Mukpuddy

Ryan Cooper, Tim Evans and Alex Leighton are Mukpuddy, the Auckland-based animation studio behind such Kiwi kids shows as The Barefoot Bandits, Quimbo’s Quest and The Adventures of Tumeke Space. Across two decades they have grown their operation from a core team of three, to a busy studio with over 40 employees.

Although the trio didn’t meet until their tertiary studies, their childhoods were filled with many of the same passions and skill sets. Growing up in three different Auckland suburbs, the boys all loved to draw, and were huge consumers of films, cartoons and absurdist comedy. The 1980s work of Jim Henson and Steven Spielberg all proved particularly influential, and that impact is still felt heavily in Mukpuddy's work today. These interests led them all to study animation straight out of high school, at Auckland's Freelance Animation School (now Yoobee College of Creative Innovation).

"In our second year we finally crossed paths, and our interests and shared sense of humour instantly made it a perfect team up," Cooper told animation website Skwigly in 2016. The trio began creating skits and show concepts, and as the end of the course approached, knew they needed to capitalise on their shared passion.

Upon graduation, they set up shop in the basement of Evan’s family home, and officially began their journey as 'Mukpuddy'. Taking inspiration from Ren & Stimpy creators Spümcø, they settled on a studio name that had a great sound and no meaning. Initially working on the family computer, the trio began pumping out short 2D cartoons for the web. But in the much sparser internet landscape of the early 2000s, the effect was not as they'd hoped. Regardless, they kept developing their voice and stayed afloat via odd jobs, including design work, commercials and even running their own movie magazine. Funded by local cinemas and distributors, Mukmouth magazine detailed new releases and included original cartoons with each issue.

"The first few years were a bit of a blur," Evans told On Film magazine in 2009. Added Leighton: "Looking back now I don't know how we survived. Our diets were basically noodles and cheese." 

Their first major break came after the trio got together with fellow creative Jeremy Dillon, and made a pitch to iconic kids show What Now? in 2006; this set in motion a long-term relationship with the series. Starting with Sparkle Friends — a short cartoon based on the presenters as children — Mukpuddy began providing the show with regular new content, which they initially mailed to the Christchurch studio each week. Sparkle Friends was followed by Pocket Protectors and C.R.U.M.B.S, which heavily satirised action films of the 1980s.

"While not always consciously, the influence of the eighties on the way we make things has always been present in Mukpuddy’s work," Evans told Skwigly. "We’re just such big fans of films like Gremlins, Back to the Future and E.T."

The quick turnaround of these What Now? shows gave Mukpuddy the confidence to enter the 48 Hours filmmaking competition in 2007. As they hoped, producing an original short film in two days was more than manageable for the trio. Their entry Camp Fear was delivered a number of hours before the deadline. It won the Auckland regionals, the first time an animated film had done so. They followed this up with entries in 2011, 2012 and 2014 respectively, all of which made the national finals.

In 2012 Mukpuddy landed their first NZ On Air funding, for Christmas special Missing Christmas. Although it was a one-off, the special helped foster their relationship with TVNZ and eventually led to their own kids show in 2016. The Barefoot Bandits ran for three seasons.

Developing the characters from the Christmas special, Bandits follows three friends uncovering the mysteries of their home of Ngaro, a fictional island off the coast of Aotearoa. As Evans told Swigly, "we essentially pitched The Barefoot Bandits as a Kiwi Goonies". A break-out success for Mukpuddy, the series earned a prime time spot on local television, international distribution and a cast of world-class voice talent.

"We thought, 'let's try and get Rhys Darby, let's try and get Jemaine [Clement], let's try and get Lucy Lawless — and it was surprisingly easy to get them all to come on board," Leighton told Stuff in 2019."With the Kiwi comedy scene kind of booming, it has also been fun to watch who is coming up and grabbing them." 

From Bandits onwards, Mukpuddy’s relationship with TVNZ went from strength to strength, fuelled by the establishment of children’s platform HeiHei in 2018. By 2020, Mukpuddy had not only produced three seasons of The Barefoot Bandits, but adventure series Quimbo’s Quest, tutorial series The Drawing Show, "slacker comedy" Jandal Burn and astral caper The Adventures of Tumeke Space. As well as original Mukpuddy productions, the studio also worked on commission for shows such as Tales of Nai Nai, Pipi Mā and The Zelfs. 

As the Mukpuddy trio developed their creative process over the years, the three men organically refined their roles within the group. Although all three "are constantly generating ideas", Cooper takes on the bulk of the screenwriting and voice acting, Evan is the more technically minded, concentrating on compositing and coding, and Leighton became the lead character designer. Their longevity as a team is rare for any creative industry. The trio attribute their harmony in large part to a lack of ego — with the generalised Mukpuddy credit symbolising this collective mentality. 

Playing to their individual strengths also allowed Mukpuddy to keep operations slim for many years, although they are now supported by a significant team and studio space in Grafton, Auckland. As of early 2023, they employed a team of over 40, including senior animators Chris Maguren and Mike Glasswell and producer Simon Ward. As Mukpuddy told NZ On Screen, they aim to be a studio that "nurtures new talent, unique voices and helps to establish the New Zealand animation industry as world-class".

The team expanded further in 2023, thanks to a TV series based on Badjelly the Witch. After winning the rights to adapt Spike Milligan's classic book, Mukpuddy developed the 13-part show with Canadian company Mercury Filmworks (Netflix series Hilda). They also have two American coproductions in the works: The Dead Sea Squirrels, working with Mike Nawrocki of Veggie Tales fame, and Juju Brain, with Tom Bancroft's crowd-funded Pencilish Animation Studios. 

Mukpuddy are also exploring gaming, having released three mobile games to date: Barefoot Bandits Water Bomb Battle and mobile games Fall on Paul and Jess Go For It. Feature filmmaking is also a new horizon to be conquered, with their 2022 short film Out of Order serving as a proof of concept. 

Profile written by Rosie Howells. Published on 28 April 2023

Sources include
Mukpuddy
Wesley Allard, 'Animation Down Under: An Interview with Mukpuddy' (interview) - Swkigly, 25 July 2016
James Croot, 'Barefoot Bandits creators aiming to be New Zealand's answer to Nickelodeon' (Interview) - Stuff website. Loaded 28 March 2019. Accessed 28 April 2023 
Zane Holmes 'Muking about for fun and (a small) profit' (interview) - OnFilm, May 2009, page 18 (Volume 26, number 5)
'106 "Mukpuddy Interview"' (Interview) - RubberOnion Animation Podcast Loaded 11 November 2015. Accessed 28 April 2023