One of the biggest events of my year is the screening of all of the Oscar-qualified animated shorts. What happens is that all of the Academy members in the North East (including Canada) gather at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC for two full days of watching short (and semi-short) animation. And it's always a full spectrum, from brilliant films to total trash.
As soon as we enter the judging room, we're handed a list of all the qualified films, and immediately we all check out the lengths of each short. If we see a film at 15 minutes or longer, already we're not happy. In fact, at 5-minute intervals, we're asked to raise our hands if we want to stop the movie. Because if it's a piece of crap, who wants to watch 20 more minutes of a bad film? That's a lesson for all you young filmmakers making shorts - PLEASE, nothing longer than 10 minutes if you want the film to be appreciated.
Fortunately, just before my "Trump Bites" film was shown, there was a very long dorky film that got "timed" and that always makes the following film look much better.
I must say it was a very good collection of films this year. I estimate that 15 films have a good shot at being nominated, although in the end only 5 films will succeed. After the branch screenings, the short list of 10 finalists will be announced, usually around Christmas time, and then in early January we'll find out which 5 films actually get nominated.
Of course, I'm at a tremendous disadvantage, since my films only cost about $10,000 compared to Disney & Pixar's $1,000,000 budgets - but hey, you never know!!
Below is a photo of me with Patrick Harrison, the Academy's director of New York Programs and Membership. And also below, I'm including another cartoon that will be in my new book. I don't have a title yet, so if you think of one, please let me know. You'll get a free book if I use your title.
Later,
Bill P.
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