Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521473
22 KEYFRAME OH BROTHER! SHANE AND CHRIS HOUGHTON "TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A PARTNER TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER, OR TO TEAM UP [WITH] AND BE STRONGER THAN JUST THE INDIVIDUAL— THAT'S THE REAL SUPERPOWER OF WORKING WITH YOUR SIBLING." The Houghton brothers like to joke about wanting the ideal creative partnership—something akin to the relationship between Lennon and McCartney. In fact, Chris and Shane have achieved their version of this dream. The joint creators of Big City Greens recently struck an overall deal to develop and produce adult animation and live action for Disney Branded Television, and their show's movie, Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation, premieres in June. Much of their success has drawn on their background, growing up in Michigan, out among the cornfields and dirt roads. They began drawing and reading books and comics from an early age, and their parents were very supportive of their creative endeavors. "I started making short films in high school and would often cast Chris in the lead role," Shane recalls. They'd make fun, silly projects together, unaware they were honing their storytelling chops and the skills that go into showrunning. Chris explains that they were inspired by interesting stories, whatever form they took, from live action to comic strips, and they had no idea that they were going to get into animation. Chris headed to art school, while Shane went to film school. When they started working on a comic book together, it was more out of necessity because it was one way to tell a story that didn't require sets and a big budget. The brothers soon discovered they enjoyed working together and that their strengths complemented each other. When Chris found work as a Storyboard Revisionist at Nickelodeon, he saw it as a day job that enabled him to continue doing comics. "Animation felt like the more stable career path," he says, "while comics was the crazy, rock band dream we had on the side." Meanwhile, Shane worked as a cinematographer for a web series and as an editor for reality TV, gaining experience that would be helpful later. Their first professional collaboration was the comic book series Reed Gunther, about a bear-riding cowboy. "We had so much fun collaborating on that, that we decided to keep doing it," says Shane. Eventually Reed Gunther was published by Image Comics. This opportunity opened doors, and they began pitching their comic book as a TV series, along with other ideas, one of which became Big City Greens. Together the brothers have created more than 100 episodes of the show. Initially they shared a workspace which enabled them to solve any problems in the room as a united front. Nowadays they have separate offices right next to each other. Chris says that a simple way to describe their work dynamic is: "If I don't have the answer, hopefully Shane does. And if Shane doesn't have the answer, hopefully I do… We used to joke that between the two of us we make up one very talented person." If there are disagreements, they encourage creative debates, but there's nothing personal about it. It's more a discussion of what's best for the show, and often they'll come up with a third option that's usually a better solution. "We have different ideas, but we generally agree on what feels right, which I think is essential to a good creative partnership," says Shane. Their general rule is if one of them is more passionate about a particular direction, that's what they'll try. "That takes having faith in your creative partner," he adds. Is there a downside to working with a sibling? Shane quips that it's having people "assume that we live in the same house and sleep in bunk beds." It's a pretty small downside, while the real benefit is that they're able to accomplish so much more together than they would individually. "To be able to have a partner to divide and conquer," he says, "or to team up [with] and be stronger than just the individual—that's the real superpower of working with your sibling." 22 KEYFRAME F E AT U R E Photo by Tim Sullens