In this month's issue:
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As we head into fall, disappointing box office and DVD sales have not (yet?) had an effect on the upward trends in employment. Here's our semiannual breakdown of what's going on at the Guild shops:
ADELAIDE PRODUCTIONS is still busy with fifteen half hours of The Boondocks.
2340 S. Fairfax
Los Angeles 90016
(323) 857-7864
CARTOON NETWORK STUDIOS projects include Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Adventures of Billy and Mandy; Juniper Lee, CampLazlo and My Gym Partner's a Monkey. They've just started work on Ben10, Squirrel Boy and Sophistifunk.
300 North 3rd Street
Burbank 91502
(818) 729-4000 [switchboard]
(818) 729-4200 [job hotline]
COLUMBIA PICTURES ANIMATION is busy with MonsterHouse, a motion capture animated feature in the style of The Polar Express.
10202 W. Washington Boulevard
Culver City 90232
(310) 244-4000
DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION is in the final production lap on Chicken Little, and they're also busy on A Day With Wilbur Robinson. American Dog, Rapunzel Unbraided, Joe Jump and Toy Story 3 continue in development.
2100 Riverside Drive
Burbank 91521
(818) 460-8000 [switchboard]
(818) 460-8314 [recruitment]
DISNEY TOONS's direct-to-video projects include Bambi II, Cinderella III, The Tinkerbell Movie, Kronk's New Groove, Brother Bear II, Pooh Halloween, Mickey In Space, Little MermaidIII, Aristocats II, Lilo and Stitch II, and The Fox and the Hound II.
DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION continues work on Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Maggie, Emperor's New School, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, American Dragon and Get Ed. New shows: The Replacements and Yin Yang Yao.
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank 91521
(818) 560-0560 [switchboard]
(818) 560-0789 [job hotline]
Theatrical features in production at DREAMWORKS include Over The Hedge and Flushed Away. ShrekIII is primarily being done at PDI in Redwood City. KungFuPanda and The Bee Movie are in pre-production.
1000 Flower St.
Glendale 91201
(818) 695-5000 [switchboard]
(818) 695-4252
FILM ROMAN's slate is full with a twenty-two-episode seventeenth season of The Simpsons and five episodes of King Of The Hill. They have two new series: twenty-six episodes of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy on Nick Jr., and thirteen of Me, Eloise.
In addition to work on two features, SPAWN and Rob Zombie's El Superbeasto, they'll be busy with four eighty-eight-minute features called Stan Lee Presents.
12020 Chandler Boulevard
North Hollywood 91607
(818) 761-2544
FOX TV ANIMATION continues with episodes of Family Guy and American Dad.
5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 325
Los Angeles 90036
(323) 857-8800
NICKELODEON's slate is full with twenty episodes each of Diego, Avatar, SpongeBob SquarePants, Danny Phantom, Catscratch and TheX's, thirteen episodes of OhYeah!, four Holly Hobbie direct-to-videos and one Charlotte's Web 3 direct-to-video.
231 W. Olive Ave.
Burbank 91502
(818) 736-3000
RICHCREST ANIMATION is in production on Arthur's Missing Pal, to be distributed by Lion's Gate and Mainframe. They're finishing two pilots for American Greetings, and they are in negotiations for a three-picture deal.
333 N. Glenoaks Blvd., #300
Burbank 91502
(818) 846-0166
SD ENTERTAINMENT (SABELLA DERN) is producing their Alien Racers series through a union payroll service.
21045 Califa St., #101
Woodland Hills 91367
(818) 587-4880
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION has their Open Season feature in production, and Surf'sUp and Cloudy With Chance Of Meatball are in pre-production.
10202 W. Washington Boulevard
Culver City 90232
(310) 815-4555
TOM T ANIMATION has commenced pre-production on twenty-six new episodes of Biker Mice From Mars. Most positions are currently filled or spoken for, but job inquiries for possible future openings are welcome for Storyboard Artists and Storyboard Fixes. Send inquiries and samples by e-mail only to: tomt@g7animation.com. No phone calls or unsolicited portfolio drop-offs please.
At UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS, work continues on both the Curious George theatrical feature and the series, as well as the umpteenth Land Before Time project.
10 Universal City Plaza
Universal City 91608
(818) 777-1510
Curious George hotline: (818) 866-2495
WARNER BROS. ANIMATION is busy on Justice League Unlimited, Loonatics, Teen Titans, Fire House Tales and The Batman, and in retakes on XiaoLinShowdown. The TomandJerry direct-to-video is finished, but a Christmas special is in the works. Finishing up on JohnnyTest and CoconutFred. In the works: Krypto and a Scooby Doo direct-to-video.
15301 Ventura Boulevard, Unit E
Sherman Oaks 91403
(818) 977-8700 [switchboard]
(800) 286-0868 [job hotline]
From the Business RepresentativeIn case you didn't know, I've been away for a few weeks in the last month, attending the IATSE's Executive Board meeting in Honolulu and the IA's quadrennial convention. While there I also took some surfing lessons. And discovered I'm thirty years too late for turning pro.
The IATSE's Executive Board meeting and the convention that followed were lively and informative. While union membership is shrinking in wide swaths of the country, the IA is growing; over the past four years, the number of IA members has swelled from 100,000 to 120,000. Not bad during a time of ongoing corporate attacks on people who have to work for a living. But people in the entertainment biz have long known that most employment is short-term, and if you don't have a cloak of pension and health benefits as you move from job to job, you'll have trouble staying in the entertainment biz. (Strangely enough, more and more Americans seem to be bumping up against this widening workplace reality. We just got there before everyone else.)
The buzz out of the Executive Board meeting is that the next Hollywood Basic Agreement will probably get negotiated months earlier than the agreement's expiration date. This has become standard practice in Movieland. The Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild all negotiated their recent contracts months before expiration, and the IATSE will likely do the same. The principal issues, as always, will be health, pension and minimum rates. IA President Tom Short is hopeful that meaningful improvements can be made in all these areas, since the IA has more leverage than it has had in years. But President Short reminded all of us in the meetings that this hasn't been the happiest of times -- putting it mildly -- for organized labor.
The IA convention, also at the Sheraton Waikiki, saw the re-election of Tom Short, the retirement of some International Alliance officers, and minor changes to the IA constitution. As usually happens, the per capita assessment on IA members was raised by four dollars over four years -- which means dues will be rising slightly between now and the next IATSE convention. The good news is that it amounts to one or two dollars per year over three years.
And what would a union convention be without the spice of a little controversy? This year's pepper and salt came in the form of resolutions from the floor about executive pay, blacklisting, and the number of years between conventions. There were fiery speeches for and against before each of the controversial resolutions went down in flames.
Finally, you'll be pleased to know that the Guild's hard-working delegation attended every convention session from start to finish, and had one-hundred-percent attendance at all the committee meetings to which they were assigned. Happily, we weren't locked in dark rooms fourteen hours a day. One bright morning, as we were all sitting down for the start of convention business, Kevin Koch settled stiffly into his chair and told me, "I got up early and took a surfing lesson," and pointed to a split chin and welts and cuts on his feet to prove it. (Waikiki coral and rocks can be -- umm -- unforgiving.)
Not to be outdone, the next morning I was on the beach at seven taking my own lesson. The results can be seen above.
-- Steve Hulett
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 contains a lot of new rules and regulations, some of which are more likely to help banks and financial institutions than those of us with financial woes. However, some of the provisions of the new law, which goes into effect October 17, will help protect our retirement savings.
Among the law's provision are clearly defined protections from creditors for benefit plans such as:
There are no limits on the amount of assets that can be protected in the event of bankruptcy; however, IRA assets attributable to an individual's own contributions to an IRA are subject to a $1,000,000 limit. This limit won't apply to IRA assets coming from employee 401(k) contributions that have been rolled over from a qualified 401(k) Plan.
So, plan participants will have to keep records to distinguish between regular IRA contributions and the contributions coming from a 401(k) -- or other -- plan. Two solutions: A) Track the new transferred money, or B) set up a new IRA account with only transferred money in it.
-- Louis Kravitz & Associates provided the information for this article.
Executive Board member and teacher DAVE BRAIN hosted a panel at the July 25 membership meeting, featuring a lively and interesting discussion with four members who have taken on the role of teacher either in addition to, or in place of, their careers as animation artists.
Character designer SHANNON TINDLE started in the business in 1999 and has worked on shows including Clerks, Static Shack, and The Proud Family, and he is currently at Cartoon Network on the crew for Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Although Shannon has occasionally lectured at CalArts, his most recent experience has been as the private tutor of the seven-year-old son of an acquaintance.
SHANE PRIGMORE attended CalArts in the 'nineties and has worked for Warners, Sony, Weta, DreamWorks, Universal, and is currently at Cartoon Network. Prigmore teaches second-year animation at CalArts, handling as many as sixty students with only one teaching assistant. He is among the younger faculty at CalArts, and he admitted that when he started on Iron Giant he didn't know how to read an X-sheet. He hopes to give his students a better grounding in both art and mechanics.
After twenty-eight years in the animation business, DORI LITTELL HERRICK went back to college to earn her MFA in computer graphics at UCLA. After training as a career counselor, she started a series of Job Career Workshops that are still being offered at the Animation Guild. Earlier this year she was appointed the chair of the animation department at Woodbury University in Burbank, she handles administrative duties in addition to half a teaching load.
Dave Brain, who admitted he started in the business "when Walt was still alive," volunteered to teach in high schools in South L. A. after the Watts riots. Teaching gigs at Otis, the American Animation Institute and Glendale College followed, and he now teaches at the "new" Chouinard Art Institute in Pasadena. Dave and all the panelists agreed that working with highly talented and motivated students has given them a fresh outlook on their own craft.
Teachers in the world of "new animation" have to be flexible and well-rounded; Shane said he initially resisted getting into teaching until he learned more about 3D animation. However, the panelists have been gratified to see that students understand and appreciate the need to learn basic principles. Working with a seven-year-old has taught Shannon the value of teaching by example -- "show them what you mean." Shane relies on bringing in guest lecturers -- "illustrators of the week."
The panelists discussed the challenges of teaching to a set curriculum, something Dave never had to do until he taught at Glendale College. In Dori's classes, each class after the first session critiques the work from the previous week's assignments, which minimizes the perpetual fear of running out of class materials. Since many students are more interested in experimental animation, teachers must set aside their studio-trained prejudices and embrace the student's imagination and perspective.
This was the latest in an ongoing series of panels scheduled at the bimonthly Animation Guild membership meetings. Next up on September 27: a panel discussing the activities and services of California Lawyers For The Arts, hosted by CARLA FALLBERG.
Q: After reading last month's Peg-Board, I thought I would get a three percent raise starting this month. August 1 has come and gone -- no raise for me. What gives?
A: Like everything else in the collective bargaining agreement, the wage rates are minimums. The CBA sets the floor over which everyone's actual rate of pay is negotiated. Many, if not most, artists at Guild shops make at least a little bit "overscale".
Some people negotiate pay increases into their personal service contracts; others tie their increases to the percentages in the CBA. If you're paid overscale and you haven't negotiated bump-ups in your personal contract, you will not automatically receive a pay increase unless the new minimum is more than you're currently being paid.
Q: Why are there are no minimums listed in the contract book for animators or layout artists?
A: Page 64 of the CBA booklet reads as shown below. The minimums listed under "Staff Comic Strip Story Person and/or Artist" apply to all the categories listed above it, subject to the footnotes.
Q: And speaking of those footnotes, what does the two- or three-asterisk 15% "key rate" mean?
A: It means that the minimum rate for Production Board artists and supervisors is fifteen percent above the figures shown. In other words, the currently forty-hour minimum for Production Board is $1,629.04. (Confusing, isn't it?)
Third period, 7/31/2005-7/31/2006
21-012 Animator
21-032 Background**
21-042 Layout**
21-052 Model Designer**
21-022 Animation Story Person/Animation Writer**
Production
Board***
21-801 Staff Comic Strip Story Person and/or Artist
1st 6 months: $33.336 hourly; $1,333.44 weekly
2nd 6 months: $34.113; hourly; $1,364.52 weekly
Journey: $35.414 hourly; $1,416.56 weekly
** An Animator, Background or Layout person designated by the Producer to be responsible for and supervise the work of others in his classiÞcation shall be paid the key rate of 15% above the minimum Journey rate for his classiÞcation during such an assignment.
*** Producer agrees to pay to the Production Board classiÞcation the key rate of 15% above minimum at all times as provided.
In animation anything can happen -- but doesn't until a writer writes it. From talking trucks to angst-ridden superheroes, animated television stories embrace a vast field with no limits on sets, costumes, and special effects, and like all good film writing (live or animated), they are told visually and require a solid knowledge of such craft elements as story structure, character, and dialogue.
This course guides you through the entire animated TV script writing process, including how to find the "voice and style" of a particular show, pitch stories, create solid outlines, write the first draft, deal with notes and changes, and finally, write and polish an 11-minute animation script. In addition, guest speakers discuss the business side of animation: how to break in, what agents do and don't do, the process of getting your script to the screen, and how to have a satisfying career in a field where your imagination is free.
The class will be taught by BROOKS WACHTEL, Emmy Award-winning television and feature film writer, whose extensive credits include over one hundred episodes of such animated series as Spiderman, ToddWorld, Liberty's Kids, X-Men, and Heavy Gear, the Discovery Kid's series Tutenstein, and the pre-school hit Clifford the Big Red Dog. Brooks just completed a two-part CGI action/adventure feature, Twin Princes. For more information, see UCLA Extension's website or Brooks's website.
Assistant animator RUBEN APODACA died on July 17. From 1956 until his retirement in 1987 he worked for Disney, UPA, Warners, Format, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation.
Our condolences to director, teacher and Executive Board member Dave Brain, whose wife KATHLEEN BRAIN passed away on August 5 after a long illness.
JAMES O'BRIEN, who worked as an assistant director for Film Roman since 1996, died on July 26.
JOE RANFT
died on August 16 when the car in which he was riding plunged off Highway
One in Mendocino County, California.
Joe was head of story on the original teams for Pixar's first two films, Toy Story and A Bug's Life, and was a story artist on Monsters, Inc. He was most recently working head of story on John Lasseter's next film, Cars.
He grew up in Whittier, California, and attended CalArts, coincidentally sharing the same interests, hometown and educational background of Pixar director John Lasseter. His Pixar bio states, "As such, it was much more than fate that led Joe to join Pixar's creative team in 1992."
The CalArts student (and later instructor) cut his professional animation teeth at Hyperion and Disney, where he worked on story for The Brave Little Toaster, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Fantasia/2000, Oliver & Company, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Rescuers Down Under.
Joe, you leaving so suddenly, this wasn't in the script. I don't recall being at a story meeting where this was discussed. There are no Jeffrey notes to that effect. We all wanted more time with you. More stories, more funny sketches, more Kroyer parties. We were supposed to all grow old together like Joe Grant and Bill Peet did. We would give each other Annie Awards and laugh at our gray hair and widening paunch. We could thunder about how the young didn't appreciate how much we had to go through in our time.
If anybody was going to be the next Joe Grant, elder statesman of story artists, it was going to be you. I wanted to see you write a book, maybe your memoirs of Disney and the heady early days of Pixar, all in your own inimical style. That would have been a terrific read. The stories we do only have happy endings, we don't do tragedies. But here it is, I still can't believe it. Your image is now frozen in my mind, of our last meeting over coffee at the Pixar cafè. That childlike face, and even that mountainman beard of yours couldn't hide it.
Adieu, my friend. You were the best of the best, and we are all the lesser for your leaving.
-- Tom Sito
Paint lab technician LYDIA SWAYNE, who worked for Hanna-Barbera from 1966 to 1995, died on July 24 at the age of seventy-six.