Stephen Worth is an American producer of animation. Worth was a producer for

Bagdasarian Productions Bagdasarian Productions (also credited as Bagdasarian Company) is an American production company founded by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (also known as David Seville) on February 20, 1961. The company holds the rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks and rela ...

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...

and

John Kricfalusi Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...

's production company

Spümcø Spumco, Inc. (stylized as SPüMCø) was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' for Nickelodeo ...

Career

Worth studied at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Design in 1982. He trained as an artist, but entered the film business as a

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay animat ...

studios, a commercial production house specializing in animation. He began researching the techniques and materials used in classic animations along with Lew Stude, and formed Vintage Ink & Paint, an animation art restoration facility in Burbank, California. He later took a job as production assistant at Bagdasarian Productions, the studio responsible for the series '' Alvin and the Chipmunks''. His first project for the company was to sort, package and market artwork from the feature ''

The Chipmunk Adventure ''The Chipmunk Adventure'' is a 1987 American animated musical-comedy film based on the Saturday-morning cartoon series ''Alvin and the Chipmunks''. Directed by Janice Karman and written by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr., it stars the voices of ...

''. In nine months, he became

associate producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

of Bagdasarian's TV series, recordings and prime time television specials. Ralph Bakshi invited Worth to join him as animation production manager on the film ''

Cool World ''Cool World'' is a 1992 American live-action/animated black comedy fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi and written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor. Starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne and Brad Pitt, it tells the story of a cartoonist w ...

''. Worth handled production duties on ''Cool World'' for a little over a year, and left to work on representing the estates of

Les Clark Leslie James "Les" Clark (November 17, 1907 - September 12, 1979) was an American animator and the first of Disney's Nine Old Men. Joining Disney in 1927, he was the only one to work on the origins of Mickey Mouse with Ub Iwerks. Early life L ...

Grim Natwick Myron "Grim" Natwick (' Nordveig; August 16, 1890 – October 7, 1990) was an American artist, animator, and film director. Natwick is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studios' most popular character, Betty Boop. Background Born in Wis ...

and Mel Blanc through Vintage Ink & Paint. John Kricfalusi met Worth through the internet, and they became friends. Worth was the first to show Kricfalusi the "

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

" and encouraged him to get involved in the then-new medium. Together, they created an online animation website called "Spumco's Wonderful World of Cartoons". Worth produced ''Weekend Pussy Hunt'' and ''

The Goddamn George Liquor Program ''The Goddamn George Liquor Program'' is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated character George Liquor. It was originally developed as a web-based cartoon by Microsoft's then-new MSN, in partnershi ...

'', the first

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

animated web cartoons, as well as an Annie Award-winning rock

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for Björk's single '' I Miss You''. Worth continued to work for Spumco for ten years as a producer on commercials, web cartoons, several television series and a prime time special for Cartoon Network called ''

Boo Boo Runs Wild ''Boo Boo Runs Wild'' is a 1999 stand-alone animated television special, and a parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series ''The Yogi Bear Show''. It was made by ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø. ''Boo B ...

''. In this program, he voiced the classic character

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

. When Spumco shut down production in 2005 after completing ''

Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon Ren or REN may refer to: Abbreviations * Orenburg Tsentralny Airport, IATA code REN, civil airport in Russia * Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), Portuguese company * Renanthera, abbreviated as Ren, orchid genus * Ringer equivalence number ( ...

'', Worth went to work on building an archive and museum of the art of animation. He also served on

ASIFA-Hollywood ASIFA-Hollywood, an American non-profit organization in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a branch member of the "Association Internationale du Film d'Animation" or "ASIFA" (the International Animated Film Association). Its purpose is to ...

's Board of Directors for 19 years. In 2007, Worth was awarded the June Foray Annie Award for a significant and benevolent impact on the art of animation. Worth currently runs the physical and online museum Animation Resources. Worth also runs a

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

enthusiast's website ''Hot Dog Spot''.

References

External links

*
Animation ResourcesSteve Worth audio interview
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worth, Stephen W. 1959 births American film critics American animated film producers Living people Animators from California Television producers from California UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Film producers from California People from Glendale, California