Skybound Leisure, the corporate behind Strolling Useless and the animated sequence Invincible, is reviving the legendary Spike & Mike’s Competition of Animation. It’s now accepting submissions for the 2024 version.
A date for pageant hasn’t been nailed down but, however the first window of submissions might be free and open to residents of the U.S., U.Ok., and Canada (excluding Quebec) till January 5, 2024. Skybound is accepting submissions in three classes: Competition of Animation, Sick & Twisted, and Arty Farty.
Initially launched in 1977, Spike & Mike’s festivals performed a key position in legitimizing unbiased and grownup animation in the US. The touring pageant grew to become famend for showcasing the artistry of animation and providing a platform to younger and skilled artists alike. The pageant’s heyday was within the Eighties and Nineties, nevertheless it was a sufferer of its personal success. As animation grew to become an accepted mainstream grownup artwork type, the occasion’s relevance tapered off, earlier than lastly ending within the 2010s.
However Spike & Mike’s significance throughout its glory days can’t be overstated. The pageant screened the work of a whole bunch of iconic filmmakers, a lot of whom had been nonetheless within the early phases of their careers. A number of the filmmakers whose work was offered on the pageant embody Pete Docter, Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Karen Aqua, John Dilworth, Alison Snowden, Brad Chook, Craig McCracken, Mike Choose, Nick Park, Chris Wedge, Andrew Stanton, Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis, Marv Newland, Invoice Plympton, Erica Russell, Will Vinton, Joanna Priestley, Barry Purves, and Joan Gratz.
The Spike & Mike relaunch is about extra than simply the Competition of Animation, although. In response to Skybound, the plan is to:
- Relaunch Animation Festivals: Revive the Spike & Mike animation occasions, inviting creators worldwide to interact of their distinctive, unconventional fashion.
- Distribute Content material Digitally: Make handpicked animated shorts out there on-line, enhancing world accessibility to each current and legacy library content material whereas honoring the festivals’ gonzo roots.
- Forge New Partnerships: Search collaborations with modern animation creators throughout quite a lot of mediums and platforms to highlight right this moment’s expertise.
- Reintroduce The Library: Assess alternatives to both rejuvenate iconic tales from the previous or craft recent narratives influenced by its library.
Skybound is encouraging animators, universities, and organizations around the globe to submit unique works for the possibility to be featured within the library of Skybound Presents: Spike & Mike. A phrase of warning to Cartoon Brew readers: rigorously overview the phrases earlier than submitting something by the Spike & Mike web site, because the contract isn’t creator-friendly. The easy act of submitting your movie grants an inexplicably broad license to Skybound to do no matter they need along with your animation with no assured compensation, and such phrases may negatively influence extra profitable distribution and licensing alternatives.
Asserting the reboot, Skybound Leisure head of studio Marge Dean mentioned in a launch:
Spike & Mike has been a seminal platform for artistic voices in animation. There can be no place for exhibits like Invincible to exist with out their efforts to develop a secure house for creators to precise each the uplifting and introspective or ‘sick and twisted’ in an extremely revolutionary, advanced, and boundless artwork type.
Rick Jacobs, managing companion of linear content material at Skybound, added:
Bringing this iconic model underneath the Skybound umbrella is a gigantic alternative to carry Spike & Mike’s insurgent origins to the plenty and develop upon what we’re already doing in grownup animation. Co-founder Mike Gribble as soon as said that their mission was “to seek out probably the most unique, funniest, and weirdest animation on the earth and play it.” Digitizing the festivals opens the doorways for – and to – thousands and thousands of proficient of creators throughout the globe who will shepherd a brand new technology of animation.
Spike & Mike’s co-founder Craig “Spike” Decker additionally celebrated the information:
I’m extremely appreciative of Skybound’s respect and understanding of what the Spike & Mike model has completed and what we will proceed to supply. I’m excited to see what they’re capable of do for present Spike & Mike work and look ahead to creating a brand new chapter with them.
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