Profile: Michael Sporn
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MS: I always felt that TV animation screams at you. At recording sessions, the actors walk away with sore throats. And it's not just sound, things are quicker-cut and come flying out; colors are bright. And I just want to see a little depth. "Samarai Jack" was pretty nice. Often they had episodes without speech at all, and when they did have it they had control over it. I just saw an episode of "Camp Lazlo," and they didn’t have one moment of silence. There’s no character, no anything when you do that. But the same guy, Joe Murray did "Rocko’s Modern Life," and that had moments of cleverness and humanity.
JF: So what makes a good cartoon?
MS: Story. But I don't make typical cartoons. My films are based more on human traits than they are on cartoon traits.
JF: What have been your favorite projects?
MS: Two: The Hunting of the Snark. It was a 35 millimeter film of the same film I made in 8 millimeter. That was a 10 minute film of all the skills I taught myself in animation when I was in college. The other film is The Marzipan Pig, a half-hour film for HBO. It's based on a Russell Hoban book and tells the story of various forms of love using different objects and animals. It's a very complex film and complex story. Tissa David boarded and animated it all.
JF: What would you like the future to hold for your studio?
MS: I'm interested in features now, so I'm trying to develop different features and try to get them going. If you have a feature, then you don't have to divide your mind between a bunch of different little projects, all of which are going on at the same time, so you can't give the proper attention to any one project.
JF: What’s the hardest thing about your job?
MS: Dealing with it on a down time, when there isn’t a lot of work. At the same time that happens, I'm trying to work on my own films. You just find a way to do it. It's all juggling.
JF: What's the biggest perk about your job?
MS: The attention. The miniscule bits of glory you get at a screening or a festival. The true moments are when you finish a film like The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.
JF: Why did you choose to do what you’re doing?
MS: To control my own life and work and what I do.
JF: How do I get to be where you are now?
MS: Stubbornness, and you need to back it up. You need to be knowledgeable and crafty to be able to juggle all the odds and ends. The talent keeps it going.