Interview with Director Massimo Fenati and Executive Producer and Co-Founder of Eagle Eye Drama Jo McGrath

14 December 2021

What was it about Terry Pratchett’s The Abominable Snow Baby that made you really want to turn it into this year’s Channel 4 Christmas family animation?

Jo - I first came across The Abominable Snow Baby as one of the short stories in a collection called Father Christmas’s Fake Beard. It’s a brilliant book full of eleven fantastically funny stories. Massimo and Walter (Iuzzolino, fellow Executive Producer and Co-Founder of Eagle Eye Drama) agreed there was lots of potential to create a special animation and we were surprised and delighted to find out that Narrativia, the rights holders of the author's work were up for collaborating on a Channel 4 Christmas animation. The hardest job was choosing which story to adapt but in the end it was a unanimous decision. The Abominable Snow Baby had so much charm and visual promise, it’s a heart-warming story and feel good message. Plus, Snow Baby was just so cute - we were all desperate to bring him to life on screen.     

What was it like working with The Terry Pratchett Estate and how involved were they?

Jo - The Terry Pratchett Estate have been wonderful partners and have been involved in the production every step of the way. From script suggestions to character development, merchandise to music, they have been genuinely collaborative across every stage of production. The best thing about working with them has been their constant enthusiasm and inspiring support - as guardians of Terry’s legacy they are doing a brilliant job of keeping his unique world view alive.

Massimo - Yes, their enthusiasm was indeed the fuel that kept us going whenever we felt tired during this 10-month wonderful marathon. I wanted to make sure the original work by Terry Pratchett would be respected as much as possible, so Tess Cuming (Executive Producer) and I made sure we'd involve the Estate at every stage of the process and the result was a dream collaboration. 

Who are Albert and Granny?

Massimo - The story is set in the fictional town of Blackbury, and Albert is the young caretaker of its town hall. He's a shy character who will go on an emotional journey to find the courage to deal with such an unusual situation that has befallen his hometown. His 98-year old Granny is a larger-than-life character, more energetic than any Blackburian and constantly optimistic in the face of any adversity and it's her positive attitude that will transform the destiny of the whole town and all the characters in the story!

What do David, Julie and Hugh bring to the film?

Massimo - In an animated movie, the voice-over must always be recorded before the animation process starts: the actor's voice is what drives the performance of the animated character, not the other way round. Working with such great professionals and national treasures meant that our animators not only had wonderful material to work with, but they also had tons of fun: how often do you have the chance to draw an old Granny lip-syncing a Julie Walters rendition of Jingle Bells?!

Massimo, some of the team are in London and we understand it was a global affair with the cast based about the world and you all creating the film across the pandemic, can you tell us a little bit about the process of bringing everything together and how you take Albert and Granny from page to screen?

Massimo - I'm Italian but I'm based in London, I've lived here for 26 years. Before the pandemic, setting up an animation project would have meant crewing up people locally and have them all under one roof. But as that wasn't possible, we turned the problem into a creative opportunity, so we reached out to amazing talent across Europe, from background artists in France, to animators in Poland and Holland, to a music composer in Italy. Of course, it's all a bit more complicated but once the system is in place, it's not that difficult to run. In order to give life to those characters, the key is to brief all the crew with great attention to detail and keep the enthusiasm up with constant communication with the team.

How long did it take and when did you start working on The Snow Baby?

Massimo - Production started in February and it took 10 months overall. For this kind of production this is quite a fast turnaround, so the working pace was very intense, but unfortunately the deadline wasn't negotiable as they told us they couldn't postpone Christmas for us!

What was the biggest challenge?

Massimo -  For me it was all about giving the right briefs to background artists, animators and compositors: it wasn't easy to find the right balance between giving a very detailed brief that could give me something as close as possible to my original vision for this film (also for artistic consistency) and leaving enough leeway to all the crew to add their own personal input. That was for two reasons: making each crew member feel more involved and therefore more enthusiastic about the project, and also giving space to new ideas to enrich the original concept as animation is fundamentally about team work and I was blessed with a fantastic team of people that truly helped making the final result better.

Do you have a favourite scene?

Massimo - It's difficult to choose, but there's a scene where we see Granny and Snow Baby together alone for the first time. They are walking down the street, seen from behind, holding hands. They look into each other's eyes and the wonderful bond between them sparks to life. It's a very sweet moment and the animation made by the great Reg Isaac (also animation supervisor on the show) was matching my original vision to such an extent that the first time I saw it, I felt rather emotional.

How different was it from creating last year’s Christmas animation for Channel 4, Clown?

Massimo - First of all we had 10 months to make it rather than 4! That made things rather easier! But apart from that the main difference is that Clown was based on a picture book by Quentin Blake, with no words, so it was all about trying to keep as close as possible to Quentin’s style. This time we adapted a text, but we had no visual reference and I had complete carte blanche to design the characters and set the style for backgrounds and the whole look of the programme, which was huge fun.

What messages do you think/hope people will take away from the film?

Massimo - This is a story about looking beyond the surface, about the goodness concealed behind unusual appearances, so it's ultimately a story of acceptance and open-heartedness, which I believe is perfect for Christmas.