The 2023 edition of the World Animation Summit has finalized its schedule of informative panels, networking parties and awards gala lineup. The event, which takes place from Wednesday thru Friday (Nov. 1-3) at The Garland Hotel in N. Hollywood, will offer a wide variety of session, focusing on different aspects of animation production, distribution and new technologies for both enthusiasts and professionals in the industry.
Here is the most up-to-date look at this year’s Hall of Fame honorees and three-day schedule:
2023 Animation Magazine’s Hall of Fame Honorees:
[Awards Gala: Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Garland]
Hayao Miyazaki. The universally acclaimed and iconic co-founder of Studio Ghibli, artist and director of many animation classics, including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and this year’s astonishing career-capper The Boy and the Heron. [Lifetime Achievement Award]
Jennifer Lee. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Chief Creative Officer, who is best known as the writer and one of the directors of Frozen and its sequel Frozen II, the former which won her an Academy Award. She is the first female director of a Disney animated feature film, and the first female director of a feature that earned over $1 billion at the box office. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the studio’s 100th Anniversary animated movie, Wish.
Mediawan Kids & Family. One of the European leaders in animation that produces premium TV shows, high-end feature films, and digital content targeting preschool, kids, tweens, young adults, and families. Mediawan Kids & Family houses five production labels: Method Animation, Mediawan Kids & Family Cinema, Joann Sfar’s Magical Society, along with the brand-new 2D animation TV label for kids Somewhere Animation, and tweens studio Elliott Studio. Palomar Animation (Italy), Wildseed Studios (U.K.) and Submarine Animation (Netherlands) also joined the group recently. [International Studio of the Year]
Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. The directors of Sony Pictures Animation’s bold and hugely popular Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are lauded for upping the ante artistically in this summer’s blockbuster sequel and pushing the medium to new visual heights. [New Vision Award]
Sam Fell. The talented animation director, whose impressive credits include popular films such as Aardman Animations’ Flushed Away and LAIKA’s ParaNorman, returns to Aardman this year with the charming sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which premieres on Netflix this December.
Floyd Norman. With over 60 years in the industry, Floyd Norman has become an animation legend, working with such giants as Walt Disney, William Hanna, Joe Barbera, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and the creative teams at Sesame Street and Pixar. He has served in nearly every department of animation. From cel painter to story director. Of course, he’s also an animator.
Gina Shay. With over 25 years of experience producing animated films, which includes a full decade of films and specials for DreamWorks Animation, Gina’s many credits include this year’s highly anticipated Trolls Band Together, as well as the first two Trolls movies. She also produced the box-office hit Shrek Forever After, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and co-produced Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
Shuzo John Shiota. The president and CEO of Japan’s innovative animation studio Polygon Pictures for over 20 years, Shuzo has spearheaded efforts to cultivate Polygon’s overseas presence, helping the studio to become a leading developer of TV series and content targeted at the foreign market. Recent projects include Star Wars Resistance, Stillwater, The Very Pulse of the Machine and Mech Cadets.
Tara Sorensen. As Apple TV+ head of creative development, children’s media, Tara has been instrumental in shepherding a slate of award-winning, enlightening and inspiring shows to audiences worldwide, including Jane, Frog and Toad, El Deafo, Wolfboy and the Everything Factory, Interrupting Chicken, Pinecone & Pony, Shape Island, Slumberkins, Stillwater, The Snoopy Show and several Peanuts specials.
Hosted by Emmy-winning actor Eric Bauza, voice of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Pepe Le Pew, Marvin the Martin, Dino, Woody Woodpecker, LEGO Luke Skywalker and many other favorites.
Summit Schedule at a Glance:
Wednesday, Nov. 1
8:30 Registration and Networking Breakfast
10:00 Creative Keynote: Matthew A Cherry (Young Love): From Oscar-Winning Short to Hit Family Series.
10:25 Creative Keynote: Dan Abraham and Trent Correy (Once Upon a Studio): Recreating 100 Years of Disney Magic.
11:00 Meet Today’s Comics-to-Animation Masters. Mark Hoffmeier (Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?) Steve Loter (Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), Raymond S. Persi (Snoopy Presents), Simon Racioppa (Invincible), Mike Roth (Merry Little Batman)
12 PM Spotlight on Scotland’s Animation. Thomas Bryant, Rhona Drummond, Sueann Rochester, Richard Scott, David Smith
1:00 Networking Lunch. Sponsor: Animation Scotland
2:30 Business of Show Business. This eclectic panel on various current business and professional aspects of the animation and VFX world will highlight important things every studio owner, producer and artist needs to know. With Rachel Artmont, Richard Frankie, Peter McHugh, Troy Underwood
3:30 How to Find the Right Global Partners. Join some of today’s big players in the international animation scene who will share their success stories and offer advice on how to find the right resources and financing, expand your goals and up your productivity by teaming up with the right co-producers around the world.Matt Berkowitz, Andrew Davies, Robert Jaczczurowski, Tatiana Krokar, Sandrine Nguyễn Tiết, Lindsey Watson
4:30 Awards Feature Contenders, Part 1. Nick Bruno & Troy Quane (Nimona) Kirk DeMicco, (Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken) Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Sam Fell (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget) Benjamin Renner (Migration)
5:50 Awards Feature Contenders, Part 2. Chris Buck (Wish), Walt Dohrn (Trolls Band Together) Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic (The Super Mario Bros. Movie), Jeff Rowe (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Peter Sohn (Elemental)
6:30 Hall of Fame Awards Cocktail Party
8:00 Hall of Fame Awards
Thursday, Nov. 2
9 AM Networking Breakfast. In Partnership with Animation from Spain (ICEX)
10:00 Creative Keynote: Peter Sohn (Elemental): The Art of Making the Personal Experience Universal. The Pixar veteran chronicles his journey of helming the studio’s summer release Elemental which became one of the biggest underdog box office champions of the year.
10:25 Creative Keynote: Jim Capobianco (The Inventor): Realizing an Indie Passion Project in Stop-Motion. The Oscar-nominated writer-director discusses how he realized his vision for the well-received stop-motion/2D hybrid movie, which follows the adventures of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci after he left Italy for France.
11:00 AI: Helpful Tool or Dangerous Adversary? With Evan Baily, Eric Day, Dirk Hampel, Gordon Midwood, Carl Reed
12 PM What’s Hot & What’s Not: Animation Execs Tell You How to Up Your Game! Dave Jargowski (FOX Entertainment Animation), Kari Kim (Nickelodeon), Stacy Kim (Warner Bros. Animation), Julian Malagon (Kids TV, Sony Pictures Ent.) Sander Schwartz (veteran Emmy-winning producer).
1:00 Networking Lunch
2:30 Making Toons for Tots: Spotlight on New Preschool Shows. With Rachel Larsen (The Tiny Chef Show), Olubunmi Mia Olufemi (Alma’s Way), Stephanie Simpson (Hilda, Octonauts), Guy Toubes (CoComelon Lane, Deepa and Anoop), Tom Warburton (Muppet Babies, Kindergarten the Musical), Karen Idelson.
3:30 Sharing the Best Apple Recipes. We’ll catch up with some of the top creative players at Apple TV+ to find out about their latest animated shows, how they put together their acclaimed series and what they look for in projects that appeal to their audiences worldwide. With Mac Barnett, Kelli Bixler, Drew Hodges & Jon Klassen (Shape Island), Rob Hoegee (Frog and Toad), J. J. Johnson (Jane) and Raymond S. Persi (Snoopy Presents specials).
4:30 Welcome to the New Age of Adult Animation. Learn about some of the hottest new adult animated shows and how they made it from idea stage through development to final delivery on Max, Adult Swim, FOX-TV and Netflix. With Sean Buckelew (Scavengers Reign), Michael Cusack and Zack Hadel (Smiling Friends), Steve Levy (Rick & Morty, Krapopolis), Jane Wu (Blue Eye Samurai).
5:30 Shorts Cocktail Party
6:30 Award Season Shorts Screening: 27, Amarradas, Daffy in Wackyland, Harvey, I’m Hip, Letter to a Pig, Once Upon a Studio, Our Uniform, Rosemary A.D., Starling, The Day I Became a Bird, Mushka (trailer only).
8:30 The Year’s Top Shorts in the Spotlight. Dan Abraham & Trent Correy (Once Upon a Studio), Ethan Barrett (Rosemary AD) Flóra Anna Buda (27), Andreas Deja (Mushka) Tal Kantor (Letter to a Pig), John Musker (I’m Hip), Damián Perea (Our Uniform) Andrew Ruhemann (The Day I Became a Bird), Mitra Shahidi (Starling).
Friday, Nov. 3
9 AM Networking Breakfast
10:00 Creative Keynote: DreamWorks Animation CCO, TV, Peter Gal. The well-respected animation veteran looks back at a decade of hit series, the studio’s current slate and offers a roadmap for the future.
10:25 Creative Keynote. Hazbin Hotel creator Vivienne Medrano. The talented artist and creator discusses the trajectory of her inspiring career, and how she developed her own YouTube show and took her popular content to Amazon Prime.
11:00 Riding the Wave of the Future: New Animation Trends That Can Boost Your Career. Stop living in the 20th century and meet some forward-thinking producers who are finding success and viewers in innovative new formats and non-traditional platforms. Come embrace the future of in this lively (and optimistic) discussion. With John Derevlany, David Levy, Walid Omar, Daisy Wall.
12 PM Your 2023-2024 Animation Biz Survival Primer! Helpful career advice from well-respected and successful industry veterans Adriana Cohen, Frank Falcone, Josh Fisher, Ben Jones, Fred Seibert.
1:00 Networking Lunch
2:30 Women In Animation: Redefining Risk & Failure for Equitable Creative Leadership in Animation. This panel aims to deepen the conversation by examining the inequitable effects of success and failure, particularly for creative leaders who are historically underrepresented in the animation industry. How can we reframe risk and failure to create a more equitable industry? Panelists to be announced this week.
3:30 Revisiting the Year of the Comeback Brands. Rob David (Hot Wheels Let’s Race, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Erin Gibson (Tiny Toons Looniversity), Rob Hudnut (Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse) Sadaf Muncy (LOL Surprise, Bratz), Claudia Spinelli (Transformers: Earthspark, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Underyears).
4:30 Future Trendwatching: Helpful Tips for Today’s Savvy Content Producers. We’ll talk to some of the top creatives and decision-makers at various studios to find out which key trends are impacting their day-to-day development and acquisitions strategies. With Jason Caparaz (DreamWorks Animation), Dan Clark (FriendzSpace), Anthony Leo (Summer Memories, The Breadwinner), Leanne Preston (Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire).
5:30 Picture This! Improv. comedy and animation hi-jinx with Michael Hollingsworth (BoJack Horseman, Tuca and Bertie) Ashlyn Anstee (Adventure Time), Alex Salyer (Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman), Mike L. Mayfield (Big Mouth, The Midnight Gospel), and Sam Varela.
6:30 Closing Night Cocktail Party Sponsored by Mikros Animation
To find out more and to buy tickets, visit animationmagazine.net/summit
Check out our 2023 announcement spot (created by immersive media/vfx artist Shyam Kannapurakkaran) below:
TICKET GIVEAWAY: We are offering a pair of free tickets to the World Animation Summit (includes the special Hall of Fame Awards Gala). To be eligible for the random drawing, answer the following question and email ramin@animationmagazine.net with the email header “Free Summit Tickets” by Wednesday, October 25.
Ticket Drawing Question: How many animated characters are featured in Disney’s Once Upon a Studio?
