Panel: So You Want to Make Cartoons — How the Animation Industry Works
- Date
- Friday 26 June 2026
- Time
- 16:30 – 18:00
- Location
- Ic-Civil, Valletta
Cartoons are a serious business. Absurdly, brilliantly, occasionally painfully serious - and the people who make them professionally have stories about the industry that nobody outside it ever quite believes until they hear them first-hand. .
This panel brings together practitioners who have directed some of the most profitable animated films ever made, created original animated series that broke viewership records, written for the most influential animation of the last thirty years, and built the educational infrastructure that trains the next generation across three continents. They are here to say, honestly and directly, what the cartoon business is like, what it rewards, what it costs, and how to navigate it from wherever you are starting from.
Speakers
Kyle Balda
Director
The Sheep Detectives (Amazon MGM, 2026) | Minions: The Rise of Gru | Despicable Me 3 | Minions (BAFTA nominated) | The Lorax. From Pixar and ILM to Illumination franchise director to independent feature filmmaker
Alan R. Cohen
Writer & Showrunner
Emmy Award-winning. King of the Hill | American Dad | The Freak Brothers (most successful original series in Tubi’s history). Three platform eras. One consistent creative voice.
Shion Takeuchi
Creator & Showrunner
Inside Job (Netflix first adult animated original developed in-house by a major streaming platform; top ten streamed within a week of release) | Gravity Falls | Regular Show | Pixar story department: Inside Out, Monsters University
Prof. Paula Callus
Head, National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University; UNESCO Consultant
UNESCO consultant; AHRC-funded researcher in Global South animation ecosystems.