At the end of last term, Year 8 enjoyed a fascinating PSHE lesson with Andrew Baker – a producer, executive producer, non-executive director and one of the UK’s leading media advisers. He has worked with some of the most innovative and influential producers in the UK, across children's animation and live action, factual entertainment, scripted drama and theatrical films.
Andrew is currently producing 'The Amazing Maurice' – an animated feature film based on Sir Terry Pratchett's award-winning book 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'. Year 8 were treated to a behind the scenes look at the process behind creating an animated film and saw just how much work is involved.
Andrew explained that the creative process is broken down into three main stages – storyboard, initial animation and then final animation and music. The project has been in development for four years and will be brought to the big screen in 2022.
Andrew then talked about his role as producer and what that actually means – which we discovered is running the whole production and looking after the 60+ people working on the project! Alongside this, he is also working on several other projects which are currently at different stages from initial ideas to those that are financed and ready to go. His previous job as a solicitor means that he is well-equipped to understand the many and varied contracts that are needed to ensure the film’s success.
The discussion then moved on to talk about how, when and on what devices we watch TV and films. A quick straw poll in the room revealed that Netflix and YouTube were the most popular platforms, followed by DisneyPlus and TikTok with interest in ITV, BBC and Amazon very low. On-demand viewing has changed how we watch and so producers have had to change how they promote their content to potential audiences. Marketing and publicity is a key part of the role of a producer and many creative decisions feed in to the marketing campaign, including casting.
The pupils were then invited to ask questions of Andrew and these included:
What is your greatest achievement to date?
My current project – 'The Amazing Maurice'. I am a Terry Pratchett fan and this is my biggest project to date. It will be very high profile when it launches and will be visible everywhere.
Do you produce live action films?
I have just finished a documentary called 'The United Way' about Manchester United and Eric Cantona. I have previously worked on live action drama such as Foyles War and Children’s TV shows
Is all animation digital?
When I first started working in animation, some films were still hand-drawn in pen and ink and then transformed into digital. These days, most animation uses CGI with the exception of the stop-frame method used on films such as 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and the 'Shawn the Sheep' productions – however even these productions use CGI to enhance facial features and create effects such as dust blowing over streets.
Who is the most famous person you have met?
As a lawyer, I met lots of famous people including James May from 'Top Gear' and 'The Great Escape', but my most famous client has to be Sooty!
We’re very grateful to Andrew for giving up his time to speak to the Year 8 pupils and inspire them about a career in film and production.
The Amazing Maurice hits our screens in 2022 on Sky Cinema and NOW – don’t miss it!
