A flock of sheep take it upon themselves to solve the mystery of the murder of their shepherd Director Kyle Balda’s comedic whodunnit, The Sheep Detectives.

Balda’s film tells the story of a hermitical 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 realize at once that it was a murder and his smartest sheep Lily and the rest of the flock attempt to guide a bumbling policeman into solving the crime. With a long list of possible suspects, it’s no easy walk in the meadow.

On May 16, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Balda discussed the making of The Sheep Detectives during a Q&A moderated by Director Jonathan Goldstein (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves).

During the conversation, Balda spoke about making the transition from directing animation films to live action.

“It was mainly knowing what I didn’t know. Animation is like being a studio musician where you’re recording an album. You can go back and tweak things and you’re not working in a linear fashion. Live action is like you prepare and prepare and then you go do that tour. You’re up on stage and it’s all happening and it’s really exciting but things can go wrong, and it could rain on the concert. That doesn’t happen in the studio. So, I just approached it like it was an animation film. I got 10 storyboard artists who all came from animation and boarded the entire film — even the scenes that didn't have visual effects in it — made an animatic and edited it all together. About two weeks before the shoot we at Pinewood we watched the animatic of the movie with the crew and they were just kind of like, ‘This is new,’ but it really helped me just feel prepared. Then when things happened like the actor wants to do it a different way, it was at least like a foundation where the pivot could happen without me panicking.”

Balda’s other directorial credits include the animated features Minions, Despicable Me 3 and Minions: The Rise of Gru. The Sheep Detectives is Balda’s first live-action feature and he became a DGA member in 2024.