If you don’t already know the name Titmouse, you will soon. As one of the world’s top TV animation studios, you’ve no doubt seen their work and just didn’t know it was them. The animation studio behind some of Disney’s biggest current hits, including Kiff, The Ghost and Molly McGee, and Pupstruction, Titmouse has its hands in animated content on pretty much every network and streamer. Hit shows like Big Mouth on Netflix, Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+, The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime Video, Bless the Harts on FOX, and the Animaniacs reboot on Hulu were all animated by Titmouse. And another Disney show will join their long lineup later this year, StuGo. While entrenched in all manner of geekdom at San Diego Comic-Con, I had the pleasure of chatting with Titmouse’s Creative Director, Alexei Bochenek, about the studio’s meteoric rise to the top of the TV animation industry, and where they can go from here.
(Titmouse/Disney/Prime Video/Netflix/Paramount+)
Benji: Titmouse runs the gamut of TV animation, from preschool programs to adult animation. What’s it been like to see the expansive growth of the studio?
Alexei Bochenek: It's really incredible. I've been with Titmouse for two years, myself as creative director of the studio, and I remember I thought of Titmouse as the late-night cartoon type of studio, the Metalocalypse type of studio, The Venture Bros. type of studio, or even some of the slightly more obscure, China, IL, or Superjail! Titmouse [has] built up so much trust with all of their partners around the world and all of these incredible TV networks and streamers, and this reputation is just making really great cartoons regardless of the demographic or the target. And what I learned once I was a part of the studio was that we really put a huge amount of value on authenticity. A lot of animation studios have a visual look that is associated with that studio or a particular tone or type of show. But I think at Titmouse, we really strive to enable creators, no matter who they're making the show for, to make it their authentic vision. And if that's an authentic vision of something that's soft and gentle and beautiful like Frog and Toad, then we want to go as hard into that as we can. But if it's something that's silly and irreverent or bawdy and adult, then we want to do that as hard as we can.
Benji: Often, companies and streamers hide the animation vendor in the credits, but when we attend press junkets, showrunners are proud to say, “We’ve got Titmouse,” using that almost as bragging rights. I feel like Titmouse has become a respected brand in its own right. What do you think was the secret to that evolution?
Alexei Bochenek: I think there are a couple of things to that. One part of that conversation is the way in which audiences are just smarter and more connected to how things get made and who makes them. In terms of just being connected online and being really aware of the human component, that there are real passionate people behind the things that they're watching, and that they're more connected on social media to the process and really curious about who makes this thing that they love. It's been really nice to be able to open up and have those conversations, connect with those people, and tell them about ourselves and the amazing people who get to work on these shows. So I think that's a big part of it as well: the audience is sophisticated, really interested in how it gets made, and they want to pay close attention and appreciate the craft. And then on the other side of it, I think that Titmouse has always been a creator-driven studio. Titmouse was founded by Chris Prynoski and is still run by the Prynoski’s… They're still deeply involved in the studio. And Chris has created a number of shows himself. He created a show at MTV before he started Titmouse. And then he started Titmouse almost by accident. It was a T-shirt company first, and it became a work-for-hire animation studio. And then he sold a couple of kid's shows himself, Motorcity and Megas XLR, that he created and ran. So, when partners come to Titmouse, I think they're really excited to get someone with a creative point of view and someone who will contribute to that energy and enthusiasm, whether it's Chris himself or any of the numerous creators we work with and bring on to make all the shows that we help everyone make, even when we are in that work-for-hire space.
Benji: What do you think will be Titmouse's next challenge as it continues to grow?
Alexei Bochenek: Well, my role as creative director is actually, in part, to head up our original slate for development. So, I am constantly on the lookout for creators who want to work with us at the earliest stages of their idea, to help figure out what that idea is and prepare it, to then find a network interested in buying that idea and partnering with us to turn that idea into a show or a movie. The exciting challenge is to be seen as the origin of the idea, not necessarily strictly a partner. The challenge is to expand the idea that people have of Titmouse from that late-night stoner-comedy cartoon company into a platform for authentic creators and original visions. We have really been working on building our own team and system internally to lift those people up and bring their ideas forward. So when that idea is a subtle romance, a visually stunning genre piece, something for little kids, or a different audience than the Adult Swim audience that some of our most popular shows like Venture Bros. have been for, it's a little harder to get people to go on that journey with us. But that's a fun challenge to have, and we're always excited to prove our stuff by showing them something really cool.
Benji: Are there any projects that you're currently working on that you think particularly showcases Titmouse spreading its wings?
Alexei Bochenek: I think the show that just recently came out, Scavengers Reign, which has got quite a cult following that it's been building through a really unique point of view and an incredible aesthetic and a memorable tone and vibe, I think that that's a great example of something that is outside of what you might have expected. Even though if you're really paying attention, you've seen The Midnight Gospels, Love, Death + Robots episodes, you've seen the things that we've done outside of our general expected tone. And so it's been fun to see people react to that show and say, "Wow, this is boundary-pushing. This represents a space that is not typically explored by anyone, let alone by Titmouse," and have people react to that. So I'm really excited that that is finally out there and people are getting to appreciate it. And then in development, I can't always talk about the stuff that we're developing, but we definitely have some shows in development that I think push into tones that are maybe influenced by the next generation of creators who are all fans of animation themselves. I'm someone who definitely came up appreciating American cartoons but also appreciating Japanese cartoons a lot. And there's a quality of slice of life or earnestness, kind of a low-key energy to some really personal cartoons that are harder to find examples of perhaps in American cartoons, which are usually a little more stratified into these genre labels. So I'm excited to be working with creators who have come up just like I have on this really wide gamut of ideas and tones and who want to do these genre-bending shows, sometimes shows that are really personal and earnest and sincere and can be touching in a way that is really difficult to pull off, quite frankly. But again, it's a challenge that I think is something we're excited to take on.
Benji: Do you find it challenging to find distribution partners for things that may be outside of what people may expect?
Alexei Bochenek: I think that entertainment in general is a team sport. It's big companies. Platforms are big companies, and big companies are very well-organized, and that means they can be pretty stratified. So you can have the idea of genre, the idea that comedies are on Wednesday nights and dramas are on Thursday nights. That means that comedy is its own thing and drama is its own thing. So it can be tough to figure out how to program something that breaks a genre and gets outside of those boxes. But I think that the networks that we work with, which honestly is kind of all of them because we have such a breadth of work in production at any given time, I think they're all really excited to break new ground. I think it's just this balance of wanting to be pretty conservative with the way that you fund these really big projects. TV shows are just so huge. It's so many people and so much money in motion that you want to really know what you're doing. And sometimes the foundation of genre gives you that confidence to actually know what it is, versus doing something a little bit riskier. But because we are who we are, I think people really appreciate that we know what we're doing and are really interested to have those conversations. So I'm finding more and more people in the network, TV space, or streaming space, who really want to be a part of blowing people's minds with something that they haven't seen.
Benji: Being here at San Diego Comic-Con, you’re getting to interact with fans of the finished project, which I imagine is a rare opportunity. What’s that like for you?
Alexei Bochenek: It's awesome. It's really great. Titmouse has the pleasure of doing shows like Legend of Vox Machina and Lower Decks, which have these really big genre components and really big Comic-Con-type audiences. Driving around and seeing our characters on the sides of buildings many stories tall, it's thrilling, and that thrill extends into seeing fans enjoy them. And I think when you approach what you make with a level of love and admiration and joy… I mean, Titmouse is such a fandom-driven company, we're just all fans. So being in a place like Comic-Con is really just like being among our people, and that always feels good. That's always a warm feeling.
Benji: Well, congratulations on all the success. It is incredible that Titmouse is able to make stylistically different shows like Frog and Toad, Lower Decks, and Kiff.
Alexei Bochenek: It's fun. We have our animation studio in Burbank, and it's a pretty huge building that has so many different shows in one building, but everyone is just extremely jazzed to get to make cartoons. And there's a certain amount of nervousness that media is consolidating and things are getting tighter and tighter out there. So getting to be where we're at is such a privilege and a joy. That energy, I think, is what is similar between a Kiff and a Frog and Toad and a Lower Decks. It's just that energy to go out there and kick ass and make great cartoons. So it's a lot of fun.
The next time you watch a favorite animated program, check the credits closely to see if it was a Titmouse show. And stay tune for news about Titmouse’s upcoming collaboration with Disney, StuGo.