Animation
My first screenwriting was for Sesame Street. Those first animations were produced by the same DIsney and Warner Bros. animators who did Tony the Tiger and the Jolly Green Giant. Years later I both wrote and animated for Sesame Street using a cutout stop-motion technique with characters created by John Korty. After several years Korty teamed up with George Lucas and we made the animated feature Twice Upon A Time. I was on the writing team up until we started production, then shifted to Supervising Animator and Sequence Director.
When Director John Korty requested a disgusting pet for the film's villain I created a cross between a rat and an armadillo named Ratatooey. The final design was executed by Art Director Harley Jessup who later became the Production Designer of Pixar's Ratatouille. He assures me that's coincidental.
I wrote the screenplay for the animated film Hubert's Brain - winner of the 2001 Annie Award
for Best Short. Produced by Wild Brain
Thelma Thumb was another creation of John Korty. I took over writing and animating this Sesame Street series for several years. She and her sidekick Cyrus the Magpie are seen here demonstrating the international popularity of the series.
