Mike Hollingsworth served as Supervising Director of all six seasons of BoJack Horseman and the first season of Tuca and Bertie. His BoJack episode “Fish Out of Water” was voted the number one episode of television by Variety and Time magazines that year. On the show he also did voices, some writing, and most of the animal gags. Mike has written on Comedy Central’s Triptank and was Supervising Director on HBO’s The Life and Times of Tim. His independent animated shorts have been featured in festivals all around the world, including Annecy, The HBO Aspen Comedy Festival, The Pictoplasma Conference in Germany, and Animation Block Party in Brooklyn. Most recently Mike was an EP on Netflix's Inside Job and EP/writer/Supervising Director on Netflix's Cat Burglar for Netflix Animation Studio (R.I.P.). He also wrote the Annie Awards last year for some reason!
In this inspiring session, we talk to some of the top artistic forces in the animation industry about how they manage to balance personal artistic ventures with coming up with projects that sell in the commercial marketplace today. What is the secret formula in staying commercially viable and ready for the changing demands of the animation industry while bringing your own personal visions and unique artistic perspective to a modern animated project. Our animation superstars also share their personal exercises and methods to stay fresh artistically and creatively and how they manage to be open to notes from producers and executives without sacrificing their soul.