The Spark Cast

Ron Clements's animation career began while he was still

in high school and working part-time at the local

television station in Sioux City, Iowa. An ill-fated trip

to New York changed his career, leading a young Ron to Los

Angeles and a job at Hanna-Barbera before landing his

dream job: Disney.

In this conversation, Ron talks about his early passion for

drawing and experimentation with film, the highs and lows

of his career; from being at the forefront of the "Disney

Renaissance" with the release of The Little Mermaid

to the disappointment of Treasure Planet, and the

shift to CG animation.

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix · Tickfilm.

KILOBYTE:

Atomic Cartoons · BRON · Doberman Pictures · DNEG · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic ·

Mainframe Studios · WildBrain Studios.

BYTE:

Animasia BC · CMPA BC · Digi BC · NOX VFX · Rotomaker · Scanline VFX ·

The Little Dev Shop · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media · Walt Disney Animation Studios · Wētā FX

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Karissa Valencia spent her youth travelling between the

bustling metropolis of San Diego and the peaceful Santa

Ynez Chumash Reservation. Growing up with a foot in both

of those worlds deeply affected both the stories Karissa

tells and how she tells them.

In our conversation with Karissa, she shares insights into

what it's like to craft stories for young children, the

process of "indigenizing" her award-winning

series Spirit Rangers, and how her native identity

and being a woman have shaped her storytelling.

Episode Links

LinkedIn

Instagram

Spirit Rangers

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix · Tickfilm.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · BRON · Doberman Pictures · DNEG · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic · Mainframe Studios · WildBrain Studios.

BYTE: Animasia BC · CMPA BC · Digi BC · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media · Walt Disney Animation Studios.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Growing up with his grandmother in Rhode Island, Kevin

Lima doesn't remember a time when he didn't draw. That

passion for creativity led to puppetry and, eventually,

CalArts.

A successful career at Disney followed, working on Disney

Renaissance classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty

and the Beast and Aladdin, later transitioning

into directing a trio of cult favourites: A Goofy

Movie, Tarzan and the live-action/animation

hit Enchanted.

In our conversation, Kevin discusses his career

trajectory, his sources of inspiration, his passion for

storytelling, and the vital skill of knowing when a story

isn't working.

Episode Links

LinkedIn

'Twas Entertainment

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · BRON · Doberman Pictures · DNEG · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic · Mainframe Studios · WildBrain Studios.

BYTE: Animasia BC · CMPA BC · Digi BC · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Peggy Holmes is proof that a career in animation can

start at any age. Before animation, she had an enormously

successful career as a choreographer for film and stage,

even going on the road with Michael Jackson on two tours.

So how did she get from choreography to directing? We

spoke with Peggy about her first career, the transition into

animation at Disney, her move to Skydance Animation, and the

making of the studio's first animated feature film

Luck.

Episode Links

Skydance Animation

Facebook

Instagram

Watch Luck

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · BRON · Doberman Pictures · DNEG · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic · Mainframe Studios · WildBrain Studios.

BYTE: Animasia BC · CMPA BC · Digi BC · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop · Vancouver Film School.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Henry Selick's artistic talents were noted at an early

age but he shied away from the attention, turning instead to

another creative outlet: music. While in college studying

math and science, he rediscovered his love for art and

eventually found himself at CalArts.

Unable to keep up with the ferocious pace at

Hanna-Barbera, Henry went knocking on Disney's door, a

relationship that eventually led him to direct the

ground-breaking The Nightmare Before Christmas.

We spoke with Henry about his inspiration and early

passion for art, his penchant for the macabre, the evolution

of stop-motion and his latest film Wendell &

Wild.

Episode Links

Watch Wendell & Wild

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · BRON · DNEG · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic · Mainframe Studios.

BYTE: CMPA BC · Digi BC · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop · Vancouver Film School.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Sometimes being a studio founder means doing the work no

one else wants to do: from cleaning toilets to finding the

work that keeps the studio lights on.

While it's been some time since Cartoon Saloon co-founder

Nora Twomey, had to clean a toilet, she’s not below doing what

needs to be done to stay creative and independent.

We had the opportunity to speak with Nora about her early

love for drawing and animation, the ups and downs of running a

studio, how she stays creative, as well as her latest feature

film My Father's Dragon, a beautiful adaptation of Ruth

Stiles Gannett's award-winning children's book.

Episode Links

Cartoon Saloon

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

Watch My Father's Dragon

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2023 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: Animal Logic · Capilano University.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · Image Engine · Industrial Light & Magic · Mainframe Studios.

BYTE: CMPA BC · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Tracey Goessel's first passion was medicine. Inspired, in

part, by Star Trek, and with a goal of financial

independence, she attended medical school and had a successful

career as a clinician and trauma doctor before becoming an

entrepreneur.

Her success as an entrepreneur allowed Tracey to pursue her

other passion: silent film. Her love for Douglas Fairbanks

Sr. led her to write First King of Hollywood: The Life of

Douglas Fairbanks, considered by many to be the key

biography of the early Hollywood legend, and in 2014, Tracey

founded the Film Preservation Society. The goal of the

organization is to rescue all 460+ Biograph films directed by

D.W. Griffith between 1908 and 1913.

We recently spoke with Tracey about her passion for silent

film, how her career as a physician has informed her work as a

film historian, how technology is aiding her preservation

work, and why film preservation is important.

Episode Links

www.filmpreservationsociety.org

Twitter

Facebook

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2022 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: AMPD Technologies · Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix · TrickFilm.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · Bardel Entertainment · BRON Media Corp. · DNEG · Image Engine ·

Mainframe Studios · Sony Pictures Imageworks.

BYTE: AMD Canada · Animasia Animation · Centre for Digital Media · CMPA BC · DigiBC ·

Foundry · Ghost VFX · NGX Interactive · NOX VFX · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop ·

Unreal Engine · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media · Wacom Store Canada.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

Carla Patullo always knew she wanted to make music. Her

parents insisted that if this was the path she wanted to

pursue, she needed to go to school, which is how Carla found

herself at Berklee College of Music in Boston,

Massachusetts, one of two women in the music program.

Beyond earning a degree, Carla left Berklee with

something else: a passion for new and unique music that she

hadn’t been exposed to growing up but it was film scoring

that called to her and after a few years of writing music

and touring with her band White Widow, she began work in the

film industry, scoring everything from documentaries to

horror films.

We recently spoke with Carla about her creative process,

the challenges of being an openly gay woman working in a

largely male industry, and the balance of creating

commercial work to fund the important work.

Episode Links

www.carlapatullo.com/

Instagram

Shadowmaker

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2022 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: AMPD Technologies · Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · Bardel Entertainment · BRON Media Corp. · DNEG · Image Engine ·

Mainframe Studios · Sony Pictures Imageworks.

BYTE: AMD Canada · Animasia Animation · Centre for Digital Media · CMPA BC · DigiBC ·

Foundry · Ghost VFX · NGX Interactive · NOX VFX · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop ·

Unreal Engine · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media · Wacom Store Canada.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

The movies have always been a part of Leonard Maltin’s

life and while a career as a critic and historian was never

"the plan," he's been reporting on film for nearly 60

years.

From fan zines to television, Leonard has been a part of

the cultural film conversation for decades and he continues

to share his knowledge and passion for the medium on a

weekly basis.

We recently spoke with Leonard about his career, legacy,

and the power of curiosity.

Episode Links

www.leonardmaltin.com/

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2022 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: AMPD Technologies · Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix · TrickFilm.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · Bardel Entertainment · BRON Media Corp. · DNEG · Image Engine ·

Mainframe Studios · Sony Pictures Imageworks.

BYTE: AMD Canada · Animasia Animation · Centre for Digital Media · CMPA BC · DigiBC ·

Foundry · Ghost VFX · NGX Interactive · NOX VFX · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop ·

Unreal Engine · Vancouver Film School · Versatile Media · Wacom Store Canada.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.

James Curtis didn't set out to become a biographer but his

interest in film and his passion for research led him to the

job while still in university. What began with curiosity and a

bit of luck, eventually resulted in his first book, a

biography of director James Whale.

Though writing never came easily, James continued to pursue

his love for research and truthtelling while also developing a

career as an executive in the insurance and computer

industries. Over the course of 25 years, James’ passion for

biographies has yielded eight books and along the way, his

"side hustle" became his full-time job.

We recently

spoke with James about his passion for research, overcoming

subject block, and why biographies are important.

Episode Links

www.jamescurtis.net

Host: Marina Antunes

Opening & Closing Credits by: Michael Edlund

Produced & Edited by: Joshua Peterman

©2022 Spark CG Society · All Rights Reserved.

Thank you to our sponsors!

TERABYTE: Creative BC.

MEGABYTE: AMPD Technologies · Animal Logic · Capilano University · Netflix.

KILOBYTE: Atomic Cartoons · Bardel Entertainment · BRON Media Corp. · DNEG · Image Engine ·

Mainframe Studios · Sony Pictures Imageworks.

BYTE: AMD Canada · Animasia Animation · Centre for Digital Media · CMPA BC · DigiBC ·

Foundry · Ghost VFX · NGX Interactive · NOX VFX · Scanline VFX · The Little Dev Shop ·

Unreal Engine · Versatile Media · Wacom Store Canada.

PARTNERS: ACM SIGGRAPH.

ORGANIZERS: Spark CG Society · Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH.