Team Smithereen

For the past couple of months Patrick and I have been working on a very cool puppet video project called Team Smithereen. We are puppeteers, puppet captains, and directors. We have been fortunate to work with a super creative group of people, and L.A.'s top puppeteers.

Team Smithereen was created by Brats of the Lost Nebula creator Dan Clark, and is co-produced with Wildbrain (headed up by Charlie Rivkin, former CEO of The Jim Henson Company) and Jetix/Disney. I can't tell you anything else about the project at this time, except that it rocks! Stay tuned for more.

Video Puppetry Workshop in L.A.

I just got word that puppeteer Michael Earl will be offering some video puppetry workshops in the Los Angles Area. As a past student of his, I would highly recommend this workshop to any puppeteer interested in video puppetry. Working with Michael eventually led to my involvement with Jim Henson's Puppet Up!, and greatly improved my video puppetry skills. Many of today's top film and video puppeteers have studied with Michael. Anytime I perform a puppet in front of a camera, I am using the techniques I learned from his classes.

Michael Earl has performed in many Muppet and non-Muppet productions, most notably as the original Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street. He joined the Muppets in 1978 at the age of 19. After three years under contract, he freelanced with the Muppets for the next twelve years on several projects. After leaving the Muppets, he went on to become a four-time Emmy Award-winning puppeteer and writer/lyricist.

For more information about his classes visit his web site and click on contact.