In episode 121 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome the team from the upcoming animated series Ghostbusters: Night Shift – Ben Hibon, Elliott Kalan, Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan and Amie Karp.
Also discussed: CAF highlights including Julia Pott’s masterclass, Sketch Showdown antics and The Midnight Walk, festival karaoke traditions, beating the heat at Annecy, teasing Wildwood with Travis Knight, Richard Williams’s posthumous final film Lysistrata, Ricky Gervais’s Alley Cats, Ben’s attempt to get through Charlie Kaufman’s stop-mo-themed novel Antkind, the rise of both AI and the vehement pushback against it through projects including Jorge Gutierrez’s abandoned project Punky Duck and the Annecy furore around Hisko Hulsing’s Danse Macabre.
Also discussed: The increasing sneakiness of AI creators passing their content off as animation, adult fandoms of popular children’s shows, pleasing Oscar and BAFTA outcomes with wins for The Girl Who Cried Pearls (Dir. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski) and Two Black Boys in Paradise (Dir. Baz Sells), Aardman‘s upcoming Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, upcoming Cardiff Animation Festival highlights, the ‘social experiment’ of Konstantin Bronzit’s Oscar-nominated short The Three Sisters and we review the recent BBC series Small Prophets featuring animation by Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson.
Our last podcast of the year is now live over on Skwigly (or basically anywhere you get your podcasts). In this episode we're joined by Liane-Cho Han and Maïlys Vallade, co-directors/writers of the celebrated animated feature Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. Stream below or download here.
Also discussed: The launch of Skwigly pal Gareth Cavanagh's Square Window podcast, The Simpsons x Fortnite crossover and the cursed history of Simpsons video game tie-ins, Mike Judge’s laudable reboots of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-Head, recent festival funtimes at Encounters, Overlap, MAF and LIAF and we preview the year’s animated holiday specials. We also review Michel Gondry’s Maya, Give Me a Title, Common Side Effects, Smiling Friends and Beryl, the new book from Joanna Quinn and Les Mills.
On a fittingly seasonal note, a new animated take on Lucy Cousins's My Friend Maisy has launched this month on Sky. I had a lovely time working on this a couple months' back at Bristol's A Productions. So if you're in a snowy mood, check it out on Sky Go.
Update 05/01/26 - the full launch episode Snowy Day is now up on their official YouTube channel:
Many thanks to those of you who bought a copy of Intimate Animation at MAF (and Encounters, for that matter), we hope it proves educational. If you missed out on our exclusive festival discount I have some good news - the publisher's Black Friday sale will run until December 3rd, through which you can get both Intimate Animation and my previous book Independent Animation at a whopping 25% off (plus free international shipping).
The next event you should pencil in to check out is Figures in Focus: Skin Shows + Screentalk, a special programme curated by Abigail Addison where "animators lay bare sexuality, queerness and the body on screen" as part of the London International Animation Festival, Saturday November 29th 6:20pm at the Barbican. The screening will include Laura-Beth Cowley's BBC Arts film The Gift (on which I did some animation and sound) and is followed by a Q&A with Laura-Beth, Lizzie Watts and May Kindred-Boothby. Earlier that day, our friends at Women In Animation UK will be hosting a get together up the street at Two Brewers from 3pm-6pm.
I'm putting out one more vinyl reissue before the year is through. Coming up to fifteen years since its original release, The Book of Women is probably the closest I ever came to making an outright pop record (and the only one to get some real airplay). You can sample/buy it here - it's also still available on Spotify and Bandcamp if you prefer your music to be airborne and intangible rather than big, flat and plastic.
To end on, my fellow animationperson Gareth Cavanagh has started up his own podcast The Square Window, discussing children's programmes from the 80s and 90s. Fun listening with guests so far including myself and pals Jane, Steve, Dani and more. Give it some love on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Before I crack on with the latest round-up, I wanted to make a point of saying that the 30th edition of the Encounters Film Festival was absolutely fantastic. Much love to everyone who voiced their enjoyment of the selection; after a few years of animated shorts not getting their own dedicated strand, it means more than you know. All being well, we'll be back again next year for an even bigger and better edition.
As one festival ends, another is ramping up. It's looking to be another superb Manchester Animation Festival up North this November with a whole host of animationey goodness on offer. Chuffed to be presenting mine and Laura-Beth's book Intimate Animation (6pm 11th Nov, Manchester Central Library) as well as another all-new Skwigly Screening (7pm 12th Nov, HOME). Of course, Steve and I will be inflicting another edition of the Skwigly Quiz on festivalgoers right after (8:30pm 12th Nov, HOME). So get your diaries out and pencil 'em in.
Some nice news on the Intimate Animation front, in the October issue of the rather splendid BFI magazine Sight & Sound it has been selected as Editor's Choice by reviews editor Katie McCabe. I'm sure most of you reading likely already have a subscription, but just in case you can grab yourself a copy of the issue here. If you didn't make the Encounters presentation and missed getting your hands on a copy, the fine folks at the Arnolfini bookshop have held a few copies back at the same discount, so pay them a visit and grab it while you can. Failing that, the publisher currently has a site-wide sale, so if you buy it directly from them you'll get 20% off. Better than a kick in the pants.
If you're in the market for some inspirational podcast listenin', you'll want to check out the latest episode of Animation One-To-Ones featuring absolute legend and stalwart pal o' Skwigly, Joanna Quinn. We mainly discuss her work with the initiative AC4Pal (Animation Community for Palestine) in support of the efforts of Gaza-based educator Haneen Koraz, which recently culminated in the global anijam To Gaza with Love, which brought together 329 short films from over 50 countries. Joanna is always a joy to listen to, so give it a stream, watch or download; she also has a book of her own out now, so give that some love too while you're at it.
A bit of music to wrap up on - in anticipation of a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue of my 2010 album The Book of Women, and as a personal nod to the 40th anniversary of the Mario franchise, I'm putting out an extremely limited (20 copies - I'm a realist) run of the preceding, long-out-of-print 2008 EP Sibling Ribaldry, which will include the titular love-letter to Super Mario Bros. and three extra tracks from the album sessions not available on any other vinyl release. Give it a shufti here.
After some ruminatin', I think there might still be a few last gasps of life left in this here blog. Ahead of a big announcement coming up next week (that will probably explain why my energy for writing has been depleted of late), here's a roundup of some fun stuff I was involved with during the quiet spell that may be of interest.
Back in May Laura-Beth and I were at the always-wonderful Cardiff Animation Festival to host their brunch sessions and chat with attending filmmakers Tanya J Scott, Gerald Conn, Hannah Fisher, Naomi Crame, Lleucu Non, Josh Hicks, Tova Persson, Hoching Kwok, Gus Andrews, Qianhui Yu, Samantha Moore, Greg McLeod, Robert Brown, Katie King and Faye Craig. For those who weren't able to make it, these were recorded and put out as podcast minisodes, so brew some coffee, grab a croissant and have a listen. It'll be like you were there, boy-howdy.
Skipping ahead to November, Manchester Animation Festival was great shakes as ever. More of a flying visit this time but I did manage to cram in hosting duties for three events, including an all-new Skwigly Screening, the ever-bloodthirsty Skwigly Quiz and a special event wherein emerging talents from the Ukraine presented their animation projects in development. The event was part of a mentorship initiative brought about by Skwigly's collaboration with the Linoleum Festival and the UK/UA Animation Lab, which also yielded a series of free online lectures seeing industry professionals dispense invaluable advice. I was privileged to host one with producer extraordinaire Helen Brunsdon (below) and you can check out all six here.
To my delight, everyone's favourite stop-mo nightmare-weaver Robert Morgan (of Bobby Yeah and The Cat With Hands fame) had his first feature film Stopmotion released. A live-action/animation hybrid tale of an animator's relatable descent into madness, the film is hideous and horrible in all the best ways and definitely worth checking out. I was very happy to host a special CAF screening and discuss the film with the director himself, which you can check out below:Robert and I discuss the film further in episode 113 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast, which is still ticking along. Other episodes we put out last year include a British Animation Awards special, a celebration of Cartoon Saloon's 25th anniversary and chats with the talents behind 2024's holiday features and specials.
On the guests front we've also featured Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot) with Nick Park making a welcome return alongside fellow Aardman-ites Merlin Crossingham and Ben Whitehead to chat all things Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. In our Animation One-To-Ones strand, which has continued to be a fantastic vehicle for our contributors to get some facetime with the movers and shakers of the industry, I also caught up with industry stalwarts Torill Kove and Job, Joris & Marieke. Speaking of contributors, I would be remiss to not shout out the fantastic work being created for the site by our wonderful team including Ryan Gaur, Martyn Warren, Jordan King and Kévin Giraud.
On the written features side of things, a couple pieces you might want to check out include chats with the fabulous NFB producer Maral Mohammadian as well as Zach Woods (creepy Gabe from the US version of The Office) and Brandon Gardner on their stop-motion NPR tribute sitcom In The Know. More recently I wrote a little summary of the late great David Lynch's own dabblings in animation over the years. Not an easy write as, being such a massive influence and all-around mensch, the news of his death rattled me. But ultimately it was a gratifying exercise and a rare excuse to lump together a bunch of factoids floating around my head that wouldn't necessarily have had much use otherwise.
Throughout the year Skwigly, Rumpus and Sun & Moon also continued our Bristol Animation Meetups (BAM), with four hugely successful seasonal events that included our established industry one-on-one sessions in the Spring and Autumn, a big chunky BAM quiz in the Summer and a seasonal collab event with AnimInspo to cap off the year. We have some fun irons in the fire on the BAM front, so keep your eyes on our socials to not miss out.
As to why I didn't bring any of this up at the time, well...here's the culprit.
Her name is Ivy. She saps all of the time I used to have for blogging because she's so adorable and her demands are both constant and merciless. Kind of lowkey ruined our life at the beginning, but hey, at a certain point you come around and fall in love. Dogs, what are they like?
So I think you're about caught up now. Stick around, more news a-comin'.
We've got one last Skwigly Animation Podcast of 2023 before we tap out for the year. In episode 112 we welcome back director Sam Fell alongside producer Leyla Hobart to discuss their much-anticipated Aardman sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (out now on Netflix). We also welcome back director Robin Shaw and producer Ruth Fielding of Lupus Films to hear about their seasonal adaptation Mog’s Christmas, broadcast on Channel 4 this Xmas Eve.
Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, the stop-mo gore-fest on which I animated some retro VFX a while back, is currently available to watch for free over the holiday period. Those of you who have Amazon's Freevee, be sure to gather the kids and grandparents around the ol' tellybox and get 'em nice and traumatised.
Many thanks to all the wonderful folks of the local animation community for coming out to the final Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) of 2023 last week!
Extra special gratitude to King Street Brew House for having us, our pals at Animation Associates and Toon Boom Animation for the abundance of free drinks and incredible main raffle prize of an annual Toon Boom Harmony license (congrats to winner Elise as well as runner-up winners Olivia, Anna and Mayzey) - not to mention the fantastic Aardman Animations for the bonus prizes, Tova for her hard work keeping everything running organised and on time as well as Luzie for being on hand to take some fabulous photos.
Of course an extra special thanks to our incomparable industry guests Suzy Fagan Parr (Aardman), Jess Brazier (A Productions), Harry Slinger-Thompson (Scribble Room), Erinn Lucas (Sun & Moon) and Joe Wood (Rumpus) for taking their time to offer their insights and advice to eventgoers.We've got some exciting plans for 2024 so be sure to keep your eyes on Skwigly, Rumpus and Sun & Moon for updates and future event info!
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:
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.
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:
The biennial British Animation Awards has opened
the first categories of its 2024 call for entries. I'm proud to be working alongside the team again for its next edition, which will take place in March of next year. The BAAs are now accepting entries in the categories Best Undergraduate Student Film, Best Postgraduate Student Film and Best Short Film, so if you've got a film burning a hole in your pocket then be sure to get submittin'.
In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome Peter Sohn and Denise Ream, director and
producer respectively of the latest Disney/Pixar feature film Elemental.
Also discussed: Annecy highlights, MAF developments, the return of Futurama and the strange new phenomenon of animators being spotted in the wild. Check it out below or download it forevs.
A solid half-decade after it originally made its festival debut, I've finally put my fifth animated short Sunscapades online. It's a film I was initially quite proud of insofar as it came out exactly as I pictured it in my head, which is a rare thing indeed, but I grew a little conflicted about it for a few reasons I won't bore you with here. It had a nice chunky festival run either way, with stops including the BFI London Film Festival, LIAF, Encounters, LSFF, Just For Laughs, Sydney Film Festival, MIAF, Cardiff Animation Nights (twice! What a lovely bunch), Anima Brussels and a whole lot more. It was also an opportunity to work with the wonderful Weird Eye Collective talents Laura-Beth Cowley (producer and voice of Lily and Milly), Fiona Viani-Pericchi (voice of Billy) and Hannah Stevens (background paintings) and boasts some fantastic painterly contributions from Carwyn David, plus some spooky music courtesy of Phil Brookes. So give it a watch and let some sunshine into your lives:
You can have yourselves a merry little thumb-through and if you conclude it's a book you need in your life (as any rational person would) then I'm offering a special BAM-exclusive, mates-rates discount. As with every edition of BAM, all animation professionals, students, enthusiasts, fans and hobbyists from Bristol and the surrounding area – really anyone who fancies making the trek - are welcome.
Back to the book, check out the video above for a cheeky peek at what it looks like in hardback. Then spit coffee at your screen when you see how much the bloody thing costs. Ah well, some things just aren't in my control.
We also welcome back Turning Red director Domee Shi speaking with Skwigly contributor Ryan Gaur about the film’s positive reception and road to the Oscars. Download here or stream below:
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.
It’s been probably the longest stretch of radio silence on here since I started the strange, protracted, attention-seeking endeavour that is this blog. Personal circumstances innit. Anyways, here’s some stuff that’s happened in the interim.
Laura-Beth and I wrapped up the fourth season of Intimate Animation with a special live edition recorded at Manchester Animation Festival (which was a blast) back in November. We’re joined by director Phil Wall and producer Chloe Beale of Strange Acre Studios, discussing their recently-completed BFI-funded short film Woodland, as well as Julia Wiza to talk about her Nottingham Trent University thesis film Bogdanka. Much gratitude to everyone who came, as well as the MAF and HOME team for getting everything set up.
The last Skwigly Animation Podcast of 2022 features a chat between myself and - holy shit - Guillermo del Toro, joined by Pinocchio co-director Mark Gustafson. Not too fucking shabby, eh?
If that hasn’t gotten you dazed and confused, another chap possibly more well-known as a live-action director that I got to speak to recently is Richard Linklater, chatting about his recent feature Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood alongside his longtime animation collaborator (A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life) Tommy Pallotta.
CAF on Tour, featuring Laura-Beth Cowley’s Crafty Witch, is still making its way across the wonderful land o’ Wales. A couple dates for your calendars this month:
Some new podcasts for your waitin' ears. In episode 106 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome back pals o'Skwigly and all-around good eggs Matthew Walker and Jane Davies, directors of the new Aardman series Lloyd of the Flies. Beginning on CITV this week, the project marks the continued expansion of Aardman’s project roster as its first “in-house” CG production with a major brand push planned for the show and its characters.
Also discussed: The premature demise of the Young Audiences Content Fund, notable projects from the recent Disney D23 Expo, the South Park 25th anniversary concert, excitement for upcoming Netflix features Wendell & Wild and Pinocchio, Mike Judge’s second Beavis & Butt-Head reboot, fake/scam festivals and mysteries surrounding the production circumstances of the new Ren & Stimpy Show.
If you're based in the UK you can catch the full I'M FINE! programme at the Bolton Film Festival on October 7th 10:45am at the Bolton Museum. You might also want to check out some companion written interviews over on Skwigly with participants Yen Liang Chen (Am I Oright), Angel Wu (Drawn Undrew Draw) and Anna Samo (Conversations with a Whale).
Much love and gratitude to the folks out there who've supported the new album My Head Is Too Small for My Body over on Bandcamp the last few days. If you're a milleniboomer like me who still holds on to such archaic methods of music consumption as iTunes then the album is also available via Apple Music, and if you're more of a streamer than a buy-for-keepsies-er then it's available now on Spotify:
A couple new podcasts for ya, both a bit different from the kind of stuff we usually do but definitely worth a listen. In the latest episode of Animation One-To-Ones I'm joined by Cardiff-based animator Lauren Orme, who previously appeared on episodes 80 and 93 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast. In this latest episode we talk about the ways in which she has steered both Cardiff Animation Festival and her animation studio Picl in a more eco-conscious direction while also actively researching practical and practicable solutions for combating the increasingly concerning realities of climate change.
The latest endeavour of Lauren’s is the newly-launched Planet Positive Animation Network to help animation, VFX and games companies and freelancers become environmentally sustainable and help us reach net zero sooner. You can watch the interview above or stream below (or download here).
While the new network will be hosted digitally, CAF has plans to run events enabling members to meet and share ideas in person. CAF is also sharing resources on their website, and is offering a consultancy service for animation companies who want a little more help reaching net zero or becoming environmentally sustainable.
We've also popped up the first of a four-part series of special podcast minisodes for the I'M FINE! project we've been presenting with theLinoleum Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival. Taken from the Q&A panel sessions that accompany the screening programme, these feature artists sharing their experiences and insights into mental health, burnout and staying motivated as animation filmmakers. In episode 1 we hear from Will Anderson (The Making of Longbird), Anna Mantzaris (Enough) and Margarida Madeira (Playing Death). Stream down there or download right here.
I've been kinda quiet 'cause, well, shucks, I don't have a whole lot to say these days. I'll rattle off some general updates to keep this site from going into atrophy.
The epic, protracted journey of Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires has reached its conclusion (some five years after I joined the film's post-production team in its latter months) with a suitably-retro home media release. I don't really buy blurays, except for the occasional animation one, but the sheer strength of craft that went into this is a pretty good justification to pick it up and by some accounts I've read this version looks a little nicer than its streaming alternatives.
Another journey's end worth mentioning is my stint with the fine folks at Shy Guys Studios wrapping up after four-and-a-bit years. It's probably the longest I've been at one place (albeit while juggling a ton of other gigs on the side, as my gluttony for punishment dictates) and it led to some really fun projects including graphics and titles for a bunch of TV shows, animation for educational/health films (the one above was a lot of fun) and my most recent film Speed which managed to tick a few more festival selections off my personal wishlist. As with all the best gigs the real highlight was the people I got to meet through it and I hope we'll manage to work alongside one another again down the line.
Elsewhere the world of Emojitown is growing like gangbusters, having just hit a million followers on its main YouTube channel and over 125k on its more recent TikTok channel. I've been working with WildBrain Spark as a consultant and contributing director/producer on its social media shorts which have accrued a stunning 250+ million views since the end of last year. It's a pretty incredible thing to see this kind of response to a brand new IP, so fingers crossed things continue as it's been a fun world to be a part of and occasionally inject my weirdness into.
Ryan joins the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast with a segment interviewing Lightyear director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman. We also feature a chat between Laura-Beth and director/writer Loren Bouchard, co-director Bernard Derriman and co-writer/producer Nora Smith of The Bob's Burgers Movie. Again, it's streamable below and here's your download link, ya lucky so-and-so.
I think that's all the talk-about-ables for now. This summer might see things get a bit less quiet as there are a bunch of project announcements on the horizon, so, y'know, stay mildly alert.
