The Toon Room Podcast

For this episode, I sat down with Rich Staplehurst — actor-turned-creator, storyteller, and the mind behind projects like  Rupert Regis & His Magical Bookshop ,  Chuck Loris , and  Flo and Otto .  We talk about: ✨  From Performance to Creation Rich shares how a childhood shaped by entertainment, theatre, and storytelling eventually led him away from acting and toward writing and creating his...

For this episode, I sat down with  Rich Magallanes  — animation executive, storyteller, and longtime industry leader with deep experience across production, development, and network leadership. This conversation is as much about the person as it is about the job: how he got into animation, what shaped him, and why his guiding mantra has always been, “When the world’s closing doors on you, don’t sa...

For this episode, I sat down with  Cory Williams  — the one man powerhouse behind Silly Crocodile, early internet creator and one of the first people to turn YouTube into a full-time path — long before anyone really knew what that meant. But this conversation isn’t just about platforms or success. It’s about instinct. About believing in yourself and the originality of your own voice.  We talk abou...

For this episode, I sat down with  Michael Shawn Lewis  — storyteller, director, producer, and longtime creative force whose path runs from classical music and Broadway to animation, preschool television, and beyond. But this conversation isn’t just about credits. It’s about reinvention. About finding your own voice. And about what happens when you stop chasing the path you thought you should want...

For this episode, I sat down with  Coco Nitta  — music producer, tech founder at Kamik.ai — whose journey spans from the early days of the EDM renaissance in Los Angeles to building new tools at the intersection of AI and animation. But this conversation isn’t just about technology. It’s about perspective. About possibility. And about how creative tools reshape who gets to tell stories. We talk ab...

For this episode, I sat down with  Fraser MacLean  — layout artist, animation historian, and author of  Setting the Scene — whose career spans from  Who Framed Roger Rabbit  to Disney’s  Tarzan  and beyond. But this conversation isn’t just about credits. It’s about craft. About perspective. And about protecting knowledge that risks being forgotten. We talk about: ✨  The Myth of “2D” Fraser challe...

For this episode, I sat down with  Justine Bannister  — someone I’ve often described as the quiet connector of the animation world. A generous industry matchmaker, strategist, and long-time advocate for creative collaboration, Justine has spent decades helping projects and people find each other. We talk about: ✨  Finding Your Way (Without a Master Plan) Justine didn’t set out to work in animatio...

For this episode, I sat down with  Josh Fisher  — award-winning producer, development executive, network insider, and now strategic advisor helping creators shape and position their IP for today’s market. Josh has worked across independent studios, major networks, and global brands — developing series, launching franchises, and sitting on both sides of the table.  We talk about: ✨  Finding the Ri...

For this episode, I sat down with  Ken Faier , founder of Epic Story Media and one of the original architects behind  Kidscreen  magazine — a platform that helped shape and connect the global kids and animation industry. We talk about: ✨  No Master Plan Ken didn’t set out to work in animation. From growing up in Montreal to studying business, to landing an unexpected opportunity in publishing — h...

For Episode 6, I sat down with Alan Keane — writer, script editor, producer and long-time animation storyteller — for a deeply human conversation about creativity, resilience, and what it actually takes to build a life in animation over decades. Rather than dissecting industry trends or chasing headlines, this episode stays focused on the person behind the work : the detours, the failures, and the...

Recorded Live Inside The Toon Room Community For Episode 5 of  The Toon Room Podcast , I sat down with  Rita Street  — award-winning animation executive producer, creator, writer, and President of  Radar Cartoons  — for a deeply honest, wide-ranging conversation about storytelling, resilience, and surviving a life in animation.   Rita’s journey spans decades and disciplines: from growing up in the...

Recorded Live Inside The Toon Room Community In our fourth Toon Room Podcast conversation, I sat down with global animation producer and studio leader  Marty Knox  — whose career has taken him from Canada to Vietnam, Berlin, Ireland, Thailand, and beyond. This one is all about  people ,  global perspective , and the magic that keeps artists going in the toughest industry on Earth. Marty shares how...

Recorded Live Inside The Toon Room Community For Episode 3, I sat down with  Ed , a veteran creative director, designer, illustrator and storyteller whose career spans Disney, MGA, Spin Master — and yes — the early days of  PAW Patrol  and the full development scope of  Talking Tom Heroes . Together, we traced his journey from Brooklyn to Disney’s resurgence in the ‘90s, the unexpected birth of th...

Recorded Live Inside The Toon Room Community In this episode of  The Toon Room Podcast , I sit down with the incredibly talented music composer  José Varon  for a deep dive into the  world-building  power of music in animation and games. José breaks down his creative approach through his recent work on the RTS video game  Immortal: Gates of Pyre , showing how music can become more than an emotiona...

Recorded Live Inside The Toon Room Community For our very first episode, I sat down with our Head Writer at Outfit7 to reflect on  seven years of building the Talking Tom universe together  — one three-minute story at a time. We dig into what it really takes to make  short-form, non-dialogue animation land with audiences  around the world. We break down the creative principles we’ve learned the ha...