Our History
The Animation Workshop is rich in history, from the animation desks that served as Disney’s background animation tables on Snow White, to the world-renowned guests who have lectured and taught here.
William Shull, a Disney animator, founds the UCLA Animation Workshop as a group of animation classes.
Upon Shull’s retirement, Dan McLaughlin becomes the area head.
Dan McLaughlin starts the graduate MFA program, serving as the sole Senate Faculty member for many years. Dan was the sole Senate Faculty member for many years, advising students and teaching the core classes, while working with a variety of talented adjuncts to teach specialty classes in the ever-expanding area.
The Workshop hosts the first International Society for Animation Studies (SAS) Conference.
Celia Mercer is hired as the second Senate Faculty member of the Workshop.
Upon Dan McLaughlin’s retirement, Mercer becomes Area Head, and Chuck Sheetz is hired as Senate Faculty.
Upon Celia Mercer’s retirement, Sheetz becomes Area Head. Chuck works with our MFA Candidates all throughout their 3 years of candidacy. Mercer continues serving the program as Professor Emerita.
The Animation Workshop has a history of the world-renowned guests who have lectured and taught here. Among them: Tex Avery, John Coates, Corny Cole, Elfriede Fishinger, Faith Hubley, Chuck Jones, Fyodor Khitruk, Ward Kimball, Sue Kroyer, Bob Kurtz, Bob Skir, Normand Roger, Bill Scott, Raoul Servais, David Silverman, Jan Svankmajer, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Mike Johnson, Amy Winfrey, Chris Sauve, Walter Lantz, Rich Quade, Bill Plympton, Nina Shorina, Paul Driessen, Yuriy Norshteyn, Fred Wolf, Chris Sanders, Cordell Barker, Emily Hubley, Floyd Norman, Glenn Vilppu, Bob Kurtz, Charles Solomon, Chris Appelhans, Stephanie Maxwell, Andreas Deja, Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi, Yoni Goodman, David Polonsky, Arthur de Pins, Fabien Vehlmann, John Canemaker, and Brown Johnson.
Our Founder
Dan McLaughlin
A 1958 graduate of the UCLA Theater Arts Department (now the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television), McLaughlin began working that same year at the Animation Workshop, founded in 1948 by former Disney animator Bill Shull. When Shull retired in 1970, McLaughlin assumed his post, and in 1971, founded the School’s M.F.A. Animation Program.
Dan McLaughlin envisioned this contemporary studio as the ultimate expression of the philosophy of “one person one film."