Local, national, and international animators often guest lecture at the Workshop. The purpose of this event is for each person to make a film around a commonly agreed theme in one weekend. Usually, sometime Sunday night, after a grueling regimen of little or no sleep and questionable diet, each person finishes shooting their film, which becomes part of the infamous common reel. Students who have gone through the Workshop have enjoyed a high degree of success. Currently, the main problem of the Workshop is that students are hired and are working full-time before they can finish their degree.
Some alumni own their own production houses and many are leading animators.
Some teach at colleges and universities and others are renowned independent filmmakers. Bob Abel, Richard Bohn, Colin Cantwell, Randy Cartwright, Doug Chaing, Marija Dail, Phil Denslow, Ben Jackson, Mike Jittlov, Robert Mitchell, John Neuhart, Con Pederson, Sara Petty, Bob Pike, Richard Quade, Ron Saks, David Silverman, Charles Solomon, Thom Anderson, Carlos Spivey, Robert Swarthe, Kurt Thatcher, Tony Venzia, Pierce Vexliard, Sam Weiss, Hoyt Yeatman, Claudia Zeitlin, Chuck Sheetz, Dom Polcino, Mike Anderson, Pete Michels, Maria Rodriguez, and Sheri Pollack are some of the successful alumni of the Workshop. Many of our students and their films win national and international awards. Each student in the Workshop is asked to consider and make their own decisions on ethics, history, society, concepts, aesthetics, structure, style, quality, process, entertainment, content, viewpoint, philosophy, audience, value, conviction, and ideas. Each student sets his or her own direction.