Professor Paul Wells is Director of Animation in The Animation Academy. He has published widely in the field including Understanding Animation (Routledge 1998), Animation and America (Rutgers University Press, 2002) and Animation : Genre and Authorship (Wallflower Press, 2002). He has also made a Channel Four documentary called Cartoons Kick Ass and three BBC programmes on British Animation, as well as an educational video on Special Effects for the British Film Institute. Further, he has curated a touring exhibition on Animation, which first appeared at the Children’s Cultural Centre in Dublin, and has selected programmes of animated films for various Festivals across the world.

Paul is also a writer, broadcaster and theatre director. He has published on the horror film, British cinema, popular music, comedy, and performance; made numerous radio and television programmes including the Sony Award winning six part radio history of the horror genre, Spinechillers, and the Open University set-text, Britannia – The Film; and written for soap opera, television comedy shows, and theatre, including his own adaptations of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Damon Runyan’s On Broadway stories.

Professor Wells research interests remain in animation, comedy and broadcasting, and he welcomes researchers and collaborators in these fields.