Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Staggs. Them and their team share their story with us below:
The most prestigious producers in adult animation partner with Minnow Mountain to make exceptional film and television. Our unique rotoscope process is art at an industrial scale with high production values and a long track record of success.
Our film Tower (2016, Dir. Keith Maitland) won the Emmy for Best Historical Documentary. Forbes called our series Undone (2019, Dir. Hisko Hulsing) “indescribably great television.” Season 2 of Undone is out now on Amazon Prime. We’ve also just released Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood on Netflix.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Minnow Mountain produces such an unusual style of animation that you have to see it to believe it. Because we are a small company, our main obstacle is industry visibility.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve worked as an entertainment artist since I was 15 years old. Drawing caricatures while doing crowd work at Astroworld in Houston in the late 1980s. It was like stand-up comedy with a magic marker. We earned commission, so I learned to draw fast.
In my 20s I discovered no one could stop me from making live theater. Theaters rent out their stages, but music venues will actually pay you to entertain the crowd. I founded a theater company that did site-specific existentialist plays- punk rockers doing Godot in dive bars.
By my 30th birthday, I had drawn or painted over 10,000 people from real life and produced dozens of performances. I enjoyed producing independent theater and making art but was still very poor. In 2006, Richard Linklater hired me to animate on A Scanner Darkly.
The performances in Scanner opened my eyes to the emotional depth of what could be captured by a talented actor and animator working together. I wanted to go deeper. I began to imagine a way to animate the emotion I felt in live theater and great live-action cinema.
By the time Apollo 10 1/2 wrapped in 2021, the performance capture approach I had developed was a secret triumph I couldnʼt keep to myself any longer.
So now I’m excited to develop our own projects crafting stories specifically for this breakthrough approach to animation.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
In the next 5-10 years we hope to continue to see a great environment for independent animation for adults. Adult animation is the fastest growing segment of the industry, and happens to be Minnow Mountain’s sweet spot.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://minnowmountain.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minnowmountain/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minnowmountain
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/minnowmountain
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MinnowMountain
Image Credits
Art and photos: Craig Staggs/Minnow Mountain
Posters: Netflix Amazon Prime Video PBS/Kino Lorber
