Toon-In Talk

Hello and welcome to twenty-third episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. It’s also time for the third round of interviews for the Ladies of Animation Month, Whitney Grace’s yearly tribute to women who work in the animation industry and mission to inspire girls to pursue their animated ambitions. Kirsty Scanlan is the co-president of the Women in Animation organization. Kirsty fell into animation when she worked at Threshold Entertainment and fell in love with the medium. She is currently Technicolor’s Vice President of Business Development for Technicolor’s Animation and Games group. Whitney and Kristy discuss Kristy’s career the current state of women in the animation industry, and their hopes for the future.

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Toon-In Talk Episode 23: Interview with Kristy Scanlan

Toon-In Talk Episode 23: Interview with Kristy Scanlan

Podcasts Toon-In-Talk November 24, 2015 Whitney Grace

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Hello and welcome to twenty-third episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. It’s also time for the third round of interviews for the Ladies of Animation Month, Whitney Grace’s yearly tribute to women who work in the animation industry and mission to inspire girls to pursue their animated ambitions. Kirsty Scanlan is the co-president of the Women in Animation organization. Kirsty fell into animation when she worked at Threshold Entertainment and fell in love with the medium. She is currently Technicolor’s Vice President of Business Development for Technicolor’s Animation and Games group. Whitney and Kristy discuss Kristy’s career the current state of women in the animation industry, and their hopes for the future.

Episode 23

Kristy Scanlan entered the entertainment industry right of college and worked in live action script development, but when she worked at Threshold Entertainment they had an animation studio. She became more involved in the animation side of the studio and fell in love with it.

When Kristy was at Threshold Entertainment, she worked on projects for Lego, Marvel, DC, and some theme parks.

She currently works at Technicolor and is in charge of business development for their studio in Bangalore, India.

One of the services her studio provides is CG outsourcing and her clients include DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Electronic Arts, Activision, Rockstar Games, Capcom, 2K, Sony Computer Entertainment.

Kristy’s other job was helping revamp the Women In Animation organization to give it new life and help women launch their careers in the animation industry, including networking, educational seminars, and giving them a voice.

70% of women in art schools want to become animators, but only 20% actually work in the animation industry.

Women In Animation’s goal is to have a 50/50 workforce in the animation industry by 2025.

Women In Animation has made strong movements since the organization’s revamp in October 2013.

The entire goal is to empower women, get jobs, and succeed in a field usually dominated my men.

Whitney and Kristy discuss old-fashioned hiring practices and how they could evolve in the future.

Women In Animation is for more diversity not only in the animation industry, but also diversity in culture as a whole.

Self-doubt is one of the biggest barriers that women face.

Kristy shares her experience about females working in the animation industry. She says that things have improved since the 1950s, but there is a whole lot of room for improvement.

Whitney points out that Lotte Reiniger, the first female animation director in the world, is usually a footnote in history books.

Kristy talks about the Annecy International Film Festival.

She declares 50/50 by 2025!

Hello and welcome to twenty-second episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. It’s also time for the second round of interviews for the Ladies of Animation Month, Whitney Grace’s yearly tribute to women who work in the animation industry and mission to inspire girls to pursue their animated ambitions. Puppetry has many things in common with animation, including principles that make inanimate characters come to life. Cheryl Henson is a proud promoter of the puppetry arts and preserving her father’s legacy for future generations. If you couldn’t tell by the last name, Cheryl Henson is Jim Henson’s daughter. Jim Henson not only revolutionized the world of modern puppetry with the Muppets, but he also was a singular entertainer and creative genius. Cheryl Henson chats with Whitney about the renovation at the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts with brand new exhibits dedicated to Jim Henson and puppetry from around the world.

Show Notes

Whitney recognized Cheryl Henson at DragonCon by her fabulous fashion sense. She wore an original outfit made for her by the designers of the Dark Crystal fashion line.

Cheryl is the president of the Jim Henson Foundation.

Cheryl was at DragonCon, because she was promoting the new expansion to the Atlanta Center for the Puppetry Arts. The Puppetry Center will house a new collection featuring puppets from the Henson Family’s personal archives.

Jane and Jim Henson were at the Center of Puppetry Arts’s opening back in 1978 and it was founded by Vince Anthony.

The Puppetry Center advocates the art of puppetry with educational programs, a museum, and encouraging anyone, anywhere to make their own puppets.

The new Jim Henson collection will include over 450 new Muppet puppets, but only 75 will be on display at any one time.

The puppets were housed in a storage facility in New Jersey and these were original, screen used Muppets!

All of the Muppets in the Jim Henson collection were refurbished to make them museum ready. All of the foam rubber had to be removed, clean the fleece, stuff with cotton filling, and add a plastic skeleton.

The Puppetry Center hired two fulltime staff members to refurbish the puppets.

The collection will include the Seven Deadly Sins from The Muppets Sex and Violence When they opened the box containing the Muppet Gluttony it actually had real candy on it! They were removed, so it wouldn’t attract bugs.

Cheryl shares her special Robin the Frog story!

The new Puppetry Center will feature an exhibit modeled after the real Muppet workshop.

Jim Henson revolutionized puppet design by making puppets specifically for TV and film.

Cheryl explains that the Puppetry Center will feature all types of puppetry. Nearly all cultures around the world have some form of puppetry.

Whitney and Cheryl discuss how puppetry is a very viable art and how Jim Henson used story in his work.

The Jim Henson Company is very dedicated to exploring the entire world of the Dark Crystal. Whitney shares that she hangs out in the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth worlds when she has writer’s block.

In her own personal opinion, Cheryl believes that her father put character before story.

Cheryl explains the difference between the Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, Jim Henson’s Legacy, Disney’s The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Sesame Workshop.

Whitney and Cheryl think its funny when they talk about the semantics involved with stop motion animation, live puppetry, and how they two intersect.

To make someone laugh, Jim would blow a puppet up, have a puppet eaten, or throw penguins in the air.

Cheryl declares that people need to care about each other.

Hello and welcome to twenty-first episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. It’s that time of year for the Ladies of Animation Month, Whitney Grace’s yearly tribute to women who work in the animation industry and mission to inspire girls to pursue their animated ambitions. Whitney is a proud member of the Women in Animation organization and with their helped she rounded up great professional women who have made successful careers in animation. To kick off Ladies in Animation Month, Whitney interviews Marge Dean, co-presdient of Women in Animation, general manager of Stoopid Buddy Stoodies, and former production manager at Mattel’s Playground Productions. Marge discusses her past and present animation career accomplishments and then she explains Women in Animation’s mission.

Show Notes

Marge Dean has worked in the animation industry for over twenty years and she is currently the general manager of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.

She was the only production manager on the Ren and Stimpy Show to deliver a show on time.

Marge worked at Mattel’s Playground Productions for three years and was responsible for Barbie, Monster High, Ever After High, Max Steel, Hot Wheels, and other lines.

Whitney admits her guilty pleasure: animated movies based off toy lines.

One of the keys to being successful with kid’s content these days is to have an ancillary license, like a toy line. Networks aren’t subsidizing shows anymore.

Seth Green, Matthew Seinreich, John Harvatine, and Eric Towner founded Stoopid Buddy Stoodies.

As a general manager, Marge will be taking over the front end of running Stoopid Buddy. She will be implementing in procedures to keep the workflow moving and freeing up Seth Green, Matthew Seinreich, John Harvatine, and Eric Towner to work on more creative projects.

Marge will also be tracking down more work for Stoopid Buddy Stoodios and Whitney can’t wait to see what the studio will make.

One of the biggest challenges Marge has noticed working at several studios is finding talent and with Stoopid Buddy she walked into it.

Marge Dean is also one the board of Women In Animation. She shares how when she started in the industry there weren’t a lot of women working in animation and that has grown over the past twenty years.

The entire goal of the Women In Animation organization is to empower women to become leaders, have studios rethink hiring practices, and encourage women and anyone to follow their dream for a career in animation.

Nowadays people are more sensitive to women’s issues in various industries, not just animation.

The newest generation of fathers is very dedicated to helping their daughters succeed in the world.

Marge wants Women In Animation to become so obsolete that it dissolves, because she wants women and diversity to become commonplace.

Women In Animation’s goal is 50/50 by 2025, meaning the workforce in the animation industry will be equal between men and women.

Marge and Whitney both agree that women are an untapped resource.

Whitney and Marge bond over their mutual love for chiweenies and The Godfather.

Hello and welcome to twentieth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Whitney loves comic books and graphic novels, so when she’s not watching cartoons she’s reading comics. One of her favorite cartoon sagas is the DC Animated Universe, including the fabulous cartoons Static Shock and Batman: The Animated Series. Whitney had the luck to speak with Joseph Phillip Illidge, who helped shaped the hero Static at Milestone Media and also reinvigorated he Batman comic book series. Joseph continues to write and edit comics as well as expanding his talents into other creative endeavors.

Show Notes

Joseph is a writer, editor, and columnist. He writes a column at ComicResources.com called “The Mission” about diversity in comic books, he is currently the writer of the graphic novel The Ren published by First Second, and writes the series Solar Man.

Whitney is a huge fan of the DC Animated Universe hero, Static Shock. The founders of Milestone Media created static in the 1990s. Joseph had the awesome opportunity to work at Milestone and with Static.

Joseph and Whitney discuss about Static’s character was a great superhero, and identifiable for teenagers.

Joseph was an editor at DC during the Batman: No Man’s Land He delves into exciting details about how he shaped Batman as a series as well as the characters.

This is one of Whitney’s favorite sagas in Batman

They discuss how the Joker has changed from his incarnations during No Man’s Land to the current version in the New 52. Both Whitney and Joseph agree the Joker has gone in some extreme directions.

The Suicide Squad is going to take Harley Quinn to new levels. The movie will be a good test to see whether or not if DC can face-off against Disney’s Marvel Entertainment.

The Ren is a teenage love story about a young bass player from Georgia who moves to Harlem, New York with dreams to become a famous musician and he falls in love with young dancer. It’s about what they go through from 1925-1926. It was written due to the lack of black romance graphic novels in the medium.

Joseph explains about the lack of graphic novels starring characters of non-European ancestry, how he wants to expand the offering, and some of his favorite graphics novels that do fit this niche.

Whitney talks about her own graphic novel and wanting to see more heroine-centric comics sans romance.

As comic geeks always do, Whitney and Joseph suggest titles to read to each other.

Joseph declares a desire for a better and friendlier comic book industry.

Craig’s grandfather was Chuck Jones ,one of Bugs Bunny’s fathers, and a significant creator in the Warner Brothers cartoons. He works in the family business of preserving Chuck’s legacy via his namesake galleries and the Chuck Jones Experience.

Whitney shares her experience at a Chuck Jones Gallery and together they express their appreciation of Bill Plympton.

Craig explains how Warner Brothers animators made cartoons for themselves and hoped the audiences would enjoy their humor.

Craig shares one of the questions he asks perspective employees and asks it of Whitney.

Chuck’s animation legacy left a huge impact on today’s animation industry, including on Pixar’s John Lasseter and Japan’s Osamu Tezuka.

Chuck was adamant that you learned the rules so you could then break them and he was always learning art technique.

Chuck Jones related companies started when he and his daughter, Linda Jones Clough, started an art company to present animation production material showcase artists, and more.

When Linda contacted Warner Brothers about Chuck’s production material, she learned the studio burned them.

Since then the Chuck Jones companies have preserved animation and art history, while nurturing new talent.

A new opportunity Craig is exploring is how to inspire creativity in people, businesses, and communities called the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.

The Center is also associated with the Smithsonian, Museum of the Moving Image, and the Academy of Motion Pictures on a traveling exhibit called "What’s Up Doc?: The Animation Art of Chuck Jones."

Hello and welcome to eighteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Every year Whitney attends several of the biggest conventions in the US and one of her favorites is Dragon-Con held in Atlanta, GA. Dragon-Con is a big convention with an intimate feeling, because it allows you to have up and close interactions with the guests and it never feels too over crowded. The Dragon-Con staff are super organized and they are dedicated to ensuring fans have the best experience. Whitney also loves Dragon-Con for its diverse programming, especially the puppetry and anime/manga tracks. She was privileged to chat with puppetry track coordinator Beau Brown and anime/manga track coordinator Jake Trabox about the special events for Dragon-Con 2015.

Hello and welcome to seventeenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. What happens when an animation fan, an animator, and his crazy co-workers decide to have some fun during a podcast interview? This is what happened during the seventeenth episode. Whitney chats with Adam Toews, an illustrator on the hit series Archer. Adam works at Floyd County Productions, an Atlanta-based animation studio. They discuss Adam’s career, his work on Archer, and how Atlanta is becoming a bigger animation venue.

Show Notes

Adam’s last name is pronounced “taves,” although it’s spelled like “toes.” He will answer to both.

Adam works at Floyd County Productions on Archer and he was the art director on He started in animation for Cartoon Network’s Squidbillies, Aquateen Hunger Force, and even Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

Whitney and Adam talk about how animators are versatile artists.

Atlanta is a hub for animators and is becoming one of the new centers for animation in the US.

Adult Swim is probably one of the reasons why Atlanta is becoming an animation hotspot.

Adam got into animation through an internship he had at Turner Broadcasting (Cartoon Network). He was impressed by the casual dress code and they played good music. He also got really great animation experience.

His first job was at Radical Axis, an Atlanta-based animation studio, where he worked on Squidbillies and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Adam recommends brand new animators start out at a smaller studio, because you get work on all tasks on the pipeline.

The wonderful story about how Adam got to work on Archer is explained.

Archer is described as if James Bond met Arrested Development, the classic office comedy that just happens to be an international spy ring.

Whitney disliked the first two episodes of Archer, but after the third she was hooked. It was due to the character’s complexities and their bizarre approach to a the usually serious spy drama.

Adam and Whitney praise the animation style and how it so different from its contemporary mature cartoons, i.e. The Simpsons, American Dad, and Family Guy.

Each person in Archer’s animation staff has an important function and Adam explain each role in detail, including his own as an illustrator.

All of Archer’s key animation is done using Adobe Illustrator.

The show’s writer Adam Reed is like a unicorn in the mists, he appears one day with scripts and then disappears again.

This was recorded on a Friday night, so a few of Adam’s co-workers came to visit, Kim Feigenbaum and Adam Forbes. But due to craziness and recording difficulties, their pieces had to be edited out.

Adam does share that the Atlanta, Georgia animation community is like a family and how during the deadlines you can learn more about yourself and make some really strong friendships.

Also he declares that dance parties are fun.

Hello and welcome to sixteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Have you ever wondered what happened to kid voice actors when they grow up? Whitney Grace has! After watching Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book, Whitney wondered what happened to Mowgli. It turns out that Mowgli is Bruce Reitherman, son of Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, one Disney’s Nine Old Men! Bruce was more than happy to discuss his experiences voicing Mowgli and growing up at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1960s.

Show Notes

Bruce voiced Mowgli in The Jungle Book and he is also the son of Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men.

Growing up in the Disney Studios was like being alive during the Renaissance.

Some of his earliest memories include that it was a very family oriented place and some of the people he ran into.

Whitney praises the Ink and Paint Club.

Bruce delves into the creativity he witnessed at the studio, including how individuals added to the big picture.

Woolie took over the art department after Walt Disney passed away. He was always eager to go to work everyday, was a great father, intelligent, and talented.

Bruce stresses that all animators had the same attributes as his father and this made them great animators able to capture the illusion of life.

Woolie was in charge of the Xerox age of Disney animation.

Whitney loves this era, because you can see the original pencil sketches and the animation process. Bruce gives a history of the Xerox process, why Disney implemented it, and what he enjoys about this animation process.

Bruce talks about his experience voicing Mowgli in The Jungle Book and the fun he had.

Whitney wonders how The Jungle Book changed from the original concept and Bruce explains how Disney was interested in making an enjoyable character film and take it in a new direction from the original story.

When Bruce got the Mowgli role, he wasn’t a child actor. His dad needed a regular voice from a regular kid and Bruce was in the right place: living under the same roof as Woolie Reitherman.

Bruce shares his views on Mowgli’s different relationships with the animals.

Whitney wanted Mowgli to go back to the jungle and live, while Bruce likes the ending where Mowgli goes back to the man village.

He likes this ending, because it shows that Mowgli accepts growing up.

Bruce “wants to be like you!” and he has never seen The Jungle Book 2.

Hello and welcome to fifteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. During research for her book on Lotte Reiniger, Whitney was using the British Film Institute’s website for information. She came across some great animation information, not just about Reiniger, but also about British animation. Jez Stewart in the BFI’s Animation Animation Curator and during this interview he discusses British animation history, the BFI’s animation holdings, and other fun facts about working in a renowned film archive.

Show Notes

Jez Stewart is the Animation Curator at the British Film Institute (BFI) and he has worked there for fourteen years.

He started as an acquisitions assistant and slowly his worked his way up to his current position. Jez describes his work at a mixture of “spreadsheets and boxes of delights.”

He works with all the old goodies, including some of the earliest animated films ever made.

Jez explains the decomposition of old film stock and how they must store some films at very cold temperatures.

The BFI is the UK’s lead body of film, created in 1933, and its purpose is to ensure that all moving images are preserved, shared with people, and exhibit British culture.

The BFI’s collection scope if very large. They have work from studios that closed down, wanted to clean out their closets, and more. A large portion of the work is commercial, but they also include material from feature films and other entertainment venues.

Housed in the archive is Bob Godfrey’s work, WWI films that make fun of the Kaiser, public information films, the Halas and Batchelor films (they made Animal Farm).

Jez explains some of the ways the BFI preserves the films and how the BFI decides to share the material. One of the worst roadblocks is copyright.

British animation has gone up and down in the amount of popularity. It was very big in the 1950s when TV was new, then the funding dried up. Channel 4 money helped animation flourish again in the 1980s-1990s, but then it dried up again.

Aardman Studios, which made the Wallace and Gromit series and Shaun the Sheep, is the most well-known British animator.

Jez is also a fan of Michael Please, Harry Harlow, and others.

A lot of British animation exported to the US are children’s shows.

Whitney and Jez discuss how foreign feature films are viewed in the US and the UK. They also discuss how sometimes restoration can ruin a film’s integrity and how sometimes there is no school like the old school.

The BFI is trying to put more content on the Internet and share more animation film packages to share with audiences, and Jez wants to write a history of British animation.

Whitney and Jez both want to see more animation from British animators, especially a feature film.

Hello and welcome to fourteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Whitney is joined by animator, director, writer, and producer Jai Husband. Jai comes from a great animation legacy, his father is famous Walt Disney animator Ron Husband. Growing up in the animation industry inspired Jai to pursue animation as his own career. Jai has been successful so far with is own projects inspired by African-American culture. He directed Kasha and the Zulu King, but even more exciting is that he is working on an African princess trilogy with his dad!

Show Notes

Jai is a second-generation animator; his father was Walt Disney animator Ron husband. Since Jai grew up in the animation industry it feels very normal to him, while someone, like Whitney, geeks out when he describes his childhood.

Jai’s dad gave him advice, but didn’t hinder his individual creativity. Jai’s first animation job was in Disney’s CAPS department and he wanted to stay on at Disney, but his mom asked him to return to college.

Straight out of college, Jai was hired by Turner Broadcasting and he now has his own company where he produces his own and other people’s projects.

While Jai was at Turner, his show The Fabulous Ambitions of Vaughn Chocolat Éclair, starring RuPaul, got picked up by a new channel called Super Deluxe. However, Turner pulled the plug.

Jai left Turner, so he could have more creative control over his ideas and BET also wanted him to make a show.

Going out on his own wasn’t an easy decision for Jai, but wanted to try, even if he failed. He succeeded, however, and won a NAACP award.

Jai wrote his Academy Award speech when he was twelve-years old and he plans to still use it someday.

He formed his own studio in Atlanta, because he went to college in the city, had a job at Turner, he wanted to step away from his father’s legacy, and he wanted to live in an area with stronger African-American ties.

Kasha and the Zulu King is a South African take on The Prince and the Pauper. Jai wanted to make a movie with characters that have very colorful skin tones, ranging from light to dark.

Whitney and Jai want to see more animated characters from diverse ethnicities. They go into details about beauty aesthetics from different cultures.

Jai and Ron are working on an animated trilogy, starring African princesses. They are researching individual African cultures for inspiration.

Whitney recommends Jai watch Michael Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Sorceress, another animated film inspired by Africa.

The African princess trilogy will have a Disney look, because Ron worked at the Walt Disney Company for years, but it will also contain influences from some of his favorite styles.

Jai discusses his own individual style and how he pulls from other sources.

He hopes to release the films sometime in 2017 or 2018.