Mar 24, 2023

Matt Youngberg on the cartoon antics in his new Skydance short "Bad Luck Spot"

In 2022, the big animated film for Apple TV+ was Skydance Animation's CG feature film "Luck". While we don't know if Apple has plans for the entire Lucky cinematic universe, the streamer released a new short titled "Bad Luck Spot," which is set in a cinematic universe featuring adorable bunnies.

The short was directed by Matt Youngberg, who is best known for his development and show run on Disney's recent "Ducktales" reboot and has directed episodes of "Teen Titans," "Ben 10: Ultimate Alien," and "Transformers": 3]

later aired on Disney as a reboot of Ducktales.

After a very brief cameo from Sam and the Dragon, the short goes completely dialogue-free, opting to tell its story through slapstick gags. The piece is drawn within the canonical timeframe of "The Rack," but it is removed from the main storyline of "The Rack."

Cartoon Brew recently interviewed Youngberg, who explained the film's classic comic roots and shared some exclusive stills.

Cartoon Brew: What were your goals in planning the physical language of the film and using character movement to tell the story? Matt Youngberg: Our goal for this short was to evoke the classic cartoons of yesteryear, but to do so with modern sensibilities and technology. We wanted it to be a broad, cartoonish, physical comedy, but first and foremost it had to be set firmly in the world of The Rack. The film has certain rules and style, and we tried to see how far we could push that style without breaking it.

The short is set in the world of the feature film "Luck," but how much freedom did you have to be original in terms of the story and how you told it: The main constraint was that the short begins with the events seen in the film and then returns to the film. But instead of following the story of the film, the perspective of the short switches to that of the Hazmat rabbits, and we see what happens when they try to remove a speck of bad luck. From there, the bunnies were free to tell their story, with the only constraint being their adherence to the style and rules of the film.

YOUNGBERG: Youngberg: I worked on this short after the film was completed, but some of the crew took over the production of the short. Skydance Animation is really great at utilizing the artists and technicians they have on hand, and as you can see from the timeframe between the release of "Luck" and the release of "Bad Luck Spot," it was a pretty tight turnaround.