HOT DOG Directed By Bill Plympton

Shane: Tell us about your film?

Bill: "Hot Dog" is the third film in my "Bad Dog" series - the first one, "Guard Dog", was done in 2004 and was nominated for an Oscar - it also won numerous awards around the world.  The second film was called "Guide Dog", it was an equally successful short about our hero dog as he attempts to help blind people.  "Hot Dog" is about the dog joining a fire company with similarly disastrous results.

S: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

B: The original concept for the dog came about when I saw a dog in a nearby park, barking at a tiny bird. 

I thought, "Why is the dog afraid of such a tiny creature?"  So I went inside the dog's head and discovered that he was afraid that all the cute woodland animals were out to kill his master and take away his meal ticket.  The audience responded very favorably to the canine, and a star was born. 

S: How did you find your cast? 

B: The dog's voices, the barks, were recruited from my sound editor, Greg Sextro, who lives in Brooklyn and has a lot of friends with dogs.  The dogs get credit at the end of the film.

S: How long did the film take?  (From conception to final edit)

B: The film took about 2 months to make.

S: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

B: For me the technical aspects were very difficult - I feel the color and density of my art is not fully reflected in the print.  Also, we had a bitch of a time getting the sound to synch up with the picture - something about "pull downs".

S: Tell us about the films festival experience so far?

B: The film's West Coast premiere will be in Seattle, there was one other screening at the

USA Film Festival in Dallas.

S: What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

B: I'm totally looking forward to hearing laughs from the audience.

S: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far?  What was your favorite question?  How was the dialogue afterwards?

B: This is a premiere, but I had a very strange comment to the previous "Dog" films from the French audiences.  They believed that "Guard Dog" was a political indictment of George Bush, in that as hard as the dog tries to do good things, he always messes up.

S: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

B: I have a long list of favorite and influential artists: Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Winsor McCay, A.B. Frost, Hayao Miyazaki, John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Frank Capra, Quentin Tarantino, Carlos Nine, Roland Topor, Saul Stoenberg, Charles Addams, R. Crumb, Richard Lester, The Beatles, Marv Newland, Joanna Quinn and many others.

S: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

B: I wanted to make animation ever since I was 5 years old, and saw Walt Disney and Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV.

S: What is next for you? 

B: I'm involved in finishing and releasing my new feature film "Idiots and Angels" which features music by Pink Martini, Tom Waits, and many others.

S: What is next for the film?

B: "Hot Dog" will now go on the festival circuit and appear in The Animation Show, a theatrical compilation of animated shorts, and then hopefully make a lot of sales around the world.  At some point

I want to release it on DVD with all my other "Dog" shorts.

S: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their first short film… What would it be?

B: I have what I call "Plympton's Dogma" - and these are three must-do rules for short filmmakers to be successful with their films:

                  1. Make the film short, under 5 minutes

                  2. Make the film cheap, under $1,000/minute

                  3. Make the film funny

If you can satisfy these 3 requirements, the film will be a financial success.

--Bill Plympton