Leading animation on a feature documentary recognized by The New York Times

Company: Freelance

Client: The Studio NYC, Acappella Pictures

Role: Animation Direction, Character Animation, Production Pipeline

Director: Charles Evans Jr.

The Studio NYC, a creative production and animation company known for pre-visualization work on broadcast advertising, brought me on to lead animation on an untitled documentary project for director Charles Evans Jr. and his production company. I stepped in to pick up animation production that another studio had started, taking on new sequences, additional shots, and composited elements while matching the style and tone already in place. The completed film, Addiction Incorporated, went on to become a New York Times Critics' Pick and has been used as an educational resource in schools.

The Challenge

The Studio NYC's day-to-day work was pre-vis for broadcast ads, built around Photoshop, After Effects, and 3D animation tools rather than a traditional 2D pipeline. Addiction Incorporated called for something outside that toolset: hand-animated sequences bringing key moments of the story to life, continuing work that another studio had already begun.

Picking up mid-production meant matching an established visual language, character designs, color, and timing, while also building the space within a pre-vis shop to actually produce 2D animation. New sequences needed to be created from scratch, existing sequences needed additional shots to read clearly, and some scenes called for individual animated elements to be composited into larger live-action or 3D shots.

The Approach

I set up a dedicated 2D production pipeline within the studio, built around Toon Boom, to carry the animation forward efficiently, moving between character and background illustration, scene setup, animation, and revisions within a single workflow.

From there we jumped into production, working closely with Charles and his editing team through storyboards, animatics, and rounds of notes, refining timing and performance until each sequence supported the story the way they needed it to. I animated new sequences outright, built additional scenes to round out sequences that needed more coverage, and hand-animated elements, like characters within a larger crowd, that were composited into bigger shots, all while keeping the style, color, and tone consistent with the animation already in the film.

The Outcome

Addiction Incorporated premiered in theaters and was reviewed by The New York Times, which called it "straight-shooting, hard-hitting" filmmaking, going on to name it a Critics' Pick. The film has since been used as an educational resource in classrooms.

The project became an early example of my ability to step into a production already in motion, build the tools and process needed to keep it moving, and deliver work that felt like a continuation rather than a seam.