The Person Who Builds the Bridge
about martin pelham
I started on Corpse Bride at Warner Bros. in 2003. I was one of the first hires on the production and the last person to leave — closing the doors once everything had been handed to the archives.
Twenty years later I have worked on 21 productions, helped build the infrastructure behind six consecutive Oscar-nominated films, won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and three Emmy Awards. The through-line across every production is the same: finding the common language between the people who make extraordinary things and the people who need to sell them.
I am now based in the UK and available for senior marketing and operations leadership in entertainment, media, and creative organisations.
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Best Animated Feature
Missing Link, 2020
GOLDEN GLOBE
1
Golden Globe
Best Animated Feature
1
BAFTA
Best Animated Feature
3
EMMYS
Baobab Studios
6
Oscar-Nominated
Productions
40+
Total Award Wins
Across Career
Two Decades.
One Through-Line.
CAREER
2003
Warner Bros.
2009
LAIKA
Coraline
Led the Media Services team. Built the studio's initial production, colour, and animation pipelines. Delivered final feature to Technicolor for colour grading.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards · Multiple Wins/Nominations
BAFTA Nominated
2012
LAIKA
ParaNorman
Continued Media Services oversight. Stand-in Post Production Supervisor. Integrated ShotGrid across departments. Adopted and developed in close partnership with Dragon Stop Motion — now the global industry standard.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards · Multiple Wins/Nominations
BAFTA Nominated
2014
LAIKA
The Boxtrolls
Expanded Media Services into content for movie partnerships and field promotions. Delivered updated budgets and strategic planning. Maintained full feature film delivery and post services.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards · Multiple Wins/Nominations
Corpse Bride
One of the first hires on production. Led IT, colour pipeline design, and delivery infrastructure. Partnered with Warner Bros. Marketing and Publicity. Last person to close the production — handled full handover to WB archives.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
BAFTA Nominated
Venice Film Festival Selection
Saturn Award · Best Animated Film
The work has always sat at the intersection of making and selling — building the infrastructure that lets extraordinary creative work reach the audiences it deserves. From pioneering the world's first digital stop-motion pipeline at Warner Bros. to building LAIKA's social community from zero to 152,968 members, every role has been about the same fundamental challenge: bridging the gap between two worlds that do not naturally speak the same language.
2016
LAIKA
2019
LAIKA
2020-21
Baobab Studios
Kubo and the Two Strings
Launched consumer products and social media initiatives. Oversaw hiring for new divisions. Delivered final feature to Technicolor. Full EPK, Style Guide, and international distributor content.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
Oscar Nominated · Best VFX
BAFTA Win
Annie Awards · Multiple Wins/Nominations
Missing Link
Focused on department and cross-department efficiencies across the established Media Services team. Expanded support and delivery of content to all international distributors via appointed sales agent.
Oscar Nominated · Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards · Multiple Wins/Nominations
Golden Globe Win • Best Animated Feature
Baba Yaga & Namoo
Post production, marketing campaigns, and full awards season execution. Produced the Art of Namoo book. Worked with HBOmax and Baobab Studios on streaming delivery. Built Emmy and Annie campaigns using the Building Block framework developed at LAIKA.
Oscar Shortlisted
Annie Award Win · Best Special Production
3 EMMY Wins
Venice VR Selection
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
"Mr. Pelham is recognised as being amongst the very finest in the industry."
"Ms. Hayns and Mr. Pelham's successful working relationship yields efficient and prodigious results that are qualitatively superb. Their teamwork will greatly assist Laika in meeting our rigorous production schedule and commitments."
US Department of Homeland Security · O-2 Visa Petition · Filed 2006
Petitioner: LAIKA Inc. · Beneficiary: Martin Simon Pelham
Filed by LAIKA Inc. in support of Martin's work on Coraline — at a moment when the digital infrastructure for stop-motion feature filmmaking was being built for the first time, and almost nobody in the world had the experience to do it.
Mary Sandell
Producer, LAIKA Inc. · linkedin.com/in/mesandell/
Professional Introduction ·
LinkedIn
Introduction of Martin to a senior industry contact
"Martin's expertise goes far beyond analytics. He is a seasoned marketing executive who has built strong, independent teams and understands the nuances and challenges of the corporate world."
Film Marketing Executive
linkedin.com/in/mark-shapiro-717362181
Mark Shapiro