Emmy Award-Winning Local Animation Studio has Big AC Connection

Posted on Monday, November 30th, 2020

Emmy awards from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)Winning an Emmy award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) is an accomplishment few people can claim. But two Algonquin College alumni now proudly share the accolade!

Carlo Nicoletta and Tina Wallace are graduates of the animation program at Algonquin College and employees of Atomic Cartoons, a Vancouver-based animation studio with offices in Ottawa and Los Angeles.

They both worked as animators on the Emmy-winning program, The Last Kids on Earth, which is based on an illustrated children’s novel and book series by author Max Brallier. The series airs on Netflix.

“This is such a win for the city and homegrown animation,” said Wallace, who has worked at Atomic since 2017. “Winning was amazing. People paused and were like ‘we won, that’s crazy’. Animators are very humble and now we are like ‘oh damn, we did a really cool thing, that’s so bananas.’”

Her colleague was similarly modest about the accomplishment. “It was never something I thought of,” said Nicoletta, an animation supervisor since 2018. “I wanted to perfect my craft and that was my focus but I never went into animation to win awards.” He credits the College in part for his success. “My education at Algonquin got me in the door and gave me the opportunity. I wouldn’t be winning an Emmy if it wasn’t for Algonquin. The professors did a good job at mentoring and guiding you.”

While Wallace and Nicoletta are reserved in discussing their talent and accomplishment, others are more willing to brag about the pipeline of talent that is Algonquin’s animation program.

“One of the reasons we opened a studio in Ottawa is there is a huge and fantastic talent pool because of Algonquin College,” said Chris Whitman, the Ottawa Studio Manager at Atomic. “They are talented artists, they are ready to go, keen to be in the industry, and the College has prepared them to quickly become members of the crew. They are eager to learn and have a good foundational skill set that we keep growing and they fit in right away.”

Whitman hires recent Algonquin grads in large numbers. “Approximately 75 of our crew are alum from the College. We’ve been hiring a whole bunch lately. From our first 50 employees, about 75 per cent were from Algonquin.”

The Emmy win was a big deal for the studio, but COVID-19 put a damper on in-person celebrations. While the telecast was watched remotely at home, Whitman has made sure everyone on the project was able to spend the day with the Emmy. For Wallace and Nicolleta, that was a memorable experience.

“I was at my apartment with my wife, and it was my sister’s birthday so we got to be with a small group of family,” said Nicolleta. “It was a happy moment. We never really expected to win, that wasn’t my goal but I’m sure happy that we did win. Winning an Emmy doesn’t happen very often, who knows if it’ll happen again so you make the most of it and cherish the moment.”

Wallace had fun during her time with the award. “When it arrived I took photos with it. I had one friend over and we got dressed up to sit on the couch with the Emmy. We dressed up really fancy and sat on the couch and I was so worried I would break it. It is so heavy.”
Wallace is grateful to the College for the education she received. “Algonquin gets it right. Half of the staff work in the field. That’s the cherry on top. There is a lot of trust in the professors – they are the beating heart of the program. They fought for us to use software being used in studios not just the learn fundamentals. They encourage studio education and it’s integrated so beautifully. That’s what makes the magic.”

Whitman is confident the College will continue to be a partner and pipeline for businesses like Atomic Cartoons. “The animation community has been growing for decades and a lot of the reason is because of Algonquin. It is a well-known school. We recently hired an artistic director from Los Angeles and he had heard of Algonquin down in LA, in Hollywood. It is a known source of great artists and the grads are young and the reputation speaks for itself.”

To learn more about Atomic Studios, visit their website. To learn more about the Algonquin College Animation Program, click here.


Comments

Comments are closed.