Tim O’Shea: How do you go about tracking down obscure audio like “Actual audio from the 1947 educational film Using The Bank“. And from there, how do you typically go about writing the script that you run in parallel with the animation. Do you write the script before starting the animation work?

Scott Bateman: There is a wealth of amazing material in the Prelinger Archives at archive.org, a web site that hosts a vast array of public domain material. The Prelinger Archives specializes in short educational and industrial films from the 1940s and 1950s–hygiene, cold war propoganda, juvenile delinquency, it’s all there. Man, I can spend hours on that site!

My writing process for these animations goes something like this: I’ll end up watching a film several times while I animate it, because I’ll go through once and animate bodies, then another time through for mouths, another for hands, etc. So by the time I add the commentary, I already have a ton of snarky comments about the film at my disposal. I’ll put in the comments I most want in the movie first, then fill in the holes between.

O’Shea: As of August 3, according to you “The “10,000 3×5″ project is 8.5% done–that’s 850 drawings!” What motivates you to take on ambitious projects like that and Bateman 365? How do you avoid getting in over your head, with your various project commitments–and do you make due with less sleep than some folks?

Bateman: For some reason, I like to take on a project like making an animated film every day or making an entire feature film all by myself just to see if I can do it. That’s the fun.

O’Shea: Some of your work appears at Salon.com, while other work appears at True/Slant or Daily Kos. Do you develop unique content with one site in mind, or do you develop it with the thinking it could appear at any site?

Bateman: Sadly, Salon.com is restructuring, so my animations won’t be appearing there anymore. I’m actually pretty happy about this, because I’ve been doing way too much political work the past 18 months. I’m looking forward to taking a break from watching Chris Matthews every day. It’s a chance to think about other sorts of projects. But, I always get drawn back into politics again eventually.

O’Shea: When you and King Features parted company back in 2005, you wrote this Daily Kos piece explaining why. The essay concluded with the line: “So now, I’m out of work, and nobody’s beating down my door to hire me.” How worried were you when you wrote that–and is your livelihood more stable and/or rewarding than you might have imagined back in 2005?

Bateman: Actually, I’m right back in that position now! But this time, I’m not worried at all. Something always comes up. I’m much more prepared mentally for sudden unemployment these days. I used that period of unemployment in 2005 to get the heck out of politics for awhile, and it did me a world of good, and I was tanned, rested and ready when the 2008 primaries got under way.

O’Shea: You have developed animation for TV in the past, but I’m curious–as hulu.com and YouTube.com as well as other streaming video grow in influence, are you as keen to develop for television?

Bateman: Here’s the thing about TV: if you’re a musician, you can start an indie band. You can make a good movie outside the Hollywood studios. But there’s really never been an “indie TV” scene (well, Public Access, but that’s not at the same scale as an indie record label with national distribution; plus, it’s really goofy-ass). The Internet finally levels that playing field. Generally, to do a TV show you need a few dozen people and the support of the netwrok and its advertisers. Lots and lots of money. Online, you and your friends can do some short videos without the network middleman or much cash. The size of the audience won’t be the same, of course, but the good stuff generally finds its audience.

I would do TV again if I could do it with as little interference as possible from The Suits. That is nearly impossible these days; I was really quite fortunate to have had a TV experience where I could make a show on my laptop, drop it off at the network, and they would just air it–no meetings about ratings, no pleasing advertisers. It’s unheard of to have that sort of freedom in TV, especially for a newbie. Sadly, that only lasted three episodes, but still. I don’t expct it’ll happen again, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it did?

O’Shea: Has the level of political comedy fodder increased/decreased or stayed the same for you since the U.S. presidential transition?

Bateman: In a way, I don’t feel like the tenor of the campaign ever really went away, and in fact the oppostion has gotten louder. It’s also gotten more moronic, so there’s lots of humor there. There’s also humor on the other side, with the Democrats being too timid to use their mandate and 60-seat Senate majority to actually do this thing that over 70% of the public wants, a public option for health care.

O’Shea: Have you heard from anyone involved in the 1960 original film of Atom Age Vampire? What was the response to your reworking of the film when it showed late last month at the Woods Hole Film Festival?

Bateman: I have not yet heard from anyone involved with the original film; they would have to be pretty old by now. Plus, I imagine they let it lapse into the public domain for a reason (that reason being: they’re not so proud of it).

The response to the film at screenings is amazing and humbling–it really helps to see the movie with a big audience, because everyone starts laughing and had a great time.

O’Shea: What other festivals will the film be shown at–and do you intend to do a full-length project like that in the near to long term?

Bateman: Atom Age Vampire is screening at the Tacoma Film Festival in October, and I’ll probably do another New York screening towards Halloween. I’m starting to think about the next feature film, but this time I want to raise a little money first. I spent literally zero dollars to actually make Atom Age Vampire, but I’ve had to spend a few thousand to try and get it out into the world. So I want to raise some of those funds beforehand this time. Not a lot; probably a nice, mid-four-figure budget.

O’Shea: Looking at your music posts like this one, when you really have to get a great deal of work done in a short amount of time, are there certain motivational songs you rely upon to pull you through?

Bateman: It’s not so much that particular songs motivate me, but merely the fact that certain bands exist and make a career doing exactly what they want to do: Stereolab, Sonic Youth, tons of others.

O’Shea: How did you go about selecting the guest essays that were featured in your 2006 book, Sketchbook of Secrets & Shame? Would you ever want to do another book like that down the road?

Bateman: There are about a dozen essays in that book–about half of them were people I knew, like John Kovalic (Dork Tower), or friends of friends (Wil Wheaton). The other half were people I approached because I was a fan of theirs, and had this strange idea that if I was a fan of theirs, they might also become a fan of mine. This is why I approached Dr. & Mr. Doris Haggis-On-Whey, which is a pseudonym of Dave Eggers. I emailed a request for a short essay, and I received back one of the funniest single sentences ever.

O’Shea: Any other projects on the horizon for you that you’d like to discuss?

Bateman: Well, with my Salon.com gig over, I’m trying to launch a number of things–seeing what I want to do, and what I can make a small amount of money doing. I’m also still trying to find a broader audience for Atom Age Vampire; I know from indie film-making friends that it can take two years or more of constantly getting it out there. Fun!