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DreamWorks Animation Alums Launch Monkey’s Uncle

Creative Directors Eric "Bibo" Bergeron (‘Shark Tale,’ ‘Road to El Dorado’) and Mike de Seve (‘Beavis and Butt-Head Do America’) form Monkey’s Uncle, a joint venture with a consortium of industry creatives set to write and develop new animated feature IPs.

'Shark Tale'

Annecy -- Animation industry veterans Eric “Bibo” Bergeron and Emmy-nomimated writer-director Mike de Seve have partnered to launch Monkey’s Uncle, a joint venture that will include a consortium of top animation creatives to conceive and develop a roster of original animated feature projects for global markets.

Monkey’s Uncle, an alliance of pedigree Hollywood talents, will be able to offer a slate of new family feature IPs to the marketplace annually. The first offering, Murphy’s Outlaw, is $25 million four-quadrant feature

The new venture will also provide top creative services to both established and emerging animated feature film producers globally.

Eric “Bibo” Bergeron

“We’re both grateful to DreamWorks for the experience they gave us and the trust they put in us over the years,” said Bibo Bergeron. “We feel fortunate to have formed some strong friendships there through the passion of film making, and are excited to take them out into the world.”

The consortium will include such A-list talents as Buck Lewis, a character designer with credits on Alvin and the Chipmunks, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, and 11 other major animated features in the last 10 years; and Jurgen Grosz, story artist on Rango, Open Season, Chicken Run, Prince of Egypt and others.

“Our goal is to provide producers access to some of the most sought-after creative talents available,” said Mike de Seve.  “The aim is to be a complete, boots-on-the-ground solution for any company that has production capacity but needs to build out its front-end creative vision.” In addition to its IPs, Monkey’s Uncle will provide writing, directing, storyboarding, production design and character design, in any combination.

Eric "Bibo" Bergeron is a French animated feature film director. His directing credits include The Road to El DoradoShark Tale and A Monster in Paris. He has also contributed films at MGM, Disney, Dreamworks, 20th Century Fox and Amblin, including Flushed Away, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, A Goofy Movie, and Bee Movie. Bergeron is an alumnus of the Gobelins School of the Image.

Mike de Seve is an Emmy-nominated animation writer and director, working in both feature films and television.  As a director-writer at DreamWorks, he served as a sequence director and story consultant on Madagascar, and as a story consultant on several films including Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Monsters vs. Aliens.  Mike directed on the full seven-season run of Beavis and Butt-Head, for which he earned that series its Emmy nomination; and was a sequence writer and director on the Beavis and Butt-Head feature film. He has also written and/or directed multiple animated Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live segments;  served as Head Writer/Story Editor on several series, including the Nick/Teletoon hit Rocket Monkeys; and has written and/or directed animated shows for DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, NBC, Nick and Disney, THE CW, WB, and FOX TV.

Founded by DreamWorks alumnus Mike de Seve, Baboon began as a directing service-house for the renowned MTV Animation, and has since expanded to become one of the most accomplished animation screenwriting teams worldwide, with story editing and writing credits on dozens of the most popular animated films and series for families and teens.

Jurgen Gross is a veteran story artist with credits on Rango, Open Season, Chicken Run, Balto, Prince of Egypt, The Road to Eldorado and Richard Williams’ legendary The Princess and the Cobbler.

Buck Lewis is one of the premier character designers working in animated features today, having designed on fourteen of the biggest animated films of the last ten years, including Cars, Madagascar, Ratatouille, Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Arthur Christmas, serving as lead character designer on the latter two.

Source: Monkey’s Uncle

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.