Creators Society Animation Podcast

How does a swimmer with a computer engineering degree go from designing computer chips to boosting the South American animation industry? Today's guest José Inesta took an unusual path on his way to helping create an eco-system of talent development in Mexico City. This is a great story because no matter which country you are in, the type of organization that José and his brother have built i...

Today I got to chat with a super talented writer, creator, voice actor, comedian, and author, Jorjeana Marie. Jorjeana not only has a passion for writing but for sharing and teaching what she knows. She's also the author of the book, Improv for Writers. Now I'm sure most of you are aware of improv even if you haven't been a part of it, but it's really clever how Jorjeana has ad...

In today's episode, we chat with creator, producer, and exec producer, Irene Weibel. Irene has produced and exec produced hundreds of hours of animated content over her career including the Hotel Transylvania series, Little Charmers, Bravest Warriors, and Moon & Me. She oversaw a production studio of hundreds of artists at Nelvana and is now working with host Michael Wakelam and recent gu...

Who can imagine what animation would be like without music? Quite bland I expect. And our guests in this episode are certainly not bland! Join us for a conversation with composers and songwriters Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo from PopSound (formerly Eggplant) in Toronto. Steve started his career as a jazz musician and Terry in Canadian band Lost & Profound. We discuss how they broke i...

In this episode, we speak with Mikkel Lee, Story Lead at Lego in Denmark. Whether your kid wants to work at Lego when they grow up or you need help as a creator with your work, this is a fascinating listen. Mikkel talks through his career path to Lego, which includes creating shows for the BBC and Nickelodeon, and then the turning point where he started to see content creation for kids from a diff...

Imagine being a rising development exec in your early 20s and taking a pitch for Spongebob Squarepants from Stephen Hillenburg. That’s what happened to Andy Rheingold not too long after he started his career at Nickelodeon. Andy went on to become a hugely talented writer and creator himself, working on titles such as Catdog, Beavis and Butthead and Angelo’s Rules. This is a fascinating conversatio...

This week's guest is Fonda Snyder, one of the nicest people I've met in the industry. Fonda has had a diverse career in the film, TV, and book publishing arenas and is such a great person to spend time with! We rewind to talk about how Fonda got started and step through each stage of her career, which includes working with Gene Wilder, Martin Short, Berkeley Breathed, Disney Channel, and...

Ralph Eggleston joins us for an in depth conversation about his career. A Pixar veteran, you'll know Ralph's work from movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall_E, The Incredibles, Inside Out and more, as well as his hilarious Academy Award winning short film For The Birds. We find out how Ralph got started, and he shares some great insight into his process and approach to production...

In this episode, we chat with Bill Oakley. Bill is a writer and producer and a former showrunner on The Simpsons. This is really interesting chat about Bill's path from high school to landing a job on The Simpsons and beyond, and why he and writing partner Josh Weinstein left The Simpsons. This is a great listen for creators looking to reach the next stage of their career. We also talk about...

In this episode, we chat with Cinzia Angelini. Cinzia is an industry veteran, has worked as an animator and story artist across multiple studios, and has recently taken the reins on her first animated feature at Cinesite. Michael rewinds to the start of Cinzia’s career to talk about her education in Italy, to find out how she got started, and goes in-depth on Cinzia’s ten year plus passion project...