Talk to the Snail

Dirk Banzai from Mukpuddy on Vimeo.

The new adventure of Mukpuddy’s first character - Dirk Banzai!

***CHECK OUT our blog for more info:
http://mukpuddy.blogspot.com/2009/10/hes-not-cat.html

Hats off to our pals in New Zealand, Mukpuddy Animation, for a job well-done. They’ve just blogged a four-and-a-half minute pilot for Nick International based on their very first character, Dirk Banzai (created back when Dame Jenny Shipley was Prime Minister!). Watch it above, then go to the MukBlog to let them how much you enjoyed it.

– Eric

Freaky Robots - The Sex List from Freaky Robots on Vimeo.

Hats off to OddBot Inc. A small cartoon studio within a stone’s throw of L.A.’s Eagle Rock, they’ve produced some real good work over the past three years under the leadership of Chris Hamilton. And while the crew works on projects for clients including Playhouse Disney and PBS Kids, they also make their own, original cartoons, such as their Freaky Robots series. Take a look at one of the more popular episodes, “The Sex List”, embedded above.

– Eric

Creators of Adventure Time, Flapjack, and Chowder at the San Diego Comic-Con 2009.

– Eric

From the June/July issue of Animation Magazine, profiles on Eric and Pen. Separated at birth?

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There’s a screening tomorrow night in New York City featuring a group of cartoons all about getting it on. Filmmakers including Bill Plympton, PES, Andy and Carolyn London, Ruth Lingford, Pat Smith, and David Lobser will be there in person to display their shorts, and animator Signe Baumane will moderate the intercourse. As in dialog. The prurient fun starts at the 92YTribeca at Hudson and Canal Streets in Manhattan at 8:00 p.m. Cost is $12. Click here for all the information.

The line-up of lust:

Teat Beat of Sex, Signe Baumane

Sex and Violence, Bill Plympton

Mexican Standoff, Bill Plympton

Roof Sex, PES

Letter to Colleen, Andy and Carolyn London

Handshake, Pat Smith

Mother’s Day, David Lobser

Dirty Birdy, John Dilworth

Everybody’s Pregnant, Debra Solomon

What She Wants, Ruth Lingford

Chainsaw, Dennis Tupicof

Berni’s Doll, Yann Jouette

– Eric

So our good friend Rita Street tricked me into participating in an event she and her Radar Cartons pal, John Hardman, put together with the New Zealand government. Basically, a bunch of Kiwi creators and studio reps fly to L.A. to meet, greet, and pitch mighty development executives (like me) from benevolent cartoon companies (like Frederator). Held throughout the day at a Burbank hotel, the event saw all the usual suspects from the suit side – Disney, Starz, Cartoon Network, Nelvana, Cookie Jar, and so forth were all represented (Nickelodeon sat out because the projects weren’t from the U.S.).

Anyhoo, the New Zealand folks I met with were very nice, had great ideas, and were soldiering on despite having pitched the same ideas up to ten times in the course of a few hours. I offered all the usual wisdom and advice (“Maybe a cartoon about a development executive who eats pretzels?”), ate [Read more…]

Well, a BIG congratulations going out to filmmaker Nicole Mitchell. Her hand-drawn CalArts film, “Zoologic”, has won the gold (that’s the top prize) in the animation category in this year’s Student Academy Awards. It’s an honor well-deserved. You can see a clip of Nicole and her film by scrolling down a bit after clicking here. Nicole is now added to the list of Student Academy Award-winners that includes Pete Docter, Kathy Zielinski, Paul Demyer, Mark Kirkland, Vanessa Schwartz, Joe Murray, Trey Parker, Shane Acker, and (two-time winner) John Lasseter.

Again, hats off to a job well done, Nicole.

– Eric

(Sorry this is so late. Even though I blogged about her nomination in May, I was thinking the Awards were to be held this past weekend. When I looked this morning to see what went down, it turns out the awards were June 7.)

If you missed Tuesday night’s ASIFA-East Random! Cartoons screening, you missed ten shorts and some talk with questions and answers. It was extra cool to see our New York City-based Random! creators. Thanks to all the filmmakers, ASIFA-East, SVA, Dave Levy, and the 100+ folks who turned out.

Three things that came up during the Q&A you might want to know: Frederator’s trying real hard to get another order of shorts; the latest from Nick is that this latest crop of cartoons will air toward to the end of the year; and Bill Plympton animated “Gary Guitar” by himself in about a month.

From left to right, the folks in the above shot are: Bill Plympton, Manny Galán, Dave Levy, Alan Goodman, Dana Galin, Tom Selleck, Fred Seibert, Diane Kredensor, (not in picture, but who were there: John Dilworth and Dan Meth).

Thanks to Ryan Sias for taking the picture.

– Eric
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I had the good fortune to eat some terrifc breakfast in Manhattan with Dave Levy last week. Dave’s the head of ASIFA in NYC, he teaches at SVA, and he’s been a key player at Nick Jr for a real long time. Oh, and he’s a real good guy, too. Anyway, he told me all about his new book, Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive, being released (according to Amazon) today. Specifically wanting to avoid the more clinical approach used in a lot of other animation resource books, Dave incorporates more than 100 interviews he’s conducted over the years with tons of people in the industry, from artists to executives. It’s light, fun, and extremely informative.

If you’re interested in the business of animation at all, you really need to pick up a copy of this book. Dave knows what he’s writing about.