December 21st, 2020 
Jackson Murphy 
Madeline Sharafian has been nominated for two Annie Awards for her storyboarding on We Bare Bears and Coco. She also worked on Onward and is the writer and director of a new Pixar SparkShorts entry. Burrow, about a rabbit looking to create the (underground) home of her dreams, debuts with Soul this Friday December 25th on Disney+. Sharafian discusses the genesis of Burrow and teases one of Pixar’s highly anticipated upcoming features.
Jackson Murphy: I watched Burrow the first time back in September, and it has stuck with me because in my backyard in a given year you’ll find foxes and gophers and groundhogs and rabbits and all kinds of creatures.
Madeline Sharafian: Yes!
JM: Did you draw from personal experience when it came to this story?
MS: Definitely. I grew up around a lot of California Trailheads. And we have a lot of cottontail rabbits out there. You’d see their little while tails and I’d always chase them and watch them flash down into a burrow. And as a little kid, I would stare into that hole and be like, “Where did they go? There must be something really good down there!” I’ve always – so badly – wanted to know what it looked like. I know what I’ve made is not probably what it looks like down there, but this short is sort of my wish fulfillment of creating the perfect world that I wish existed underneath.
JM: It is a delightful short. On your Instagram @maddie.rabbit, I looked at all the drawings you did that go all the way back to 2014. So it must’ve been amazing when… Pixar said, “Yes, you can make this!” because of the love of rabbits you’ve had for so long.
MS: I know! Whenever I showed my friends the boards and the character designs, they were like, “Oh, this is so you. You did it! You’re making exactly what you want. This is very Maddie.” I felt very, very lucky that Pixar agreed – to make something that I feel like I’ve wanted to make my whole life. It’s my favorite aesthetic.
JM: That’s so cool. This is being paired with Soul on Disney+ starting Dec. 25. Obviously, it was going to go to theaters, but these Disney+ numbers are through the roof. 87 million subscribers. How do you feel about so many people being able to watch this over the holidays?
MS: Of course I feel very, very nervous. It’s a vulnerable moment when you finally release a project to the world. But what I’m really hoping is that it’s the sort of short that… the backgrounds are so detailed and the characters are so cute that I hope people, and especially kids, will watch it over and over again. “I think I missed something in that room! What was that in the hedgehog’s room?” I hope it’s something that’s very comforting and will make a lot of people feel a little bit better, especially this year. It’s been very hard.
Madeline Sharafian and Jackson Murphy
JM: Yes it has. You do a great job with all those details. You were also a lead story artist on Onward, the Pixar feature from earlier this year. It’s nominated for the Best Animated Feature Critics Choice Award. Were you balancing work on Onward and Burrow simultaneously?
MS: Luckily not. I think I had wrapped off on Onward right before I started working on this. And then while I was working on Burrow, we had a three-month chunk where we got everything started with the backgrounds. We finished all the backgrounds and then there was a break of three months while we were waiting for animators to get ready. And for those three months, I was actually starting work on Domee Shi’s movie Turning Red. Luckily I didn’t ever have to balance the two things at once, but it was a weird whiplash of “Spark[Short] only! Turning Red only!” And then waving goodbye – back to Spark for the last three months! And then I ended-up back on Turning Red.
JM: There you go! I saw you post on Twitter (@maddieshara) the other day that you’re so glad you can talk about Turning Red now because it was just [announced]. I interviewed Domee Shi right before she won the Animated Short Film Academy Award for Bao. What can you tell me about this 2022 Pixar feature?
MS: Gosh. I can tell you that it’s really good. It sounds silly but it really is very, very good. And it’s so cute. Obviously I like cute things. And it’s such a treat to work with Domee. A movie like this, even on the story team, it’s so fun to make it together. We’re having so much fun. We’re making each other laugh, and I think that’s a recipe for something that will be really, really fun to watch.
JM: In the meantime, you’ll be in this awards season with Burrow. You’ve already been nominated for two Annie Awards and now maybe another Annie and an Oscar nomination in the future. How does that make you feel?
MS: I feel like as animators, being seen… is not why we do this, so I feel very nervous. But I want the team to be recognized. I just wish that I didn’t have to be there for it. (laughs)
JM: Well, I hope you’re there! I wish you the best of luck for the awards season and with the release of Burrow. And you’ve got a great “behind the scenes at Pixar” video on YouTube that everyone can check out as well.
MS: Thank you so much!
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