Timothy Björklund, Kavaleer Productions' new director
Irish animation studio Kavaleer Productions has appointed Timothy Björklund as its director. Björklund previously won two Emmy awards for his work on Disney’s TV series Teachers Pet.
Originally from San Francisco, Björklund trained in animation and film graphics at California Institute of the Arts before getting his first job as an assistant animator with Colossal Pictures in 1984. He became a director four years later.
Björklund directed Nickelodeon Jr series Olivia in 2011, where he met Kavaleer producer Jackie Leonard who later suggested he join their studios.
“When Jackie told me about this very cool new project we are working on, which I can’t mention by the way, and I saw the artwork, I jumped at it,” said Björklund.
“The artists at Kavaleer are very talented and they have built an international reputation in the industry as being one of the most savvy and talented studios on the block. Here at Kavaleer there’s a real culture of creativity and fun, everybody has a great sense of wit. I hear a lot of laughter every day, which is nice,” he said.
Kavaleer Productions recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and announced it would be creating 30 jobs over the course of 2012.
Björklund spoke about his appointment as director, saying his 25 years of experience would help him.
“This ain’t my first rodeo, as they say. I’ve directed several series and a feature so I don’t get rattled very often, plus the animators, designers and production people at Kavaleer are so good at what they do that I spend most of my day just stamping APPROVED on everything,” he said.
“Once in a while, I have to come up with some incredibly genius idea, but that’s pretty rare – thank God,” he said.
