Minnow Mountain

Minnow Mountain Emmy-Winning Animators of TOWER, Amazon's UNDONE, and Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood. Craig Staggs is an animator, illustrator, filmmaker and writer.

We are honored to serve as the character animation unit on Amazon’s groundbreaking new series: Undone. And proud to be the animation team behind Tower, an Emmy winning film directed by Keith Maitland. Craig Staggs and Steph Swope founded Minnow Mountain to create groundbreaking material for the new media environment that includes screens big and small. Our work displays a unique vision and personality but is rooted in traditional creative processes and turbo charged with an insane work ethic. After earning a BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Steph Swope began a diverse career in the visual arts. A veteran of the independent film industry, Steph rose from art department and photo/video research to producing award winning animation and video. His illustrations have been featured in publications such as The New York Times and the covers of Simon and Schuster’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy book series. His iconic work on Richard Linklater’s cult classic A Scanner Darkly lead to a successful freelance animation career before founding Minnow Mountain with the goal of developing original feature films, television and web series. We are excited to offer original content and professional services.

Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. KBE (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and United States Navy...
09/18/2026

Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. KBE (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and United States Navy officer.

He was a leading man during the Golden Age of Hollywood, notably in adventure and swashbuckling roles like in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941).

Illustration by Craig Staggs

09/10/2026

🎬 25 years later, and Austin's own Richard Linklater is still turning heads. The Guardian just called "Waking Life" — Linklater's genre-bending 2001 indie starring Wiley Wiggins wandering the streets of Austin — a "kaleidoscopic masterpiece."

🖌️ The film's hand-painted look came from Rotoshop, software built by Austin animator Bob Sabiston, who gathered roughly 30 local artists to bring it to life. Two decades later, that same Austin rotoscope tradition carried forward into Linklater's "Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood," brought to life by Austin's own Minnow Mountain, a rotoscope animation studio built for exactly this kind of work.

⭐ Proud to see homegrown Texas filmmaking still getting national recognition, a quarter century later.

🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/02/waking-life-richard-linklater-film-review-indie-masterpiece-disney

08/22/2026

⏰Last chance to vote y’all!⏰

Animation Professional at SXSW?

VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UP

The Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animation industry folks and make some sweet connections. This event is hosted by SXSW veterans Craig Staggs & Steph Swope of Minnow Mountain, animators behind Tower (PBS),
Undone (Amazon Prime), and Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix). From industry big-wigs to bullpen rookies, animation pros at any level are invited to join us for the fourth year of this epic exchange of business cards and social media profiles. What started as a small gathering has become a must-attend for animation industry networking at SXSW. These are your people!

Session Takeaways
Takeaway 1: Walk away with contact information for industry professionals!
Takeaway 2: Compare experiences with colleagues!
Takeaway 3: Get advice or grow your team for a new project!

🚨Animation Professional at SXSW?VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UPThe Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animati...
08/20/2026

🚨Animation Professional at SXSW?

VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UP

The Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animation industry folks and make some sweet connections. This event is hosted by SXSW veterans Craig Staggs & Steph Swope of Minnow Mountain, animators behind Tower (PBS),
Undone (Amazon Prime), and Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix). From industry big-wigs to bullpen rookies, animation pros at any level are invited to join us for the fourth year of this epic exchange of business cards and social media profiles. What started as a small gathering has become a must-attend for animation industry networking at SXSW. These are your people!

Session Takeaways
Takeaway 1: Walk away with contact information for industry professionals!
Takeaway 2: Compare experiences with colleagues!
Takeaway 3: Get advice or grow your team for a new project!

08/19/2026

🚨BLOOPERS: PANEL PICKER VIDEO OUTTAKES!

Animation Professional at SXSW?

VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UP

The Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animation industry folks and make some sweet connections. This event is hosted by SXSW veterans Craig Staggs & Steph Swope of Minnow Mountain, animators behind Tower (PBS),
Undone (Amazon Prime), and Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix). From industry big-wigs to bullpen rookies, animation pros at any level are invited to join us for the fourth year of this epic exchange of business cards and social media profiles. What started as a small gathering has become a must-attend for animation industry networking at SXSW. These are your people!

Session Takeaways
Takeaway 1: Walk away with contact information for industry professionals!
Takeaway 2: Compare experiences with colleagues!
Takeaway 3: Get advice or grow your team for a new project!

Animation Professional at SXSW?VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UPThe Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animatio...
08/17/2026

Animation Professional at SXSW?

VOTE FOR YOUR MEET UP

The Animation Professionals Meet Up is a chance to mix with animation industry folks and make some sweet connections. This event is hosted by SXSW veterans Craig Staggs & Steph Swope of Minnow Mountain, animators behind Tower (PBS),
Undone (Amazon Prime), and Apollo 10 1/2 (Netflix). From industry big-wigs to bullpen rookies, animation pros at any level are invited to join us for the fourth year of this epic exchange of business cards and social media profiles. What started as a small gathering has become a must-attend for animation industry networking at SXSW. These are your people!

Session Takeaways
Takeaway 1: Walk away with contact information for industry professionals!
Takeaway 2: Compare experiences with colleagues!
Takeaway 3: Get advice or grow your team for a new project!

Link in bio

08/13/2026

Let’s party.

Maufras & Frietag Take The Case was one of Shirk Worker’s later plays. Produced in the early 2000s, it was written and d...
08/12/2026

Maufras & Frietag Take The Case was one of Shirk Worker’s later plays.

Produced in the early 2000s, it was written and directed by Minnow Mountain’s Craig Staggs and featured Hilah Johnson , Mark Stewart , Jason Andres , Omid Goroshi, and the very talented Khattie Q on drums.

The play was presented at Beerland in Austin, Texas. The set was a simple bathtub with shower curtain. And the story focused on two hapless domestic security agents on a stake-out.

Minnow Mountain’s Steph Swope was the show boss. Craig Staggs produced. Craig also did the poster and program design based on photos by Erica Nix’s .

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200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Austin, TX
78712

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