I have always directed my other cartoons but by the time we were working on the animated series, District City, Jervey Staley stepped into the director’s chair to lighten my burden. I usually relied on the storyboard artist, Kate Millard, for direction but Jervey would direct the scenes I didn’t have any visualization in mind. Jervey and I directed, Dr. Yes, together and I consult with him and the storyboard artist for beats, camera angles, etc.

I usually animate social and political commentary, but in 2017, I did a children’s short called, Magic Concert Trick, that won best animation. Dr. Yes was not supposed to be another children’s cartoon but a gritty creature feature in black and white. When Keith Miller recorded all the voices, he interpreted the script to be for children and I just animated the audio tracks. Children’s animation seems to always have a larger audience, but I am always trying other genres.

Dr. Yes initially began as a one-page series of questions called, “Mad As A Scientist,” which are the questions Manfred asks Fritz upon arrival. It took a day to write and create the characters. Manfred is my favorite character because he only speaks in question form. His sole purpose is to provide answers to the audience because Fritz wouldn’t ask Dr. Yes the questions being his employee.

I love small cast in a single room driving the story by dialogue only. 12 Angry Men is my favorite movie of all time. The visual aesthetic of the Disney short, Paperman, is something I hope to achieve someday.

Jervey co-directed Dr. Yes with me. He and I have been discussing movies since 2009 when we worked at the Department of Labor in Washington D.C. and began collaborating in animation since 2017. He began as a voice actor but has been my go-to director since 2018. We meet at the animation studio in D.C. and spend hours going over the script as he writes the director’s notes for the storyboard artist.

The hardest part is the actual animating. It takes forever! It’s meticulous to do frame by frame, scene by scene. Dr. Yes initially begins in 3D, which was hard, because I never worked with 3D before, so I reverted to 2D. I also wanted the character movements to be random for comedic purposes – that is something I probably won’t do again.

No, I don’t think anyone is ever fully satisfied with their film. First, Dr. Yes initially had black latex gloves like Manfred has but I removed them when I realized that this was going to be a children’s cartoon because the gloves looked menacing. I would put the gloves back on Dr. Yes. Second, the long walk to the castle. I told Jervey that it wouldn’t make for good cinema to have them do the entire walk and he said, “But no one else has done it.” We see Fritz and Manfred walk the entire path and it always puts me to sleep.

Dr. Yes has won 5 awards for best animated short and has received 24 laurels as of mid-September.

Colors. I like to focus on the psychology of character color pallets and their color contrast with other characters. Another is dialogue. I think what a character says should always be centered around their arc or plot development and not so much on jokes. The last thing is the postproduction crew: J.J. McGeehan’s sound mixing, Clarissa Lindsay’s foley and Aaron Durtschi’s instrument tracks. By the time animation is complete, I am exhausted with the film and leave it to them.

I am working on a prison action film with a small cast called, Animals, that will be released this fall. I also plan on telling the story of Rodgers and Hammerstein next year as a feature length film.