Hot Stuff is a 1971 animated short directed and animated by Zlatko Grgic and written by Don Arioli. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada for the Dominion Fire Commission, a department of Public Works Canada, the nine minute short on fire safety offers a humorous look at the origins, benefits and dangers of fire.[1] The film garnered seven international awards, including Best Educational Film Award at the World Festival of Animated Films in Croatia and a Canadian Film Award for Arioli for best non-feature screenplay.[2][3]
Grgic was recruited by for the NFB by producers Robert Verrall and Wolf Koenig after they saw his film Scabies. Much of Hot Stuff's humour had been initially improvised: Gerald Budner, who was himself an animator, ad-libbed voices for two of the characters, a snake and a cat. Arioli had been annoyed with Budner’s banter, but Koenig insisted on retaining these asides. Grgic was also given freedom to improvise by the producers.[4]