Author Archives: Jerry Beck

“Isle of Spagg” by The Brothers McLeod

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Speaking of creator-driven TV shows…

Here’s a half hour pilot by those wonderful, whimsical, BAFTA & Webby Award winning Brothers McLeod. They finished it last year and it’s done a few festivals, now they’ve released it to the rest of the universe. The series focuses on Inger and Herring, a fisherman and mermaid living in amongst a seaside community of Spagg. Says Myles Mcleod:

“Yes, it’s a TV pilot. We started the process back in 2008 when we went down to Cornwall for a week and just came up with characters, location details and story ideas. Then we wrote a bible, script and designed the characters we liked to finished artwork. We basically made it off our own backs — we wanted to show we could make longer form stuff as well as all the shorts we’ve made. We stumped up half the money ourselves and found the rest from the MEDIA fund in Europe. We used professional comedians and actors to do the voices including Richard Ridings (who was in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). We finished the animation last year — most of it was animated by the very talented Tom Evans and Kirsten Thacker, though there were others involved too, not least Robert Brown who did all the beautiful hand drawn moments — like the fire and the sea lapping on the beach. He also prepared the turnarounds (I’ve attached one of the sheets – click to enlarge)”.

“Gravity Falls” Sneak Peek Tonight

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A few weeks ago I was invited over to Disney Television Animation and had an advance look at their new series Gravity Falls. And tonight you can have a peek, too. The Disney Channel will air a special preview tonight (6/15) at 9:55pm ET/PT.

The Disney TV group is on a roll. I was impressed with Motorcity and blown away by Tron Upsrising, but closest to my heart is the humor on this show. Creator Alex Hirsch (from Cal Arts, and previously on Flapjack and Fish Hooks) has successfully channeled some kind of mash up of Goosebumps and Jay Ward–leaning more towards Ward–with a very funny, smart, not-necessarily-aimed-at-kids subversiveness in the writing and the direction. While I’ve been down on most new shows these days (Pen Ward’s Adventure Time is clearly an exception in this era), Gravity Falls takes on tried and true kids’ tropes and turns them inside out (sometimes literally). The series itself begins regular airings on Friday, June 29th, at 9:30pm. Check out the sneak peak tonight, and let us know what you think.

So consider this an unabashed plug. Check it out. It’s a good “creator-driven” show. The premise follows a pair of city kids who are sent to spend the summer with their eccentric uncle who runs a tourist trap called The Mystery Shack. The cast includes Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal and Linda Cardellini. Below are a few story board images and a photo of me (click to enlarge) during my recent visit with series creator Alex Hirsch, Disney TV’s Eric Coleman and director Joe Pitt.

Eyvind Earle’s “West Side Story” Trailer

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While visiting with animation art dealer extraordinaire Mike Van Eaton today, he showed me a piece of Eyvind Earle art I was unfamiliar with (click above image to see larger version). It’s from Earle’s animated teaser trailer for West Side Story (1961).

Earle animated this brief trailer (embed below) in 1960 after coming off the production of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. It’s obviously based on Saul Bass’ designs for the logo and poster art – but Earle’s graphic design sense, similar to this Chevrolet spot created around the same time, comes through – a unique, stylish way to sell a movie.

More about my visit with Van Eaton next week, when I’ll post some incredible classic cartoon art he has agreed to share exclusively with our readers.

FIRST PEEKS: “Epic”, “Turbo” and “Croods”

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Our friends at ComingSoon.net snapped some intriguing images from the floor of The Licensing Expo, the industry trade show that started today in Las Vegas. Here’s another look at Chris Sanders highly anticipated The Croods; Dreamworks’ racing snail film, Turbo; and Chris Wedge’s Epic (formerly known as The Leaf Men), based on William Joyce’s book. Which one are you most excited about?



“American History” (1992) By Trey Parker

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From the archives, here’s the 1992 student film that Trey Parker, co-creator of “South Park”, made at the University of Colorado – a film that went on to win a student Academy Award (Silver Medal) in 1993. It was co-directed by Chris Graves.

Apparently Trey got his Japanese roommate to talk about the history of America as he knew it, which Trey then animated with crude paper cut-outs. The rest is… American History!

Lest you think The Book of Mormon, Team America or Orgazmo were Parker’s first live action efforts, check his other student film: Giant Beavers of Southern Sri Lanka

(Thanks, Charles Brubaker)

“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” talkback

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Andy Webster in The New York Times kinda liked it, saying “The humor is similar, but the scale is bigger, faster and brighter.” Betsy Sharkey at The Los Angeles Times was fairly pleased “The animation artistry of Madagascar 3 is at its best under the big top, all cotton candy fluff and razzle dazzle. The character development of this edition is the best of the rest as well.”

Dreamworks’ latest feature opened today – and we’d love to know what you think. Is the third time the charm? How’s the 3D? As usual, Talkback comments are open only to this who’ve actually seen the film. We can tell.

LA Film Festival gets Animated

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The Los Angeles Film Festival begins next week (June 14-24), and there is much of interest for animation fans – including the first U.S. showing of Disney’s new short Paperman (above). First, they’ve got the North American premiere of The King of Pigs, the Korean animated feature about violence and bullying in high school. There are two advance screenings of Pixar’s Brave connected to the festival – the first being the big Hollywood world premiere at the Kodak Dolby Theater. Then, the following day, a second screening downtown that is open to anybody.

Another film–one that hasn’t been on our radar–is An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. It’s an American indie that’s somewhat experimental, but it has a lot of animation in it. The animators include Emory Allen, Hannah J Buck, Sam Corey, Coire Dangerous, Audrey Halgand, Markus Kempken, Leo and Natasha, Jeanne Mailloux, and Timo Prousalis.

There is a good amount of animated shorts and music videos; here’s a link to most of the animated fare in the festival. There are also two Women in Animation panels on Sunday June 17th at 2:30pm (downtown at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE 13). One, Behind The Scenes: Movies Made From Scratch takes a look at the creative process, and is moderated by Kristine Belson, Executive producer of DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon. Panelists include: Michelle Raimo Kouyate, President of Production, Sony Pictures Animation; Jacqui Lopez, Executive Visual Effects Producer, ILM; Karen Rupert Toliver, VP of Production, Twentieth Century Fox Animation; and Katherine Sarafian, producer of Pixar’s Brave.

The other panel, What’s Cooking? A Sneak Peak at Coming Attractions is moderated by Rebecca Keegan, Los Angeles Times film writer, with panelists including Allison Abbate, producer of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie; Michelle Murdocca, producer of Sony Animation’s Hotel Transylvania; Arianne Sutner, producer of LAIKA’s ParaNorman; and Kristina Reed, producer of Disney Animation’s Paperman.

100 Years of Paramount Pictures

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Click to enlarge this newly released limited edition Paramount Pictures 100th Anniversary Poster, created by L.A.’s Gallery 1988. Comprised of graphic icons representing the studios biggest films – and I’m happy to report animation is well represented (I mean, all things considered – there’s no Popeye, Betty Boop or Casper but those were shorts and these buttons represent features). Look close and you’ll spot Max Fleischer’s 1939 Gulliver’s Travels, George Pal’s 1953 War of The Worlds; Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996), South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999) and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) also make the cut. Our condolences to Charlie Brown, Tintin, Rugrats and Jimmy Neutron – maybe next time.