In episode 5 of All Lit Up! we're chatting with Kevin Lima, director of the Disney classics Tarzan and A Goofy Movie. Find out what advice Glenn Close gave Kevin and how it changed his life; how he asks for what he wants (and knows he can handle); and why he fought for Amy Adams.

Plus, Kevin and Gilly have a conversation on the short clip from Enchanted, 'Happy Little Working Song'.

Please note: This episode was recorded during the Kilkenny Animated festival in October 2025, before the tragic passing of director and producer, Rob Reiner, whose film The Princess Bride is referenced in this interview.

Happy Little Working Song - Enchanted

Find the clip here!

About Kevin Lima

KEVIN LIMA traces his fascination with animation to seeing Disney’s Jungle Book in 1967, when at the film’s end, he told his mother, “I’m going to make that when I grow up.”

Lima was true to his word and after graduating from the California Institute of the Arts worked on many of the films of the Disney’s renaissance including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin before taking the director’s chair on A Goofy Movie and Tarzan.

In 2000, Kevin made his live-action feature film debut with 102 Dalmatians, then the TV movies Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime for which he won the Director’s Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs. His film, Enchanted was the joyous culmination of all of Lima’s filmmaking experiences in live-action and animation.

Currently, Kevin and his wife, Brenda Chapman, the Academy Award winning director of The Prince of Egypt and Brave, have combined their talents, developing and writing a slate of diverse projects across all media and platforms.

Lima is represented by David Saunders at IAG and Farhad Amid at McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP.

All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.

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In Episode 4, Sarah Wallendjack shares PBS's open-door policy for creative pitches and what it is that the team looks for - other than a great story, of course!

Plus, a departure from our usual short film discussion, as Sarah and Gilly take a look at the story-led gaming app, Florence.

Florence

At 25, Florence Yeoh feels a little stuck. Her life is an endless routine of work, sleep, and spending too much time on social media. Then one day, she meets a cello player named Krish who changes everything about how she sees the world.

Experience every beat of Florence and Krish’s relationship through a series of bespoke gameplay vignettes – from flirting to fighting, from helping each other grow... to growing apart.

Drawing inspiration from ‘slice of life’ graphic novels and webcomics, Florence is intimate, raw and personal.

Read more or download HERE!

About Sarah Wallendjack

Sarah Wallendjack is an Emmy award-winning Executive Producer with a 20+ year career developing and creating impactful children’s content.

Prior to joining PBS KIDS as the Senior Director of Content Development, Sarah served as Vice President of Development and Production at 9 Story Media Group where she Co-Created Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures, having worked her way up to Executive Producer working across 103 episodes over three seasons of the original series. She also developed and Executive Produced Netflix’s Charlie’s Colorforms City, and served as the Supervising Producer on five seasons of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

A leader in the industry, Sarah was the President of the Children’s Media Association and is passionate about fostering the next generation of children’s media makers.

In her free time, Sarah enjoys scuba diving, synchronized swimming, sewing a handmade wardrobe, the Muppets, and making things.

All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.

Follow the studio on social media to stay up to date with all news and the latest episodes.

Instagram: @lighthousestudiosire

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighthousestudios

Ian MacKinnon & Peter Saunders discuss building their world-famous stop motion studio out of necessity, how a soup spoon transformed the Corpse Bride, and their long-established relationship with Tim Burton.

Harvey Krumpet

Harvey Krumpet is the 2004 Academy Award winning short film by Adam Elliott and the biography of a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck.

Watch HARVEY KRUMPET here!

The Mask

In a world where everyone has masks, a couple always wears smiles for each other. One day he loses his smile outside, and she is waiting for him. By Hyoung-Min Choi.

Watch THE MASK here!

About Mackinnon & Saunders

Ian and Peter are co-founders of Mackinnon & Saunders, the world-renowned leaders in character development for animation and producers of stop motion and 2D digital animation. Over 3 decades the team at Mackinnon & Saunders have brought some of the best-known animated characters to life for movies and TV series.

The team have crafted puppets for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie and Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar winning Pinocchio for Netflix.

The Mackinnon & Saunders studio produce the animation for countless projects, including The House, Postman Pat, Twirlywoos, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, and most recently animated sequences for Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.

Follow the studio on social media to stay up to date with all news and the latest episodes.

Instagram: @lighthousestudiosire

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighthousestudios

Brenda Chapman tells the incredible story of her life and career to date, from being roped into directing her first major studio feature to how becoming a mother led her to create the Academy Award winning feature, BRAVE. Featuring a Discussion on the Frédéric Back short, The Man Who Planted Trees.

The Man who Planted Trees

The Man who Planted Trees is the 1988 Academy Award winning story of a shepherd's single handed quest to re-forest a barren valley. Directed by Frédéric Back.

Watch THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES here!

About Brenda Chapman

BRENDA CHAPMAN started her career as a story artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1987, where she worked on several animated films including The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Oscar nominated Beauty and the Beast. Brenda was the story supervisor on the original The Lion King, for which she won ASIFA’s Annie Award.

Brenda then helped launch DreamWorks Animation Studios, and co-directed the 1998 release of the Oscar winning Prince of Egypt. She also developed several projects at DWA and consulted on Shrek, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron among others.

Joining Pixar Animation Studios in September 2003, Brenda created, wrote and directed Brave – inspired by her relationship with her daughter – for which she won an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.

Her live-action debut, Come Away, starring David Oyelowo and Angelina Jolie, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.

Follow the studio on social media to stay up to date with all news and the latest episodes.

Instagram: @lighthousestudiosire

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighthousestudios

Steve Levy talks gross cartoons, comfort television, fan theories and his favourite short film, 'Rejected', by Don Hertzfeldt.

Rejected

'Rejected' is Don Hertzfeldt's 2001 Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Short Film, featuring a collection of animated television commercials that were rejected because of their creator's failing grip on sanity.

Watch REJECTED here!

About Steve Levy

Steve Levy is the Vice President and Executive Producer at Dan Harmon’s company, Harmonious Claptrap, where they are producing: multiple seasons of RICK AND MORTY; the Fox animated comedy KRAPOPOLIS, which has already been renewed for a fifth season; the soon to be released HAUNTED HOTEL for Netflix and; the highly anticipated COMMUNITY movie.

All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.

Follow the studio on social media to stay up to date with all news and the latest episodes.

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