Skellington Productions was a complete stop-motion production facility at a warehouse building in San Fransisco. It was a combined venture between Tim Burton and the Walt Disney Company. It was first founded by Burton and Henry Selick in 1986, and came to a close in 1996.
Warehouse
The warehouse building was unmarked and had no indication of its title. It had several departments consisting of the nerve center, art and editorial departments, and a screening room. The middle of the building had stop-motion stages that were purposely kept quiet for the animators. The model shop and set department were placed in the back of the warehouse and was noisy compared to the middle of the building. The upstairs had a creature department where the puppets were fabricated.
Cast
- Henry Selick (Animator/Director)
- Joel Fletcher (Animator)
- Tim Burton (Producer)
- Bonita DeCarlo (Character Fabrication Supervisor)
- Fon Davis (Set Builder)
- Richard Zimmerman (Animator)
- Michael Wick (Puppet Fabricator)
- Norm DeCarlo (Puppet Fabricator)
- Justin Kohn (Animator)
- Joel Friesch (Model Maker)
- Kelly Asbury (Art Director)
- Anthony Scott (Animator)
- Edie Ichioka (Editor)
Behind the Scenes
Stories about Skellington Productions have been kept by the animators and staff who have worked there. The primary still photographer, Joel Fletcher, released photos on his website showing them in the warehouse during Nightmare's production.
Movies
- James and the Giant Peach
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- KaBlam!
Trivia
- Tim Burton made rare appearances at Skellington Productions, due to having little involvement with the film and his entrust in Henry Selick.
- Henry Selick temporarily renamed Skellington Productions to "Selick Projects" after Burton left to work on Beetlejuice. It was soon changed back and sold to Disney.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas was the first film produced by Skellington Productions and gave it its name.
- "Property of Skellington Productions" can be seen as a headline in deleted scene content.