“This is Halloween!”: Celebrating 30 Years of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

“Everybody scream” for 30 years of the Pumpkin King! Join us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) with a panel of experts, including director Henry Selick, assistant production coordinator Kat Alioshin, and animator Anthony Scott—moderated by set and model builder Todd Lookinland.

Tickets for “This is Halloween!”: Celebrating 30 Years of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas are available as follows:

• Walt's Circle Donors: Purchase tickets online beginning Tuesday, October 3 at noon PST by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• Supporter, Founding, and Friend-level members: Purchase tickets online beginning Wednesday, October 4 at noon PST by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• All member levels: Purchase tickets online beginning Thursday, October 5 at noon PST via the Member Portal.
• Public (non-members): Purchase tickets online beginning Friday, October 6 at noon PST.

Henry Selick, a grizzled veteran of the animation wars, likes to make films for “brave children of all ages.” After attending CalArts many years ago, he started working at Disney along with friends Brad Bird, Joe Ranft, and soon, Tim Burton. Later, Selick moved to San Francisco to specialize in stop-motion on commercials, station IDs for MTV, and finally a series pilot Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions. The same day he learned the series was a go, Burton’s close associate and sculptor, Rick Heinrichs, showed up with a different proposal: How would Selick like to direct Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas as a stop-motion feature for Disney? So long, Slow Bob…

Selick, along with line producer Kathleen Gavin and production manager Phil Lofaro, put together a studio in San Francisco, pulling in all the brilliant animators, puppet makers, set builders, and artists he had been working with, plus many other talented artists. The whole team proceeded to put everything they could into making the very best Nightmare Before Christmas.

Selick went on to direct Disney's James and the Giant Peach, with Burton producing again; then the extremely weird live-action/animation mix Monkeybone. Eventually, he found his way back as the screenwriter, director, and co-producer of the hit stop-motion feature Coraline, winning a BAFTA award and nominated for an OSCAR® while scaring a whole generation of brave children. Selick’s most recent feature, Wendell & Wild was released on Netflix last Halloween, winning many awards and nominations.

Looking back these thirty years since Nightmare’s release, Selick and the whole crew would agree that—fueled by Tim Burton's brilliant story and designs plus Danny Elfman’s songs — they never worked harder or with more joy to make something really great.  

Kat Alioshin (née Miller) was born in San Diego in 1964 to Mary Kaye Miller and Douglas B. Miller as their seventh child. She attended Stella Maris Academy, La Jolla High, University of San Diego, and then University of California, San Diego. While still attending college she worked on Break of Dawn in 1987 as a prop assistant. She continued her film career by moving to Hollywood and paid her dues on Murder in Law (1989) and Street Asylum (1990). She moved to the Bay Area in 1989 and continued working on live-action feature films such as Pacific Heights (1990) and Dying Young (1991). Alioshin worked on many television commercials and music videos with MC Hammer, Bobby McFerrin, and Chris Isaak. 

Alioshin met Spike and Mike in San Diego in 1985 and joined their publicity and ticket sales team. She has remained close to Spike and made a documentary released in 2020 about Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation called Animation Outlaws, which was featured at Annecy Festival in 2020 and won Best Documentary at San Diego Comic Con 2022. 

Alioshin has made a career out of working in stop-motion feature animation since 1991 starting with Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), then serving as Assistant Director on the Disney-produced James and the Giant Peach (1996) with Henry Selick. Every subsequent year, she has worked on animated features such as Monkeybone (2001), Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005), Coraline (2009) and The Inventor (2023). She also spent two years on the incomplete Selick film called CinderBiter. She moved to England for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and then France in 2021 to work with Jim Capobianco on The Inventor. 

In addition to stop-motion feature film work, Alioshin has managed and scheduled television shows and videos such as ABC’s Bump in the Night (1994), Nickelodeon’s Kablam! (1996), Primus’ Devil Went Down to Georgia, and a short film called Mermaids on Mars (2015). Her commercial work includes Best Buy, Reebok, and Cheetos. 

In 2020, Alioshin and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas colleague Todd Lookinland started a podcast called We Know Jack Show, sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the classic film. She is currently working on obtaining funding for a short documentary to be called Building America about a female iron worker who worked on the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Todd Lookinland spent many years in the film business building sets, miniature sets, and models for movies such as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), the Disney-produced James and the Giant Peach (1996), Men in Black (1997), The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003), and Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) and Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). After the Star Wars films, Lookinland retired from building sets and models, and now builds houses in and around Marin County, California. Most notably, Lookinland is the co-host of the beloved podcast We Know Jack Show which chronicles behind-the-scenes stories from the making of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Anthony Scott has specialized in stop-motion animation for more than 35 years. Originally from Flint, Michigan, he began animating at age 11 working with cutouts, clay, and his Star Wars toys. Inspired by the films of Ray Harryhausen, the original King Kong (1933), and the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, he continued experimenting with different forms of animation, live-action, and SFX makeup, but found himself always returning to stop-motion. His big break into animation took place after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area when he was hired as an animator on The New Adventures of Gumby in 1987.  

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) was his first feature film. Since then, he has worked on other stop-motion classics such as the Disney-produced James and the Giant Peach (1996), Tim Burton‘s Corpse Bride (2005), and Coraline (2009). Additionally, he created the website Stopmotionanimation.com, a place for animators to share information and post their work. He recently completed work as a Lead Animator on Henry Selick’s new film Wendell & Wild (2022) and the Academy Award®-winning film Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022), both for Netflix Animation. He is currently an Animator on Brim Broome Boulevard at Portland’s House Special.