Last Orders

In the fourth episode of Independent Animation, the companion podcast series to my book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films (still on sale, folks!) I explore the daunting world of taking on feature-length indie animation with several auteurs who’ve taken the plunge. Building on the book’s explorations of major case studies including well-established artists such as Bill Plympton, Signe Baumane and Nina Paley, in this podcast several relative newcomers in the animation world talk about the challenges they faced when both taking on and releasing such mammoth endeavours without a pre-existing fanbase or substantial crew. These include Joel Benjamin (Where It Floods), Nicholas De Fina (LeSeurdmin) and Dan Ekis (Grey Island), who had me on his own indie animation-themed podcast last year.
Also in this episode I speak with Natasha Price of Engine House, a Cornwall-based studio who are embarking on their own indie feature Back From The Dead Red thanks to the support of blockchain entertainment studio SingularDTV. If nothing else you all might enjoy listening with amusement as I attempt to fathom what blockchain even is like the out-of-touch fool I am. You can stream the episode above or direct download, whatever excites you more.

Just to shake out the last few drops of 2018 festival news before the year comes to a close, the Ploiesti International Film Festival's Dark Comedy screening featuring Sunscapades will be taking place this coming Tuesday, December 18th 9pm at the Filarmonica ”Paul Constantinescu” Ploiești.

Later in the week/month the film will supposedly screen at the In-Short Film Festival in Lagos, marking not only the film's African premiere but the first ever screening of any of my films in Nigeria. While they can't seem to decide if the event itself takes place on the 20th-22nd or the 27th-29th (and the comments on their Facebook page make for interesting reading) I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Unless anything else pops up in my inbox I believe that's it for 2018. While this film has proved a harder sell than I'd honestly anticipated, the last few months of screenings and audience responses have been a massive boost and I'm really glad it's been finding itself some little cracks to fill. Who knows, maybe there'll even be a Sunscapades 2: Still Sunscapadin' one day.