Steph Swope

Steph Swope boasts a remarkable 25-year career in the independent film industry, earning recognition as an award-winning producer of animated series and feature films. Steph’s no-bullshit authenticity and a supernatural analytical ability has laid the foundation for Minnow Mountain’s success.

Minnow Mountain LLC is an animation studio specializing in performance capture rotoscope character animation. Founded in 2012 by industry veterans Craig Staggs and Steph Swope, we are located in Austin, Texas.

With a strong focus on delivering exceptional animation services, we offer a range of creative solutions for television and film producers that includes development and production of feature films, series, shorts, music videos, and project pitches. As Emmy-winning animators Minnow Mountain is proud to attract partnerships with the most prestigious producers in the adult animation industry.

We’ve produced a feature film for PBS, a feature film for Netflix, and made two seasons of television for Amazon Prime. We make short form animation like the opening sequence for Critical Role, or the Black Angels music video Empires Falling. We also produce the online course How To Rotoscope with Craig Staggs.

In 2024 we are expanding the company in two exciting ways: Developing Minnow Mountain original films (to be written and directed by studio co-founder Craig Staggs) and offering 2D cartoon style character animation production services.

Some of our notable co-productions include the critically acclaimed Tower for PBS, the groundbreaking series Undone for Amazon Prime, and the visually stunning Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood for Netflix. And we were proud to contribute to 2023’s underground hit Quantum Cowboys.