Mr. Sporn in the Spotlight

It may have been the work of the Hubley studio that inspired Sporn’s style at the start of his career. “John Hubley was one of my animation heroes. I was calling the studio almost every week, at the suggestion of the personal assistant there. I had conversations with her for about a year, and then one day I got a call from her to come in. So I was hired for two days, which turned into five years.” It was there that Sporn worked on Everybody Rides the Carousel and A Doonesbury Special, as well as forging a professional relationship with Tissa David. “I worked for a couple commercial companies in between, and when I found out that Richard Williams was doing Raggedy Ann and Andy, Tissa got me a job there. Richard Williams was another hero of mine back in ’76.”  

Working in the New York indie scene has had its ups and downs for Sporn. “Norm McLaren once said that his suggestion to all independent filmmakers was to have their budgets cut in half; striving for something will give them more of an objective need to fight to make the film better. I agree with that.” Sporn adds, “unless you’re clever and agile, money will be a major problem all the time. I would say sixty per cent of my job is worrying about finances. You also have to be able to get your work seen and shown off.”

Sporn’s films have been shown internationally, a fact that he coughs up to his high values. “I like intelligent and adult work. I like a pencil dragging across a piece of paper and the problems you get with that. It’s beautiful.’