Alien Xmas (TV-Y)

Pre-production started in April of 2019 and shooting commence in June. Shooting would continue until the Christmas break of 2019 with post-production occurring in the first half of 2020 and final delivery in August. Charles says that the production is an example of how difficult a process stop motion animation is. "Everything is built from scratch and animated at one frame at a time."

At the height of production, the Chiodo brothers would have 104 people working at one time. By the time they were finishing production and post, they had employed almost 300 people. Artists and craftspeople, sculptors, set builders and painters, puppet builders and wardrobe fabricators; even in normal times it would be hard to assemble a team of such size. Stephen said, "We're experiencing a renaissance in stop motion right now." At the same time the Chiodos were making Alien Xmas, they say LAIKA (Missing Link) was making something, Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas) was making something, and Guillermo del Toro was doing something! When asked why this was so, Edward answers that digital effects permeate our entertainment and that, because of this saturation, "I think there's a burn-out on CG to some degree." Edward says because of this renaissance, "there were more people trained and more opportunities for people to learn the craft of stop motion." He specifically credits the stop motion course the brothers did with SWSCA as having trained people. "The talent pool is larger than ever before." Stephen worried there would be a dwindling number of stop motion animators as the brothers got older, but he says there is, "A new crop of animators that are extraordinary." He was, "Overwhelmed with the performances they were able to provide." Stephen feels that viewers are attracted to stop motion animation because of the physicality and textures of inanimate objects coming to life and emoting. "It's literally magic."

Originally began life as a feature film pitch, complete with artwork, storyline, and maquettes. While a lot of people liked the story, the film could not find funding. Stephen Chiodo remembers that they had all of these assets, designs and artwork, "So let's turn it into a book."

Charles Chiodo has always been the primary visual artist of the three brothers and had illustrated the original Alien Xmas book. But for the design process of the Netflix production of Alien Xmas, the Chiodos would put together a team of very creative people for the huge undertaking. Charles says he was blown away by the work he was seeing coming from the most talented young people in the industry. Instead of micromanaging, Charles took a step back and let the artists be artists. "I'm looking at this stuff and saying, well, I have nothing to worry about here." Chiodo laughs and says that working with the team of creative people, " was a pleasure."

The aliens are called "Klepts" which is derived from the word 'kleptomania' an irresistible urge to steal.