The Sunflower Seed Foundation (SSF) is proud to launch the inaugural LA26 Animation Intensive, a one-week exchange fellowship in partnership with LEGO^® Entertainment.

This program will select four rising female filmmakers living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and award them with a fellowship to the LA26 Animation Intensive. They will receive a fellowship awards package, which includes airfare to travel to Los Angeles, California, as well as housing accommodations for the duration of the program. In Los Angeles, the fellows will gain a comprehensive understanding of the 3D animation production process through hands-on training led by Hollywood professionals.

The curriculum encapsulates the major processes of the animation production pipeline from the bidding process to pre-production, production, post-production and delivery while providing opportunities for connecting with U.S. industry professionals. Due to the curriculum being taught from the perspective of a producer, technical animation skills are not required to meaningfully participate in the program, nor will they be taught and exercised throughout the course of the curriculum. The fellows may likely find that some of the skills and techniques that are taught are also transferable to the live-action filmmaking process.

The Power of Experiential Learning

Leaning into the benefits found in experiential learning, the women attending the program, the LA26 Fellows, will experience the curriculum from the perspective of being the producers for a season of animated television. When they develop and interact with production materials, they will be given agency to make specific choices in order to meet their intended outcomes, such as making adjustments to a production schedule in order to meet their intended delivery deadlines for the content they are producing. Further, this same production schedule will then inform other aspects of the production, such as production budgeting, contracting, and more. Learning the logistics of animation production will be balanced with growth in the creative aspects as well. Fellows will dive into the screenwriting process and follow the creative path to the process of 3D asset design and creation. They will then see how these 3D assets are brought onto the screen, with the opportunity to review and provide notes on the various stages of animation, including animatics and more.

LEGO Production Materials

The LA26 curriculum is built on a foundation of real production materials from previously released LEGO animated shows. These are real scripts. Real asset designs. Real 3D models. These are materials that were created by professionals in the successful pursuit of creating globally released commercial content. This means that when the fellows are learning about how to review an animatic, they will be giving notes on a real animatic, and they will be able to see how that animatic became a layout pass, then a blocking pass, until finally reaching the animation stage, all the way through to final delivery.

Growth Through Challenge

Throughout the curriculum, the fellows will face logistical and creative challenges that they will need to navigate. These challenges will be based on real-life scenarios an animation producer may face during the course of production. These challenges are intended to move the fellows’ learning past surface level knowledge and create within them a robust understanding of the core processes that are foundational to the animation pipeline. Understanding the fundamental needs of the animation pipeline will ideally lead to increasing the fellows’ critical thinking and problem solving capabilities.

LEGO Entertainment is opening the doors of its Hollywood offices as the headquarters of the LA26 Animation Intensive. The fellowship’s curriculum draws on real production materials from released LEGO Entertainment shows, giving fellows an authentic, industry-level training experience. 

MAFLAM is a valued partner coming alongside the Sunflower Seed Foundation in its efforts for the LA26 Animation Intensive, creating a positive impact for the women we serve. Two of the women selected for the program will be honored as Maflam Fellows to the LA26 Animation Intensive.

Safety & Wellbeing

Part of the Sunflower Seed Foundation’s commitment to the safety and wellbeing of the women who participate in this program includes the SSF Wellbeing Coordinator. The Wellbeing Coordinator’s job is to be present and supportive for the participants at all times. She stays in a separate room within the same residence as the participants so that she can be ready and available at a moment’s notice. She will meet the participants at the airport, oversee their commutes to and from program activities, and make sure they are well cared for throughout their entire stay in Los Angeles. Participants will virtually meet and speak with the Wellbeing Coordinator before the program commences.