Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Jenkins.
Hi Christopher, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Wales, the Western part of the United Kingdom. The Rhondda Valley was the epicenter of world coal production and like everyone else, Mam & Dad’s terraced Miner’s Cottage was surrounded by coal mines and mountains. The industry was in transition because the coal mines were being shut down one by one, and although the landscape remained part lunar, beyond the black and grey of the coal tips the technicolor of Wales provided ferns to hide in, streams to fish in and mountains to climb. This rural upbringing is the background to my art, as much as the weatherworn folks that populated my small town. My father’s storytelling brought humor and narrative into focus, and my mother’s response to my neverending supply of new drawings encouraged me to keep making things. My older and younger brothers made sure that I exhibited all the supposed traits of a middle kid.
At school, I was too small for sports and too unruly (probably ADD) for intellectual pursuits. Instead, I was from the earliest age, recognized as the Artist in the class. I was that kid – quiet and friendly, who developed an inner world while watching rather than being part of everything else.
I attended Art College in London at Middlesex University and afterward lucked out in finding a job at Walt Disney Animation when they set up a UK unit for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
With 14 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation under his belt, Chris has animated on such movies as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules & Atlantis.
Joining Sony Pictures Animation in 2002, Chris played a critical role in launching the division’s inaugural film, Open Season. He was assigned to Surf’s Up next, writing, producing, and in the process, inventing the animated mockumentary. Surf’s Up rode the 2007 Awards Season wave culminating in an ACADEMY AWARD nomination for BEST ANIMATED PICTURE.
Chris subsequently produced at Blue Sky Animation from 2009 to 2010, molding the story for RIO before he returned to Sony to invent many characters and scenes that would become integral to Hotel Transylvania.
In 2011 Chris joined DreamWorks Animation, where he produced the short Almost Home starring Steve Martin and the featured Home released in 2015. starring Jim Parsons, Rihanna and Steve Martin.
At Original Force Animation in 2015, Chris wrote and directed Duck Duck Goose, starring Jim Gaffigan, Zendaya, Carl Reiner and Steven Fry. As of August 2018, the movie had become a runaway hit on Netflix, with over 10 million downloads in the first 30 days.
Chris is currently writing and directing several productions, including Extreme Elephant for SQUEEZE ANIMATION and 10 Lives for L’ATELIER ANIMATION, starring Simone Ashley, Zayn Malik, Dylan Llewellyn, Sophie Okonedo & Mo Gilligan.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Just as I was completing High School and about to leave for college, my mother passed away. So when I finally left home, I carried a deep scar that to some extent is still an open wound. More particularly, in the early 1980s, my world had fallen apart. Add to this that as a Welsh Country boy, London presented many cultural challenges – not least the famous British Class System. I didn’t thrive at this time and after the foundation year, I failed to get into my chosen degree course. But while I had been busy playing more guitar than applying myself to a degree course, I had become more of an adult. From that point on, I became driven, drawing & painting every day, with the result that I got back on track a couple of years later in my first choice of college and career specialization in Scientific Illustration. Four years later, I was employed as an animator for Walt Disney, a skill that had little to do with my degree course but had everything to do with something I was unknowingly very good at.
It was a huge and difficult choice to leave Britain and come to live in the USA. But as soon as I hit the ground things went good to amazing in my career. It’s true that success brings inadvertent enemies, and I struggled with this kind of friction for several years. Nevertheless, I participated in the biggest Disney movies of the 1990s and progressed to find myself on Disney’s ‘top-floor’ as part of the prestigious Development department. It was here that I honed my instincts for storytelling and fell in love with writing.
I treasured working at Disney, so in 2002 it broke my heart to have to leave. The studio was going through a leadership change and with it a certain dysfunction that wasn’t amended until John Lasseter took over several years later. In the meantime, I had been invited to join newcomer Sony Animation as a Creative Producer. The ethos of the studio to develop fresh ideas, and the generous spirit of the leadership, allowed me to work on numerous productions in development. This included a script known at the time as Wipe Out. In addition to changing the name to Surf’s Up, I re-envisioned the project to be a Mockumentary, re-wrote the story, and built a team of artists ready to tackle the significant hurdles of animating the ocean in computer graphics. An animated movie takes on average 4 years from development to release, so you can’t predict what marketplace you’ll release into. So it was that what should have been a massive hit, Surf’s Up was foreshadowed by two other penguin movies. However, despite a certain penguin fatigue, in 2008 Surf’s Up was nominated for an Academy Award and maintains a cult status among teenagers even today. I’m very proud of it.
Another change in studio leadership followed and I left Sony to pursue different opportunities. Over the next several years, I found that the animation industry had changed. The kind of skillful architecture I revered at Disney wasn’t as present at the other studios I encountered. I hit a mid-career drop in enthusiasm – and opportunities: I had been type-cast as a Producer, but as a creative guy I needed more. Consequently, in 2014 I left the studio system and joined an Independent Studio (Original Force) based in China, with a hub nestled deep in Culver City. I would write and direct the movie which at that point was already on an extremely tough schedule. I had a tremendous amount of fun on Duck Duck Goose, but rather than finding a release from the malaise of Big Studio Production, I fell into the realities of making a movie for a fraction of the budget than I was used to. Additionally, there were ongoing politics that had nothing to do with me but that had a stranglehold on the movie’s release into Theaters. Netflix acquired the movie and it performed incredibly well, particularly, apparently, among dads and their kids. However, at a time when streaming of Animated movies wasn’t yet in vogue, my career received a big custard pie in the face. This, combined with the introduction into the world of a Pandemic, made my livelihood very precarious for a few years. I had never faced anything as hard in my career and I was very nearly broke.
During a brief period in 2020, I attempted a start-up business with Machaela Hart, tieing my love and concern for nature into animation narratives. As we all know so well, Covid was no respector of life and certainly not start-ups in animation. However, focussing on environmental challenges gave me a clarity of purpose that had been missing from life for quite some time. (As I write this, I am aware that by design or not, nearly all of my movies now contain some aspect relating to the challenges ahead in Climate Change.)
I guess you never count how many friends you’ve made along the way, and I certainly wasn’t aware I was ‘well-known’ to the extent that became obvious after a serious bout with ill health. I’m nervous of sounding hubristic here, but one of my favorite movies is ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ The idea that a man can go about his life and not know he’s made a positive difference to so many hit me like a ton of bricks. As mentioned above, I was broke. I had no group insurance like in the good old days of Studio Employment. My portion of the bill from three days in September 2020 was crazy. But thanks to a Facebook post from my beloved sister-in-law (and amazing Animation Editor), so many friends came forward with donations that both my spirits and my finances returned to full health. I can’t quite express the extent to which I value the big-heartedness of the Animation world. It’s a lot of people but a small world – and they’re all wonderful.
Late in 2020 one such wonderful producer (Penney Finkelman Cox) brought me onto a movie called 10 Lives. It had originally been in development at Original Force, but my job was to rewrite the movie, set it in England, and direct. Once again the more ‘practical’ independent budget meant that every dollar needed to be represented on the scene and not in overwrought development. As I write, I am still working on 10 Lives, and I’m pleased to say that while challenging in some respects, the movie has a superb cast and the animation is second to none. It’s truly beautiful and I only hope that when we release in 2024, many people get yot see it. The theme is one well-known to me after lessons in life, love and friendship…
“…when you live and love with all of your heart, one life really is enough.”
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a director now: In animation, this is the equivalent of being the conductor of a massively skilled orchestra of artists. I’ve touched every facet of animation production from Development to Animation, Layout, and Background painting. I’m a musician to a limited degree, but someone who understands the power of music to complete a vision.
I’m an illustrator by training and nature. I became an effects animator because of chance but found a delight in what you can think of as drawing the snow falling in the metaphorical Snow Globe. On Little Mermaid, I animated many bubbles, some waves and a Rainbow. On Beauty and the Beast, I found delight in storms and Lightning. Aladdin brought the chance to animate magic, fire, and lava, and on Hunchback of Notre Dame, I created a dancing fire Esmarelda. This fantastic Disney training ground remains in all of my work, which is to say that atmosphere in storytelling and movies is all-important to me. I had no real training as a writer but since I literally sat on my dad’s knee to listen to his wonderful, colorful, and exceptionally funny stories, I think that through everything I’ve done the desire to write my own screenplays has been a constant ambition. If in the writing I create now I can get anywhere close to my father’s ability as a storyteller, this is what I would be proud of.
I can’t say what others think sets me apart because I don’t have that kind of philosophy – setting myself apart would be terribly un-British. I can say that my approach is to value each and every individual in the creative process and to encourage participation and contribution. This is an ethos rooted in my upbringing and not just convenient Hollywood blather. I truly believe that making movies must be enjoyable – so encouraging a sense of fun amongst the talented crews is essential.
With all this in mind, I can say that Surf’s Up was not only a wonderful creative achievement but was the most fun I’ve ever had making a movie. We had story meeting’s on the beach and every one of the crew had the opportunity to ride a Surf Board. I can say with confidence that Surf’s Up remains a career highlight, not only for me but for all the artists who made it. Special movie – a special experience.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Just a few short years ago, the closing of cinemas because of Covid seemed to indicate that streaming movies would from then on be the norm. Today I’m relieved to see that people seem to prefer watching movies at a theater again. Disney is de-emphasizing their online first-release program, and the ups and downs of Netflix are instructive to a world that prefers cinemas over living rooms.
Predictions in the movie business are clear in hindsight though not always accurate in execution. A few years before Covid 3D movies were the technological new kid on the block. Now, total immersion through Virtual Reality is driving us toward the insular experience once again. While I am fascinated by this incredible technology, somehow I think that the essential core of a movie is better seen with other people; that in some sense, a modern cinema is like a circle of the tribe listening to the shaman storyteller. It is a gathering – a community – a people looking for communal truth – or at least a few laughs.
My particular hope, though moderated by an understanding of the need for modern mythologies, is that we will see a break from the homogenized superhero movies, the franchise of the familiar, and the repetition of success through sequential sameness. I’m a fan of trying harder to tell truly original stories – being surprised and not pacified by convenient re-hashes of the hero’s tale. These are harder movies to develop – Disney and specifically Pixar always do this well.
