the                   

dust to use Maya for RWBY in Volume 3. I was reminded that “Monty’s behaviors are               

unacceptable”. Finally, I was told that the animation department was going to be moving off              

site, away from the mocap stage, and that I was going to be sitting at a normal desk like                  

everybodyelse.



All of this basically meant I was being made obsolete, and that everything Monty and I had                

worked so hard to do— shaping and advancing that unique workflow… there was no longer              

room for it. As a result this meant I would no longer have a way to do what I was good at. I did                       

my best to keep these things from crushing me to the point I could not respond. I made it clear I                    

wantedtomoveintoMonty’sofficeandgiveupmyspot.



DillonGu



It was weird for a while being on Twitter, as I knew everything I posted was being watched.                 

Sometimes I would get approached by people in the office and questioned about what I meant,               

justbecauseitsoundedlikeIwashintingatsomething.



Around that time someone on Twitter pointed out to me that Dillon Gu was working on a tribute                 

animation for Monty. I checked it out and tweeted at him, complimenting his work. I mentioned               

his name at an early RWBY meeting as we tried to figure out how to move forward with the                  

show. They said something to the effect of, “Oh we were wondering if you heard of him and                 

were going to say…” These, of course, being the same people who approached me about my               

tweets. I asked them if they would consider bringing him on board and they sounded positive               

aboutit.



On May 11 I decided to contact Dillon via private message, as just one animator to another. I                 

wanted to know his thoughts on working on RWBY if the opportunity were to come. He wanted                

to honor Monty, and that was already made clear in the work he was doing. At the office they                  

suggested I invite him down for a tour. I felt he deserved to know the truth about how things                  

were progressing and get a chance to meet with Sheena first. This was especially important              

Page21

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

because he was not just some fanboy who wanted to work at Rooster Teeth. He wanted to                

honor Monty. He cared. He showed promise. He had a similar fire and passion in him. In such                 

acase,ImyselfwouldhavewantedtoknowwhatIwasgettinginto. 



On May 18, Dillon messaged me on Twitter that the Producer invited him to Rooster Teeth for a                 

tour. No one told me. That felt a little odd after being the one to bring his name up to them, and                     

after being told directly from the top that we would work to put the “RWBY Dream Team”                

together. 



On May 22 I took the liberty of meeting up with him to show him around Poser so he could get a                     

heads up on how Monty and I worked. Then on May 24 I found out that he was officially hired,                   

but again this was only because I asked him. No one from the company told me. He told me he                   

assumedIknewsohedidn’tsayanything,butIhadnoclue.



Even though it was weird how they maneuvered around me in bringing him on board, he was a                 

major part of my being able to cope with and survive the madness ahead. He was one of the                  

very few people, if not the only person, who knew the whole story. Yet he stayed there as a                  

positive light in a dark place. Not only is his work top notch, his attitude and values are great.                  

DillonisdefinitelysomeoneIamgratefultohavebeenaroundandknow.



July



It was time for production to officially begin on RWBY Volume 3. Between my wife leaving               

Texas with the kids, facing divorce, Sheena being officially booted out of RWBY followed by her               

moving to LA to surround herself with supportive people, and fighting a losing battle of endless               

politics that sapped the joy out of working on Monty’s show, I felt there was very little left for me                   

in Austin, TX. That 4 months of fighting to protect Monty’s legacy felt like a violent beat down.                 

No, it was more like trying to shake hands with a blender. I was utterly exhausted mentally and                 

emotionally. Those things that Monty had planned, as far as everything having to do with              

Sheena, had been lost. Officially lost. She was no more as far as Rooster Teeth was               

concerned,andnowitwastimeto“moveforward”.



Many people quote Monty here, “Keep moving forward”, but they don’t seem to have the same               

idea about what that means. And quoting Monty to reinforce ill plans for the show he created,                

justtoappearassomeshiningbrightstarhonoringhim…ishonestlyjustsomesickbullshit.



Either way it was still the main income for my family and my wife told me I’d be a complete idiot                    

to quit now and move to Michigan. I felt stuck and had to decide really quickly what I was going                   

todo.Itallbasicallycamedowntotwothings,tworeasonsthatkeptmearound:

Page22

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



1) I needed income to make it possible for me to visit my family in Michigan as much as                 

possible.

2) I made it my personal goal to make sure that every piece of Monty’s work (finished and                

unfinished)hedidforRWBYVolume3madeitintotheshowintact.



DanielFowler



In the middle of those 4 months they brought on a very cool guy named Daniel Fowler who took                  

the HR position. For once, Rooster Teeth had someone in a position of power who had the best                 

interest of their employees in mind. Even better, he himself was an artist so he understood               

things on the same level that we did. He became my hope for survival within Rooster Teeth’s                

walls while dealing with an ugly, impossible situation. And even though it felt the battle was lost,                

he managed to make things a little more bearable. He helped me negotiate a raise and spoke                

on my behalf to the people who became unreachable in the midst of having their hands full with                 

LazerTeam.



Rooster Teeth eventually fired him, and I had no one left as a safety net. I was now completely                  

alone in a place surround by an entity that I knew wanted me out of the picture. I was a thorn in                     

their side, the last piece standing in the way of their new and improved way of production. Later                 

Iwastoldthatafterhewasletgotheywerejustwaitingforachancetogetridofmetoo.



ANewAgreement



As a part of my request for a pay increase, they agreed only if I could meet a specific set of                    

goals each month. On paper this looked reasonable, but because of all the changes being              

implemented in the pipeline I knew that these goals were unfair and entirely unrealistic. But in               

working alongside Monty for so long you learn not to quit even while faced with the impossible.                

SoIwentalongwithitbecauseIwasholdingontotheabovereasons,tokeepmethere.



I stayed at Rooster Teeth under this new agreement. However I was not allowed to work the                

way Monty and I worked, at least not without a ton of extra hassle as they made companywide                 

changes and standardizations— things that Monty was able to bypass when he was there.             

They were things he bypassed in order to continue doing what he did best, in order to give the                  

fanswhattheylookedforwardtoseeingwhentheysawMonty’sname.



When we needed to make something, we made it. If we didn’t have the FX to do what we                  

envisioned, we made it. If we didn’t have the props or the weapons for a scene, we made them.                  

Most of the time this was because getting them made through the “official” channels took way               

Page23

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

too long. Additionally, we often had to fix whatever asset it was when it finally got back to us,                  

just in order to do what we needed it to do in our scenes. Making things myself is something I                   

was no longer allowed to do, at least not without jumping through seemingly endless hoops and               

regulations.Thiswasamajorsetback.



Monty’sWay



Monty stood his ground and kept moving forward in the way he knew best, for you guys. People                 

did not like him for it within the Rooster Teeth walls. Yes they smiled and pretended to love him                  

to his face, but I heard the conversations and the muttering of words from one person to                

another. 



And so it was, as soon as he was out of the picture, those are the people who were then in                    

charge and able to “keep moving forward” with their plans to completely remove Monty’s ways              

from the animation department that only exists because of him. And I was really the only               

person left in the building who saw it that way. As far as I know, I was the only other person                    

whofullyvaluedandpracticedMonty’swayofdoingthings. 



The team was larger than ever now; all people who were taught the new way of doing things.                 

They were told what they needed to hear in order to stay pumped and excited to do the best                  

theycouldonashowtheyloved. 



Let me make this clear: the people on the team are all really cool people. But they also had no                   

clue what had been going on or what sort of things I was dealing with there. They only know                  

what they were told. And even now, I can only guess what sort of things are said within the                  

walls that would make me look like I’ve lost my marbles and hold up the show runners on a                  

heroic pedestal, further reinforcing them and their decisions as being the best way to have done               

it.



RWBYVolume3,Episode1



I requested to be paired up with Dillon for the first fight scene, for obvious reasons. I animated                 

Blake vs Reese while he animated Yang vs Arslan. Then we tagteamed on some other,              

supplementary, character animations. In the midst of a dark place I had a lot of fun working with                 

Dillononthosescenes.



For the most part, the scene was blank in the scripts— and that is how Monty and I liked to                   

work. It always gave us directorial control, choice of camera work, etc. Even though they tried               

to make a storyboard so the production people could feel better, it was a big waste of time,                 

Page24

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

money, and energy. That was the main reason we stayed away from it all those years in the                 

action department. Prescripted fights just look… scripted, and I avoid them like the plague.             

You need that organic freedom to be able to go in, knowing the characters and their abilities,                

andjustletthemgoatit.



They made me sit through a storyboard meeting anyway, and I did it because that was part of                 

my agreement for the raise. All I could think was that I was losing time by not making cool stuff                   

right then. Instead I was made to sit through a very slow moving debate about each shot, which                 

wasforcedoutwithnoartisticinspiration.Ijustwantedtogettoitandmakeithappen.



Music had always been a major part of our workflow. For this scene it took forever to get an                  

actual song to work with, and the one the director chose felt very forced and out of place (the                  

one that was played with the footage at RTX 2015 during the RWBY panel). It did not inspire                 

thecreativityofthescene,soinsteadIchosetoworkwithnomusicatall.



I was tasked to finish the first fight by the end of the month, at least a first pass. However, that                    

meant we had to animate characters we didn’t have yet, with weapons and props that didn't               

exist yet. I made and rigged a temporary hoverboard that transformed into a pair of guns so I                 

could get my scenes made. I was finally able to convince the Producer to let me do what I                  

needed to do in order to get my stuff done. Not even a full week left to the deadline, while the                    

Supervising Producer was still saying no, he finally told me to just go for it and he’d take the hit.                   

SoIdid.



I got way more done in that last week then I did all month. Why? Because I was allowed to do                    

what I do the way I knew best. The way Monty taught me. It was also around that time I finally                    

said that I couldn't wait any longer for this hoverboard— I needed it now. I sketched it all out on                   

paper and gave it to the artist, and finally modeling gave me a raw model. There wasn’t even a                  

transformationanimationonit.



Previously, Monty made the weapon models, the transformations, and implemented them in the            

scenes the way they were meant to be used. Now it was spread out between 3 or 4                 

departments and had to navigate red tape and protocol. At the end of it I still had to animate the                   

asset myself. So I did. Then at the very last minute we started running into a significant amount                 

offilepathingproblems.ThiswasalreadyintoAugust,pastwhenit’ssupposedtobefinished.



TheNewSystem



Monty and I had always sworn by working on local drives because it’s faster and much more                

reliable, and more importantly, far easier to manage and take offsite. However, for Volume 3              

they decided to leave that behind and work on a single networked hard drive. They claimed it                

Page25

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

was faster, but it was much slower since every single person was trying to access data stored                

onthenetworkatthesametime.Itwasamess.



Because of this, when I made FX I could not just make it and call it done, put it in a scene, and                      

have it ready to go. Instead I had to make it, submit hundreds of files to Perforce, (a file                  

manager) which copied all the files to the network drive, then go back and remake the FX so the                  

program looked for the files in the new location (already over double the amount of work). Since                

tweaks and problems were sure to come up, I then had to find, select, and “check out” all those                  

files in order to make any changes to them. Finally I would have to then resubmit the changed                 

files to Perforce, recreate the FX again, and hope everything worked. So on and so on. It was                 

the same with any other assets created. It all had to go through the new system, and it was just                   

abigmess.



RTX2015



We finally finished enough of the Episode 1 fight that they could show it at the RTX 2015 RWBY                  

panel. It really started to hit me that this was the first convention I was going to go to without                   

Monty. The first several conventions I went to was just so I could meet up and hang out with                  

him. Then I went with him in order for us to show our work. Now I was going without him, to a                     

convention run by the people who shat all over Sheena, kicked her out of the picture, mangled                

Monty’s vision for RWBY into something else, and… there I was willingly driving there to face               

the thousands of people who loved Rooster Teeth, who loved Monty, and who had no idea what                

hadbeengoingon. 



I showed up late. Actually I was just in time to catch them showing Dillon’s and my work at the                   

panel. Everyone seemed to love it. It was cool to see and hear their reactions. Though I wasn’t                 

there for the panel, I was told by people later that it was kind of weird how they mentioned my                   

name, almost in passing, and quickly introduced the new team. After what I had already been               

through I wasn’t surprised, nor did it phase me. I knew they didn’t want me there. I knew I                  

didn’tmeshwellwiththeneworderofthings.



Yangvs.Mercury



My next scene was one I had been looking forward to doing since Volume 2: Yang vs Mercury.                 

It was a scene I had discussed doing directly with Monty. Even at the hospital while Monty lay                 

there,Iwasworkingonitonthelaptopinthewaitingroom.Iwasdoingitforhim. 



Not to mention my favorite bad guy was in it. Mercury was based on JJ, and after everything                 

that had happened I was excited to work with him again. But then, as it was news to my ears,                   

Page26

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

JJ was no longer the voice of Mercury. Instead it was some other guy whose voice I honestly                 

thought was just thrown in there as temp audio. That news was like getting the wind knocked                

outofme.JJ’sMercuryistheonlyMercuryasfarasI’mconcerned.Somuchhadchanged. 



It took a few days to regain my motivation for this fight. But I did and I still wanted to do my                     

best. It was a special fight to me because I spent so much time working with Monty on it. I                   

didn’t want anyone else’s help because I did not trust anyone else to properly handle Monty’s               

animation and camera work. Plus, I finally got to do the crazy projectile attack Monty and I used                 

to joke about doing. Originally there were going to be so many of them that it was just a wall of                    

projectiles shooting around the pair, but the arena had become so big there were no walls close                

enough for them to ricochet off of. So I just kind of… made them spin around and payed                 

homagetoMontybydoingasimilarattacktotheoneYunausedinDeadFantasy2.



TechnicalDifficulties



I got the fight done, but because of the new system I had to go through every single scene of                   

the fight and replace the characters and assets with ones that were on the network drive. Then                

I had to go through and add scene numbers to every shot in the sequence before submitting                

each one onto Perforce. Lastly I had to add all the information for each shot into Shotgun, which                 

is another, browserbased, file management application. All of this was a regular part of the              

process for the other animators, but it was a part of the process Monty sidestepped so he could                 

gethiscrazyscenesdone.



It took a few days to get through them all but I did, and then I was told there were still problems.                     

I finally figured out there was a softwarelevel issue, because opening each scene, deleting the              

old characters, and copying the animation to the correct ones was not actually doing what I was                

trying to do. Poser was still using the local version of all the files instead of the network versions                  

because it sticks to whatever was there first, in order to avoid duplicates. Of course I didn’t find                 

thisoutuntilafterthefact,soIhadtogothroughanddoitallagain. 



This time it was much more complicated since I had to first check all the scenes out on Perforce                  

before I could make changes, then create a new scene with correct assets, import the data from                

the finished animations onto the new ones, save, and resubmit them all to Perforce. It was a big                 

setback,butIstayedtomakesureitgotdone.



Next it was brought up that all the scenes in Shotgun did not have “correct” information for                

frame numbers. In all of my scenes I purposely left a few extra frames at the start and end so                   

that the editors would have room to retime if needed. Apparently this was unacceptable though,              

because we “could not afford” to render 1 or 2 extra frames here and there, only exactly the                 

onesweneeded.Soagain,Ihadtogobackthrougheverysinglescene. 

Page27

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



The most frustrating part about it was that these things were not as big of a deal as they were                   

made out to be. They acted like it was the end of the world. They acted like all of production had                    

to come to a halt because of these things. But really… it was never a problem before. It was                  

not a problem for Monty all those years. It was not a problem for me. I’m not saying they’re                  

wrong, but the changes they made to production, “for the better”, just seemed like a lot of                

unnecessaryworkandheadachejustforthesakeofdoingitalltheirway,the“correct”way.



Blakevs.Adam/Yangvs.Adam



Next up was another scene that I had been looking forward to for a very long time. Blake was                  

meant to fight Adam, and then Yang was supposed to come in and take over the fight,                

protecting Blake from death. Once I was done with Yang vs Mercury I asked about this               

longanticipated,ultrabadassscene. 



But guess what— they didn’t even write it in the script because they didn’t look at what Monty                 

created for the scene before they began! It was all available to them before Monty passed               

away, and after he was gone I made sure all those scenes were available to them— that they                 

had them in their hands. It was even more of a surprise to me since I had rendered out Monty’s                   

timelines for them, at the Producer’s request, before production even started. They didn’t even             

lookatwhatMonty,thecreatoroftheshow,madeforhisshow. 



The only reason I chose to stay, next to supporting my family with income, was continuing to be                 

dissolvedtonothing. 



Let me add that the Yang vs Adam fight was looking beyond badass. Monty was using a Linkin                 

Park song as the soundtrack to animate it to. I was told that they would just find some other                  

place for it down the road. But I know that when they eventually make the switch to Maya,                 

everything Monty and I worked so hard to build up will become unusable and therefore be               

thrownintothegarbage. 



Each time this sort of thing happened I did my best to keep my composure and not flip out. I                   

didn’t want to give them more reason to cut me off completely before I could do absolutely                

everythingpossibletogetwhatlittletherestillwasofMonty’s,intotheshowintact. 



Becauseofthisdecisiontocompletelycutoutthisfight,therewasnothingformetodoonit.



 

Page28

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

Rubyvs.TorchwickNeo



So next up was Torchwick and Neo vs Ruby. Which, as soon as I heard they decided to put this                   

fight on top of an aircraft, I facepalmed inside. That meant the stuff Monty made for this fight                 

would no longer make sense, in that situation. When I heard they wanted to change the ending                

so that Neo’s umbrella goes “pooof” and she gets whisked away in the wind… I think I                

facepalmedsohardImayhavesufferedaconcussion. 



I then wanted absolutely nothing to do with that scene. I didn’t want to have my name on                 

something that was straight up just shitting all over what Monty made. It was against my               

reasonsforstaying.Iwantedtopreserveit. 



Pyrrhavs.Cinder



The only thing left that I could do was the final fight: Pyrrha vs Cinder. I knew how it was                   

supposed to go, for the most part, because Monty talked a lot about it. They agreed to let me                  

work on that, but at this point I was struggling so much just to keep moving forward with this. It                   

hurt to think to myself what changes they had in store for this fight. A lot of it was still intact, but                     

theymodifiedjustenoughofitthatitdidnothavethesameemotionalimpact. 



No longer did Jaune witness and cause Pyrrha’s death, triggering a major character growth             

moment for him. No longer did we get to see Pyrrha as the perfect warrior who could actually                 

stand a chance against Cinder, who is now so OP it’s almost a joke. I still did my best to work                    

within what little was left to work with. I still came up with the most impressive ideas I could think                   

oftofillthegapsandmakethefighthappenasspectacularlyasIcould. 



As much as I would have loved to walk away many, many times throughout the whole ordeal, I                 

was determined to see it through to the end. I would have regretted it forever if I did not. So I                    

kept working. It was so close to being over. My plan was to leave as soon as I had finished my                    

tasks, so I could finally move back to Michigan to be near my kids. But it didn’t quite go that                   

way.



Every new scene or step in production had a plethora of disappointment, whether it was news of                

change, obviously bad decisions, production completely doing the opposite of what Monty           

intended to do with certain characters, cutting his work out, etc. Early on I was told that I’d                 

probably be getting some help on this scene, but then they mentioned how they we’re dividing               

things up to different people and calling it two fights, just because there was a little bit of talking                  

in the middle. They did a lot to keep “fights” and “talking head” scenes very far apart from each                  

otherandanimatedbydifferentpeople.



Page29

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

I still saw it as one scene, as did Monty. I was there from the start. I was there when Monty                    

explained over and over how the scene would end. These were key points in the story,               

characterchanging events. Little was discussed about the actual trading of hits, but from what             

littleIknewofit,Iwantedtomakesuretoseeitthroughproperlytotheend. 



When they told me who they were considering to work on the actual death scene itself, I,                

knowing the animator’s strengths and weaknesses, told them that it was not a good decision.              

Not because the person lacked the skill, but because there were other people who could do               

more justice to such an important scene. I mentioned a few animators who I thought could be                

trusted to handle it better, if I was not going to be allowed to work on it. But I absolutely                   

protested against the person they mentioned. Later, the Director approached me face to face at              

my desk and said , “Just so you know, I want him to work on that scene. I feel                  

likehe’searnedit.Andthat’showit’sgoingtobe.So…sorry.”



“Sorry”…?



Of the many moments I wish I could have lashed out, this one would have ended with a knee to                   

the chest and and flaming uppercut to the balls. Since when did this become something we               

could earn? Aren’t we supposed to be doing our best to honor Monty? In the show he created?                 

Especially now after he’s gone? Really? I already knew before production officially started on             

Volume 3 that RWBY was in big trouble. With all the disappointments that came throughout, it               

baffles me why it still hurt, even though it shouldn’t have surprised me. Why did I still hang on to                   

hopewhenitfeltsohopeless?WhydidIstillgiveitmyall? 



Because, I wasn’t doing the show for me! I wasn’t there for me! The most important thing to me                  

was to do our best making the show go on the way Monty intended. The way he left it in perfect                    

condition for us to do. All the pieces were there ready to be utilized so the show would flourish                  

more than ever. But no, people thought they knew better. They thought the wheel Monty              

inventedwasnotgoodenoughandattemptedtostartoverintheirownway.



So much time was wasted. So many decisions were made that put the entire team in a                

constant state of “crunch”. It could have gone so much better if egos, pride, greed, and the                

desiretoappearastheheroeswhosavedRWBY,werenonexistent. 



Can you imagine if from day one they actually brought Sheena on board, even if for a small                 

part? But no, they would not even do that. She was not asking for much. She is capable of a                   

lot, and I still to this day wholeheartedly believe that the show needed her in order to stand a                  

chanceatfollowingMonty’svisionascloseaspossible.



Page30

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

I feel the fans deserved to get that. But they did not get that. They got something else, but at                   

least the renders look a little prettier, right? At least now the files are all sorted nicely and more                  

organizedandmoreprofessionallyontheRoosterTeethharddrives.Yay. 



All the while the people who cared, who were close to Monty, who worked with Monty, who                

wanted to see his show through and do whatever we could to make that happen, all got stepped                 

on and shoved aside like garbage. I think that part of why I was able to work at Rooster Teeth                   

as long as I did was because I managed to “play along”, or at least appear that way. I was                   

enraged,butIkeptmymouthshut.Iwashurt,butIdidn’tletitcausemetoquit.



2016



So how did this end? Well, as I mentioned, I knew back in July— the moment I decided not to                   

leave Rooster Teeth that I had likely given up my chance to leave, and that they would probably                 

betheonestooffmewhenevertheysawfit.



I’ve faced many challenges and seemingly impossible difficulties in my life. I don’t quit. That is               

something in me that was greatly reinforced and strengthened while working with Monty. He             

was not a quitter either. So, I continued on with what little energy I had left in me. As for                   

motivation, it was shot to pieces by the decisions made by the people in charge and there was                 

no going back. Everything I fought to protect had already been turned to ashes and scattered to                

the winds. Either way, I planned to finish the job to the best of my ability before deciding to part                   

ways. 



OutofPassion



I no longer trusted very many people at Rooster Teeth and I was keenly aware that I was a                  

thorn in their side. I was the one last piece standing in the way of them fully moving away from                   

Monty’s way of doing things. With the massive companywide changes going on it was             

inevitable. 



The thing is, if I came on board Rooster Teeth to work as an animator, I would still be there. But                    

the truth is I came on board to work with Monty. I wanted to be a blessing to him and enhance                    

his workflow or make easier anything and everything he created. If a career in animation was               

my goal, this would have been a very different story. But it was never about that for me— what I                   

doisoutofpassion. 

Page31

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



I do it for the love of creating things that are (hopefully) awesome, so that people can enjoy                 

them and be inspired to create even more awesome and inspiring things. I want to make               

beautiful things that have meaning and purpose, not just make something that looks pretty for              

the sake of popularity or fame or money. Nah bro. This is no such thing. But it was never                  

aboutthosethingsforMontyeither,whichiswhyitworkedsowellwithusworkingtogether.



January5



On the way to work I decided to ask the producer if anyone was available to assist me in                  

finishing the final fight. It’s better to ask and be told no than not to ask at all, and I was told many                      

times to just ask for help if I needed it. I made it clear that it was totally fine if not. Ideally I                      

wanted Dillon and Kim, but either way I planned on finishing what I had started one way or                 

another. 



GeneralMaintenance



Later that day the Technical Director told me that they needed my work laptop to do some                

updates they’ve been meaning to do for Maya and some other software. Just general             

maintenance. I thought it was weird so I hesitated, but he was one of the few people I still                  

trusted so I handed it over. I told him that as long as I could get it back by the end of the day, so                        

Icouldkeepworkingfromhome,itwasfine.HeassuredmethatIwouldhaveitback.



I was also excited to share some news about Poser development with him that would totally               

help bypass some issues that made it difficult for converting my work into the new way of doing                 

things (for example, the major software issues we ran into during the Yang vs Mercury fight). He                

was one of the few people who understood some of the technical parts of Poser like Monty and                 

I, so naturally he was the first guy I would track down to tell. He smiled and seemed happy                  

about it too. It was very good news. I asked if they were almost done with the laptop, since it                   

was supposedly not going to take very long to update, but again he told me it should be done                  

soon.



TheLastStraw



Around noon I got an email from the Supervising Producer telling me that we had a meeting at                 

5pm and to meet him at his desk. No explanation. I thought it was odd so I asked what it was                    

for, but like most times I asked questions, I was ignored and not given any further information.                

Page32

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

And just like most other times it was frustrating, but I was used to it so I continued on working—                   

settingupmocap,figuringoutwaystodoFXinmyscenethatwouldmakeitstandout,etc. 



I showed up at 5pm at his desk, just like he asked. He motioned to have me follow him to the                    

office across the parking lot. On the way over he made small talk, asking how the kids were                 

doing and stuff... I was already thinking to myself that this was sort of weird, but we got to the                   

CEO’s office and I took a seat. They wasted no time letting me know that they were seeing                 

patternsinmyperformanceandthatIkeptcuttingittooclosetodeadline. 



They told me that “making demands” for them to pull their best animators away from their               

current assignments to come work on mine was the last straw. They were letting me go and                

said that hopefully it would give me time to sort things out. They told me they were hoping that                  

eventually I could come back to work with them. It then hit me that the whole story about                 

needingmylaptopformaintenancewasalie.AndtheyusedtheoneguyIstilltrustedtodoit.



Escort



The Supervising Producer then offered to escort me back to the office so I could collect my                

things. And just like that, it was all done. I knew I would probably have to come back another                  

day to collect all of my stuff, but for now I just wanted to get my personal hard drives. However,                   

when we finally got back to the office they had already pulled out both mine and Monty’s                

computers—plusallmypersonalharddrives.



They had started doing it the moment I followed the Supervising Producer away. I told them               

that they had grabbed my personal stuff and I needed it back, but they told me they weren't                 

going to give it back until they made copies of everything and archived it all. It was pretty                 

violating. 



Leaving Rooster Teeth came as no surprise to me. I knew it was either going to be me or them,                   

depending on if they were intending to let me finish my work first or not. But the way they did it                    

just felt filthy to me. That they ended up putting Dillon and Kim on my scene to finish it out.                   

These were the same animators they accused me of “demanding” that they pull away from their               

scenestoworkonit.



Unemployment



“Our investigations found your employer fired you because you were         

unabletoperformyourassignedworktotheirsatisfaction.”

Page33

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville



To me it’s no surprise they chose to fire me. I was there for Monty and chose to do 100% of                    

what little I could, within the limits they gave me, to ensure his show stayed true to his vision. It                   

was great when he was there, but without him they just wanted to do their own thing with his                  

work.Iwasnotokwiththat. 



I understand that changes were going to happen either way, but I thought they would at least                

take place gradually and with respect for Monty on his own show. But no, it all happened too                 

fast and with little to no respect. By the time they fired me I was already so disgusted with their                   

decisions and actions, the way they treated Sheena, the way they treated Kristina, the way they               

treatedanyonewhogaveadamnaboutprotectingMonty’slegacy…Iwasreadytoleave.



NothingtoSay



My words don’t do it justice. I have nothing to say to them. I could care less what happens to                   

RWBY now, because it is not Monty’s RWBY— it’s something completely different. It’s Rooster             

Teeth’s RWBY. Monty’s RWBY was the Red, White, Black, & Yellow Trailers, Volume 1 and              

Volume 2. Anything past that is only a reminder of the pain and disappointment. To put it point                 

blank,IwantnothingtodowithRoosterTeethuntiltheendoftime.



Honestly, I hold nothing against the many people who were brought on board to work on the                

show. A lot of them were fans themselves. They had no clue. They only knew what their                

superiors told them, which was full of great news and positive pep talk, constant reminders of               

how much of an honor it was for them to be a part of this, all while killing them with insane                    

hours.Allforagoodcause,theysaid.



ThingsDidNotGoasPlanned



It took some coaching and encouragement from Kara Eberle, but a few days later I made a post                 

onTwitter:



“Hey everybody. I'm no longer at Rooster Teeth. Things did not go as            

planned.WishtheRWBYteamthebestofluck.” 



Now, hopefully, you know what I meant by that post. Now, hopefully, you understand why I               

could not respond right then. Now, hopefully, a million other questions you might have had              

havebeenanswered.



Page34

AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

My goal with this letter is not to point fingers. It's not to slander, to lash out. This is not                   

something I wrote in a hurry while stewing in my emotions over it all. This is something that took                  

much thought and consideration. I did my best not to name names or point fingers with blame.                

Mygoalsarenottocausetroubleorbringruintothecompanyoranyperson.



Some people told me to stay silent and not to say anything at all. To just let it work itself out.                    

Be professional. Etc, etc, etc… I also know that Rooster Teeth is a business and they are just                 

doing what businesses do. They make money. They do what they have to in order to get more                 

sales.Thereisnothingwrongwiththat. 



But I have a major problem with it if it is going to be done at the expense of the people I care                      

about. This particular situation… it is dishonoring Monty (the creator of RWBY) and treating his              

wife (the one who loved) as unimportant garbage to be kept at a far distance and forgotten. And                 

on top of it all, after everything above, they claim that it is such an honor to be able to continue                    

Monty’slegacy. 



NotanHonor



They work continuously to convince the contract animators and staff, who are unaware of the              

truth, of these things in order to keep them pumped up and motivated. They say, “What an                

honor”. No, this is not an honor. This is a company IP you are working on. It is no longer                   

Monty’s RWBY, it’s something different, and people could already see that without a single word              

from me. It is what it is. And what it has turned into is something I don’t want anything to do                    

with. 



It’s sad how little time it took for changes to take place, but it happened and that’s that. While it                   

might make more sense to some why Rooster Teeth off’ed me, I feel strongly that it went that                 

wayonpurpose.Wehavetokeepmovingforward.



I just want the truth to be out there. With everything that has happened, I know all that you’ve                  

seen are the results with some pretty paper slapped on top... to try and cover up the truth.                 

Sorry,butI’vebeensharpeningmyscissorsandIhavefinallygainedthestrengthtousethem. 



Monty’sTorch



The best analogy I’ve discussed with anyone for this whole thing is this: Monty carried the torch.                

When he passed away I picked up the torch, and Sheena was there to carry it with me. We                  

were ready. Some people had major problems with that, but they also did not want any part of                 

Monty’s torch. So they created a new torch altogether and did everything they could to make               

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AnOpenLettertoAllWhoTreasuredMontyOum



byShaneNewville

people believe it was Monty’s torch. It was created to look like his, but they made it with their                  

ownhandsandaresickeninglyproudofitforthatreason.



I’m still carrying Monty’s torch. Sheena is still carrying it. Inspired fans carry it. Anyone who               

was close to the man and who cares enough to honor Monty carries it. We carry Monty’s torch,                 

andIhavenointentionoflettingthatfiredieout. 



Thisiswhatitmeanstokeepmovingforward.

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