About Michael Cawood

Michael Cawood, has been creating animated films since 1994. He’s a multi-award winning British/American Animation Director and Supervisor based out of Los Angeles with credits in Film, Commercials and Games working with Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Microsoft, Activision, Nintendo, Sega and many more.

Michael has a broad creative skillset including directing, story development, animation, game design, character design, storyboarding, producing, previs, layout, rigging, editing, and supervising. He has a unique strength in directing online collaborations as first showcased in his 'Orson Welles Award' winning short film, 'Devils Angels & Dating', which attracted over 19 millions of views online. He repeated this success again with 'The Wrong Rock' which toured various Oscar qualifying festivals worldwide. Both films won 'Best Short Film' at the Burbank Film Festival (2012 and 2019). He also served as Head of Story for the multi-award winning 'The OceanMaker' which was screened at South by SouthWest. All three films screened at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, at the Hollyshorts Festival.

Michael supervised both, the previsualisation for Universal's new take on 'The Mummy' with Tom Cruise, and the postvis animation for 'Bumblebee'. Credits also include 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', 'Happy Feet', 'Pete’s Dragon', 'Ghostbusters', 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5', and 'Night at the Museum 3'. He was the Animation Director for the game cinematics in 'Skylanders Giants' and Lead on 'Starfox Adventures' and the XBox 360 launch title 'Kameo'.

In 2025, Michael shipped his first game as a Director, Game Designer, Producer and Generalist. The Phoenix Gene is an exceptional expereince in VR gaming with unique mechanics that really takes advantage of wireless VR. It's availble on Steam and the Meta Quest.

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info content

Dinosaur Planet to The Phoenix Gene
The Making of the Wrong Rock
Devils Angels and Dating Deleted Scenes
Head of Story on The Ocean Maker
Pitching the Wrong Rock

Recommendations

  • Grant Kirkhope,
    Bafta Nominated Composer - The Wrong Rock, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64

    "Working with Michael has been a total pleasure. It's so great for composers when the director has a very clear vision of the kind of music they are looking for and can articulate that vision in a very precise manner. Whenever I was slightly unclear of the mood of a scene Michael would always be able to give me the exact thing that I needed to hear/read that made it easy for me to compose what he wanted. It's so refreshing to work with a director that really cares about the score. The Wrong Rock has been a delight to work on and I look forward to working with Michael and Heromation again!"

  • Irene Parkins,
    Senior Animator - Encore VFX

    The thing's I'm most impressed about Michael are his multiple talents and his passion for animation. He is a Filmmaker, Animator, Previs Artist, Postvis Artist and a good friend. His passion is contagious. He's always using his talents for something. His Podcasts and ideas are always helpful to the animation industry. His short films are inspiring and wonderfully done. He's a great story teller and I enjoyed hearing all his funny stories during our lunches. Besides being a joy to work with, Michael is a take charge kind of guy who is able to handle any task with speed and accuracy. He's great at solving technical problems and was very helpful to many of us transitioning to working from home. No matter how busy he is, Michael is always willing to help. I highly recommend Michael. He is a true talent and would make a great asset to any studio.

  • Stuart Allan,
    Previs Supervisor at Proof

    "I've worked with Michael on several feature projects, and always find him to be a talented addition to the team. Regardless of the assignment he finds a way to produce good-looking, well-thought-out work. He's an artist to rely on when creative challenges arise and when rock-solid results are needed quickly."

  • Enrique Caballero,
    Character Technical Director for Animal Logic

    "Working with Michael was a total pleasure, he brought a lot of talent and ability to the project and was always smiling and up for a laugh. Because of his work ethic and personality I would gladly work with him again on any project."

  • Kevin Williams,
    Previs Supervisor - Proof

    "Michael has a great eye for animation and camera. He is a team player and a true professional. I have recommended Michael for other jobs, and will definitely work with him again."

Press, Interviews and Presentations