October 9, 2026

Cahoots Studios Named Animation Partner for New CBeebies Series Animal Allsorts

Cahoots Studios has been appointed as the animation partner for Animal Allsorts, a newly commissioned CBeebies series developed by Maramedia and based on the acclaimed artwork and books by illustrator Owen Davey.

Known for its distinctive graphic style, Davey’s artwork will provide the visual inspiration for the series.

The appointment marks a new collaboration between Cahoots Studios and Maramedia, bringing Davey’s much-loved illustrations to life through animation for a young CBeebies audience.

Jackie Savery and Nigel Pope were instrumental in bringing the studio on board for the project.

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October 8, 2026

Animation Scotland and View Conference Partnership

View Conference
Oct 12-16
Turin, Italy.

What is marketing and PR anyway?  Whether you’re building a studio’s reputation or your own?

Studios can invest in marketing without connecting it to their wider business goals, then struggle to see the return. Freelancers and independent creatives often think that promoting themselves or their projects is out of reach without a team or budget. Both are wrong, and both are leaving opportunities on the table because of it.

This talk breaks down the common misconceptions on each side, the surprising overlap in how audiences actually build trust in a name (whether it’s a company or a person), and the strategies that transfer between the two – positioning, consistency, storytelling, and reputation-building – so you can apply the right lessons regardless of which one you’re building.

You’ll leave the talk with a clearer understanding of what successful marketing and PR strategies can achieve, and how you can adopt these for your studio or personal brand.

Hayley Miller 

Hayley Miller is the founder of World VFX Day, an initiative launched in 2023 that centers around their free annual online event held on 8 December. Their mission is to spotlight the art, innovation, and humans behind the VFX and animation magic audiences see on screen. With over a decade of experience in marketing and communications across the entertainment and technology sectors, Hayley spent several years working across leading studios including Pixomondo, MPC/Technicolor Group, and Territory Studio.

World VFX Day celebrates the artistry, innovation, and technical excellence behind visual effects in filmmaking and beyond, all year round. Through partnerships with industry professionals and organizations around the world, the initiative seeks to elevate the global profile of VFX and animation while sharing insights and knowledge that inspire creativity, new ideas and real change.

Adele Khawli 

Adele Khawli is a marketing and PR consultant specialising in animation, VFX and entertainment. Through her consultancy, Cliù, she helps creative studios become better known, communicate what makes them different and connect their marketing more closely with the work they want to win.

Before founding her consultancy, Cliù, Adele spent more than eight years leading marketing at Axis Studios as Head of Marketing. She helped grow the studio’s international profile and led campaigns for over 100 projects, working with clients including Netflix, HBO, Microsoft, Riot Games, Amazon, Universal and Wizards of the Coast.

Today, Adele works with creative studios to clarify how they present themselves, promote their work and reach new clients and audiences. She is particularly interested in giving greater visibility to the artists, ideas and processes behind creative work.

Adele is a Chartered Marketer and serves on the Board of Directors of Animation Scotland. She is also involved with Animated Women UK Scotland and mentors through WIA.

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October 1, 2026

Yoyo and the RSNO: A New Adventure for 2027

Visible Fictions returns in 2027 with Yoyo and the Broken Xylophone.

2027 will see Visible Fiction’s latest collaboration with the RSNO come to fruition.  Yoyo and the Broken Xylophone will be the third animation in our popular Yoyo series, which is free to schools across Scotland via the Charanga site.  Live versions of Yoyo and the Little Auk and The Adventures of Yoyo have already delighted young audiences, and to date our animations, together with Euan Stevenson’s beautiful musical score, have played concert halls and community spaces across the country.  Yoyo has reached tens of thousands of children over the last three years.

Working with BAFTA award-winning animator Gavin C Robinson for a third time, our latest story is all about the importance of trying. When our curious character Yoyo discovers there will soon be a talent contest in Inverkithkin she knows she wants to take part… but what is her special talent? Yoyo decides it’s time to take up an instrument and with the help of Mr Kantor and his wonderful music shop, she decides that the Xylophone is the very instrument for her! She finds it hard at first, but practice makes perfect, as they say.

We are so excited to be creating another animated story written by Stewart Ennis and can’t wait to share it with more young people.

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John McEwan-Whyte joins the Pilot TV Podcast

Animation joins the Pilot TV podcast!

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Six Months, Many Projects, One Zaratan

News from the team at Zaratan!

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World premiere of The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The World of Harvey Kurtzman premiered at EIFF, with all its Scottish talent in attendance.

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September 18, 2026

APPLICATIONS FOR THE RSNO’S FILM COMPOSERS LAB – OPEN CALL FOR ANIMATORS!

The RSNO’s Film Composers Lab 2026:27 is now open to applications from UK-based, early-career composers! The scheme offers the chance for emerging composers to expand their skills in film composition under the expert guidance of industry professionals John Lunn (Downton Abbey, Shetland, The Last Kingdom) and film and video game composer Danai Kokogia. The five successful candidates will rescore an …

The RSNO’s Film Composers Lab 2026:27 is now open to applications from UK-based, early-career composers! The scheme offers the chance for emerging composers to expand their skills in film composition under the expert guidance of industry professionals John Lunn (Downton Abbey, Shetland, The Last Kingdom) and film and video game composer Danai Kokogia.

The five successful candidates will rescore an existing short film, creating a brand-new composition which will be recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at its world-class recording facility, Scotland’s Studio. Delivered in a hybrid format across six sessions between November 2026 and June 2027, the project will culminate in a public screening in Glasgow of all the newly scored films during the summer of 2027.

CALLING UK-BASED SHORT ANIMATION FILMMAKERS!

In collaboration with Animation Scotland, the RSNO is also seeking existing short, animated films (4 to 7 minutes maximum) to be rescored by the successful Film Composers Lab participants and recorded by the RSNO. The selected films will support up-and-coming composing talent to develop their scoring skill and give animators a new, bespoke musical interpretation of their work.

Applications for Film Composers Lab 2026:27 close at midday on Friday 2 October 2026.

Applications for animations close at 5pm on Sunday 1 November 2026.

For more information and to apply, head to rsno.org.uk/composers-lab/

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September 8, 2026

Sea Change Animated Women: Participants revealed for Screen Argyll’s new animated feature residency for women and marginalised gendered creatives

Six individual animators from across the UK will take part in a unique new residency to develop their animated feature film projects. The six participants for Screen Argyll’s first ever Sea Change Animated Women residency have been revealed. Renowned Scottish animator and illustrator Rachel Bevan Baker and award-winning writer, filmmaker and teacher Anna Zaluczkowska selected the shortlist from 32 applications. …

Six individual animators from across the UK will take part in a unique new residency to develop their animated feature film projects. The six participants for Screen Argyll’s first ever Sea Change Animated Women residency
have been revealed.

Renowned Scottish animator and illustrator Rachel Bevan Baker and award-winning writer, filmmaker and teacher Anna Zaluczkowska selected the shortlist from 32 applications.

Powering a more inclusive future for UK cinema, this dedicated residency provides women and marginalised gendered animators with the space, support and resources to scale their ideas for animated features from concept to screen. Sea Change Animated Women is delivered by Screen Argyll and supported by the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge
Fund, awarding National Lottery Good Cause funding.

Those taking part in the upcoming residency and the projects they will be developing are:

Sarah Beeby (working with Louisa Wood) with Salty Fangs, the new film from the writer-director team behind the multi-award-winning animated short Gardening. When Unity Shoals’ most obedient mermaid helpfully posts a revolutionary manifesto, she gets into a LOT of trouble and falls in with the washed-up rebel who wrote it.

Northern Ireland-based writer, director and animator Solène Guichard with Sunny Is Dead.
When Sunny dies, she discovers the hard way that love can be forever.

Lauren Orme – a Welsh writer and director specialising in 2D and mixed-media animation – with Swimming Lessons. Learning to become a mother while losing her own parent, a woman haunted by visions of drowning must learn to stay afloat.

Graphic novelist and animator Sydney Padua – who most recently worked as a lead animator on Mufasa: The Lion King- with Lerhu. When floods destroy her island home at the end of the Ice Age, a young girl must learn to survive in the dense forests of ancient Britain.

Honor Price, a BAFTA-nominated, London-based animation director known for her distinctive stop motion style, with Unhealthy Relationships. After his date abandons him and the feast he cooked for her, food-obsessed Harry creates his perfect woman from the contents of his fridge. The Lady in the Fridge becomes his perfect soulmate, but when a real lover comes along, Harry’s appetites, and his edible companion, spiral into a deliciously
grotesque and manipulative love triangle.

Animator and producer Ana Stefaniak, who has spent the last few years returning to her passion of narrative animation and storytelling following a commercial career, with Flipside. When flames devour everything and everyone Orphee knows and loves, the only way forward seems to be to move in with her estranged aunt and make friends with a ghost or
two.

Sea Change Animated Women is delivered by Screen Argyll, who are based on the Hebridean island of Tiree, and supported by the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery Good Cause funding.
The programme will take place over seven months through a mix of online group and one-to- one mentoring sessions, enhanced by a core seven-day residential development lab embedded alongside Screen Argyll’s annual Sea Change Film Festival on Tiree this September. The residency will culminate in a project showcase at the 2027 MOVE Summit,
Scotland’s animation gathering.

Jen Skinner, Director, Sea Change Festival, said:
“We were thrilled by the shortlist, which reflects the breadth and ambition of animation talent across the UK. It’s exciting to support such distinctive voices as they develop feature-length work, we are looking forward to supporting them on their journey and can’t wait to see the results”

Mia Bays, Director of the BFI Filmmaking Fund, said:
“Screen Argyll has built a strong reputation for nurturing creative talent on the remote island of Tiree. We are delighted to support Sea Change Animated Women, which extends this work by creating a dedicated pathway for women and marginalised gendered creatives developing animated feature films. As one of the first BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund programmes focused on animation features, it offers vital early-development support, and we look forward to seeing the impact of the programme and the projects it
helps bring to life”

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May 29, 2026

We are attending MIFA 2026

MIFA 23rd June – 24th June

We are delighted to be heading to Annecy and to be part of MIFA’s thriving international market. If you are interested in meeting co-production partners, exciting talent, and learning more about the funding opportunities Scotland has to offer, please stop by our stand at B.23.

In attendance:

Screen Scotland: Kieran Hannigan.
Animation Scotland: Sueann Rochester, Adele Khawli, Paula Poveda-Urrutia.
Studios: The 2D Workshop, Animation Garden, Blobina, Bonnie & Braw Cartuns, Cahoots, Curious Dreamers, Eyebolls, TG Entertainment, and Zaratan Studios.

Animation Scotland Events:

MIFA Animation Scotland Drinks – Tuesday, 24th June, 5pm, at stand B.23
Come and unwind with a drink after your first day at MIFA and discover everything Scotland has to offer.

Lunchtime Swims – Tuesday to Friday, 12–1pm
An opportunity to rest and cool down between meetings. Meet us at B.23 at noon and we’ll head to the wonderful Plage du MIFA.

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April 14, 2026

Eyebolls Unveils Magic: The Gathering’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Launch Trailer

Directed by Phil Hawkins with animation direction from Tony Cervone, the mixed-media film blends live action and hand-drawn animation to introduce the iconic characters into the Magic: The Gathering universe.

Eyebolls has created the new live-action and animation launch trailer introducing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the Magic: The Gathering universe, developed in close partnership with Wizards of the Coast.

To bring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into one of the world’s most established fantasy settings, the studio assembled a bespoke senior team spanning live action, animation, and visual effects. Directed by Phil Hawkins (Robin and the Hoods, Prancer: A Christmas Tale, It Lies Within) with animation direction from industry veteran Tony Cervone (Space Jam, Looney Tunes, SCOOB!), the project was developed in-house, with Eyebolls handling script development, creative direction, storyboarding, animation direction, live-action production, and post.  The final trailer premiered during the Mutant Mayhem Regal cinema event (March 27–29), with a 30-second cut running in theatres ahead of the screenings.

“We were brought in very early, with a loose script and an initial idea,” says Hawkins. “From there, we developed it into something cinematic, taking it from script and boards through to the final film with Tony and the team.”

Working with legacy characters meant understanding why the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have endured across generations. The team focused on preserving the personalities, humour, and behavioural traits audiences already connect with, while introducing subtle, inventive touches to suit the Magic world.

“They’ve been around for decades, with countless interpretations,” says animation director Tony Cervone. “You need to understand what the audience loves about them and why they’ve endured. You stay true to that foundation, but you also give people something new.”

That balance was overseen by Eyebolls founders Rhona Drummond and Victoria Watson, keeping the creative, schedule, and budget on track from pitch through delivery

“Eyebolls was built on the belief that the best work starts with listening,” says Watson. “That’s especially important when you’re acting as a caretaker of iconic IPs. It’s about bringing the right people together, keeping communication open, and respecting what makes a property enduring while moving it forward.”

The trailer merges traditional hand-drawn animation with live action, with every creative decision built around integration. Rather than shying away from the interaction between the two elements, the team leaned into it, treating the animation as 2.5D to give the characters volume and presence within the live-action space. The shoot, lighting, and performances were all designed to support direct interaction between actors and animation.

“At its core, it’s traditional animation,” says Cervone. “Absolutely hand-drawn characters integrated into a live-action world. Making it believable meant focusing completely on that integration. Every choice was designed to support it. When an animated character truly interacts with live action, you start believing it immediately. The goal wasn’t just for the animation to fit in, but to elevate everything around it.”

eyebolls.com

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