Bernie Wrightson
In this month's issue:
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The good news from the box office and the Nielsens seems to have had an effect on the rest of the business, as production seems to be picking up. Here's our semi-annual look at what's out there at the Guild shops:
ADELAIDE PRODUCTIONS is busy with 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, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Ben 10, Squirrel Boy and The Andre 3000 Project.
300 North 3rd Street
Burbank 91502
(818) 729-4000 [switchboard]
(818) 729-4200 [job hotline]
DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION is busy on A Day With Wilbur Robinson and American Dog. As the new guys from Emeryville settle in, we are confident of more good news from this fledgling operation ... ;)
Disney Toons's direct-to-video projects include Cinderella III, The Tinkerbell Movie, Kronk's New Groove, Brother Bear II, Pooh Halloween, Mickey In Space, Little Mermaid III, Lilo and Stitch II, and The Fox and the Hound II. As we go to press, we have been informed that Chicken Little II has been cancelled.
Disney Television Animation has the go-ahead for another season of Kim Possible, and they continue work on Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Maggie, Emperor's'New School, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, American Dragon, Get Ed, The Replacements and Yin Yang Yao.
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank 91521
(818) 460-8000 [switchboard]
(818) 460-8314 [job hotline]
DREAMWORKS continues in production on Over The Hedge, Flushed Away and The Bee Movie. Kung Fu Panda will be starting up in the next month or so. Shrek III and other projects will be done at PDI in Redwood City.
1000 Flower St.
Glendale 91201
(818) 695-5000 [switchboard]
(818) 695-4252
Having just moved to their new digs near the Burbank Airport (see below), FILM ROMAN's slate is full with the seventeenth season of The Simpsons and twenty new eps of King Of The Hill. They also have episodes of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy and Me, Eloise.
In addition to work on three features, SPAWN, Hellboy and Rob Zombie's El Superbeasto, they're busy with four features called Stan Lee Presents.
2950 N. Hollywood Way, third floor
Burbank 91505
(818) 748-4000
FOX TV ANIMATION continues with episodes of Family Guy and American Dad.
5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 325
Los Angeles 90036
(323) 857-8800
NICKELODEON is busy with Diego, Avatar, SpongeBob SquarePants, The X's and Oh Yeah! They're wrapping Danny Phantom, Catscratch, Holly Hobbie and the 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.
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 Open Season, Surf's Up and Cloudy With Chance Of Meatball in production.
10202 W. Washington Boulevard
Culver City 90232
(310) 815-4555
TOM T ANIMATION is in pre-production on twenty-six episodes of Biker Mice From Mars, and a short for Nickelodeon called Hornswiggle.
4729 Lankershim Boulevard, 2nd floor
North Hollywood 91602
(818) 980-6001
UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS is wrapping its Curious George series, as well as Land Before Time 12.
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City 91608
(818) 777-1510
WARNER BROS. ANIMATION's two newest series are Legion and Scrappy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue. They're busy on second seasons of Loonatics and The Batman, and a Teen Titans direct-to-video, and finishing up on 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]
(818) 977-7555 [recruitment]
From the Business RepresentativeA while ago I was ambling through one of our signator animation studios when a member asked me: "What's the Guild doing to organize ___________ Productions?" She cited a medium-sized animation shop, perhaps the largest remaining in Los Angeles County without the benefits of a Guild contract.
I told the member that some months back we had collected representation cards with an aim to organizing the studio, but that we came up a few cards short of fifty percent. Fifty percent is the magic number most unions need before they file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Agency charged with over-seeing union elections with non-union companies.
It wasn't an answer that went down well. Once upon a time, I would have sugar-coated the truth, tap-dancing around the fact that we stalled out at around forty-five percent and no more cards seemed to be coming in. I would have been chipper cheerful and said it would happen any day now. But I'm at the point in my checkered career where I just call events as I see them, figuring it's better for people to get the unvarnished truth rather than a bouquet of carefully embroidered semi-reality.
The truth is, we've done very well organizing animation studios in Los Angeles. Film Roman, Nickelodeon, Fred Seibert Productions, large studios, smaller studios, we've signed contracts with lots of them, chugging along like a small steam engine chugging up a hill. And the unvarnished truth is, you and your fellow members are the ones who drag non-union employers into the Guild fold, by brute strength if necessary.
"The Animation Guild" is just an umbrella phrase for everyone working in the animation biz and carrying a membership card. When DPS Film Roman got organized last year and signed a contract, it was because a disgruntled artist had walked into my office and asked us to do something. I told him the employees would have to get motivated and sign representation cards, whereupon the artist grabbed a stack of them and went back to the studio and made things happen. Now, I did my bit standing out on the sidewalk with fliers and more rep cards, but most of the action occurred inside the studio walls, by artists who wanted change.
A week ago I was over at Disney and got buttonholed by a CGI artist who asked me how many forms for our annual wage survey we usually get back. I told him it was maybe around thirty percent, if we were lucky. He shook his head and said to me: "How lame is that? I always send my survey back in, like instantly. I need to know what the salaries are around here. I'm going in to negotiate a new contract in a little while. Good numbers would be way helpful."
Here's the skinny on the wage surveys: some classifications we get a response of around fifty percent, some classifications the returns are maybe twenty percent. A decade ago, the return of forms was higher. The industry was roaring, wages were going up and up, people were pumped. It's only in the past couple of years, as feature and television production have recovered from the doldrums of 2001 and 2002, that we've started back up towards a higher return. And the returns are still paltry. We're now in the middle of collecting data of the 2006 wage survey, and how comprehensive and complete it will be is in the members' hands. Your hands. The question is, do you want good intelligence about who's making what?
In the time I've been doing this biz rep thing, I've learned a few lessons. I can walk around studios and troll for grievances, but I can't file one if the member doesn't want it. I can stand outside of Klasky-Csupo or Mike Young Productions and hand out fliers and representation cards, but if nobody wants to sign them, I can't make it happen. The Guild office can mail out dollar bills, all-day suckers or wage surveys, but it can't make people spend, eat or fill them out.
What I'm trying to say is, Kevin Koch and I might be the mid-wives at the continuous birthing called The Animation Guild, but you are the mother and father. Without you, nothing happens. With you, everything happens.
-- Steve Hulett
From the PresidentIt's a pity it's been such a slow news month in animation, especially at sleepy ol' Disney.
I suppose I could comment on the news of Disney buying Pixar, and Steve Jobs becoming a Disney board member. Or that Ed Catmull will now be president of animation, and John Lasseter is chief creative officer and principle creative advisor of Imagineering. Or that the popular Don Hahn is now the interim head of Disney Feature Animation. Or the bizarre trade of sportscaster Al Michaels to Universal for Walt's original creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Yeah, all that stuff was too predictable, and hardly worth commenting on. But I will anyway.
It's difficult to think of a bigger change in such a short period of time in the one-hundred-year history of animation than the deal Robert Iger made with Steve Jobs. I don't know where this merger will ultimately lead, but I do think it's fantastic news. Iger has shown decisively that he's his own man, and that he understands that the heart of Disney is animation. After some pretty dark times, Disney Feature Animation was already making a comeback, and now the future looks brighter than ever. So congratulations on a very bold experiment. Now, with something like sixteen CG features coming out this year, wouldn't it be a wonderful time to look at doing a hand-drawn feature?
Speaking of which, Universal's Curious George opened well, and had a solid second weekend. Given the ridiculous drama that it took to get this film made (Forty-two writers? Wasn't that the size of the entire crew of Dumbo?), I have to applaud the tremendous job the artists did in making a nice little film that does exactly what it tries to do -- remain true to the books, and entertain the little ones. And there's something wonderful about the charm of seeing drawings come to life on the big screen again.
Props to the Wallace and Gromit crew, for sweeping the Annie feature categories (and nice job on the ceremony, ASIFA). Very shortly they'll probably have another well-deserved Oscar. And congratulations to all the Annie winners and nominees. I think it's a great sign for the industry that the event was sold out, and featured lots of celebrity presenters and attention.
-- Kevin Koch
Effective March 1, the Guild will be updating its Internet domain to reflect our name change to the Animation Guild.
As of that date, the URL of our website will change from http://www.mpsc839.org to http://www.animationguild.org. If you log in to the old URL you'll receive a message and will automatically be forwarded to the new location.
The Guild e-mails will be changing as follows:
General information: info@animationguild.org
Steve Hulett: shulett@animationguild.org
Kevin Koch: kevin@animationguild.org
Lyn Mantta: lyn@animationguild.org
Jeff Massie: jeffm@animationguild.org
Marta Strohl-Rowand: marta@animationguild.org
Walt Disney Feature Animation is again going to be run by an animator/story person, the first time that's happened since Wolfgang Reitherman -- one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" -- stepped down in 1980.
John Lasseter, former Disney staffer and the creative head of Pixar, assumed the mantle of leadership on January 25, when Disney bought Pixar and Steve Jobs -- Pixar's CEO -- became Disney's single largest stockholder. Pixar's Ed Catmull was named President, and as this issue goes to press it has been announced that Disney longtimer Don Hahn will be interim president until the transition is complete.
What this could means for the future of animation is enormous. No longer will MBAs with minimal background in the craft of animation guide Disney's feature product. No longer will the corporate bureaucracy with its flow charts, event calendars and endless meetings hold sway. The center of power -- we think -- will return to where it was in Walt's day: the story crews and animators. And a man who has spent almost thirty years of his life working in every corner of the animation business will now direct a large part of its future at Pixar and Disney.
With the marriage of Pixar and Disney and the ascension of Jobs, Catmull and Lasseter, Disney chairman Bob Iger has changed the animation landscape in an eye blink. Iger's stated intention is to make animation a creative force and profit center for the company in the way it was in the early nineties -- or for that matter, in the thirties and forties. This can only bode well for Disney animation employees tomorrow, next year, and in the decades to come.
We have every expectation that that Jobs' and Lasseter's passions will reenergize Disney animation, and with it the entire animation community. A Disney animation lead recently told us that the word is quietly going around that the tap-dancing which department heads performed in Disney's endless, semi-pointless meetings will no longer be a good route for career preservation.
Thus far most of the evidence is anecdotal, but it seems as though the Mouse House's long-moribund animation divisions, where process was worshipped and creativity disdained, may be undergoing major changes.
From our perspective, it's not a moment too soon.
LEFT: Joanna Romersa
and Jerry Eisenberg.
A grand time was had by all at the Hanna-Barbera reunion at the Sportsmen's Lodge on February 3.
Over two hundred friends met and exchanged reminiscences about the Golden Age of Fred Flintstone, the Smurfs and Scooby-Doo. The first compliment every attendee made about the event: hooray, no speeches!
Thanks and congratulations to JOANNA ROMERSA for a great job of planning the event.
Photos by Joe Romersa; these and many more available online for free.
BELOW: Jan Browning, Janet Cummings, Gary Hoffman and Dora Yakutis.
The January 31 membership meeting featured a panel of animation artists who have found an outlet for personal expression, education and self promotion on the Internet. KEVIN KOCH hosted the discussion featuring three members whose "artblogs" stand in the forefront of this expanding medium.
The term "blog," short for "weblog," refers to websites that feature the personal journal entries of the site's sponsor. They can vary in format from disjointed ramblings and overly personal diatribes (what Jim Hull contemptuously calls "catblogs," where people talk about their cats), to the kind of clean and professional presentations offered by the three panelists.
Animator and toy designer ELIZABETH ITO started her blog, "Adventures on the Animation Roller Coaster" (animationrollercoaster.blogspot.com), as a way to keep track of her friends and professional colleagues after she was laid off from her animation job. With the help of the free software available on Blogspot.com, she found she could set up a dynamic and visually interesting site with very little technical expertise.
Animator JIM HULL started his blog at sewardstreet.com because he wanted to express a more positive spin on the life of an animation artist than he found on some of the more prominent 'Net animation forums. His site features his extensive collection of transcripts and lecture notes from his CalArts days, and lots of other great animation stuff. He uses the Typepad service, which costs $15.00 per month and which he appreciates for its superior customer service. He has posted an article on how to start your own blog.
Supervising animator CLAY KAYTIS's first weblog experience was a personal blog for his family, but he has since set up animationpodcast.com, featuring interviews with prominent animators such as Andreas Deja, Nik Ranieri, Ron Clements, John Musker and Eamonn Butler. These "podcasts" can be downloaded in mp3 format that can be played on most computers and players such as the Apple iPod. Kaytis uses the free WordPress program.
The members asked questions about the range of materials that can and cannot be posted on a public weblog. The panelists are very careful not to use studio materials without permission. It was noted, however, that several studios have started encouraging their blogging employees to use such materials to plug their work and encourage communication.
All the panelists have set up feeds using RSS (short for Really Simple Syndication). This technology allows blog entries to be read by reader programs that simplify the process of browsing multiple blogs, without laborious bookmarking and waiting for multiple pages to upload.
The panelists were unanimous that their blogs were "labors of love"; none to date have considered the commercial potential of their blog work. They stressed the importance of keeping weblogs up-to-date and posting at least once or twice a week; many worthy blogs have quickly lost their audience when their authors' interest flagged. While Kaytis and Hull are happy with the progress of their blogs, Ito foresees making hers somewhat more of a website for her artwork, and relatively less of a weblog.
Finally, we'd like to thank Jim and Elizabeth for their kind notes about their experience as panelists Jim's at www.sewardstreet.com/2006/02/rss_feeds_for_b.html, Elizabeth's (which includes her drawings of the meeting!) is at animationrollercoaster.blogspot.com/2006/02/bilbo-bloggins.html.
This just in! Steve Hulett and Kevin Koch have started the |
On the agenda of the March 28 membership meeting, Executive Board member JANETTE HULETT will interview GREG MASON of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan.
Mason will discuss the health insurance and pension, including details about the changes negotiated in the latest IATSE Basic Agreement*. Come to the membership meeting with your questions, comments or complaints about the health and pension coverage available under our Guild contract.
* The new IA Basic Agreement, due to go into effect as of August 1, 2006, has not been ratified as this Peg-Board goes to press.
On January 28, the Hollywood Heritage Museum was the site of our tenth annual Afternoon of Remembrance, honoring veterans of the animation industry who passed away in 2005.
The ceremony came in at a brisk three hours. Considering that the list of fifty-four honorees was the longest the committee has ever dealt with, the consensus was that the Afternoon once again succeeded as an effective and appropriate testimonial to those we have lost.
The Afternoon is co-sponsored by The Animation Guild, ASIFA-Hollywood and Women in Animation. Congratulations to the Memorial Committee, made up of BRONNIE BARRY, KYLE BOYD, CARLA FALLBERG, ART LEONARDI, LARRY LOC, JEFF MASSIE, MARTHA SIGALL, SOL SIGALL and TOM SITO.
PATRICK KENNEY passed away on October 14, 2005. He worked with many of us at Disney Feature Animation on Pocahontas. He moved on to PDI, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Omation. Patrick was also an accomplished and published photographer.
Patrick was struck by a car in Hollywood and died shortly after. Unfortunately, many of us were not made aware of this tragedy until after the service, and it is only now coming to the attention of our extended animation community.
You may read a wonderful tribute on page 10 here. For those of us who may wish to extend sympathies to Patrick's family, you may find additional information here, with some more memorials.
Patrick was a lovely man, and this earth is a much emptier place without him.
-- Jamie Bolio
Writer and producer DENNIS MARKS died on January 10. Among his writing credits were The Beatles Animated Show and Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space for Hanna-Barbera and Batfink for Hal Seeger. He wrote and produced Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends for Marvel. He also wrote Tom and Jerry: The Movie and Jetsons: The Movie.
Animator and director NORM McCABE passed away on January 17, a month shy of what would have been his ninety-fifth birthday. From 1934 until 1999 he worked for Schlesinger, Warner Bros., U. S. Army Air Corps Training Film Unit, MGM, Swift Productions, Five Star Productions, Telemation, Pacific Title, Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, DePatie-Freleng, Ruby-Spears, Filmfair, Marvel and Universal. In 1985 he received the Animation Guild Golden Award.
MYRON WALDMAN, quite likely the last surviving animator of the Fleischer Studios crew that originated the Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons, died on February 4 at the age of ninety-seven. Waldman started at Fleischer as an inker in 1930 and within four years was head animator, working on many shorts including Fleischer's Superman cartoon series.
After World War II, Waldman spent a decade at Famous Studios on the Casper The Friendly Ghost series; in the sixties he directed Out Of The Inkwell and Milton The Monster for Hal Seeger. He worked on commercials in New York including the Campbell's Soup Kids, and sold limited-edition prints of the Fleischer characters in contemporary settings.
Waldma received the Animation Guild Golden Award in 1986, and ASIFA Hollywood's Winsor McCay Award in 1997.
Assistant animator, animation checker and supervisor ROBERT "TIGER" WEST died on February 13 at the age of eighty-one.
He started at Disney in 1944 where he was an animation checker and scene planner under Ub Iwerks. He was a character assistant under Bob Carlson and an effects assistant under Josh Meador. He worked for MGM as an assistant on Tom and Jerry, and was Vice President and Production Manager at Grantray-Lawrence.
From 1968 to 1977 he supervised the xerox department at Hanna-Barbera, and later worked for Ruby-Spears and Marvel until his retirement in 1989. In 2005 he was presented with the Animation Guild Golden Award.