Prime Time Replay:

Matt Britton
General manager of Jim Henson's Creature Shop



MsgId: *emedia(1)
Date: Mon Jul 28 20:14:38 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Tonight E-Media welcomes Matt Britton, general manager of Jim Henson's Creature Shop in Los Angeles. The Creature Shop continues to set new standards for animatronics and puppetry for film and television projects, and is also a forerunner in the use of computer generated imagery. Their work has been seen in the films THE PHANTOM, BLOOD AND WINE, and the currently-in-release GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. Britton joined the Creature Shop in 1994 after being the shop supervisor at Cinovation, Inc., where he worked on GREMLINS 2, BABY'S DAY OUT, WOLF, and ED WOOD.
MsgId: *emedia(2)
Date: Mon Jul 28 20:59:28 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Hi Dave, are you here yet?
MsgId: *emedia(3)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:01:12 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Hello, everyone, and welcome to E-Media. I'm Dave Thomer, and I'd like to welcome our guest tonight, Matt Britton. Starting at 9:30, the chat room will be open and you'll have the chance to ask questions directly to Matt. (When you do, please remember to sign your name with your question.)

Welcome, Matt, it's great to have you here.

MsgId: *emedia(5)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:02:22 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Thanks Dave. It's great to be here. I've never done this sort of interview before.
MsgId: *emedia(6)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:03:47 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

It's a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. To begin, let's talk a little bit about your background. How did you get into the effects industry?
MsgId: *emedia(7)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:04:04 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

I apologize if I sacrifice a bit in the way of spelling in favor of typing speed.

I actually got into effects by accident. I'd been working in TV production as a Coordinator and Assoc. Producer working on HBO and Cinemax specials and such.

MsgId: *emedia(11)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:05:31 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

What kind of accident?
MsgId: *emedia(12)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:05:55 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

A directors guild strike was looming in 1987, and I was having trouble finding a TV job. Nobody was green-lighting new shows with a DGA strike on the horizon. I happened to find a gig doing financial work at an FX company called All FX. I worked there for about six months on Short Circuit 2 and Max Headroom. I found I liked the people I was working with in FX more than my cohorts in TV Production.

Gradually, my career became more and more effects oriented. And after awhile I stopped working in TV production altogether.

MsgId: *emedia(20)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:10:47 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

What would you say are the major differences between TV production and effects? Was there a high learning curve when you made the jump, or did TV pretty much prepare you for effects?
MsgId: *emedia(22)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:11:46 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

FX was a completely different animal. I found that the people in FX tended to have more talent in ratio to less attitude than the people I met in TV. Learning the business took years, over the course of numerous projects. I still learn new things all the time. I think my education and experience taught me the sort of work effort I would need for any area of the entertainment biz but the specific knowledge and skills I needed in FX were something that took me years to learn.
MsgId: *emedia(27)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:15:10 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

What do you need to know to succeed in the FX biz?
MsgId: *emedia(28)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:15:56 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Well, Creature FX is simply a process, like any business. We start with designs and concepts, proceed into sculpts, take molds from those sculptures, produce parts and skins from those molds, mechanize those parts into an animatronic puppet or costume, and then finesse the final cosmetics of the puppet or costume with paint and fur and such. To run such a business, you don't need to be able to PERFORM each step of that process. Personally, the only things I do well on the shop floor are drawing and painting.

However, you must UNDERSTAND each of those processes quite well. You must be able to judge how long each step should take in man hours. You must be able to judge good and bad work in each step. Most importantly, you need the people skills to work with talented artists, and the sort of temperments that come with such talents. I like to think of it as being the conductor of a big orchestra. Where my job is to create the best possible environment for the artists to do their best work. From the standpoint of somebody wanting to break into the business on the shop floor, the areas where we have the most trouble finding talented people are in the areas of sculpture and mechanics. If I were looking to get into the business, these are the areas I'd focus on.

MsgId: *emedia(43)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:26:42 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Thanks for the advice. Now, before we open the chat room, could you tell us a little bit more about your specific responsibilities as general manager? Specifically, what's your role in finding new projects for the Creature Shop?
MsgId: *emedia(45)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:27:16 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

It's a pretty all-encompassing job description. I hustle up the jobs by keeping abreast of what projects are in development around Hollywood. I establish contact with Producers, Directors, and Studio Execs who are attached to projects we want to work on. I read the script and do an Effects Breakdown listing every creature effect required by the script. From the breakdown, I can create a list of the animatronic costumes and puppets that will need to be created. From there, I create a budget and schedule for the animatronics build and shoot which we submit to the film's producer. Along with our shop's Creative Supervisor, I keep an eye on the project build and make sure it looks like what the client wants. I also define the annual shop budget as a division of The Jim Henson Company.
MsgId: *emedia(54)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:33:16 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Great. We're going to open the chat room now. You can post your questions using the form at the bottom of the Web page; you may want to click "Pause While Typing" to prevent the screen from reloading while you type. And please, remember to sign your name to the question. While we're waiting for the first question, Matt, would you mind telling us a little bit about what projects the Creature Shop has lined up for the immediate future?
MsgId: *emedia(55)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:34:30 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Yknow, the clients really give us a hard time about keeping things confidential...so I can't talk about everything. However, I can tell you that our next feature film release will be Dr. Dolittle starring Eddie Murphy. We built animatronic duplicates of most of the major talking animals for the film. We're also working on a pilot for a TV series to be produced by our parent company, The Jim Henson Company. It's called Brats Of The Dark Nebula, and it's a sort of nineties version of the old Thunderbirds series.
MsgId: *emedia(61)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:38:46 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

So, anybody got a question?
MsgId: *emedia(62)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:40:13 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

I think we only have twenty minutes left here, so if were going to do Q&A, now's the time to get in some questions.
MsgId: *emedia(64)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:41:59 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

The audience appears to be a bit shy, so I'll jump back in. (Anyone out there, feel free to interrupt me!) The Creature Shop has a great reputation, which must be helpful when you're trying to find new projects or get your own off the ground. What do you look for in a project to make sure that the Shop can continue to establish itself as a leader in the field?
MsgId: *emedia(65)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:43:30 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Basically, we look for good scripts. Although we tend to get pigeonholed into some specific genres...specifically Realistic Animals (Babe, Dolittle), and the cartoony look of Ninja Turtles or Dinosaurs. We're perfectly willing to work on scary monster scripts, but it's gotta be a GOOD scary monster script.

In general, we tend to go for projects where our character is going to be a big chunk of the movie, with lots of screen time. That's why George Of The Jungle was such a good project for us. Our stuff is really on screen a great deal, and our talking gorilla, "APE" is a central character. We really prefer being a big part of the movie, not just a rubber monster that jumps out of the dark and says BOO...then disappears.

MsgId: *emedia(67)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:44:19 EDT 1997
From: At: 38.26.22.184

Matt, when you're working with a film company, how much freedom to you have in interpretation of the creatures in the script?JohnR
MsgId: *emedia(72)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:46:17 EDT 1997
From: At: 38.26.22.184

sorry..I meant in a script that doesn't call for a specific existing animal?JohnR
MsgId: *emedia(77)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:49:27 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Matt, did you catch the question from JohnR? He asked,"Matt, when you're working with a film company, how much freedom to you have in interpretation of the creatures in the script, in a script that doesn't call for a specific existing animal?"
MsgId: *emedia(81)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:51:30 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Basically, the initial design process starts with our own interpretation of what's in the script.
MsgId: *emedia(82)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:51:32 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Audience members, post your questions now -- we'll get to as many as we can before the end of the night.
MsgId: *emedia(83)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:51:55 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

We'll start with a number of initial drawings and sculptures. These come from a number of different artists in the shop, so each artist will have a slightly different take on the creature. When we start showing these to the director or Art Director, it will quickly become clear what direction he wants to go in. Then it's a collaborative process to home that to a final design.

Some directors are more open to suggestion than others. Right now, we're working on a film I can't name for Warner Bros. with Sam Raimi directing. Sam directed Darkman, Evil Dead, and Quick and the Dead. He's absolutely terrific to work with. I wish every director was as much fun.

MsgId: *emedia(91)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:55:56 EDT 1997
From: At: 38.26.22.184

Wow. That sounds great. I'm sorry you can't tell us more. Can you give more info on the tv series you're working on? When will it be on, what station? Andrea
MsgId: *emedia(92)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:57:05 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Brats is currently little more than a good idea. The puppets we're currently building will be used to shoot a Teaser Tape in August. The teaser tape is a music-video style peak of what 60 seconds of the show might look like. We'll use that tape to get a network or syndicator to green light the show. That means we'd get the show on the air sometime in 1998. It's similar to Thunderbirds in that it's puppets and spaceships in outerspace, but the art direction of those puppets and ships and the technology creating them will be state of the art. You won't see the marionettes with giant heads that were the Thunderbirds' signature look.
MsgId: *emedia(97)
Date: Mon Jul 28 21:59:30 EDT 1997
From: At: 38.26.22.184

Well I hope they bite. I for one, would love to see the show:)Andrea
MsgId: *emedia(101)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:01:04 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Thanks for your vote of confidence, Andrea. END
MsgId: *emedia(102)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:01:25 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 207.34.220.216

How does someone interested in this area get started? Steve
MsgId: *emedia(103)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:02:48 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

The best place to start is by learning to be a really good sculptor, Steve. This is an art where at least there are classes available. The other disciplines in our work don't really get taught anywhere but on the job, although some commercial robotics engineering training can be indirectly applicable. If you want to design animatronics mechanics, I'd suggest trying to build your own robots from scratch, using the sorts or servomotors that are used in radio control cars and planes. Learning to run metal shop machines like mills and lathes is also crucial
MsgId: *emedia(108)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:05:02 EDT 1997
From: At: 38.26.22.184

Do you have internships? Andrea
MsgId: *emedia(111)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:06:30 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Thus far we haven't been able to fit interns successfully into our workshop.
MsgId: *emedia(112)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:07:42 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 207.34.220.216

Thanks for the guidance. Steve
MsgId: *emedia(114)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:10:07 EDT 1997
From: MattBritton At: 38.243.102.3

Additionally, Steve, the trade magazine Cinefex is like a bible of how the fx are done in ever major movie. It can really show you a lot.
MsgId: *emedia(113)
Date: Mon Jul 28 22:10:01 EDT 1997
From: Dave_Thomer At: 199.183.204.169

Thank you for the question. Unfortunately, that's about all the time we have this evening. I'd like to thank the audience tonight for their questions, and special thanks to my guest tonight, Matt Britton. Best of luck to you and the Creature Shop, and congratulations on the success of GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE.

This is Dave Thomer, saying good night, and check out the Omni web site for the complete schedule of this week's interviews. We'll see you next week on E-Media.


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