There will be few in the animation industry globally who will not be in awe of his body of work, experience and position. And yet the freshness, child like enthusiasm, and zest with which he speaks to you, gives you an insight into the qualities that all great men of animation possess.
Max Howard is truly an animation great.
“You are starting to see films emerging from different studios and what‘s important about that is, because they’re made for different amounts of money, they don’t have to be a Pixar, Disney or DreamWorks blockbuster to make money”
In his long and illustrious animation career, Max has donned several hats and excelled in several roles; he created and ran studios for Disney in London, Paris, Orlando and Los Angeles, working on some of Disney‘s most memorable films, Top Notch at Warner Brothers Feature Animation, Independent Animation Producer, Director & Producer in British Theater, Teacher, Evangelist, Master….Max has been it all and he has done it all….
The good news is that Max Howard is currently in India till the 6th of November. The occasion – ten years of ASIFA India and the nationwide IAD Celebrations! As part of the celebrations Max will be giving keynotes, lectures, workshops across Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai at various IAD venues.
Whistling Woods has also announced two special sessions with Max Howard on November 3 where the Maestro will give a master class and then conduct one-on-one sessions with creative aspirants wanting to learn how to develop and pitch ideas.
For a person so busy, it did not come as a surprise that AnimationXpress.com Co- Founder Anand Gurnani got a 5:00 am interview appointment from Max Howard just a day before he was leaving from Los Angeles for his long tour of China and India. What was striking, however, was the freshness and flair with which he got down to business, sharing his views and talking about his upcoming visit to India….
Excerpts…
Max, are you up this early every day!!?
I‘m an early starter. It‘s quite ironic considering that I began my career in theater and in the theater, of course, we are late night people, but ever since I came to work in animation, which is 24 years ago (1986) I‘ve been an early riser. And now I do such a lot of work with companies around the world and, of course, the morning in Los Angeles is almost at the end of everybody else‘s day. While its 5:00 am in the morning here, it‘s already nearing closing time for you in India, maybe around 5:30 in the evening. I was just speaking to a friend in Germany who has a firm I am working with and it‘s 2:00 in the afternoon there. So if I am up early in the morning it helps everyone. Also the film industry is traditionally an early morning industry. It dates back to the early days of Hollywood when they all came to Los Angeles, to Southern California, because of the light. Because we get sunshine here and that tradition‘s never gone away. You go to the freeways here early morning at 5:00 am and it‘s already buzzing full of cars. We are an early town here in LA.
We are looking forward to having you in India, spending time with you and learning from you sir.
I have been wanting to come to India for so many years, not least of which because I love cricket. You can hear from my accent I am of British origin, but I still play cricket anytime, anywhere I can. This is why I am so excited. This is going to be my first visit. This is the first time ever, and it‘s not that I haven‘t worked with, or met many times with, people from Paprikaas or from Tata Elxsi or from Praana. Arish I know very well, Srikanth from Laughing Lions and, of course, Shelley Page has been a lifelong friend and whenever she is in LA, she just goes on and on to me about India and what a spectacular country it is. She only wears Saris and Indian dresses. That‘s why I‘m so excited to be coming here as part of the tenth anniversary celebration of ASIFA India. I have had two great anniversaries this year. I was on the jury at ANNECY this year and it‘s their 50th anniversary, so that was fantastic. I‘m having a wonderful anniversary year.
What are your anticipations from Indian animation?
Firstly, I‘m passionate about animation because I love the idea that animation has a life beyond its original release, I‘ve done a lot of work with UNICEF over the years, using animation to communicate health and social messages in developing countries. I love the way animation transcends culture, transcends time.
India is an emerging superpower in animation and it has a passion for animation and really has a stake in it. What I want to see, and what I‘ve always asked to see, is the actual performance of animation – not the visual effects, not what I would call the ‘bells and whistles‘, not all the technical things because I know that technically, India‘s actually leading the way in technology and many fields, which is why it‘s such an exciting place for animation.
I want to see and participate in bringing the level of animation quality up, and by animation quality, I don‘t mean animation technique – I mean the ability to understand performance, to be able to understand how to act. I‘m going to be joined on this tour in India with Ed Hooks, who teaches ‘acting for animation‘ and I always say to animators that they have to treat themselves as actors. Of course that‘s not absolutely true because they are not actors, but they need to start to understand the thought, or the processes, an actor will go through. It will enhance the quality of their animation. They need to think like an actor – what an actor is doing when he is giving a performance – he knows when to be still, when to move and why a character is doing it.
You could see some fantastic animation. Take Prana, for example, which has been doing the Tinkerbell movies for Disney. Fantastic! And you can see it‘s only a matter of time when animation from India will really take its place on the world stage.
Also – what I understand, and what I‘m told, is that animation is not necessarily that popular with the Indian people, is that right?
It is popular with millions of Indian kids, with hundreds of thousands of young adults and grown-ups as well. It‘s not, however, brought the footfalls into movie theaters yet.
I think you are going to see an emerging Indian market for animation. As kids grow up with animation and gaming and all different aspects of animation, you are going to see an Indian market fueled by a really powerful middle-class which obviously will dominate spending and create a very, very vibrant animation economy inside India. Obviously, export will be important but it will also become like Japan whose animation industry is self-sustaining. It doesn‘t need export. The export is, I would say ‘icing on the cake‘, right? I think India will demonstrate that clearly as the years go by. What I like to look at is long-term trends.
I believe you have also co-founded a company that‘s probably going to work in Asia? You want to tell us something about that?
Yes, I‘d love to. It‘s called the International Animation Consulting Group and is founded by myself, Bill Dennis and Frank Lunn. Bill and I are long-time colleagues – having worked together at Walt Disney Feature Animation, and Frank is a very experienced entertainment attorney in Los Angeles.
Around a year ago, the three of us were at a conference together in China and we were talking about all these emerging studios, and animation in Asia. We realized when one has been around the business as long as we have, there is a lot of experience between the three of us – about 75 years of experience. We‘ve built studios, we‘ve designed pipelines, we‘ve trained talent, we developed our stories, we produced and distributed films. We realized we had an expertise, and when we see so many governments, and so many studios investing money into animation, we want to participate by applying our experience, expertise and networks to be able to ensure these resources and energies are purposed correctly.
What you can get from people like us is we can provide a level of experience whereby one can be successful. Sometimes it‘s not only about making the first movie, it‘s about making the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th because one has to sustain a business over time, and how to tell a story correctly that appeals to the worldwide market. That does not necessarily mean a story that is about the American or other culture but it does mean, for example, India is rich in mythology and cultural stories and visual resources. When you take those ideas, you need to structure them into a story structure that‘s universally understood. We have all of that experience and so we set up a company called the International Animation Consulting Group to offer these services.
Bill‘s enormous knowledge of animation in India led to he and I being invited to come celebrate the 10th anniversary of ASIFA India and go on a speaking tour. And to that itinerary I included Shelley Page‘s recommendations regarding which studios and companies I‘ve got to visit while I‘m there.
And so, yes, that‘s what‘s behind this. We think we have the skills and expertise with which we could help people realize a vision, not where they are going to be tomorrow, but where they are going to be in five years time – wherever they want to be and essentially how do you get there. And what do you need? Do you need training for your artists in terms of becoming good actors? Is it technology? Is it recruitment, or is it development of, or production and distribution of, your film? All of which we either have direct knowledge or indirectly through a large group of associates we are bringing to the team.
We think we could deliver whatever a studio or government organization would require – great writers, directors, art directors, distributors – we think we could pick up a phone to most people in the industry and get our calls returned, so connecting the dots essentially.
So you are exploring synergy with Indian studios and talent?
I think so, because you know I wear several hats in the industry. I’m also a part of a company called Exodus Film Group so I’m also a producer and I am visiting a couple of studios in India with a view to production. I’m looking at various levels and learning as well. For example, what Technicolor India are doing, all the different studios and seeing them emerge, because potentially these are fabulous production partners for us.
And here you and I are conversing in English, and I’m able to use some funny phrases to you which are highly sophisticated in terms of the English language because, of course, the rights and the wrongs of the British Raj and what India is left with and, of course, the British did a lot of terrible things in India, as we managed to do across many countries around the world. But one of the benefits, of course, is the English language which is a universal, worldwide language of communication, and it is English. So if I go to China, as much as I love the people and I’ve had terrific experiences there, I have to work through an interpreter most of the time. And when I am trying to discuss very subtle aspects of acting, it is very challenging for an interpreter who is not from the entertainment industry.
And coming to India, on the whole, I know a majority of people will be able to understand and even though I will speak to them in a British accent rather than an American accent, that’s even more familiar. One cannot underestimate that value as Indian animation seeks to be at the center for worldwide animation production. And it is no surprise to me that DreamWorks, Rhythm & Hues, Imageworks and Technicolor have set up studios in India. I’m sure they’ve had lots of choices and loads of governments suggesting they should come, or perhaps enticing them to come, to their respective hubs and geographies. But I’m not surprised they went to India. Look at how quickly Shelly Page realized that the place for DreamWorks to go was India. She never told me this, I’m completely making this up but I am sure a lot of it will be because we speak a common language. We can communicate our thoughts and emotions in the same wave-length and language. I can also say to you that animation itself is an international language which is made out of artists who draw, and what you can’t do with language you can draw, nevertheless, that’s a compromise for where I would be in India, speaking English most of the places that I will go in, I will be understood.
What are your ASIFA India and Whistling Woods master classes going to focus on?
Each of my talks and workshops is going to have a different focus and will be relevant in context to the audience, format and theme in which it is delivered to.
At Whistling Woods I’m going to talk about ‘story’ – how to develop an idea and then how to pitch it. What I like to do is stories, get back to the fundamentals. I know what the plot is, but what’s your story really about?
A story normally tackles something, the central characters go through a journey of development. You can look at most films and figure out that they are about something. The fact that you set them under the sea with fish is the way you’ve decided to tell the story, but the story is about letting go and overcoming one’s fear and so what we do for example in ‘Finding Nemo’ – you set up very, very quickly the character’s fears and then you make the character realize their worst fears. They have to overcome those fears and it’s about letting go, it’s about parenthood, it’s about growing up. That’s the issues it’s exploring. So I like to talk about that and once you have that idea, how you will think about developing that story from a logline to your synopsis and treatment.
How a screenplay can be structured, and then really how to pitch it, and how to be able to encapsulate your film. I might just have thirty seconds with you, and we might be in an elevator together and I recognize an opportunity, and I have an idea and you are a producer, somebody who could make my idea happen. Could I, if I had to describe my film in the time it takes to go up ten floors in an elevator and just give you enough for you to say, “here’s my business card, call my office. I want to hear more” and so it’s that.
So that’s one of the workshops. The second one really is how to produce an independent animated feature film outside of the major studios, because most existing animation companies and most emerging students dream one day of making their own film. And because of the developments in technology, and because CGI animation is no longer associated with just one studio – as 2D animation was just associated with Disney – CGI animation is different in the fact that the public just likes CGI. They don’t even think about who releases most films, but that has provided an opportunity for individual filmmakers and small studios to make their own feature film.
So my second workshop is about how you could do that. Some of the pitfalls, how distribution works – it’s just sort of a broad perspective of being an independent producer and what do I do, what does a producer do, what does Max do? This is particularly the Whistling Woods program that I am talking about.
The third one I’m going to be doing there is talking about acting. I have a very odd perspective on performance, because I am not an animator. I don’t come from an animation background. I was originally a child actor, and I grew up in the theatre. I have worked with some of the world’s greatest writers and playwrights from Ted Hughes, Harold Printer, John Osborne, Noel Coward, the world’s top filmmakers and directors like Sir Richard Attenborough, Bob Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg. I have been exposed to many great filmmakers, writers, and of course, actors – classic British actors, some of the world’s most famous actors. What I’m trying to do is bring in some examples of how an actor can prepare for a role. So I don’t talk about acting from an animation perspective, I talk about it from an actor’s perspective and I think that is an interesting angle because I am not technical. I have never been particularly in love with the art of animation. I’m in love with what animation could do and provides us a legacy because you and I work in that part of the animation industry.
I can go anywhere in the world and I can talk about ‘Bambi’ or ‘Dumbo’ or ‘Snow White’. These films were made even before I was born and somehow these movies have transcended time and that’s what I find so exciting about animation – this idea that it is these films that you make, do not become dated, they can go on entertaining people way beyond their original release date, and that as a filmmaker you can leave a legacy of your work behind that will not just enter a film museum and be very well-respected but your work will be able to entertain future generations of children and then their children. I found that incredible, the power of that.
What’s your observations on animation trends and the future of animation?
There were twenty animated films released in America last year. Twenty years ago there were one or two. There are people around in our industry who say that twenty movies is too many and the marketplace cannot sustain that much animation. Of course that’s absolutely untrue. There were 500 live action films released last year, there were 1,000 Bollywood movies released last year, right? An incredible number of movies. There’s so much more room for animation, and because of this change in technology a boutique studio really can make their own film. Five years ago they couldn’t make their own film, or the technology would not allow them. The computers were too expensive, you had to write your own software, but now there are so many barriers to entry which have just disappeared. The cost is much lower, the technology is widely available. You can buy a lot of technology, you don’t need plug-ins. I never want to simplify how complicated and complex making an animated film is, but five years ago if you had the talent to make one, you couldn’t. Now, if you have the talent to make one you can! And that’s the difference!
And some films will not be very good, just like live action, just like Bollywood. And some films will be great and when they are great, they will go “oh what a great film” and when they are bad – they will say “oh that wasn’t a very good film.” We are part of a vibrant industry, just like live action – some films are good, some films are not so good. This year we have had films like ‘Despicable Me’, we’ve had the incredible international success of ‘Ice Age’, we’re starting to see films emerging from different studios – you just had Crest’s ‘Alpha & Omega’ open. You are starting to see films emerging from different studios and what’s important about that is, because they’re made for different amounts of money, they don’t have to be a Pixar, Disney or DreamWorks blockbuster to make money.
And, therefore, we will start to see films tackling different subjects as well, as we have seen in the last few years. We have seen ‘Persepolis’, we have seen ‘Waltz With Bashir’. We have seen films target a different audience because they could be made for much less money, therefore, they don’t have to take as much money to be successful.
Whereas before, and of course if you are a major studio and your movies are going to cost well over a $100 million to produce, you are going to make sure your grandmother likes the film, your parents like the film, and you like the film, and that your little brother or sister likes the film. Everybody has to like the film because everybody needs to buy a ticket, but when you see the prices come down, it’s great. They might all love the film and that will be wonderful, but they don’t all have to like the film for it to be successful. And this is one of the areas I can see India really emerging – to be able to make the films for a different price point and, therefore, still be very successful and we are going to see a lot more films emerge. So I think it is one of the most exciting times.
Ten years ago there was no ASIFA India. Ten years ago, half the studios I’m going to visit, or probably more than a half, didn’t exist. I’m sure it can be a little bit of a wild ride at times as everybody emerges and develops, but we are in the middle of that wild ride. And coming back to what Bill, Frank and I are doing, we could be part of trying to help people realize their vision, realize their goals in the global animation space and that is, of course, what I’m going to be able to share.