‘Risks do pay off’: Desbarats couple wins Emmy for visual effects

Trevor and Morgan Hunter are still pinching themselves after they received one of television’s highest honours this past weekend.

The Desbarats couple and long-time animators were stunned when they learned their effects team at Sinking Ship Entertainment, a Toronto-based production company, won an Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects for Jane – an Apple TV+ kids show.

A 2003 graduate of St. Mary's College in Sault Ste. Marie, Morgan has long envisioned being recognized for her work on the big stage.

“When I was in high school making a demo reel to try and get into colleges, I did a story board and imagined accepting an award,” she said. “I even had it drawn of me in a sparkling dress getting the award. My family watched the Emmys and Oscars all the time growing up.”

“The Emmys were way out of our thoughts,” her husband added. “It was pretty surreal.”

Trevor is the company’s animation director and has overseen a team of 36 animators – including his wife – who have been involved in making Jane come to life.

Inspired by the work of Dr. Jane Goodall, the show follows a young girl named Jane who goes on imaginary adventures to help save animals. Conscious of the environment, Jane and her best friend Greybeard the chimpanzee find ways to help a variety of endangered species.

“It’s nice to work on a TV show that inspires and promotes positivity in the world,” Morgan said. “It really opens your eyes to the environment. We actually had to really study the animals and do our research before we even touched the animation.”

Trevor and Morgan first met in 2004 when they enrolled in the Animation program at Algonquin College in Ottawa.

Since then, they’ve travelled all over the continent and have worked on a plethora of shows and movies for a number of different companies.

Whether they were living in Vancouver, Halifax, New York, or California, the Hunters told SooToday they always found a way to keep busy while building off the skills they attained from a previous project.

“We’ve lived in a lot of places; you have to take risks sometimes if you want it to pay off,” Trevor said.

Some of their most notable projects includes animation work in movies like Ted, Twilight, PAW Patrol: The Movie, The Smurfs, My Little Pony: The Movie, and Spies in Disguise.

But their work on Jane marks the first time either of the Desbarats residents have been recognized with this kind of honour, which was announced this past weekend during the 2nd annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Sinking Ship Entertainment producer and partner Matt Bishop even gave Trevor a shoutout during the team’s acceptance speech.

“We had a really good team that got together at the right time,” Trevor said. “It was honestly just a really good team effort. We worked hard, but we also really enjoyed it.”

Since the pandemic, the couple has managed to work for Sinking Ship Entertainment remotely by settling down with their two kids, Genesis and Logan, 30 minutes east of the Sault.

“I missed the trees and water,” she said. “We were very fortunate that we had some good come out of the pandemic.”

While they’ve worked and lived separately at varying points during their 20-year careers, the Hunters are rarely apart from one another now as they share an office space in the basement of their home.

“We live together and work together in our house – and we’re both still alive, so that’s good,” he laughed.

“We always want each other to do the best we can possibly do,” she added.

While they wait approximately three months for their Emmy awards to be shipped to them, the Hunters are hoping their story can remind the younger generation to never be afraid of pursuing their dreams.

“If it’s something you know you want to do, you have to try,” he said. “Chances are you’ll fail, and it might go bad for a while, but you just have to keep going. Eventually, with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, it’ll fall into place.”

“If you care about it and work hard enough, good things will happen,” she added. “Take risks – because sometimes, they do pay off.”