Join Barney and Vici on their talk on from book to screen: An insight from the Producers at Magic Light Pictures on adapting books to screen and delivering to an audience. From their multi award winning, animated Christmas specials (including ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Stick Man’ and ‘Zog’) to their successful pre-school series, ‘Pip and Posy’, adapting stories for the screen is at the heart of what Magic Light does. But how do they approach it and how does that approach differ between formats?

Barney joined Magic Light Pictures in 2008, his first animation role was on the Oscar and BAFTA nominated special The Gruffalo. He has since overseen aspects of production and delivery on all the company’s animated specials including the BAFTA nominated The Gruffalo’s Child; the Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning Room on the Broom; the BAFTA nominated Stick Man; the Oscar nominated and BAFTA and International Emmy winning Revolting Rhymes; the Rose d’Or winning The Highway Rat; the International Emmy winning Zog; The Snail and the Whale (starring Sally Hawkins and Rob Brydon) and Zog and the Flying Doctors. Barney was producer on Superworm (2021) and The Smeds and The Smoos (2022), both of the films Christmas premieres on the BBC were watched by over 8m people.

In addition, Barney worked on Magic Light Pictures Oscar nominated and European Film Award winning animated feature Chico & Rita, directed by Oscar winner Fernando Trueba and star designer Javier Mariscal; the feature film Wild Target (starting Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint and Bill Nighy) and the natural history documentary One Life.

Alongside his work on the animation specials and feature films Barney has developed and produced a number of Magic Light’s digital projects and initiatives, including setting up an award winning social media community and creating a portfolio of BAFTA nominated apps, most notably the innovative AR experience The Gruffalo Spotter. Barney also sits on the Animation UK Council.