| Hot Stuff | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Zlatko Grgic |
| Screenplay by | Don Arioli |
| Produced by | Wolf Koenig Robert Verrall |
| Starring | Don Arioli (voice) Gerald Budner (voice) John Howe (voice) |
| Cinematography | Simon LeBlanc (animation camera) |
| Music by | Bill Brooks |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 9 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Languages | English, French |
Hot Stuff is a 1971 animated short directed and animated by Zlatko Grgic and written by Don Arioli. [1] Produced by the National Film Board of Canada for the Dominion Fire Commission, a department of Public Works Canada, the nine-minute short on fire safety offers a humorous look [1] at the origins, benefits and dangers of fire. [2]
Grgic was recruited for the NFB by producers Robert Verrall and Wolf Koenig after they saw his film Scabies. Much of Hot Stuff's humour had been initially improvised; Gerald Budner, who was himself an animator, ad-libbed voices for two of the characters, a snake and a cat. Arioli had been annoyed with Budner's banter, but Koenig insisted on retaining these asides. Grgic was also given freedom to improvise by the producers. [3]
Hot Stuff was one of seven NFB animated shorts acquired by the American Broadcasting Company, marking the first time NFB films had been sold to a major American television network. It aired on ABC in the fall of 1971 as part of the children's television show Curiosity Shop , executive produced by Chuck Jones. [4] It also aired (minus the opening & closing credits) on The Great Space Coaster in the 1980s.