Amy Winfrey

Last updated

Amy Winfrey
Amy Winfrey by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Winfrey at the 2024 WonderCon
BornOctober 1975 (1975-10) (age 49)
Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
Alma mater University of California, Los Angeles
Occupations
  • Animator
  • screenwriter
  • songwriter
  • director
  • voice actress
  • educator
Years active1995–present
Notable credit(s) Making Fiends, South Park, Bojack Horseman
SpousePeter Merryman
Website http://www.amywinfrey.com

Amy Winfrey (born October 1975 [1] ) is an American animator, screenwriter, songwriter, director and voice actress. [2] She is best known for creating the web series Making Fiends that was later picked up by Nickelodeon in 2008, and for directing several episodes of BoJack Horseman , including "The View From Halfway Down" and "Free Churro", which were each nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the 71st and 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmys. [3]

Contents

Career

Winfrey studied animation at UCLA and made a 3D film called The Bad Plant, which won her a silver medal at the Student Academy Awards in 2000. [4] While attending school, Winfrey worked as an animator on South Park starting with the pilot episode, 'The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Santa' in 1995. [2] When Comedy Central picked up the series, Winfrey remained part of the animation team and continued to work on the show, pausing her schooling to work on the feature film South Park Bigger, Longer & Uncut . [1]

In a UCLA class, Winfrey made a website dedicated to traffic cones. [5] Because of many visitors on the traffic cone website, Winfrey decided to create a series of short web cartoons, and the result was Muffin Films. The first was created as a thesis project in 2000 and lasted twelve episodes, one for each muffin in a dozen. [2] The series explored different styles of Flash animation through twelve different shorts, using muffins as the subject of the stories. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Muffin Films, Amy Winfrey created six additional cartoons for the series. [6]

In 2001, Winfrey created another web series, Big Bunny. Winfrey provided all of the voice acting, except for the eponymous character who is voiced by her husband, Peter Merryman.[ citation needed ] Winfrey pitched it as a series for NBC and Fox in 2002, but neither picked it up. [7]

In 2008, Winfrey started Squid and Frog, short cartoons about a red squid and an orange frog, who sing about various things, such as that you can't learn surgery from television. [8]

On 6 October 2018, Winfrey released a web cartoon called Hooray For Hell, co-created by Peter Merryman. [9] The series is about a girl who wakes up in Hell after voting for president and gets a ticket to Heaven. There are three episodes available on YouTube. They can be found by clicking the link in the description of the trailer on Winfrey's main channel. After a hiatus, the show's final two episodes were uploaded on May 27, 2020.[ citation needed ]

Making Fiends

Winfrey created Making Fiends in 2003 as a web cartoon. The series has 21 episodes created between 2003 and 2005. Winfrey voiced several characters, including Charlotte. Winfrey was able to produce web animation full time after she began selling merchandise of her characters online. [1] Nickelodeon contacted Winfrey in early 2004 about bringing Making Fiends on TV. [10] The series only had one season, airing from October 4 to November 1, 2008, on the secondary channel Nicktoons Network. Viacom, now Paramount Global, retained the rights to the property after the series was canceled.[ citation needed ] Despite the limited run, the series was named "Best Television Series" at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2008. [1]

Recent work

For a five-year period between 2014 and 2019, Winfrey worked as director on all six seasons of the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman, typically working on three episodes per season, including some of the series' most notable episodes, Zoës and Zeldas, Brand New Couch, Hank After Dark, Thoughts and Prayers, Ruthie, Free Churro, The New Client, and the show's penultimate episode, 'The View From Halfway Down.' She was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for "Free Churro" and "The View From Halfway Down". She also worked on the second season of 'Greatest Party Story Ever', an animated episode of Adam Ruins Everything, the first season of Tuca & Bertie , and is currently a supervising producer on Velma .[ citation needed ]

Personal life

Winfrey resides in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Peter Merryman. [2] She has also been an educator teaching animation at the UCLA Animation Workshop. [1]

Web series

Muffin Films

Episode list

YearTitleEpisodeSummary
2000Hungry!1A girl eats a muffin. A bigger muffin comes. The big muffin eats the girl.
U.F.M2Alien muffins come to earth, planning to take over. They unintentionally land on a bake sale table.
I Dream of Muffins3A dream sequence about muffins.
Pssst...4A girl meets a group of talking muffins who wish to be eaten. They try to convince her to eat them.
Muffinesque5A stop motion animated movie.
The Muffin Tree6One day, a little girl finds a muffin tree. (Most likely a reference to The Giving Tree.) After she eats a strange type of muffin, she dies.
M7A girl meets a muffin that doesn't want to be eaten but she eats him anyway.
Feed Me8An interactive game in which you feed a woman different muffins before she dies. If you overfeed her, she dies.
Beware9Old Man Muffin wants revenge on Mr. Turnpike, a human being who "did him in".
The Muffinless10A young boy has never eaten a muffin and really wants one.
Bluebirds in Spring11Two muffins saying random things in French to each other.
MufFinale12Muffins from all the films sing to a girl after she says "I don't like muffins." to convince her that muffins are good for her.
2010Mini MuffinsIMini muffins haunt a young girl, leading her to eat one. After which, the mini muffins get scared and haunt her to eat other stuff.
LinesIIMuffins moving on power lines.
NothingIIISounds made by different things on the farm in three different scenarios, including a normal day, a Nuclear War, and an apocalyptic future. The muffin says nothing, and surprisingly survives throughout all 3 scenarios.
Variety MixIVMuffins are grown in a muffin tin using muffin seeds before escaping and being recaptured in a muffin box.
The Feral MuffinVA feral muffin terrorizes the other muffins in the tin until only he remains.
Muffin ParadeVIMuffins sing as they parade into someone's mouth.
2011Mini Holiday MuffinsVIIThe Mini Muffins introduce their unsavory friends Eggnog, Fruitcake, Gingerbread and Candy Cane.
2015Twelve MuffinsVIII12 Muffins set out on Christmas Day in the morning.

Big Bunny (2001)

Episode list

YearTitleEpisode #Summary
2001The Delicious Dog1In this episode, Big Bunny meets Suzy, Lulu, and Sam for the first time. Their dog, Muffin, runs into a forest. the children chase him but cannot find him. In the forest, they meet Big Bunny, who tells them a story about the Delicious Dog. After the children leave, Big Bunny pulls out a large tupperware container with the dog inside.
Vegetables2The friends start out going back into the forest to see Big Bunny. Big Bunny then tells them a story about a turnip that was eaten by a king. The turnip's friends start a revolution and the story ends with vegetables ruling the kingdom. As the children leave, Big Bunny reminds them to eat lots of food and asks them to bring him a cat.
Suzy3This episode starts out with the friends in the woods greeting Big Bunny with a cat from Ms. Grundimier's front porch. Then, Big Bunny tells them a story about a girl who sells her soul to the devil but eventually repents and goes to heaven. After the story, Big Bunny gives the children gouda to eat.
Easter4In this episode, Big Bunny tells a story about a blue bird who died and rose from the dead three days later and eats flesh of the living. Big Bunny ends the episode by telling the friends to eat plenty of candy and egg yolks.
Red5Big Bunny tells the children a story about a "red squirrel," who is actually Big Bunny. He tells of the "squirrel" inviting his enemies to dinner, where he kills them and makes them into pie. He then sends the pie to all who declined his invititation. The episode ends with Big Bunny reminding the children to eat plenty.
Business6Big Bunny tells a story about a paper clip who has affairs with a notepad while married to a staple. The episode ends when Big Bunny tells the friends to bring another friend of theirs so there is more kids to listen to his stories. He also tells the friends to eat plenty of butter pats and share them with their friends.
Stuffing7This final episode starts out with the three friends going into the woods. On their way, they see a sign that reads: "Crusty Pines phase III; coming soon, forest demolition starts tomorrow." The friends jump over the fence to warn Big Bunny his home will be destroyed. Big Bunny then tells a story of the man who bought a jacket. The cashier told him to never put his hand in the left pocket, but one day the man did and the pocket ate his hand. He then returned the jacket in anger and bought a sweater. The episode ends with Big Bunny saying he is moving on to plumper pastures, and asks the children to go with him. Suzy refuses to go and waves them goodbye while telling him to eat lots of carrots, stupid bunny.

Directing credits

BoJack Horseman episodes

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five

Season Six

Related Research Articles

<i>Looney Tunes</i> Warner Bros. animated short film series and media franchise

Looney Tunes is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.

<i>Merrie Melodies</i> Cartoon series owned by Warner Bros. (1931–1969 and 1988–1997)

Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the Looney Tunes franchise and featured many of the same characters. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it was revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black-and-white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.

The term independent animation refers to animated shorts, web series, and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spümcø</span> American animation studio

Spümcø, Inc. 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 Nickelodeon and for various commercials. The studio won several awards, including an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the music video of the song "I Miss You" by Björk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Murray (animator)</span> American animator and cartoonist (born 1961)

Joseph David Murray is an American animator, cartoonist, illustrator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the creator of Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life, Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo, and PBS Kids' Let's Go Luna!. Murray is the winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for Camp Lazlo and the TV film Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo?.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig McCracken</span> American cartoonist and animator

Craig McCracken is an American cartoonist, animator, director, writer, and producer known for creating Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Disney Channel and Disney XD's Wander Over Yonder, and Netflix's Kid Cosmic.

Making Fiends is a Flash-animated cartoon series by Amy Winfrey. It follows the interactions between Vendetta, a villainous tomboy that regularly makes terrible creatures called "fiends", and Charlotte, a cheerful and gullible girly-girl who thinks that Vendetta is her best friend. Charlotte unintentionally irritates and annoys Vendetta. As a result, Vendetta attempts to assassinate her with fiends, but she always fails due to Charlotte's luck.

<i>The Bugs Bunny Show</i> Animated television anthology series

The Bugs Bunny Show was a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on ABC in 1960, featuring three theatrical Looney Tunes cartoons with new linking sequences produced by the Warner Bros. Cartoons staff.

Dave Wasson is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. Wasson created the Cartoon Network original series Time Squad, before going on to develop Star vs. the Forces of Evil as director, writer, and executive producer. He also served as director and writer of the series, supervising director of Making Fiends, and executive producer and director of the series The Buzz on Maggie. He is also the author and illustrator of the children's book The Big Ideas of Buster Bickles. Wasson is currently developer and executive producer of The Cuphead Show! for Netflix.

<i>The Simpsons</i> season 19 Season of television series

The nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 23, 2007, and May 18, 2008. It was the final complete season to be broadcast in 4:3 and in standard definition, although the first nine episodes of season 20 would also retain this standard.

Making Fiends is a cartoon by Amy Winfrey which has had two incarnations:

<i>Making Fiends</i> (TV series) 2008 American TV series or program

Making Fiends is an American animated television miniseries based on the web series of the same name. The series ran from October 4 to November 1, 2008, on Nicktoons Network. The series is Nickelodeon Animation Studio’s first animated series to be based on a web series, and follows the evil Vendetta and the new happy but dim-witted girl, Charlotte, at school in the gloomy town of Clamburg. Charlotte unintentionally irritates and annoys Vendetta. As a result, Vendetta attempts to kill her with fiends, but she always fails due to Charlotte's luck.

<i>Simons Cat</i> British animated cartoon series by Simon Tofield

Simon's Cat is a British animated web and book series written by Simon Tofield. It features a fat, hungry white cat who uses various tactics to get his owner to feed him.

Aglaia Mortcheva is a Bulgarian voice actress and former animator and illustrator, best known for her portrayal of Vendetta on the Making Fiends web series and on the television series. Mortcheva is also a professor of art and animation at California State University, Northridge.

Bryan D. Andrews is an American storyboard artist and writer known for his work in science fiction and superhero films. Born in 1975, Andrews began his film career with a credit in Warner Bros. Feature Animation's 1998 film Quest for Camelot. He contributed to Joseph: King of Dreams, Jackie Chan Adventures, Samurai Jack, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and various installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as Doctor Strange and Avengers: Endgame. Andrews also worked alongside Genndy Tartakovsky to produce the animated series Sym-Bionic Titan for Cartoon Network, which ran for 20 episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Herpich</span> American artist (born 1979)

Thomas Herpich is an American artist who is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series Adventure Time.

"Ruthie" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of American animated television series BoJack Horseman, and the 45th episode overall. It was written by Joanna Calo and directed by Amy Winfrey, and was released in the United States, along with the rest of season four, via Netflix on September 8, 2017. Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, and Sharon Horgan provide voices in guest appearances in the episode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Churro</span> 6th episode of the 5th season of BoJack Horseman

"Free Churro" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series BoJack Horseman, and the 54th episode overall. It was written by series creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and directed by Amy Winfrey, and was made available for streaming, along with the rest of season five, via Netflix on September 14, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The View from Halfway Down</span> 15th episode of the 6th season of BoJack Horseman

"The View from Halfway Down" is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series BoJack Horseman, and the 75th and penultimate episode of the series overall. Written by Alison Tafel and directed by Amy Winfrey, the episode was released on Netflix on January 31, 2020, alongside the second half of the sixth and final season. Guest stars in this episode include Stanley Tucci, Kristen Schaal, Wendie Malick, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brandon T. Jackson, and Zach Braff.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Amy Winfrey". www.amywinfrey.com. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Meet Amy". Making Fiends . Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Nominees/Winners". Television Academy. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  4. ↑ "27th Annual Student Academy Awards" (PDF). Student Academy Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 29, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  5. ↑ "The Traffic Cone Preservation Society" . Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Muffin Films". Archived from the original on October 19, 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Big Bunny". YouTube . September 7, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Squid and Frog" . Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Hooray For Hell" . Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Fiendy History". Making Fiends . Retrieved September 12, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.