In this final episode of Season 4, I chat with Writer Director Phil Svitek, creator of The Arbiters, an animated feature he is developing. We talk about the pitching process, what a Pitch Deck is, the difference between a teaser and a trailer, and all the things he does as a director of his first animated feature, We go back in time to the time of Saturday morning cartoons and how Phil was reared on Hey Arnold and Captain Planet among other shows. Also he talks about how a course in editing led him to "reverse engineer" his way into directing and writing. And great advice for anyone, but specifically those wanting to go into animation from live action. For more information about The Arbiters, you can go to https://thearbitersfilm.com

I chat with Patric Verrone, who is a Writer/Producer on Futurama and has worked on Disenchantment, The Simpsons, Rugrats, and one of my favorite animated shows of the 90s, The Critic. We talk about how a Producer credit on an animated show is usually just a title for established writers of a show and less of a job description. We talk about how, like Conan Obrien, he got into animation writing through writing for late night and sketch comedy shows and how that was a pipeline for comedy writers. We get into how "Writer's Rooms" are different for Prime Time animated shows than smaller budget shows and how they're very similar in structure to live action sitcoms. When we go back in time, we talk about how Patric was influenced more by Chuck Jones and Looney Tunes than Disney cartoons as Disney was more stingy with Mickey during his upbringing. And as always, we get great advice, for writers looking to get into animation writing. You can watch new episodes of Futurama as they come out on Hulu!

I chat with the Chief Strategy Officer for Superplastic, Zack Sugarman. We talk about how Superplastic is building a "Demented Disney" empire, starting with vinyl art toys (much like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and creating animated content on Instagram and TikTok with their IP. Plus, we get into how Zack's love of collectibles and penchant for numbers makes him perfect for his role. And, as always, great advice for everyone!