The Sheep Detectives with Kyle Balda and Jonathan Goldstein (Ep. 614)

The Sheep Detectives with Kyle Balda and Jonathan Goldstein (Ep. 614)

From The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast by Directors Guild of America

June 1, 2026 · 26 min · Season 1 · Episode 614

About this episode

Director Kyle Balda discusses his film The Sheep Detectives and his transition from animation to live-action directing.

Director Kyle Balda discuss his new film, The Sheep Detectives, with fellow Director Jonathan Goldstein in a Q&A at the DGA theater in Los Angeles. In the conversation, he discusses making the jump from animation directing to live-action directing for the first time, carefully balancing the tone with humor while handling themes of grief, and studying the movement of real sheep to recreate body language that could be used in the visual effects. The film tells the story of a shepherd named George, whose only friends are the sheep to which each night he reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending that they can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep suspect murder, and attempt to guide a bumbling policeman into solving the crime. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/events/2026/july2026/sheepdetectives_qna_0526

People in this episode

Guests: Kyle Balda, Jonathan Goldstein

Topics covered

  • animation directing
  • live-action directing
  • humor and grief
  • visual effects
  • murder mystery
  • sheep

Keywords

  • Kyle Balda
  • Jonathan Goldstein
  • The Sheep Detectives
  • animation
  • live-action
  • visual effects
  • murder mystery
  • sheep

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Sheep Detectives

Places: Los Angeles

More episodes of The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast podcast page.