Stephen Worth is an American

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

of animation. Worth was a producer for

Bagdasarian Productions Bagdasarian Productions (also credited as Bagdasarian Company) is an American production company founded by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (also known as David Seville) on February 20, 1961. The company holds the rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks and relat ...

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatri ...

and

John Kricfalusi Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, voice actor and former animator. He is the creator of the animated television series ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which was ...

's production company

Spümcø Spumco, Inc. (stylized as SPüMCø) was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' for Nickelodeo ...

Career

Worth studied at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Design in 1982. He trained as an artist, but entered the film business as a

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay ...

studios, a commercial production house specializing in animation. He began researching the techniques and materials used in classic animations along with Lew Stude, and formed Vintage Ink & Paint, an animation art restoration facility in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, wh ...

. He later took a job as production assistant at Bagdasarian Productions, the studio responsible for the series ''

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three ...

''. His first project for the company was to sort, package and market artwork from the feature '' The Chipmunk Adventure''. In nine months, he became associate producer of Bagdasarian's TV series, recordings and

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

television specials. Ralph Bakshi invited Worth to join him as animation production manager on the film '' Cool World''. Worth handled production duties on ''Cool World'' for a little over a year, and left to work on representing the estates of Les Clark,

Grim Natwick Myron "Grim" Natwick (' Nordveig; August 16, 1890 – October 7, 1990) was an American artist, animator, and film director. Natwick is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studios' most popular character, Betty Boop. Background Born in Wis ...

and

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

through Vintage Ink & Paint. John Kricfalusi met Worth through the internet, and they became friends. Worth was the first to show Kricfalusi the "

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

" and encouraged him to get involved in the then-new medium. Together, they created an online animation website called "Spumco's Wonderful World of Cartoons". Worth produced ''Weekend Pussy Hunt'' and '' The Goddamn George Liquor Program'', the first

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

animated web cartoons, as well as an Annie Award-winning rock

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

for

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

's single '' I Miss You''. Worth continued to work for Spumco for ten years as a producer on commercials, web cartoons, several television series and a prime time special for Cartoon Network called '' Boo Boo Runs Wild''. In this program, he voiced the classic character

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

. When Spumco shut down production in 2005 after completing '' Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon'', Worth went to work on building an archive and museum of the art of animation. He also served on ASIFA-Hollywood's Board of Directors for 19 years. In 2007, Worth was awarded the June Foray

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally d ...

for a significant and benevolent impact on the art of animation. Worth currently runs the physical and online museum Animation Resources. Worth also runs a

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

enthusiast's website ''Hot Dog Spot''.

References

External links

*
Animation ResourcesSteve Worth audio interview
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worth, Stephen W. 1959 births American film critics American animated film producers Living people Animators from California Television producers from California UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Film producers from California People from Glendale, California