Today's guest, Rick Mischel, walks us through his career as a producer and executive for renowned studios such as Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Imageworks, Rainmaker/Mainframe, and Bardel, offering some great advice along the way. I first met Rick at my first Kidscreen event in Miami, a meeting we discussed at the beginning of this episode, and then ran into him at Annecy this year. A humble, generous exec, Rick does things the right way, balancing the company's needs with genuine care for people.

Skydance Animation’s first feature film Luck just dropped on AppleTV+, and we were able to chat with director Peggy Holmes this week about her career and the making of the film. Peggy was a delight to chat with and we thoroughly recommend this episode for anyone interested in taking steps toward directing - from wherever they are now!

In this episode, we've got a double scoop of talented creators in Karen Disher and Sharon Bridgeman, who join me to chat through their careers.

Karen and Sharon have recently joined the multi-talented crew that Brad Lewis and P.J. Gunsagar have been assembling at Spire Animation Studios. After glittering career journeys through major animation houses, Karen and Sharon were drawn to Spire’s creative culture.

In this episode, we chat with David Sheldon-Hicks, co-founder of Territory Studio. Territory Studio began as a screen graphics specialist studio; creating user interfaces for films like Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers, continuing this work on more recent films such as The Batman, Dune, and Blade Runner 2049. Over the years Territory has grown while remaining independent, enabling them to experiment with new technology and work on innovative projects.

This week I chat with Peter Demarest, compositing supervisor on Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, as well as working on some of the most iconic shots and movies for the past decade, such as The Avengers, Avatar, Jurassic World, and the Star Wars films. I saw Peter's reel a few weeks back and was just blown away, so wanted to reach out and chat to him, and here's that chat!

Nancy Kanter is a producer and executive who didn't start out in animation or on an executive track - although I'm not sure exactly what an executive track is since so many people I speak to have non-linear career paths. Nancy began her career as an editor on feature films and documentaries spent a few years creating Sesame Street specials and wound up being an integral part of Disney Junior's birth and expansion around the planet, including overseeing the development of shows like Doc McStuffins and Vampirina. Nancy joined Netflix on an overall deal early in 2021, has won multiple awards, overseen oodles of great content, and was really a joy to chat with.

Aron Warner was the producer of DreamWorks' first CG animated feature, Antz. He then won the first-ever academy award for an animated feature as the producer of Shrek, before going on to produce Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, working with Jorge Gutierrez on The Book of Life and more recently, Wish Dragon. Before all this, Aron had a career in live-action films, from horror films like Freddy’s Dead - The Final Nightmare, to big-budget blockbusters like Independence Day and True Lies. In today’s episode of the Creators Society Animation Podcast, I sat down with Aron and tried to cover as much of his career as we could in the time we had! With all his success, Aron is as humble as they come, always singing the praises of the great teams around him - a real pleasure to chat to.

After studying at CalArts, Shawn Krause jumped almost straight into Pixar, where he stayed for many years, working on 15 Pixar features including the first two Toy Story films, Finding Nemo and Dory, Incredibles and Incredibles 2 and all three Cars films, along with multiple shorts and other projects. Now he's made another leap, to Spire Animation Studios as Creative Director of Animation and Story, where I caught up with him to talk about his incredible career, his path to Spire and what they're doing, and a bit of baseball.

When Kristen McGregor published an article at the start of the year on getting into kids media, I immediately wanted to chat with her on the podcast. So when I was in LA recently, we sat down to talk about her career and also her article. Kristen has worked as a writer, director, producer and exec at places like CBC, Sinking Ship, Nelvana and Apple TV+, so has plenty of experience across the board. Not only is Kristen is willing to give back to the community she's a part of, but is excited about doing so, and actively encourages people into kids media. And if you get a chance to chat with her, her infectious enthusiasm is also going to brighten your day, as I'm sure this episode will. Enjoy!

Spire Animation Studios is a new studio with some ambitious plans for combining high end features with realtime tech, but to do this they've assembled an all-star team of creatives. Michael Surrey, Creative Director of Story and Animation, is one of those all-stars, and the first of a few conversations with Spire creatives we'll have over the coming weeks.

Michael's career started out in 2D animation in classics like 'Beauty and The Beast', 'Aladdin' and 'The Lion King', and then 3D animation with projects like 'Tangled' and 'The Croods' before switching to the Story department. Now at Spire, he's tasked with helping shape Spire's initial projects, which include 'Trouble' from Danny McBride. I'm sure you'll enjoy walking through Michael's career and then our discussion about Spire.

Join me for this in depth conversation with Linda Simensky, discussing her incredible career, including adventures as an exec at Nick, Cartoon Network, PBS and her new gig at Duolingo as Head of Animation and Scripted Content at Duolingo.

If you could create a character design masterclass without any visuals, this would be it. Joe Moshier shares a wealth of knowledge about his process along with his path to becoming one of the best character designers in the business today. You've seen his work in films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Emporer's New Groove, Bolt, the Dragons films, Boss Baby and recently Sony Pictures Animation wonderful Vivo. He's also just finished work as the character lead on Sony's upcoming 'Across the Spider-verse'. Join me in this in depth discussion and ensure you share it with anyone interested in a career in character design!

Carlos Zaragoza's journey to production design in animation started out as a youngster in Madrid, and wove through fine art and live action, including working on Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. We walk through his entire career including key films, and touching on how sees the role of production design.

Carlos has recently been nominated for an Annie for his work as production designer on the Sony Pictures Animation film Vivo, a beautiful Lin Manuel Miranda musical directed by Kirk DeMicco. Vivo is a delightful feast of colour and texture expertly crafted to deliver the vibrant characters and great story. I know you'll love this conversation, so jump in!

Genevieve won an Emmy as a producer for Amazon's first preschool show, Tumbleleaf. Join me as we walk through her career as a writer, creator, producer, songwriter and voice actor, including her fascinating back story and great 'breaking into the industry' story. We also talk about her latest project, the music driven Star Forest. Enjoy!

Ken's career spans more than two decades in the cutting edge confines of PDI and DreamWorks Animation. Ken was there for Antz, the Shrek films, Monsters vs Aliens and much much more. We talk about his career and touch on the evolution of visual effects within the animation industry, including pushing the limits at DreamWorks on Shrek, the Golden Gate Bridge destruction in Monsters Vs Aliens and the clouds in Puss In Boots. Ken was very generous with his time so enjoy!