The studio teams with the Kevin Love Fund on the film, now part of a new ‘The Hero Within’ mental health-focused school lesson plan; produced within SPA and SPI’s LENS leadership and training program for underrepresented groups, the short follows Miles Morales as he struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, student, and superhero.
Is that our Spidey sense tingling? Sony Pictures Animation has just released The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, a new animated short set in the beloved Spider-Verse.
In the genre-bending thriller, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil.
“Miles represents so many of us doing the best we can in our day-to-day lives,” said Jarelle Dampier, director of The Spider Within. “We don’t often realize all that we’ve been through until our own body forces us to become aware of its experience. My intention is that ‘The Spider Within’ can motivate deeper conversations amongst friends & family about their own mental health journeys — and I hope it feels like a love letter to those who adore Miles Morales.”
The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, which debuted at Annecy in 2023, was developed and produced in the inaugural year of Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Leading and Empowering New Storytellers (LENS) program, a 9-month leadership training program that provides candidates from underrepresented groups with an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience in animation. The final deliverable of the program is an all-original short film, set in the existing world of a feature produced by SPA and SPI.
The film was produced in collaboration with the Kevin Love Fund, and will now be part of that program's new ‘The Hero Within’ mental health-focused school lesson plan.
The LENS program is backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s global, multi-pronged racial equity and inclusion strategy, Sony Pictures Action. The program’s goal is to provide creatives who have traditionally lacked access to leadership roles with a first-hand opportunity to deepen their understanding of every element of the animated filmmaking process including production design, animation, visual effects, lighting, sound, and various post-production processes. Through the program, participants strengthen their ability to effectively articulate their film’s creative vision and collaborate across a variety of disciplines.
The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story is written by Khaila Amazan and produced by LENS program creators Michelle Raimo-Kouyate and David Schulenburg. Rounding out the LENS team are Clara Chan, who served as VFX supervisor, and Joe Darko who served as animation supervisor.
Source: Sony Pictures Animation
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