Taylor-made for Shortlives

Richard Taylor’s animated children’s programme Jane and the Dragon now airs in the US every Sunday afternoon on NBC. Jane and the Dragon is created from drawings so detailed they required even more than the 48,000 props Taylor used to create the special effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He says his own children are his most exacting critics. “Children are a critically discerning audience. There’s no grey area at all. They either like it or they don’t. Also, there’s an incredible need for extreme care to be taken around the moral compass that you build into your show if it’s for children.” Taylor is the creator and head of Oscar Award-winning prop and special effect company, Weta Workshop.