FSTVS - The Executive Sessions

“One minute you’re making cartoons in Kilkenny, the next you’re chatting with Quentin Tarantino over champagne.”

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Paul Young of Cartoon Saloon — producer, director, co-founder, accidental salesman, and possibly the only man in animation whose career began with Greek beach caricatures and illegal late-night sandwich sales.

Paul chats to Julian about building Cartoon Saloon from a scrappy Kilkenny startup into one of the most admired studios in the world, why some of the best industry deals happen after midnight, and how a studio can still make world-class animation while letting people go home at 5pm.

It’s a funny, honest and quietly inspiring conversation about creativity, persistence, and making beautiful 2D films in a 3D world.

Perfect listening for anyone recovering from Animation Dingle this weekend — or anyone who’s ever wondered how sandwiches, cartoons, Oscar nominations and beatboxing somehow end up in the same career.

With immense thanks to Paul for his time and candidness and, as always, to the fantastic Julian Scott for hosting and the rock that is Janet Balmforth at Liberi Consulting.

"You've got to be a bit obsessed with it."

This episode's guest is a dynast of the animation world; a man who started out at age 4 as the voice of Tiny Tim in an animated Christmas Carol but then threw it all away and ran off to Oxford University to become a lawyer!

But the spell had been cast and in 1987 he found himself back in the industry and working on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He then went on, ironically given his career path, to work at Disney/MGM in Florida to work on ‘Roller Coaster Rabbit.

But then the dark side took him again and back to law and the House of Commons he went, only to return triumphantly once more to Warner Brothers Animation and this time he stayed, going on to work at many of the big studios and some huge films such as The Lion King, The Iron Giant, the last three Harry Potter films, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Since then he has split his time between education at Escape Studios and continuing to work on animated projects.

Julians guest today is Alex Williams.

“The death of Optimus Prime had a big impact”

This week's guest is Alexi Wheeler.

Maybe best known for his time as VP Production Development at Nickelodeon where he launched International Shorts Program which was, as Alexi states, “a strong avenue for incredible work and lasting relationships,” pairing, as it did, emerging creators with studios ready to bring fresh ideas to life, or perhaps his role as as Head of Animated Series for Netflix EMEA during its explosive expansion into kids’ animation - what he describes as “the rocket ship trajectory”, where creativity could come from anywhere. His team commissioned a lot in a short period, helping define Netflix’s global kids and family slate at the time.

Now running his own production development studio, Wheel In Motion in collaboration with SuperProd, Alexi is once again getting hands on with the creative process.

We hope you enjoy this fun and funny episode and encourage you to share the podcast with your friends, family, colleagues and pets.

As always, our eternal gratitude to Janet Balmforth at Liberi Consulting and host extraordinaire, Julian Scott.

"A special BAFTA Award for a 25 year legacy in children's media and the social and cultural impact."

Ladies and gentlemen, as a special early Christmas present for you all, I give you Tom Box, Adam Shaw, and Oli Hyatt MBE, of Blue Zoo Animation Studio.

While I am sure Tom, Adam, and Oli would be the first to acknowledge that everyone who has passed through the doors of Blue Zoo over the first 25 years has played a part in where they are now, we only had room for the 3 of them, so everyone else will have to wait.

This is a hugely entertaining discourse about the journey of the studio and the chaps themselves, from their earliest days at Bournemouth University and bringing the company into existence, very much like a student band being formed, through the sometimes tough learning experiences along the way, to yesterday's wonderful recognition by BAFTA of all that they have achieved as a studio and as individuals.

You don't need any more set up from me, just grab a glass of something Christmassy, sit back, and enjoy this extra special episode with some exceptional humans.

As always, we cannot make this podcast without Janet Balmforth at Liberi Consulting and the hosting duties of the erudite and well classy, Julian Scott. Thank you both.

“Sometimes the detours are where you learn the most and that are the most exciting parts of your life.”

A truer word was rarely spoken, especially when it comes to career journey's in the media industry.

And the journey of today's guest, Denitsa Yordanova, is nothing if not filled with exiting detours.

From studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics and International Relations at Colgate University and then an MBA from Stanford Business School in the US, you might be fooled into thinking Denitsa was life in pure finance but after internships at Merril Lynch, Bloomberg, and then Cinepolis in Mexico, an opportunity at Guardian Media Group in London arose and Denitsa moved continents and industries!

After a stint at Endemol Shine, where she bridged the gap between commercial and creative, and another Master's Degree, this time in Media, Programming and Curating Film, Denitsa found a home at the British Film Institute as UK Global Screen Fund and International Funds.

Quite the journey and, as you will hear, quite the woman!

With my thanks as always to Denitsa for her time, Julian Scott for hosting and Janet Balmforth for making the whole thing possible and kicking me when I need it. And to you, for tuning in.

Please remember to subscribe for all new episodes as they drop and recommend to friends.

If you'd like details of how you can sponsor the podcast, drop me a line at [email protected]