Channel Frederator Blog

John R. Dilworth is a very talented artist/animator/cartoonist who’s most know for creating “Courage The Cowardly Dog” a show I really enjoyed ( My favorite cartoon on TV at the time and even now I still really love watching it!). A little while ago John pitched his cartoon Garlic Boy for Frederator Studios’ Random! Cartoons. He was kind to an interview.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you grew up, went to college, where you currently work etc.
(Please see biographical info on www.stretchfilms.com)
Academy Award nominated director John R. Dilworth is a New York-based animation director and designer whose work has appeared on CBS, Showtime, HBO, FOX, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, Canal +, and Arte. His films have been featured in museum programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He is the founder of Stretch Films, Inc., one of the leading animation design and production studios in New York City.

His 1995 animated short film THE CHICKEN FROM OUTER SPACE, sponsored by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network, was nominated for an Academy Award, an Annie Award, and a Cable ACE Award. Re-named “COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG”, it was developed as a television series in 1998, with Dilworth serving as executive producer, director, and co-writer on all 52 half-hour episodes as well as voicing numerous characters. COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG wrapped production as one of Cartoon Network’s top-rated shows.

Dilworth has produced and directed thirteen independent and sponsored short films that continue to be screened worldwide. Dilworth’s early work includes PIERRE (1985), THE LIMITED BIRD (1989), and WHEN LILLY LANEY MOVED IN (1992).

Dilworth’s breakout film was THE DIRDY BIRDY (1994). The film critic, Karl Cohen, wrote, “An exceptional audience pleaser… I expect it will join Bambi Meets Godzilla as one of the great dubious classics of the late 20th century.” The film was selected in over 50 international festivals and has won numerous prizes including a Mikeldo do Plata de Animacion in Spain. THE DIRDY BIRDY toured with Spike & Mike’s “Festival of Animation” and “Sick & Twisted Festival.” It was also selected to screen with the 35-city LOLLAPALOOZA SUMMER TOUR music festival in 1995 and opened for several feature films, among them, “CRUMB.” The Venice Film Festival has placed a print of THE DIRDY BIRDY in their permanent archive. The film was featured on MTV’s debut of “Cartoon Sushi,” a series that highlights the best in independent animation. It has been broadcast in Spain, France, Belgium, Finland, Germany, and Australia; as well as screening in theaters throughout Europe. The popularity of the film continues in 2006 as a roadband series on Comedy Central’s website, Motherload.

Among his sponsored short films are SMART TALK WITH RAISIN (1993), for MTV’s Liquid Television, which was chosen to be included in the Best of Liquid Television home video, and ANGRY CABARET (1994), also for MTV, a montage of video and animation. For Nickelodeon, Dilworth adapted the comic book characters of Michael Pearlstein, producing and directing the short PSYCHED FOR SNUPPA (1992), with Jumbo Pictures. In 1994, he designed the characters for the Fox TV/ National Football League mini-series, “The Grunt & Punt Show”. Dilworth has won several awards for his commercial achievements, including a Platinum Record for his conceptual direction on the MTV Cher/Beavis & Butthead music video.

At the end of 1996 Dilworth completed NOODLES & NEDD, his tenth animated film. The film has screened at festivals worldwide, earning numerous awards, including a Charles Samu Honorable Mention Award. Inspired by his film Dilworth created five shorts for “Sesame Street” in 1997, which achieved great popularity with “Sesame Street” viewers. His studio also completed production on ACE AND AVERY, a series of 13 animated shorts he created for the television show “BIG BAG”, a co-production of Cartoon Network and Children’s Television Workshop, which premiered in April 1998. Dilworth followed up the five NOODLES & NEDD shorts with two more in the fall of 1999, and an additional two in 2000.

Dilworth’s eleventh animated film, CATCH OF THE DAY, starring Noodles & Nedd, was completed in 2000. The film won first place at ASIFA-San Francisco Animation Festival and second place at ASIFA-East Animation Festival in New York City.

In September 2000, Stretch Films launched its website, www.stretchfilms.com, allowing fans to view films, either in clips or in their entirety. Browsers can also learn more about Stretch Films, its production and artistic staff, awards and distinctions and future projects.

Dilworth completed his twelfth animated film, THE MOUSOCHIST in 2001. The film won Best of Show at the ASIFA-EAST Animation Festival in New York City, Best Film at the Marira Film Festival in Italy, and a Bronze Award at the Kalamazoo Animation Festival in Michigan. THE MOUSOCHIST was selected in Caroline’s on Broadway Funny Short Film Festival, winning second prize, and “Avoid Eye Contact” volume Two, The Best of New York Independent Animation. In 2002, the film began touring the United States as an official selection of Spike & Mike’s “Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation.” The film was an unexpected success with children, screening in as many young people’s festivals as adult, including “The Chicago International Children’s Film Festival” and “International Children’s and Young People’s Festival” in Malmo, Sweden.

Dilworth’s 2005 independent film, LIFE IN TRANSITION, has received international recognition, being awarded Best of Show at the ASIFA-East Animation Festival, Maverick Award for Best Animation at Woodstock Film Festival, and Nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Short among others. The film was selected for the 2005 tour “Animation Show of Shows,” the best of contemporary international animation.

Dilworth has been given Retrospectives at The James River Festival of Moving Image in Virginia, USA Film Festival in Dallas, I Castilli Animati in Italy, The Kitchen Gallery in New York City, and Anim’est in Bucharest, Romania.

In addition to filmmaking, Dilworth has lectured on animation at New York University, School of Visual Arts in New York City, Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina, and the Apple Store in New York City. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, Virginia, and Radio 101 in Zagreb Croatia., and many newspapers and magazines around the world. Most recently Dilworth was featured in the October 2005 edition of Animatoon Magazine in Korea. Dilworth has served in film festival selection committees and juries including Annecy Animation Festival in France, Zagreb Animation Festival in Croatia, and Corto Imola Festival in Italy.

Dilworth has been an Executive Board Member of ASIFA-East International Film Organization since 1991. He has written for Animation World Magazine, and ASIFA-East, and was an editor for the ANYMATOR newsletter (1990 - 1994). Dilworth is also a member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Association of Independent Film and Videomakers, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

What is stretch film’s and when was it founded?
see above

What are some of your inspirations?
Tex Avery, Clampett, John Hubley, The foundations of Disney animation, Dali, Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Richard Pryor, George Herriman, MAD magazine, Rankin Bass stop motion, among so many others.

What has helped you get to where you are today?
Motivation. I enjoy creating. I always wanted to make people laugh, or move them in some way through my art.

Your work has been on so many networks such as CBS, Showtime, HBO, FOX, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, Canal +, and Arte. What type of work did you do for those studios?
In my early days, I was working as a commercial animator and director. Eventually, I began creating my own properties for broadcast.

What helps you come up with character designs?
Very often I will simply sit down and draw. Sometimes something comes out of these exercises, sometimes nothing. The important thing is that I chose to sit down and just draw. The process of engaging the neurons of the brain that fire energy to fuel the drawing is what helps me come up with characters. Energy creates energy. Sometimes I will really relax and put on mood inspiring music, drink or smoke, maybe even listen to a lecture on mythology. Sometimes I will draw with Tex or Clampett cartoons keeping me company.

What challenges have you faced creating work?
The biggest challenge I have faced creating “commercial” work is doing the homework. I really cannot sit and study the lineup of the majors and study the trends of programming. I fight against artistic self-satisfaction and necessity of economics. What will sell? What’s out there now? This practice is so calculating, yet so vital if one is to find commercial patronage. And there is never any certainties of success. It is very difficult to just surrender to the act of making art for art sake.

How did you get major studios such as Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera to sponsor your film Chicken From Outer Space? ( later renamed to Courage The Cowardly Dog.)
Producing my short films created certain economic austerities that I wanted a break from. My next short film, TCFOS, which already existed as a storyboard, was sacrificed to the gods. I flew out to LA and pitched it to a room full of executives. They financed the short and the rest is long history.

How did you come up with the idea for Courage The Cowardly Dog? And what was it like to work on it as a television series?
TCFOS was initially my interpretation of sci-fi. I love horror and all that vocabulary of the Atomic Age. I combined all that was attractive to me in the short: aliens, the neglected landscape, human engineering, comedy…

Producing the series was very stressful and at the same time extremely rewarding. I think of only the satisfaction of collaborating with artists and writers that contributed so much to the show, I think of the parties, the access to professionals, the travel, the philanthropy…

Do you by any chance have a pink dog?
No. Incidentally, the morning TCFOS was nominated for an Oscar, I was in LA and on the way to Hanna-Barbera when a dog had been hit crossing the street and left there. I stopped my car, lifted the dog and went door to door hoping to find the owner. In the end, a home owner and I called the city and they came to collect the animal. One dog is sacrificed so that another can live.

I’ve noticed you have a lot of films that have aired on Nickelodeon, MTV and Cartoon Network. How could you explain such great success?
I do not qualify having aired my work as being “successful”. In the western definition, I’ve only had one success - Courage. It has been extremely difficult obtaining patronage throughout my career and remains so today. Art is not something one does with an economic model to follow.

What tips for pitching would you give to someone who’s interested in pitching to a network or studio?
As I mentioned, it is best to call and “take a meeting” with your favorite network. Sit down and talk it over. What is it that the network is looking for right now? Let them get a sense of you, your special talent, your personality. Also, it is important to learn who the development executive will be. You do not want someone who doesn’t “get” cartoonists or animators. You may chose to have a representative go in your behalf, because it is all business. I mention all this before answering the question because so much must be considered when creating a show. Often, a creator loves their idea so much, they will find a way to get it made despite all. What I have done is create a bible to leave with the network, but I would physically act out a storyboard. This is the only way I’ve worked.

Garlic Boy is a cartoon that is apart of the Random! Cartoons soon to air on TV . How did you come up with the idea for the cartoon?
I had drawn the character a year before even writing the storyboard. It was something that came out of “drawing”. I wanted to make a cartoon that would parody the American myth of the innocence of well-meaning God loving people who travel the world offering miracle cures or conversion. I also wanted to suggest that something is quite not right with this “world”. The town of Eyebright, where GB finally arrives to dispense his goodness, is polluted, abandoned and given over to factories working day and night. It is all very subtle and viewers do not notice these metaphors and symbolisms of the cartoon.

What was it like pitching Garlic Boy?
GB was not an easy show to pitch. I was negotiating with another network for four months before the show was unexpectedly dropped, all due from internal circumstances not related to myself. Another network simply wasn’t doing “tuber” shows. When I pitched it to Fred Seibert, he “got” the cartoon and had even suggested GB could use his garlic tonic much the way Popeye used his spinach.I never forgto that. It was a good idea. Fred is among the few executives I know of that is a cartoonist at heart. He is a style of producing that is very much like a farmer who nurtures things to grow. After the initial “pitch”, all went smoothly. Basically, I was let alone to make the cartoon the way I wanted with very few comments from the studio. Sometimes this method produces some wonderful cartoons and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s like planting trees, some make it, some don’t. Personally, I do not think GB is a great cartoon. It’s okay. And for Nickelodeon, the personality may not be unique. The network has such a strong and varied roster of stars.

What was the best part of working on the production of Garlic Boy?
I was happy to make GB.

What do you think has helped you to come up with the really strange and awesome character designs you’ve made?
E=mc2?

What tips would you have for someone who is making his or her own short film?
Have fun.

Will you be at the NYC screening of 10 of the Random! Cartoons May 22, 2007? Your cartoon Garlic Boy is going be screened!
I hope to make an appearance to support the artists and Fred.

Thanks for your time John!

You are very welcome and thank you for your consideeration.
—-

As a side note, after I emailed John the interview I went into bed, turned on the TV and Courage The Cowardly Dog was on!! What a funny coincidence! Such a great show! Hopefully John will make an appearance at the NYC screening! Add another cartoonist to your list Eric!

-Steve

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