Oscar-winning writer-director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille) will receive this year’s Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement from The Writers Guild of America, West’s Animation Writers Caucus (AWC). The tenth annual award will be presented at the WGA West’s 2008 Honorary Awards Luncheon on April 23 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.
Over the past two decades, Bird has managed to establish himself as one of the leading figures in animation. While 1999’s The Iron Giant didn’t receive the recogniton many feel it deserved, The Incredibles and Ratatouille both won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, and Bird was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for both.
‘Brad’s work has put him in the pantheon of animation creators for whom the art and craft of animation writing are elegantly (and sometimes literally) drawn together,’ comments WGAW president Patric M. Verrone.
Bird began creating his first animated film at the age of 11 and finished it nearly three years later. The short got his foot in the door at Walt Disney Studios, where, at the tender age of 14, he was mentored by Milt Kahl, one of the legendary ‘Nine Old Men.’ He would later serve as an executive consultant on FOX’s The Simpsons and King of the Hill. He also created, wrote, directed and co-produced the popular animated ‘Family Dog’ episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories television series.
More than 10 years after co-writing the 1987 live-action sci-fi feature *batteries not included, Bird is returning to live action with 1906, a historical drama he is writing and directing. Disney/Pixar and Warner Bros. are co-producing the pic, which is based on the book by James Dalessandro and set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The WGAW’s AWC Animation Writing Award is reserved for members of the AWC or Writers Guild who have advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years, and who have made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer. Past winners include Al Jean and Michael Reiss, Mark Evanier, Patric M. Verrone, Jack Mendelsohn and last year’s recipient, Jules Feiffer. Founded in 1994, the AWC represents more than 600 animation writers and works to advance economic and creative conditions in the field.
