Oscar nominee Joanna Quinn (“Famous Fred”) could be on the ballot again, this time with Affairs of the Art, one of the 15 Best Animated Short Film finalists. She directs this fourth short starring the dynamic character Beryl, who previously headlined “Girls Night Out” (1987), “Body Beautiful” (1990) and “Dreams and Desires” (2006). The comedic and vivacious Affairs is written and produced by Quinn’s husband and partner, Les Mills. They join me for this lively Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: You’re making this new Beryl short after 15 years. Why was this the right time for a new installment in this unique animated short [franchise]?

Joanna Quinn: Well, earlier probably would’ve been the right time. (laughs)

Les Mills: There were a lot of things between then and now that we were involved with. We were doing a lot of ads — for the States, Britain, Canada, Europe, Mexico. Our crew went from about five to about forty during that time. Jo was directing all the ads and animating. It took a lot of time. But… we made money out of it, which we put as a production base and that’s what this film was made with — that money.

JM: All that hard work going into this new short: that’s fantastic. And we get to see in this that Beryl has an obsession with drawing. Joanna, is this “art imitating life”? Is your obsession level with drawing as high as hers?

LM: Yeah, it’s worse.

JQ: It’s worse! I am an obsessive drawer.

LM: She loves it.

JQ: Autobiographical! (laughs)

JM: When you have that talent, you might as well showcase it. What were your goals with this in terms of making this for older fans who are familiar with the previous three shorts and newer fans like me who are coming into this world for the first time?

LM: Joanna obviously is very well known in animation circles throughout the world, so everybody for years was saying, “When are you gonna make another film?” And then it got to be, “When are you gonna make another Beryl film?” Most people know Joanna’s work from the three other films with Beryl as the main character. I suppose we wanted to do another one.

JQ: But I think one of the things for us is that because we’ve made the three films, we were struggling (although Les had quite a few scripts)… for me, I was thinking, “We’ve done three Beryl films. We know her.” So this time we introduce her family so that we see her family now and also growing up with her sister. It becomes more interesting because you see the different facets of her character because of her family and friends around her. Then it became more interesting for us to do it.

JM: In working together for a long time now, what are the secrets of your success?

LM: I taught her drawing in college, so we had a relationship in a sense of an art relationship before we did any films. I was involved in her very first film in that same college. I suppose it just continued. And we like each other. Crucial.

JQ: And just about all of our films are based on observation and people we know and strange family members. Those are experiences as well that we’ve got together.

LM: That’s true, actually. We’re both big on observation. I made documentary films before I went into animation. I got a background in that, and before that I studied fine arts in the states. My background is slightly different. Jo went to graphic design in college and got into animation through that. It was all in the realm of art.

JQ: But of course it does mean we talk about animation non-stop, so our poor daughter decided, “I am NOT going to become an animator. Over my dead body.” She became a vet surgeon. She helps animals.

LM: But now, ironically, she’s…

JQ: She’s now going out with an animator and helping him with his animation!

JM: Whoa!

JQ: She just can’t stop herself. She will be an animator.

JM: That must be an interesting dynamic [for the guy] to go, “Oh my gosh, her parents are this legendary duo in the world of animation! I better be good!”

JQ: (laughs)

JM: I was going to ask you two where you come up with these very specific, quirky obsessions that these characters have. And it seems like it’s research from observing people and hearing stories.

LM: If I asked you, “In your family, are there any bizarre, weird characters or people with obsessions?”, you could come-up with probably quite a lot… you know your family has these sort of quirks. These qualities. And again, that’s observation.

JQ: I think as well: when they’re close to you, you think that’s normal. When you explain to other people what your auntie did and people go, “She did WHAT?!”

LM: I mean, [Joanna], who stands out in your family?

JQ: They’re all a bit mad.

JM: (laughs)

LM: Yeah, right. But there’s one character in my family who stands out and he’s in the film. And that’s Colin. Colin is based on my brother, who’s the world most obsession-y, techy, geeky… that’s where that came from.

JM: They say write what you know and that will impact audiences the most. And that’s clearly what you’ve done. How has the animation world changed the most and the least, from your perspective, over the last 35 years?

JQ: Obviously technology has changed enormously — and teaching, because we both teach. Technology has impacted teaching, and I sense that a lot. There’s a lot less tactile messiness going on, which is a shame for me.

LM: The messiness is on the screen rather than a manual relationship between media, pencils and paper. That went quite a long time ago. Now, we have to ask our daughter often, “How do you do that?” And animation’s like that.

JQ: However, things like ideas haven’t changed enormously. A good film still has to have a great story and engage you. Recently, over the last year looking at films in film festivals… the thing that impressed me was the amount of really strong short films by women. And not just films by women, but really strong, flinchingly strong [films]. These young filmmakers are really saying strong things and aren’t afraid of going for it. That’s really great to say.

JM: That’s great. You’ve had major awards success over the years: Emmys and BAFTAs and an Oscar nominee, Joanna. What’s the awards show memory that stands out the most in your mind?

LM: First Oscars?

JQ: Yeah. Probably sitting next to Matt Damon’s mum at the Oscars [in 1998] and him leaning over me a lot to give her kisses. (laughs)

LM: And I was standing somewhere between…

JQ: Karl Malden’s nose!

LM: Oh yeah. I always saw Karl Malden on the screen. And he was on one side of me, and Jack Palance was on the other side. And they’re two feet higher than me. And I was dying to ask [Malden] about his nose, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

JQ: And what was really funny was: when we went to the Oscars, our daughter was about three or four. We had an au pair from a village in Spain. We said, “Will you come with us?” So we took her to the Oscars. Somebody else babysat our daughter. She came to the Oscars, and it was fantastic because she had only come out of her village to come to our house and then suddenly she was at the Oscars. And she looked fantastic.

LM: She looked like a million dollars.

JQ: They all assumed she was a film star because she looked so beautiful.

JM: So what would it mean to the two of you to come back to the Oscars, about 25 years after that, with Affairs of the Art?

JQ: It would be just wonderful. But we’re British. We have to be negative. (laughs) Not say anything in case we jinx it.

LM: But it’s a dream. It’s everybody’s dream, right?

JQ: Our big dream would be to go with our daughter. That would be lovely, because she’s old enough now. (laughs)