Three Projects

There are three big projects to talk about - the biggest one is that I just finished the storyboards for my next animated feature film, "Slide".  I can't remember how much I've talked about this already, but it's a very personal story for me because it's about a musician who plays the slide guitar (like me!).  And it takes place in the forests of Oregon (where I'm from) and the soundtrack will be music in the style of Hank Williams (which I grew up with).  Basically, it's a musical about a mythical musician who come to a corrupt gambling town and cleans it up (something I've never done, though...).

I'm about to start the animation phase, and I've love to release occasional shots from the work in progress, periodically so you Plympton fans can follow the production of my newest, and perhaps most ambitious, animated feature.

The second project - and I may have already mentioned this one, too - is a series of animated political cartoons using real sound bites from our President, Donald Trump, as a backdrop for my animation.  As some of you may know, for 15 years, way back before I became an animator, I was a successful political caricaturist and cartoonist.  So it feels great to get back into that trade, and it seems that the urgency now to do so is much more intense. 

These cartoons will start to be broadcast soon and we want to coordinate the release with a Kickstarter campaign, because what the broadcaster is paying isn't really enough to cover the costs of making these films.  Of course, I'm not doing these shorts to get rich, but I would like to break even.  So watch this space for an announcement about where you can see these "Trump Bites" cartoons.  I'm working with a company called 110th Street Films to produce these short pieces.

But what a perfect team for Kickstarter, right?  Bill Plympton and Donald Trump.  How can it fail?  (Maybe it will even be YUUGE!)

My third announcement is an upcoming screening at the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn of my brand-new, 30-minute epic music video for blues rocker Jackie Greene, "The Modern Lives".  But that's not all - I'll be showing some of my more celebrated music videos for Madonna, Weird Al Yankovic and Kanye West.  (Kanye's invited, however, he's probably too busy praising Donald Trump to attend.)  

And to top things off, we'll be showing footage of Jackie performing one of the songs from the music video (recorded live in front of an audience) - how about that?  The show will be on May 22 at 7:30 pm, and I'll be there to introduce the program and talk about the music video as an art form.  Also, everyone who comes gets a free Bill Plympton sketch.

If you don't know the Nitehawk Cinema, it's the coolest cinema in NYC.  You can get food and drink while you watch a film!  If you're into it, Jackie's music is perfect "stoner" music.  (So come prepared.)  See you all there!

You can see more information and get tickets will be on sale (soon) here:

https://nitehawkcinema.com/williamsburg/showtimes/bill-plympton-jackie-greenes-music-video-extravaganza-52218-730-pm/

Bill P.