Artist:
Raùl Garcia.This is a monthly posting
of excerpts from The Peg-Board, the newsletter of the Motion Picture
Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local
839 IATSE.
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This issue of The Peg-Board is also available online in Adobe Acrobat format, as published in print. Click the icon at left for the Acrobat file. |
The tri-annual IATSE convention, the gathering of delegates from the United States and Canada (which included a sizable delegation of 839 members) assembled in Toronto, Canada, the third week of July. In five days of work, the delegates amended the I.A. constitution, voted on a wide variety of resolutions, and elected new officers of the IATSE.
By almost all accounts, this 63rd I.A. convention was the smoothest in modern history. Not only was a great deal of constructive work accomplished, but all current officers (IATSE President Tom Short, the incumbent Vice-Presidents and other officers) were returned to office without opposition.
As for issues that will affect you in the coming three years, the major one was that the convention voted to increase the I.A. head tax by three dollars, beginning in 1999. This will enable our International to expand its organizing efforts, and to reorganize the International into departments.
artist: Tom Sito
The
constant question"What's the bleeping union done for me?"
This is a question I've encountered more than once in the last nine years. Over that time, the query has been phrased in different and more elegant ways, but it always comes down to the same thing: What's the point of the union? Why should I care? Why should any of us bother?" Some specifics:
REASON #1 -- BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR POCKETBOOK. When I first became business representative, I had to pick up on a negotiation started by my predecessor. It was relatively minor. I just had to go to Disney's and finish negotiating new wage rates for digital ink-and-paint employees. Some rates were easily agreed on, but Disney wanted a super-low rate on a new classification, and I balked. The Disney negotiator banged his fist on the table and told me I was pig-headed and wrong. I felt bad, but I took a deep breath and held my ground. After a couple more weeks of huffing and puffing, we compromised, bumping the rates up and extra three or bucks an hour.
Not a BIG victory. But because the union was around, there are people working today in Disney's, DreamWorks and Warners' digital ink and paint departments who are making an extra hundred dollars a week.
REASON #2 -- BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR POCKETBOOK AND HEALTH AND PENSION BENEFITS. A couple of negotiations ago, Warners wasn't going to retroactively pay for a negotiated wage increase. They said the bleeping union was the reason negotiations had gotten held up, and they weren't going to budge an inch. It was a matter of principle.
The union held out for a better deal. The Warners employees, negotiating their contract, held firm. A week later, Warners agreed to the retro pay, and signed a regular contract with all the regular fringe benefits.
REASON #3 -- WE HELP NON-UNION WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRY. A year ago, the union got calls from unhappy artists working at a computer game company that was giving them the shaft and paying pennies on the dollar to buy out their personal service contracts. We didn't officially represent these artists, but we agreed to help with legal advice.
And the dozen employees who called us took the advice and got the company to double and triple their buy-out offers. ("Gee," one of the artists told us. "I went back and told them 'no,' and they upped their two thousand dollar offer to eight thousand, just like that.") Seven years back we financed lawsuits for non-union employees at Klasky-Csupo, getting four of them twenty-five thousand dollars for unpaid overtime. We didn't then and don't now have a contract with Klasky-Csupo.
REASON #4 -- WE WORK TO ADD NEW BENEFITS. Artists talked to the union leadership for years about getting a 401(k) Plan going. Management told us repeatedly "no way", it couldn't be done. Yet in 1995 a 401(k) plan was achieved by President Tom Sito circulating petitions at Disney and the union leveraging other studios to join.
Having said that, let me also state that the union does not right every wrong, even though it would like to. For instance, it can't make a nasty supervisor be UNnasty. If Lead key Oswald Overbearing is obnoxious and rude, he will probably go right on being obnoxious and rude, despite our best efforts. If you are downsized out of a job, the union can't create a new position out of thin air. Only a company can do that.
Nevertheless, Local 839 tries to do everything it can to help and support our members, to tilt the playing field more in their direction. At the last General membership meeting, several unhappy individuals voiced gripes. Digital ink and paint technicians were unhappy with the temporary rate we had given a studio in return for jurisdiction over that studios CGI work. We understood their unhappiness, but explained why the lower ink and paint rate had been negotiated. It didn't make them less unhappy, but hopefully they understood. We also agreed to set up a group to try and address some of their issues.
There was also a contingent of overseas artists who voiced objection to being classified as "O-2" immigrants (these are artists and technicians who work in support of "O-1" immigrant leads -- I won't go into the boring details.) The following day, I went to their studio, looked at what they actually did (as opposed to what I thought they did.) Once I took a look at their job duties, I agreed they should be classified as O-1s and not O-2s. The artists said they were satisfied with my decision.
So? What does the bleeping union do for you? Lots of little and not so little things. None of them show up on Michael Eisner's or Bob Daley's radar screens, but they make sizable differences in people's quality of life, even people who work at Nick or Klasky-Csupo (think they'd pay what they pay if we weren't around?)
With your help, we will be around into the next millennium to continue making a difference.
-- Steve Hulett
O,
CanadaLast month M.P.S.C. 839 took the opportunity of the IATSE's triennial convention being held in Toronto to revisit the problem of Canadian non-union studios.
Ten to fifteen years ago commercial animation production in Canada was mostly small peripheral operations compared to Hollywood, New York and the high profile National Film Board of Canada. Today while New York output remains spotty and the Film Board struggles with budget cuts Canadian commercial animation is the healthiest it's been in it's history.
Toronto once meant Nelvana studio alone, now Toronto boasts several high quality houses, ground breaking digital studios and Nelvana now has an exclusive deal to produce sat-morning kidvid for CBS T.V.. In addition, while Disney T.V. lays off here, it has opened two huge facilities in Toronto and Vancouver, Warners and DreamWorks have sent work north with more promised. Sheridan College takes in one hundred students a year and is doubling the size of it's digital lab. The sky's the limit.
Toronto is a beautiful city. Pat and I spent three very happy years there working for Nelvana and made strong friendships. But like the old British TV. show the Prisoner a perfect setting could conceal dark problems underneath. Canadian animation is thriving today not only because of it's high quality and cultural and linguistic ease, Canadian artists are allowing themselves to be used for a fraction of what their Hollywood brethren make. Overtime is mostly unknown, incidents of blacklisting, arbitrary firings and flagrant violations of Canadian labor laws. The only recourse you have if you don't like the way you're treated is to cry in your Moosehead or move south.
Pat and I wandered our old neighborhood and saw many pretty parks and restaurants. We wondered why we didn't hang out at these places when we lived there. Then it dawned on us- we were always working! And even though I was an animator and she was assistant head of the checking department we couldn't afford to go to many places because we were paid so little!
You don't have to take my Yankee Imperialist word for it, just ask any of our expatriate Canadian artists here. Once down here, they've seen the difference and how badly used they were. Every Canadian I've ever asked about whether there should be a union in Canada has answered me with an unhesitating "Yes !"
The IA locals in Canada have tried to organize traditional animation and digital arts in Canada but met with little success so far. There was a cry for help from Nelvana artists in 1993 but the studio intimidated its workers to silence and isolated the malcontents and fired them. In 1994 we traveled to Vancouver to help Local 891 start a fire up there but more employers than employees attended our meeting.
So for this time in Toronto we went for a maximum effort. Complete support from the Canadian film unions, press coverage, Ottawa was kept informed as well.
Beneath their good humor and modesty Canadians are a proud people. They wouldn't let us Yankees tell them what to do in 1776 or 1812 and wouldn't likely do so now. So in the spring we got the Executive Board of the IATSE to approve the creation of an independent animation local- the Canadian Animation and Digital Arts Guild local 841 Toronto.
This would be their organization, not a grafted offshoot of L.A.
The Guild's logo was designed and approved by Canadian artists. We brought several top Canadian animators from L.A. to help preach the Gospel to their friends. Canadian artists started burning up the e-mails discussing the issues. Animator John Williamson walked into Disney Toronto proudly wearing his M.P.S.C. shirt.
On July 18th we had a meeting at Sheridan College attended by 50 students and some professionals. On Monday night the 20th we had a second meeting a brew pub on Queen Street attended by more than 200 ! All the studios were heavily represented. Attendance was light on the C.G. front however because of SIGGRAPH.
It was a wild night. The pub's pool room turned into a hot steamy battleground as a four hour debate raged. Some tempers flared but all were attentive and asked good questions and stayed for almost the whole time.
A number of supervisors were there to intimidate by their presence as well as try and control the debate. It's the same type of artist as our well paid Simpsons directors down here- the "'I've-got-mine-screw-the-rest-of-you" school of worker solidarity.
Most of the questions were about worst case scenarios. What if they send all the work away? If we strike will L.A. sympathy strike with us ? It's like they wanted us to figure out every possible problem for them before they would even consider it. If the large studios could get the same quality from the 16 dollar a week crews overseas your work would already be gone. As for the disaster scenarios I can no more predetermine the outcome of these issues than I can assure you that Spielberg and Katzenberg will never have a fight, Pat Buchanan never become president or an asteroid will never hit Spadina Ave.
Teddy Roosevelt once said: " The only man who never makes mistakes is the one who never does anything at all."
The studios are telling their people that this effort was just Hollywood artists trying to drive up prices so they can keep their work down there. I answer that with the words of Canadian Labor Congress activist Jean Claude Perot: "I don't mind competing with another country's work force as long as I know they have the right to unionize, to form their own organizations, not an exploited work force."
For the employees who protested they were making a good salary now and had no problems, all I can answer is that if that is so then why were you there? Why did two hundred people debate four hours in an un-airconditioned pool room if everything is so wonderful?
For the employers who read this, it is sound business sense to encourage these Canadian locals. It will create an easy atmosphere to shuffle artists around between projects the way they now move from L.A. to Paris to Orlando. During that debate, a Canadian supervisor lamented to one of our people that he wished he could encourage some of the fine Canadian talent who migrated south to return to improve the quality of projects up there. Our person told him forming a union would create those conditions where people would consider returning.
It wasn't all decided that night. These things take time. Local 843 wasn't born the night I talked to the crew in an Orlando pizza parlor. It took a few more months, but it did happen.
The bad studios probably figure that because we went home that it's all over.
What's different with this organizing effort is that this will not end. Brian Lawlor's going to bring more Canadian artists from Orlando and Local 16's promised to send Canadian artists from the Bay area to show this effort is not just a Hollywood ploy. I invite all Canadian artists going home for vacation to contact us if you'd like to volunteer or give a talk.
We're close to getting the required number of pledges to form the local. Then their business agent will begin negotiating with the studios to form a basic contract. It's actually easier to do it in Canada than in the U.S.. They don't have the Taft-Hartley Act so students can join without having a union job first.
I want to thank all the animators who attended that night and invite them to continue our dialogue. Also a big Thank You and Merci for all the Canadian union men and women who took time out of their busy schedules to be in the hot seat with us. Especially CLC representative Gus Bottas and Scott Dobbie and Bruce Sinski, union member animators who flew out from Calgary just for out debates, then flew back that night. Big thanks to Bruce Buckley, Duncan Marjoribanks, Robert Weaver, Kyle Jefferson and Dave Brewster who took the time to take a stand for the Motherland.
The call for dignity, for collective action by Canadian animation artists, techs and digerati will no longer be denied. The animation communities of Hollywood, Orlando, Paris and Alberta now call upon their Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver cousins to rise up and take their places next to us. It will not be easy, it will take guts, but the view from the mountaintop is beautiful.
Robert Kennedy said: "That which is given or granted can be taken away, that which is begged for can be refused; But that what is earned is kept, that what is self made is inalienable, that what you do for yourselves and your children can never be taken away.."
-- Tom Sito
In Toronto last month, the unions representing animation and C.G.I. artists held their first-ever I.A. Convention caucus. Delegates from MPSC Local 839 Hollywood, MPSC 843 Orlando, Local 891 Vancouver, Local 212 Calgary, Local 16 San Francisco and the Canadian Labor Congress delegates met to discuss issues like Canadian organizing and ease of transfer between our local. A group strategy is emerging with the goal that a relocation from one city to another won't mean a loss of union benefits.
Why is it management feels it necessary to mistreat its employees? In my case, a production manager was curt and rude. Why? I went to the Production Manager to find out. His reply was astonishing.
"Because you're union."
How does being in the union justify rude behavior? The PM explained: "I'm lucky to have this job. For that, I'm willing to work until midnight to get the job done..."
The PM was upset that 1) I had negotiated a reasonable salary and that 2) I could go home after working eight hours.
On our production, upper management gave us a very tight budget. They "couldn't afford" to pay us overtime because of the restrictive budget.
I explained to the PM that the best working relationship is teamwork between management and employee, working together to meet the common goal of producing the best cartoon we could. (I said that) I work best when I'm friends with the boss, not an enemy.
"So as a friend," The PM said, "you shouldn't mind working extra time (without being paid overtime)."
There's something wrong with this picture, don't you think?
-- Sincerely, A union professional
...One of my pet peeves involves possessive pronouns. Some number of year ago, I chided a fellow worker for using "it's" for "its" in a letter. She vociferously defended her choice by claiming that the apostrophe denotes possession. I then realized that I might be battling a general deterioration of our use of the English language. Perhaps we could look forward to your's" "our's," "her's," and his's." Since then, I have become aware of uses of "it's" dating back to comic strips of the early thirties.
On page one of the July Peg-Board in the "Mulan" item, "its" is used correctly. In Tom's article on page three, "its" is used both correctly and incorrectly. On page five, in the "new quarters" item, "its" is again misused. And in Tom's article, "let's" is used as meaning "allow," rather than an abbreviation of "let us." (Also, Roger Rabbit is spelled a bit too generously.) And on page four, under "Are you now..." "who's" gets used for "whose." We are on our way...
-- Pointlessly, John Sparey
Dear John:
Would you like to apply for the job of Peg-Board proofreader? (Talk about a dead-end job ...)
As each informative, feature-packed Peg-Board wends its way past the tired eyes of the office staff, inevitably a few dumb typos pop up. While we're struggling to get Jirì Trnka's name right, the itses and it'ses slip by.
Give us a break, already -- we're trade unionists, not The New Yorker ...
-- The Editors
The following constitutes notice of nomination as required by Article Six, Section Two of the Local 839 IATSE Constitution. The nomination of candidates will take place on September 29, 1998, at 4729 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, California. Further notice will also be given.
From the Local 839 IATSE Constitution
ARTICLE
SIX
Nomination and Election of Officers
Section 1. ELECTED OFFICERS AND ELIGIBILITY
There shall be elected to office the following officers:
(a) President
(b) Vice-President
(c) Business Representative
(d) Recording Secretary
(e) Sergeant-At-Arms
(f) Executive Board--to consist of the President, Vice-President, Business Representative, Recording Secretary, Sergeant-At-Arms, and eleven (11) others, making a total of sixteen (16) members. The names of the untitled Executive Board candidates shall appear on the ballot with the voter instructed to vote for no more than eleven (11) candidates.
(g) Board of Trustees--consisting of the three (3) Executive Board members receiving the highest vote count in the most recent election.
(i) Eligibility. To be eligible for office, a member must have been active and in good standing in this Local for a period of two years previous to the date of nomination, and must not be disqualified from holding union office under any applicable Government law.
No person may be a candidate for or hold more than one office, except that any officer may be a Delegate to any labor council or convention at which this Local has the right of representation, and may also serve on committees.
Section 2. NOMINATIONS.
All nominations must be made at the regularly scheduled meeting in the month of September, in those years when an election is scheduled.
Members shall be notified by mail of the date, time and place of the meeting at which nominations are to be taken at least fifteen (15) days in advance of such meeting. Such notice shall also state the offices to be filled by election and the manner in which nominations shall proceed.
Nominations shall be taken for offices in the order given in Section One above. All nominees must be present to accept nomination, or else may signify in writing, addressed to the Recording Secretary, their willingness to accept nomination. Nominators and seconds shall be active members in good standing, but nominations need not be seconded. A quorum at the nomination meeting is not required to proceed with nominations.
The Galaxa Studio Theater in Silverlake is running a new two character play called "WALT & ROY," about Walt and Roy Disney and their relationship two nights before the financing deal comes through for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."
It runs every Thurs, Fri. and Sat at 8:00 pm through Sept. 12th. The Galaxa Studio Theater is located at 3707 Sunset Blvd. in Silverlake Tickets are $12.00 each. For more info call Cathy Carlton at 213-694-0519 , or email waltandroy@aol.com. Maybe next season we'll see Bill & Joe, or Ruby and Spears, the story of the epic struggle to get funding for Fangface, Mightyman and Yukk the dog.
Why the long wait for health benefits?
The Motion Picture Health Plan is jointly run by over twenty unions and most of the major motion picture companies. Each group has an equal number of plan trustees who set up rules that govern the plan. In a nutshell: the labor unions want health benefits to start as soon as possible to benefit members; the companies want benefits to be delayed to save money.
The compromise that was hammered out several decades ago: Coverage starts for a new participant when 600 hours have been worked. This can mean a six to twelve month delay in health coverage. But once you start to receive health coverage, you'll usually continue to receive it for 6 to 12 months after you leave your union job. In other words: it takes months to get health coverage, but you continue to HAVE health coverage for months after you've left your union employer.
Why doesn't the 401(k) Plan have an employer match?
There is no match because employers in the plan have said they will refuse to participate in the Screen Cartoonists 401(k) Plan if they're required to match employee contributions with employer contributions.
While it's true that most 401(k) plans in the U.S. have employer matches, the average match nationwide is $900 per year -- not that much, when you think about it. We believe that the three different pension plans offered to Screen Cartoonists employees (the 401(k), the Defined Benefit Plan, and the Individual Account Plan) makes the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Pension Package among the best in the movie industry.
Do non-union studios have to pay overtime?
According to Federal labor law and California regulations MOST animation employees (union or non-union) must be paid overtime for any work that goes past forty hours in a week. California Regs say this includes assistants and animators. If ANY of these types of employees are required to work beyond the magic forty, they are supposed to receive time and a half of their actual rate of pay, and double time on the seventh work day. If you have any questions about the above, call the union office at (818) 766-7151.
On August 5, the Los Angeles City Council voted to repeal the year-old Home Occupation Permit and related fees. The law, had it been allowed to stand, would have required animation artists and writers working at home inside Los Angeles city limits to pay Los Angeles money for the privilege. The fee permit was pegged at $25. Theoretically, the city could have entered an artist's or writer's home to make sure the permit fee had been paid, and also make sure Los Angeles's business tax was being forked over by these "home businesses."
The threat of taxes on writers and artists, however, has not been lifted. There is still the potential threat of business taxes being levied on these "home businesses." To that end, the Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 has joined with the National Cartoonists Society, the WGAw and other guilds to push for passage of Assembly Bill 2065. The bill would prohibit any California city from requiring, writers, artists, musicians and other to register for home occupation or work permits, business licenses, or pay business taxes. Business Representative Steve Hulett has written over twenty letters to various California Assembly representatives.
We urge you to tear or cut out the letter below and send it to Senator Dede Albert, the Chairperson of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.
Senator Dede Alpert, Chairperson
Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee
Room 3060, State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: AB 2065 (Cardenas)
Dear Senator Alpert:
I am writing to urge you to support AB 2065, authored by Assemblyman Cardenas, relating to city business taxes.
AB 2065 would specifically prohibit local government from levying business license taxes and fees on home-based writers, artists, musicians and other creative artists.
There is a misconception that creative artists are wealthy. The fact is, that many artists who are members of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, the Writers Guild of America and other unions make small amounts of income. Under current law, these individuals are still required to pay local fees and taxes.
AB 2065 is very limited in scope and will protect writers and artists from onerous taxes that many are unable to pay.
I appreciate you consideration and support of this important measure.
Sincerely,
Artist: Tom Sito
The
rumor millSources more informed than we are have told us that (allegedly) the Big Mouse has told its non-union animation company DIC it will have to turn a profit with the animation it produces, so no more deficit financing. Since that edict, Andy Heyward (allegedly) has instructed his minions they'll be producing animated half-hours for 175 grand.
Universal and ILM wants to do a live-action Rocky and Bullwinkle movie. Moose and Squirrel will be CGI characters now. Reportedly, Robert DeNiro wants to play Fearless Leader.
Sources informed us that the Big Mouse has told its non-union animation company DIC it will have to turn a profit with the animation it produces, so no more deficit financing. Since that edict, Andy Heyward (allegedly) has instructed his minions they'll be producing animated half-hours for 175 grand.
Film Roman has now announced its second quarter results and things ain't exactly sunny. Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 1998 decreased to $17.4 million from $19.2 million for the comparable period in 1997, mostly because the company delivered far fewer episodes of programming. Net loss increased for the same period from $600,284 to $1,484,146.
Disney's expected release of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke in English was moved to next Spring so as not to compromise Mulan's success (too bad their live action guys don't think that way...). This Fall Disney will release another Japanese classic anime in English: Kiki's Delivery Service.
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman have gotten the green light to do Planet Ice in Phoenix. (Bye bye L.A.)
Rough Draft, Gregg and Nicki Vanzo's company is growing thanks to the deal to develop Matt Groening's new sci-fi series. They're welcome to come sign a union contract .
A new Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed in August between DOWNTOWNER PRODUCTIONS and the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists.
DownTowner Productions is a Time-Warner owned division. It is currently developing show entitled The Downtowners for primetime. As we go to press, they are in the process of hiring writers for development of the initial show. No character designers or board artists have yet been hired.
At
the water-cooler
A family of Ducks has chosen DreamWorks' Glendale Studio to homestead. An endangered grey mallard was found hatching her eggs in the shrubbery of the studio. Dreamworks has named her Vera and are building a ramp so she and her progeny can walk in and out of the lagoon.
KARL COHEN, President of ASIFA San Francisco and author of "Forbidden Animation," had to cancel his lectures in L.A. due to illness. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
From the "Anything for a buck" department: Most of Toontown is aware of DreamWorks Animation free lunch policy. Aparently one entrepreneurial employee carried things a step further. He put an ad in the Pennysaver newspaper offering "a tour of the DreamWorks Glendale studio with complimentary lunch included" ... all for
$75 each. DreamWorks Administration is aware of this curious capitalist. We don't know his ultimate fate, but we can guess that his fledgling tour service has ended.
SHAMUS CULHANE's saucy autobiography Talking Animals and Other Funny People, is in a new paperback edition from St. Martin's Press. It's a fun read of life at Fleischers, Lantz, Disney and early television.
The UCLA Preservation project held a festival of the cartoon it saved on August 11th. Among the toons were home movies by Cliff Augustson showing the 1947 Paul Terry Studio Strike, paid for by MPSC Local 839. To find out how to save a film, call ASIFA -818-842-8330.
SUSAN ASHLEY died on April 29. From 1954 until her retirement in 1978, she worked as a cel painter for Warners, Disney, UPA, Lantz, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Filmation and Ruby-Spears.
REXENE GOLD, who worked for Hanna-Barbera, Quartet and Jay Ward, died July 15. She is survived by her sister, Xerox supervisor Star Wirth.
MARION O'CALLAHAN JEFFRESS died on June 7 at the age of eighty-two. She worked as a cel painter at UPA, Warners, Wolff, C&D and Hanna-Barbera from 1937 until 1980.
Inker JOHANNA LOHR, who worked at Hanna-Barbera from 1962 until 1985, died on May 3.
artist (left), Paul Carlson -- artist (right), Tony Sgroi
HENRY
SAPERSTEIN, producer and owner of UPA Productions, died on June 24
at the age of eighty. Saperstein was the Columbia exec who bought out UPA from
Steve Bosustow in 1960 and ran it until the early 'seventies. He produced the
feature film Gay Purr-ee with the voices of Robert Goulet and Judy
Garland, as well as the successful Mr. Magoo television series and specials.
1992 Golden Award winner TONY SGROI died on July 16. Since 1942 he worked as a storyboard artist, layout and model designer for Warners, Lantz, Snowball, UPA, Filmation, DePatie-Freleng, DeTiege, Hanna-Barbera and Disney. He is survived by his family, including Warners breakdown artist Allison Sgroi.
Tony was a layout artist on the original Jonny Quest series in the 'sixties. When I met him twenty-five years later, he was one of the first artists I had the nerve to strike up a conversation with. I couldn't help myself -- he worked on Jonny Quest, for God's sake!
Tony let me clean up his wonderful rough models for practice. Those clean-ups got me hired on the show and therefore into the business as an artist. Tony's work was so easy to clean up, he was a safety net while I learned my craft.
Later, I was amazed to see that he could draw cartoony stuff as well as realistic. I learned he could draw in any style as well as anyone. Did I mention modesty? He had everyone beat there, too. If anyone had a right to be full of himself, it was Tony; but you never knew it by talking to him.
As I began to put together model crews for various series, I acquired a rep for being able to handle the most challenging and/or troubled shows. I'm not bragging -- my "secret weapon" was Tony Sgroi.
Because of Tony's ridiculous commute from Orange County to the Cahuenga Pass, he preferred to work from 3 am to 10 am. So he was in his office at H-B, right in the middle of a spooky Stephen King audio book, when the Northridge earthquake struck, knocked over all the furniture, killed the lights and trapped him in his office. After the security guard rescued him, Tony sat down at an outside picnic table -- and finished his work for the day!
After a spell at other studios, I was honored to return to Hanna-Barbera as a writer, to work with Tony on the latest Jonny Quests. It was a great honor to work with Tony again, on the very series that had first sparked our friendship.
Tony was a great, great friend to me, to the business, and to anyone who worked with him. Though it embarrassed him to hear it, I never made a secret of the fact that the guy was my hero, and he always will be.
-- Lance Falk
WILLIAM SNYDER died on June 3 at the age of eighty-two. Snyder produced Ernie Pintoff's Oscar-winning short Munro and brought Czech puppetmaster Jirí Trnka's masterpiece The Emperor's Nightingale to the U.S. In the 'sixties Snyder produced the series of Tom and Jerry shorts done for MGM in Prague by Gene Deitch, as well as the Nudnick series for Paramount.
From Ersatz
Academy Award-winning animator DUSAN VUKOTIC died on July 8. Vukotic was one of the great animators of the Zagreb Animation Studio in the 'fifties and 'sixties. His shorts like Concerto for Machine Gun were major award winners. He won the Academy Award in 1961 for Ersatz, the first Cartoon Oscar to go to a foreign film.
