Lucasfilm Ltd. today officially opened the doors of its digital animation studio in Singapore, a 40,000-square foot facility that will focus on creating animated feature films and television series. Based in the Changi area of the small island nation, the studio has hired more than 35 employees from 19 countries and plans to continue recruiting into 2006.
“When we announced the formation of Lucasfilm Animation Singapore last August, we said we’d open our doors this fall, and we’re right on schedule,” says Lucasfilm founder George Lucas. “Our first series’a TV adventure titled Clone Wars, based on the time between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith– is already in active development and we hope to see it on the air in 2007.”
Phillip Stamp will serve as director of animation and Teo Chor Guan has been brought on as software engineer manager for Lucasfilm Animation Singapore. Under the leadership of general manager Christian Kubsch, the new studio will work closely with the team at Lucasfilm Animation, based at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif. The company also made announcements regarding the hiring of key creative execs for its U.S. operations.
Coming on as exec producer at Lucasfilm Animation in the U.S. is Catherine Winder, who has worked as both an exec and producer in feature films, home video and television animation in both the U.S. and Asia. She will head up development and production on the upcoming 3D-animated television series as well as on feature film projects. Prior to joining the company, Winder served as senior VP of Fox Feature Animation, where she supervised the expansion of Blue Sky studios and the production of the Oscar-nominated Ice Age. Her producing career started at Colossal Pictures, where she quickly moved to HBO and set up a studio to develop and produce the Emmy Award-winning animated series Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn. She began her animation career at Walt Disney Television Animation, Japan, and went on to work at Turner Films/Hanna Barbera in Taiwan. Winder co-authored the industry handbook Producing Animation.
Dave Filoni, who most recently directed the Nickelodeon animation series Avatar: The Last Airbender, has been hired on as supervising director. He began his animation career at toon house Film Roman as an assistant director for King of the Hill. He also served as an assistant director on the WB cartoon series Mission Hill and The Oblongs. Other credits include the Walt Disney Television Animation productions Kim Possible, Teamo Supremo and Lilo and Stitch.
After writing Star Wars comic-book stories for Dark Horse and authoring graphic novel adaptations of Star Wars: Episode I–The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones, Henry Gilroy joins the Lucasfilm family as head writer/story editor. A veteran television animation story editor and producer with two Emmy nominations, Gilroy has contributed to such shows as The Tick, Jackie Chan Adventures, Lilo & Stitch and Justice League Unlimited. He also wrote for the award-winning, direct-to-video Bionicle film trilogy for Miramax.
Industrial Light & Magic animation director Rob Coleman has been named animation and development director for Lucasfilm Animation. He joins the toon division after twelve years at Lucas’ visual effects house, where he served as animation director on all three of the Star Wars prequels. Coleman has been nominated for two Oscars for his work on Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace, and two British Academy Awards (BAFTAs) for his work on Men in Black and The Phantom Menace.
An opening ceremony for the Singapore studio included a traditional Lion Dance, a blessing by a feng shui master and the unveiling of a statue of Yoda that will greet visitors to the studio. Official remarks were made by Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, second minister for trade and industry, and Teo Ming Kian, chairman of the economic development board (EDB) of Singapore. They were joined by Micheline Chau, president and COO of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Gail Currey, VP and general manager of Lucasfilm Animation.
Main Photo: Christian Kubsch, general manager of Lucasfilm Animation Company Singapore, and Micheline Chau, right, president and Chief Operating Officer of Lucasfilm Ltd., stand next to a statue of Yoda
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