October Shmoctober

The fabulous Manchester Animation Festival is less than a month away, so if you've not yet checked out the schedule then get your arse in gear. Of course, you won't want to miss such standout events as the Skwigly Screening featuring a cavalcade of incredible recent short films that won't be seen elsewhere at the fest, nor the nail-biting adrenaline rush that is the Skwigly Quiz, and for your convenience they'll both be happening on Wednesday November 15th one after the other (7pm and 8:30pm respectively in the HOME event space). Head over to their website and have yourselves an anticipatory peruse of the ol' schedge. Hope to see you there!

My publisher Routledge is having itself a sale, so if you'd been um-ing and aah-ing about treating yourself to a copy of my big sexy book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films - Second Edition, loaded though it is with insight from the indie animation crowd's best and brightest - then why not go ahead and do it now while there's a whopping 20% lopped off the price? And if you buy two or more books from them, they crank the discount up to 25% - dayum, yo. Free shipping on top of all that? Hells yeah.

Here are a few recommendations of other Routledge titles you might want to pair my book up with, benevolent soul that I be:

• Animation: A World History - Giannalberto Bendazzi
• Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out - Bill Plympton
• Action and Analysis for Animators - Chris Webster
• Acting and Performance for Animation - Derek Hayes and Chris Webster
• Directing for Animation - Tony Bancroft
• Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation - Hans Bacher
• Mad-Eyed Misfits: Writings on Indie Animation - Chris Robinson
• The Foley Grail - Vanessa Theme Ament

But of course if you really want to give yourself a treat then just go ahead and buy two or more copies of my book. Or pair it up with the First Edition and see how many differences you can spot; there's literally no better way to spend an evening!

Whatever you decide, the sale lasts until the end of the month so act fast. 

In episode 111 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome back Charles Huettner and Sean Buckelew as well as Benjy Brooke of Green Street Pictures, whose new adult animated series Scavengers Reign kicks off today on Max.

Also discussed in this episode: MAF highlights, Chicken Run and Rick & Morty recasts, mutual Mutant Mayhem enthusiasm, the evolution of Bristol Animation Meetup, upcoming projects from the NFB and the worrying dearth of animation at this year’s Encounters Film Festival.

While you're over in Skwiglyville, I'd urge you to check out some of the wonderful pieces from our fantastic team of contributors, including Mel Cionco's piece on the fear of trans stories in animation, Larry Fried's editorial on audiences' relationship with - and expectations of - Pixar, and Ryan Gaur's interview with the team behind The Spider Within.

Speaking of Max, another show headed to the Network-Formerly-Known-as-HBO is the fifty-fourth (crikey) season of wholesome Muppet extravaganza Sesame Street, which kicks off November 9th over in the States. I spent a big chunk of this past year as comp supervisor on some of the animated segments directed by the always wonderful Jo Hepworth and it's a massive privilege to have been involved in such a long-standing cultural institution. Can't show or tell that much else about it but you can catch a few glimpses of the segments in the trailer below:

February Shmebruary

In spite of myself, I've put out an EXTREMELY limited (because I'm delusional but not that delusional) CD run of my latest album My Head is Too Small for my Body. Pop me a message on Insta or Facebook if you want to grab one up, if for no other reason than to have something shiny to put your mug of tea on. Or even better, waggle it about when your mates come over and bond over what the fuck that Ben Mitchell thinks he's doing.

A mere £5.50 incl. postage (UK only soz) and boasting a chunky SEVEN bonus tracks #phwoar

Of course if you don't fancy the clutter and like your music all digital-like, you can check it out on a variety of streaming platforms. I'm not up to much else outside of work these days, so here’s some more podcasts for ya:

After a bit of a hiatus I've resumed my Independent Animation companion podcast series, starting with  a chat with indie filmmaker Sean Buckelew about his incredible film Drone, which some of you may have caught at my Manchester Animation Festival screening back in November. If you didn't come then, firstly, you're dead to me, but the good news is you can now watch it in full online. Hopefully that'll bring you some comfort in death.

There's also a new Animation One-To-Ones where I meet Hair Love co-director Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin to discuss their new family animated Netflix series My Dad the Bounty Hunter. They're nice guys, so go check it out and cheer yourself up, for chrissakes. 

Heads-up for next month, Cardiff Animation Festival On Tour featuring Laura-Beth's Crafty Witch has another stop coming up at Brynmawr's Market Hall Cinema, 11am Saturday 18th March. Pop it in your diaries, you lovely Brynmawr-ians.

A'ight, I'm done. Go in peace.

Strangers in the (Late) Night

In the second episode of Independent Animation, the companion podcast series to my Skwigly tie-in book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films, I take a look at the work of “rotating collective” the Late Night Work Club, who last year followed up their 2013 anthology film Ghost Stories with another themed collection of animated shorts titled Strangers.

This podcast follows up on two of the artists who contributed invaluably to the original book:

Kirsten Lepore (Hi Stranger)

Since her promising beginnings with the viral hit Story From North America (co-directed with Garrett Michael Davis in 2007) and breakthrough student short Bottle (that to date has picked up 39 awards and counting) in 2010, Kirsten Lepore‘s animation career has flourished, notable jewels in the crown being her auteur short film Move Mountain (2013) and last year’s Adventure Time episode Bad Jubies. Her Strangers contribution Hi Stranger went crazily viral last month, even getting itself spoofed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You can read a bit more from the interview in my recent feature Stranger Things: A Conversation with Kirsten Lepore.

Alex Grigg (Born in a Void)

Australian animation director and designer Alex Grigg has produced work for clients such as Super Deluxe, Netflix and Cartoon Network. Presently working at Mighty Nice in Sydney, Alex’s independent work includes the multi-award-winning Ghost Stories contribution Phantom Limb.

The podcast also features exclusive insight about the independent production approaches for the anthology from other participating talents:

Charles Huettner (Intro, outtro and interstitials animation)

Charles is a Pennsylvania-based freelance animator. As well as his involvement with the Late Night Work Club, he was recently involved with fellow LNWC founder Scott Benson‘s indie game project Night in the Woods.

Sean Buckelew (Lovestreams)

Having received an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sean has since worked on projects including We Are Your Friends, Consuming Spirits and the Annie Award-winning animated sequences of He Named Me Malala. Alonside his independent films he has worked with clients including Disney Channel, MTV, Arctic Monkeys, VH1 and Adult Swim.

Jeanette Bonds (Departures)

Since receiving a BFA and MFA from CalArts for Experimental Animation, LA-based animator Jeanette has gone on to programme and participate in festivals including Slamdance, Platform, KLIK!, Fantoche and the Los Angeles Film Festival. In 2014 her student film Trusts & Estates was nominated for an Annie Award. On top of her independent film work Jeanette is also the Co-Founder, Director and Artistic Director of the GLAS Animation Festival.

Loup Blaster (Freedom)

Presently living and working in France as an illustrator, animator and VJ, Louise Philia Druelle (AKA Loup Blaster) grew up in Calais and studied animation at ESAAT and Volda University College.  In March 2012 she started BBBLASTER, an illustration, animation and music project.

Nicolas Ménard (Wednesday with Goddard)

Nicolas moved to the UK from Montreal to study at the Royal College of Art where he produced the popular student films Somewhere and Loop Ring Chop Drink. During his career he has worked with dozens of clients including Google, la Cinémathèque Québécoise, Universal and Time magazine. He also works as a director at Nexus.

Listen to the episode below or direct download:

Thanks muchly to all the brilliant interviewees for their time and insight, as well as composers Skillbard and David Kamp for the use of their music in the episode. Don't forget that the Independent Animation book itself is available to buy now from pretty much everywhere else that sells books - though at the time of writing you can get it direct from CRC Press with 20% off plus free shipping!