Screenwriter, producer, and director Mark Burton has, over the last 20 years, worked for studios like Aardman, Dream Works, Disney, and Warner Bros. He is recognized as one of the greatest screenwriters for animation in Europe and has contributed to many global box offices hits. In his masterclass, he will share his experience of being a feature animation writer, in the UK and Hollywood, and takes you for a bracing walk through his process.
Mark Burton is a British television writer, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and film director, that currently is working on Paddington 3. He co-wrote and co-directed Shaun the Sheep Movie, which received Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Animated Feature in 2015. Later he was involved as a writer and executive producer for the sequel film Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon which was released in 2019. Other film credits include Gnomeo & Juliet, Aliens in the Attic, and Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won an Oscar in 2006 for Best Animated Feature. Mark Burton also has a script credit for Madagascar, which was based on an original idea by him and Billy Frolick.
Heikki Jokinen has been a freelance journalist and critic since 1986. He has an M.A. in political science and comparative cultural research. His articles have been published in over 125 newspapers and magazines around the world. He has written or edited 20 books and lectured at art universities on five continents. Jokinen has been a member of more than twenty juries and selection committees on the film festivals including Annecy, Stuttgart, and Zagreb animation festivals. In the 1990s, he was a member of the Animerte Dagers festival and selection committees. Jokinen is the former vice-president of ASIFA. He has been chair of the Finnish Animation Association, the Finnish Critics’ Association, and the Finnish Comics Society. Now, he is a board member of Cartoon – European Association of Animation Film and chair of Kopiosto, the collective management organisation for reprographic and audiovisual authors’ copyright.