TAG Blog

Disneyana

2009-11-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

The hat building is lovely in November, with the fall foliage on Riverside Drive in full force.

Storywork and production on Pooh are moving along. As a staffer told me:

"We had our third screening of Winnie the Pooh with John Lasseter, and the picture's in good shape. John loves the characters. In fact, some sequences go to workbook next week and animation will be starting up. There's already been some test animation in color.

"This picture has just zipped along. We took dialogue out of the Milne books, the storyboard artists added some of their own, then the directors Don Hall and Steve Anderson polished it. We didn't have an outside writer on it, just the board artists and the directors. I think the whole picture will be done by next summer ..."

The stereo conversion of Beauty and the Beast is coming to a close. A couple of people down on the first floor said that there's one more week to go and then they're done.

Originally B and B was supposed to come out on Valentine's Day, but now it's set up for a twentieth anniversary release.

"The 3-D conversion came out well, I think. We got the characters rounded and shaded. They don't look like cardboard cutouts in a ViewMaster ..."

I suppose we'll get to see for ourselves in 2001. Meanwhile, Disney and IM Digital would like to have the surviving Beatles participate in its Yellow Submarine remake:

... In an interview with MTV News, [Robert] Zemeckis indicated that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have been approached to participate in the film, although he did not say in what capacity ...

The Mouse charges ahead on many fronts.

More Rolling Heads

2009-11-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

As Dick Cook goes, so go his associate Mark Z.:

Mark Zoradi, president of the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, has resigned effective immediately.

Zoradi oversaw the worldwide marketing and distribution for all Disney films, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Disneynature.

“Mark has done an outstanding job over his many years with the Studio," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross said in a statement. "He’s a respected leader throughout the entertainment industry and we wish him the very best.”

Zoradi's is the latest domino to fall since Dick Cook's sudden ouster as Walt Disney Studios chairman on Sept. 18 ...

"We wish him the best." I'm sure they do. As long as it happens someplace else.

This is what happens in the unending game of Hollywood musical chairs. When house-cleaning begins, it continues until the Chief Executive Officer determines that everything is satisfactorily spic and span.

The Nikkster has Mr. Zoradi's parting statement here, written shortly before he walked the plank.

The Doings at DreamWorks Animation

2009-11-09T20:16:00.001-08:00

DWA's Lakeside Buildings was humming today. The Shrek Goes Fourth animators are bending to their tasks of getting animation for the feature completed by February. The matte department finishes it work the following month ...

And the company continues to install new cash-flow spigots.

Kung Fu Panda World, a virtual world designed for ages 8 to 12, is being developed by DreamWorks Animation and is due to go live early next year.

The Web browser-based world, inspired by the 2008 film, will launch with dozens of arcade-style games and other activities. (A range of subscription levels is planned ...)

Lastly, DreamWorks Animation lawyer Katherine Kendrick, who has been with the company from its beginning, is packing her suitcase and moving on:

... Kendrick will ankle the animation biz to pursue philanthropic activities when her contract expires in December. Kendrick's decision comes after 14 years with DreamWorks, which she joined in 1996. She helped steer the animation division through its IPO in 2004.

Conventional Wisdom That's Not

2009-11-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

Here's some CW that's come my way recently (Conventional Wisdom in bold, my snark in regular):

"The union has missed the boat organizing (non-union company, non-union industry segment; choose one)."

Yes, boats are often missed. But the thing about boats ... and non-union work ... is, if you miss one sea-going craft, there is always another ... and another ... and another. Because there is always one more boat and/or chunk of non-union work sliding into the dock.

Like for instance in 1991, we got our butts handed to us in an election at Film Roman. FR was doing Garfield at the time, and we lost the election resoundingly, by 82% to 18%.

Yipes.

But fast forward to 2004, when we hold another election at Film Roman. And this second time, TAG carries the day, winning by the same percentage that we lost thirteen years previously.

So the boat sailed, but hey, it returned to port. And a bunch of years later we caught a ride on it. So no, it's never too late to climb aboard. If the company is there, there's a chance to organize it ...

But you've missed the boat because it's all going away! To India! To China! To Texas!

That's not true either. Work began "going away" in 1970. TAG fought run-away production with a strike in 1979, and got a clause in the contract that protected staffing levels. We lost the clause after a ten-week strike in 1982.

At the time, we had 1500 active, dues-paying members. Seventeen years later, after more outsourcing and a lot more technological change in the animation industry, TAG has 2,450 active, dues-paying members. (So obviously some work remains in California.)

All the animation and effects work will be going away in the next ten years, off to India, China and Texas (those places again!)

Uh, no. I've been listening to the dire warnings since I entered the biz in 1976. In that time, various categories of work migrated overseas, to be replaced by newer categories of animation work. (For example, TV animation went away, some TV flash animation came back.)

Here's what happens going forward:

Work will shift overseas. And work will come here. (Electronic Arts' Playa Vista studio is sort of big ... and not in a low-cost area, like say, Shanghai or Bangladesh.))

The amount of animation will continue to grow; the talent pool will grow faster.

The congloms will send some animation and effects work to the lowest cost providers, see some of that low-rent product blow up in their faces, and decide that, because of tight schedules and quality control issues, they'll have to keep a big chunk of the work closer to home.. (Yours truly blathers at length about these things here.)

TAG doesn't stop uncompensated overtime.

This is true, but needs an explanation. Just last week an artist came in complaining about uncomped o.t. He said his crew couldn't keep up with the workload, and so worked late and on weekends. But nobody wanted to complain ... or stop working the extra hours.

I said I would be pleased to file a grievance on his behalf. He said, "No thanks."

See, it's hard for the Animation Guild to successfully press the issue of unpaid overtime unless people allow us to offer specifics in a grievance. Otherwise, we don't prevail.

But here's my promise to board artists, designers, and anybody else working under a TAG contract: I will happily come to your studio, night or day, and check up on uncompensated overtime. Just let me know. (And everyone reading this should know that falsifying a time card is, as we say in Unionland, unlawful. It's also unlawful in Non-union land)

Forest Madonna, by Ralph Hulett

2009-11-09T03:12:00.000-08:00

In the vast cathedral of the forest, the Blessed Light shines upon the Madonna and the Child.

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.

See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.

Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Foreign B.O.

2009-11-08T23:35:00.000-08:00

Animation continues to boogie on overseas.

... Finishing No. 2 on the weekend was director Robert Zemeckis' 3D performance-capture version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, which drew $12 million in its opener at 2,750 screens in 18 territories for a per-screen average of $4,364.

Disney said that "3D was a significant factor, accounting for 62% of our total result from only 37% of the screens." The latest version of Charles Dickens' frequently filmed 1843 novella opened at No. 1 domestically and has collected a worldwide tally of $43 million so far.

Driving "Christmas Carol" were strong opening numbers in the U.K. and in Mexico. Disney says that "on a consolidated basis in the same bucket of territories, the $12 million take was the best ever achieved by a Robert Zemeckis film." The take was 50% bigger than that of "The Polar Express," Zemeckis' 2004 Christmas season title in 3D. ...

So that seems clear enough. The Mouse is shooting to replicate The Polar Express magic. Meanwhile, the magic in other territories of Disney's empire is functioning just fine.

Third on the weekend was Pixar/Disney's "Up," which boosted its international total to $367 million -- $48 million shy of the total recorded by Pixar/Disney's "Ratatouille" - thanks to an $8.4 million weekend at 4,278 screens in 26 markets. A Japan opening is set for Dec. 5.

When all the receipts come in, Walt's place will have raked in significant coin from its various animated franchises: the c.g. product, the mo-cap features, the hand-drawn cartoons. Profits are important, but cash flow is also a big deal.

Moolah is the name of the game, first and last and forever.

Christmas -- Live/Vid Game -- Carol

2009-11-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

Critics are split pretty much down the middle over Robert Zemeckis's new rendering of the Dickens novella. Half like it:

... [T]he surprise of this movie — a welcome one — is that, in the midst of obeying the rules of modern-day spectacle, it sticks close to some of the sturdy virtues of the source material. Mr. Zemeckis’s script retains much of the flavor of Dickens’s prose — not just the catchphrases like “Bah, humbug” and “God bless us everyone,” but also the formal diction and the moral concern. The specters that pop out at poor Scrooge on his nightlong ordeal are certainly frightening (parents of young children, consider yourselves warned), but the dread derives much of its force from the cruelty and selfishness that define Scrooge’s world ...

And half (give or take) dislike it:

Zemeckis has taken a festive classic, tarnished it with his horrendously unattractive motion-capture animation, and increased the unsightliness tenfold with 3D sequences so distracting and persistent that the headache I endured post-viewing was nothing short of brutal ...

I saw the movie over the weekend, and taking it on its own terms, I think the feature works. But let me be, as R.M. Nixon used to say, perfectly clear: Ice Age, Finding Nemo, Lion King, Up and Aladdin it ain't. However, I don't think it's trying to be anything like those other kinds of entertainments.

When you look at CC, you have to get those traditionally-crafted animated features out of your head. You have to look at Christmas Carol for what it is: a retelling of a Dickensian classic as a live-action/ video game hybrid. Zemeckis knows the audience he's pitching this movie to, and it isn't middle-aged crapheads like me. He's going after teenagers who spend hours at video game consoles, who are comfortable with almost-human actors, who expect sweeping camera moves and epic grandeur and hell-for-leather chases.

All these things Zemeckis spins out in spades, and I think (by and large) he's successful. Sure, some of the supporting players and dress extras come across like dead-eyed automatons, and yes, the falls and flying through 1843 London come whisker-close to being overlong and overly repetitive. But Carrey's Scrooge comes across, the tension and basic tale remain in place, and much of Dickens' dialogue is intact (and in the Public Domain, too!).

You can call me wrong, but I got caught up in it. I found myself immersed in that world and enjoying the experience. Maybe it was the 3-D, maybe it was the sweep of the enterprise, maybe it was the underlying sturdiness of Dickens' story-telling. Who the hell knows?

Whatever the combination was, I think Zemeckis achieved the goal he set out for himself. (Others, of course, may disagree ... and disagree with my premise. That's what makes America great -- diversity of opinion.)

Whether CC makes any money, of course, is a separate question.

The Links of Fall

2009-11-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

Your end-of-week linkage.

Welcome to the Anaheim of the Middle Kingdom.

Shanghai Farmers Lose Fields as Disney Builds Magic Kingdom

... Walt Disney Co.’s newest castle may rise from the Shanghai fields where retired farmer Jin Xinmei and her husband grow Chinese cabbage, potatoes and strawberries to supplement their $103 monthly pension.

Jin, 72, said the local government already told her that she and her husband will have to relocate from their native Qigan Village in the Pudong district so Disney can build its newest theme park. Jin wasn’t told how much the government will pay for her 30-square-meter (323-square-foot) house and its backyard vegetable patch, she said ....

But at least they're not tearing out orange groves ...

The DWA gang in Glendale launches a new theatrical trailer, and I'm sniffing box office success.

... [DreamWorks Animation] has now released the first trailer for How to Train Your Dragon, which features the voice talents of McLovin (that'll be Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Gerard Butler and Jonah Hill ...

Newsarama profiles Pixar:

“When we develop these films we look for themes that guide us in how we tell the story." ...

The Chinese are getting serious about toonage, since party bigwigs are now talking about it.

Senior Chinese official Li Changchun Thursday called for reform and innovation in promoting the development and prosperity of the country's animation industry.

Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remark during his visit to the first China Animation and Cartoon Arts Exhibition held in Beijing ...

Antonio Banderas becomes an animation producer.

Antonio Banderas, producer Enrique Posner and Kandor Graphics have launched pre-production on Spanish animation feature "Goleor, the Scale and the Sword." Banderas will voice a character and will cast and direct voice talent. Budgeted at E22 million ($33 million), the pic is Spain's first higher-bracket digital 3D movie. The English-language epic adventure depicts, in a lighthearted, comedic tone, the fantasy medieval land of Gabilonia ...

Rupert and Friends acquire a South American long-form 'toon.

20th Century Fox has picked up the North American rights to Peruvian CGI animated pic "The Dolphin, Story of a dreamer." Fox released pic across Latin America and Brazil since October where it scored the biggest opening weekend for a local film in Peru. ...

And there is the growing animation industry in the rest of South America:

... Latin America is expanding with co-production and animation service deals. Argentina's Illusion Studios, for example, is partnering with India's Toonz Animation for "Gaturro," a stereoscopic 3D animated feature about a cheeky cat. Another deal is with Canada's Cookie Jar and Germany's Optix for a toon-series version of "Doodlebops Rocking Road Show." ...

Lastly, the "lost" but now "found' Chaplin short ... with genuine 1916 animation ...

The film features footage of Zeppelin airships flying over England during the First World War, and out-takes from three pictures that Chaplin shot with the film company Essanay

An animated scene shows Chaplin wishing he could leave America to join his British countrymen in the war, before being taken on a cloud and deposited on an English church spire ....

Have a safe and sane sabbath.

The Weekend Derby

2009-11-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

With crisp Up Date.

Out of the gate, it's Christmas Carol ...but not by as much as the Mouse would probably like. As the Nikkster relates:

... [A]nalysts think the Jim Carrey starrer (he plays lotsa roles, including all 3 ghosts) directed by Robert Zemeckis (who used the same motion capture technology as Polar Express and Beowulf) may only make $31M after opening with an underperforming $8.9 million Friday despite the higher ticket prices ....

It's going to come down to Saturday and Sunday ....

Update: Christmas Carol ends up at the lower range of what Diz Co. was hoping for; Men Who Stare at Goats comes in third, but second on a per-screen basis. Michael Jackson moon-walks on ...

Christmas Time, by Ralph Hulett

2009-11-07T03:12:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, Santa summons the reindeer from out a forest of NOEL trees.

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.

See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.

Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Layoffs and Hirings

2009-11-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

Warners employees called today to explain:

"The series Laff Riot is laying off most of its artists. They told us today that the show is retooling, going in a different direction, and won't be carrying staff while it takes eight or ten weeks to revamp. They expect to ramp back up mid to late January. How many of us will be coming back, they didn't say."

I know this is a big disappointment to designers and board artists who were anticipating a year or more of steady work on the twenty-six half-hours of Laff Riot. "Wanted you to know what's going on over here," a production board artist said to me on the phone. "This caught us all by surprise. It's only been four months. Nothing to do now but go look for another job."

I was at Warners earlier this week and had no inkling of this ...

Down the freeway at Disney TVA Sonora, crews on two show are slowly returning to work.

And at the Walt Disney Animation Studio, they have laid off all but two of the cleanup artists who came aboard for The Princess and the Frog. At the same time, animators are being hired for Rapunzel and sequences are being put in work. (They kind of have to jump into action. The picture has a release date that's only a year away.)

The rest of the cartoon business? It's like the pistons in a 12-cylinder engine: one is going up while another's moving down, which is nerve-wracking for a whole lot of people.

Nick Counter, Rest in Peace

2009-11-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

Whoa. This took me by surprise:

Nick Counter, the long-standing former negotiator for the major studios who squared off against Hollywood's writers during a 100-day strike in 2008, died Friday night. He was 69.

The former president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was taken to West Hills Hospital earlier this week after collapsing in his Los Angeles home. His family declined to specify the cause of death ...

TAG representatives sat in negotiations with Nick Counter at every IA Basic negotiation, even though Nick pushed TAG out of the bargaining unit in 1982. He was always calm, always prepared, and I was sure he would go on forever.

Shows what I know.

Nick was always a tough negotiator, and disliked by newer bargaining representatives from SAG and the WGA. Yet it was a studio rep who told me several months ago: "I wasn't a big fan. Nick would have walked over his mother to nail down a deal ..."

I found him likable. What many didn't realize was that, on his side of the table, Nick had to forge a consensus among the studios before any deal got done, something akin to herding cats. I was startled to learn he was only 69.

Box Office Prognostications

2009-11-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Leave it to Moviephone to beat around the bush:

Disney's A Christmas Carol' cost upwards of $150 million to make and will earn that back and a lot more.

Unlike your ordinary blockbuster, early Christmas movies tend to play well through the holiday itself. Add the appeal of Jim Carrey, in the multiple roles of Scrooge and the three ghosts, and the appeal to parents of the Disney label and you have a movie for every demographic.

Opening domestically in more than 3,500 theaters -- in flat, 3D and IMAX 3D formats -- the movie should gross more than $40 million this weekend and top $200 million by the end of the year ...

The Hollywood Reporter comes to the same conclusion:

Disney executives believe the PG-rated "Carol" will play strongly well past Turkey Day. Zemeckis' success with his first animated holiday outing -- 2004's "The Polar Express," a $305 million worldwide grosser for Warner Bros. -- has helped Disney rally exhibitor support for his latest seasonal venture, Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said.

"The exhibitors have been looking at Bob Zemeckis' track record, and they're saying, 'I have to have this,' " Viane said. "It's not just a kids movie. It should be a four-quadrant picture for everybody." ...

"Carol" should top the weekend rankings easily with a first-frame tally in the $35 million-$45 million range ...

My bet is that the stereo versions of the film will be SRO, with the flat-screen versions playing somewhat less strongly.

If Carol hits $40 million or above, champagne will flow on Buena Vista Street.

The End of Civilization ...

2009-11-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

... as we know it.

... [Dan] Aykroyd will voice Yogi, and Justin Timberlake could supply the voice of Yogi's constant companion, Boo Boo ...

We can only be grateful that Bill and Joe didn't live to see it happen ...

At Starz Media

2009-11-05T15:35:00.000-08:00

This is Thursday, so it's Starz day on TAG's unending studio tour.

The Simpsons crew is pared down now, with lots of empty cubes in the layout department now that the show's budget has been ... ah ... constrained. Do it faster, better, cheaper. Those are the watch words.

"We've all adjusted to the higher demands. The artists just stay at their desks and get the work done. There's no time for complaining ..."

The question I got over and over: So what's going on in the rest of the animation biz? Who's working?"

I've given the answer so many times I have it down pat. "Less traditional, hand-drawn employment happening, but more c.g. work. Warners has come back from hibernation, but Disney TVA's Sonora studio is mostly empty, with two shows coming into production ..." Etcetera.

One Simpson staffer mentioned:

The writers are doing a retreat to get rolling on another thirteen episodes. And I've heard Al Jean say he'd be happy to do The Simpsons for another twenty years ... [pause] I'd be okay with working on the show another twenty years."

Al Jean (one of the show's topkicks, if you don't know) had this to say about the Yellow Family.

Working with brainy guests like Stephen Hawking and Thomas Pynchon is truly priceless

But the nub of the matter:

The Simpsons is the sixth highest earner on television. "We're still vital."

Which is, after all the poker chips get counted and hauled off to the cashier's cage, why The Simpsons' diminished artistic staff could be working on the show for some years to come. Simpsons = Number Six.

"Only thirteen new episodes being written? For next season? I wonder how many hold-over half hours we've got? I bet that's how they plan on rounding out the order. With episodes they didn't use this year."

Did I mention that Fox is ... ah ... cost conscious?

Covered Bridge, by Ralph Hulett

2009-11-05T03:12:00.000-08:00

Winter is caught for a lovely moment in the ice-mirror of a frost-clear night ...

This is one of my favorite designs from the R.H. canon. Ralph did a lot of New England winter scenes over the years, and the stuff he did with covered bridges and small New England villages and clapboard churches are among his best. -- S.H.

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image. See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm. Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Why Animated Features Multiply -- Reason #423

2009-11-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

Don't expect long form animation to go the way of the movie Western anytime soon.

... [Fox] Filmed entertainment posted operating income of $391 million compared with $251 million a year ago, thanks to the box-office performance of "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which News Corp. said was the highest-grossing film of all time internationally with more than $880 million in ticket sales ...

Then there was Ice Age 2, The Simpsons Movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks .... and of course all the MacFarlane franchises ...

Rupert and his minions know good thing$ when they see them. Which is why they make so much animation.

Town Hall!

2009-11-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today as I stumbled into the Walt Disney Animation hat building, employees were streaming out.

"They're holding a town hall at the equestrian center in Griffith Park! ..."

Which I understood to mean, "John [Lasseter], Ed [Catmull], and Andrew [Millstein] are holding a big employees' meeting down Riverside Drive at the big horse building ..."

I went into the studio anyway. A layout artist asked: "Aren't you going?" I said, "Only if Bob Iger comes along and invites me ..."

Upstairs, a staffer told me that King of the Elves is going through some changes, and that one of the directors has departed. (Nothing new there; Woolfgang Reithermann was displace by Art Stevens on Fox and the Hound; Chris Sanders exited American Dog. Stuff happens.)

Finally, since there's been discussion here about what The Princess and the Frog really cost (the Wall Street Journal quotes a $150 million figure), I went to a Wise Old Disneyite who is in a position to know. She said:

"Management's told us that they want to 'do Winnie the Pooh for $35 million, which they said was one third of the P and F budget. Do the math. Thirty-five times three is $105 million."

One hundred and five million dollars. That pretty much sounds right to me. Disney's new, hand-drawn feature had a smaller crew, inbetweens and cleanups outsourced to Yowza in Toronto, and a focused schedule.

Sadly, I don't think the large staffs that populated Walt Disney Animation Studio in the halcyon days of Aladdin and Lion King are returning in the near term. But the Mouse House as a steady stream of product rolling down the pike, and if the big, round ball of fickle fate bounces right, they'll be profit centers.

On Organizing

2009-11-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Back in the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, we put up this crumpet:

... I remember [the Sony Imageworks organizing drive] as though it were yesterday. There we were, the IA reps and the Animation Guild officers (President Koch and I) in the Imageworks theater, rolling out the IATSE contract, Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan and TAG 401(k) Plan (without a match) that we hoped to sell to the Imageworkers.

Organizing, what a concept. A couple of days ago a self-alleged Imageworker added insights to the summertime post that I think are worthwhile ... and you will most likely miss unless you're in the habit of nosing through old posts on medium-sized blogs.

So here it is, with responses from Yours Truly:

- At the time of Imageworks union vote, there was a concerted and collective effort on the part of many artists to analyze and compare the (then) Sony benefits vs. the (then) union benefits. I do remember people asking 839 (and other union local) members about what they liked/disliked about the unions. Most artists came to the conclusion that the Sony benefits were superior ...

I think this is right. The Sony bennies were superior ... for permanent employees. However, our information was that production hires had a lower level of benefits and would be better off with the IA package. The IA's assumption was that the union would carry the day because production hires outnumbered permanent hires and would automatically vote to "go union." This turned out to be wrong.

- Most Imageworks artists that I know were and are fully aware that the good benefits provided by Sony could also be unilaterally revised.

Aware, maybe. But not really believing that the top-drawer benefits would be scaled back. (People are usually starry-eyed optimists about their personal conditions. What good is it to mope around thinking ... "Well, I'm healthy now, but someday, I'm going to get old, then be sick, and then die ..." Nobody would ever get out of bed.)

- While there certainly were more than a few spirited discussions concerning yes/no - I personally did not see or hear about or experience any managerial pressure regarding the vote. Considering that the vote was a secret ballot with Union reps present, it would be silly to think that anyone was personally afraid to vote yes for the union ...

Points taken. And I don't think there was any overt management pressure. There didn't have to be. The permanent employees ran a campaign to scuttle unionization. From their perspective, they were losing more than they gained by unionizing and so worked in their own self-interest. Like most people do.

- As mentioned in the body of the blog - "Everything --the good, the bad, and the indifferent-- is temporary." This applies equally to the fat (seriously, they were/are very very good) Sony benefits AS WELL AS those great union benefits ...

One major difference: union benefits have longer life-spans because they only change every three or four years, at contract renegotiation time. Company benefits can change annually, semi-annually or monthly, whenever the company wants to change them.

(And yeah, if the industry collapses -- think General Motors or Chrysler -- benefits are going to change before the end of collective bargaining agreement term. But I would submit that the entertainment industry is not G.M. or Chrysler.)

- Re: Tim Sarnoff b.s. - I don't personally know anyone who ever "lapped" up his b.s. Most artists that I know were and are too experienced/cynical to take at face value any statements by any company's management.

But some were influenced, no? Here's my suggestion: Listen to all sides, do independent research, then make up your own mind. Because what we need are independent minds who come to their own conclusions and take everyone -- me, Tim Sarnoff, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, you -- with a healthy dose of skepticism.

- Most artists that I know thought that the Union reps that came to speak at Imageworks were a collection of arrogant and condescending idiots. They had the attitude that they were here to rescue a bunch of poor exploited factory workers or something. Clearly THEY had not compared the then Sony benefits with the union offer. ... Hey, did Mr. Union Rep here tell you that our collective bargaining agreement would not have allowed us to strike. Boy, that's some strong union you got there. And YOU want to represent ME?

The campaign was not artfully run. And I knew by the second meeting that the organizing drive was in trouble. (It's not useful to have a Plan Administrator show up and yell at people, nor have union reps in suits not being open to questions.)

But here's the rub: If the union reps had walked in wearing t-shirts, shorts and flip flops and come off like Mr. Rogers, the union would still have lost the organizing election. Because the permanent employees were convinced that what they had was better than what they would get. (And they were no doubt right. But the production hires -- most of whom aspired to permanent status -- would have been better off.)

- As stated in the blog, the Union got absolutely pasted in the vote because their proposal and presentation sucked. Really, you can spin it all you want, but that is the bottom line.

Yep, the presentation was bad. The proposal, however, didn't suck. It was simply less than what permanent employees were getting.

- Ah, but that was then, this is now. As stated in the blog, now probably is a good time to try to get another union drive going again.

Why? Are Sony benefits and wages that much worse? Profit sharing all gone? (And I'm asking, because I don't know ...)

But the union has already missed the big boat. More and more digital work is going out of state and out of country (egs. Imageworks India and New Mexico). The union is just fighting for crumbs that remain. IA/TAG didn't do so well with keeping all those traditional cell animation jobs here in socal back in the 90's did they. And then they were slow to (try) to organize the digital workers and mostly failed. And now they will try to organize what's left when most of the good work will be long gone ....

Sounds like compelling points, except for this: TAG is larger today than when all the work was "here" and "union." How can that be, if all the work is going away?

Simple. The animation pie has continually expanded. Visual effects, games, animated features and TV shows are products created in all parts of the globe. Sony builds a studio in Albuquerque (and sub-contracts to Texas) at the same time Electronic Arts builds a big honking studio in Playa Vista, even though it's far cheaper to throw one up in Mumbai.

Why the hell is this?

Because labor costs are only one part of the picture. You must also have salable content and the quality to achieve sales. There is a huge and growing talent pool in Los Angeles, which is why work -- and studios -- continue to grow here.

So even if unions have a smaller slice of the overall work, they still have more unionized jobs than in the days of Disney, Hanna-Barbera and paint being slapped onto cells.

But of course, nothing is forever. We'll see what the morrow brings.

Better Luck Next Time, J. L.

2009-11-04T09:20:00.001-08:00

We were disappointed to see this:

Voters have narrowly elected a Democrat to lead Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city.

With most of the votes counted, Anthony Foxx was leading challenger John Lassiter, a Republican, by nearly 3,000 votes out of 105,000 cast. But Lassiter conceded defeat before the final, unofficial results were released by the Mecklenburg Board of Elections.

Open message to John:

Don't lose too much sleep over this. You still have Pixar, the Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disney Toons. You still have ...

Oh, wait ...

The Warners Exprience

2009-11-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

I whiled away my afternoon at the Warner ranch, ambling through the gbuilding and cluster of trailers that comprise Warner Bros. Animation. One board artists remarked:

"I was really lucky to land this job at Warners. The studio where I was working laid off a lot of their staff when they lost shows ...

The third floor of WB Animation is filled to capacity with artists working on the Batman and Looney Tunes series, while the fabled Scooby Doo gets made across the parking lot in the trailer pod. Scoob staffer said:

The look of the new Scooby series is definitely retro. We go back to the early seventies styling and backgrounds, and forget that all the dvd features were even made...

Casey Kasem came in last week to record Shaggy's Dad. [Kasem used to play Shaggy. Time moves on. -- SH] Casey looks good, but he moves a little slower than he used to. But he's out there doing it, you know? Still working.

Casey Kasem is 78 years old. The fact that he's recording cartoon characters I find to be ... dare I say it? ... inspiring.

Rabbit's Progress

2009-11-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

Robert Zemeckis, in the course of beating the tom tom for Christmas Carol, tells us this:

"There's a script that's being developed [for a Roger Rabbit sequel.] We've got the original writers that are working on it now — Seaman and Price ..."

"I think there was a time right after the movie came out that the Disney regime at the time — it was a point in the life of the studio where if you made a successful movie they could no longer afford to hire you back. ... I guess there were some projects that I don't know anything about ...."

The great animation myth is that Little Mermaid was the animated feature that kicked off "The Second Golden Age," of Toonage. But face it, there was a slow and steady accumulation before Mermaid happened.

Mr. Spielberg and Don Bluth produced American Tale for a pittance and it was a sizable hit. Land Before Time (the first one, not the 552 sequels) did well, and Disney's Oliver & Co., the first Disney animated feature of the Eisner-Jeffrey Katzenberg era, performed nicely.

Then Little Mermaid was released in November 1989 and did way more than nicely.

But before Disney's Burbank animation division took flight, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? one of the last animation-live action hybrids of the hand-drawn era, became one of the Mouse House's biggest grossers.

I would even say that RR, as much as the young mermaid, kicked off the heightened consciousness everyone has today about animation, so it's nice to see that there might soon be a sequel to this 1980s tent-pole.

Joy Ride, by Ralph Hulett

2009-11-03T03:12:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus and his reindeer off to a flying start to the world of waiting children.

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image. See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm. Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Mouse Reboot

2009-11-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

The return of Mickey.

The Mouse House will reintroduce its famous mascot in "Epic Mickey," a videogame due late next year that will revive several of the character's key personality traits that have been dulled or forgotten ...

(You know, traits like egomaniacal temper tantrums, general sadism, and dislike of small children. You haven't forgotten those personality tics, have you?)

... "I want to remind Mickey that he's a hero -- and to be a hero, we need to give him purpose. We need to throw him up against problems worthy of a hero -- not just trying to give Pluto a bath," [Warren Spector, VP and creative director of Junction Point Studios] said. "I want him to be funny. I want him to struggle. I want to 'age him up' a little." ...

Years ago, I knew a story guy at Disney who pitched Mickey as Aladdin in an Arabian Nights feature. No soap.

Mr. Spector, however, is optimistic.

... [A]ll we're trying to do is make Mickey the game hero he deserves to be," [Spector] said. "In my secret heart of hearts, I would love to see a movie or a comicbook ..."

Me, I'm holding out for a c.g. feature that shows Mick off in all his round and three-dimensional goodness. When the game becomes a big hit, it's bound to happen, yes?

I Can Breathe Easier Now ...

2009-11-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

The Times gives us the good news:

It opened on Friday but didn’t wind up on any weekend boxoffice charts ...

It’s a kid-friendly movie, but it only screens once daily: 1 p.m. on school days, 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday...

But in the world of animation, “The Missing Lynx: Paws on the Run” could prove to be one of the year’s most significant releases ... The news is crucial because for the last couple of weeks, the number of entries in the category appeared to have stalled at 15. If 15 movies qualify, the category will have three nominees; if 16 do so, it’ll jump to five ...

I'm a guy who thinks they need more animated feature nominees.

Because I'm a guy who thinks the Academy Awards are very, very important.

For commerce.

The more animated nominees there are, the wider the race, the higher the profiles of all the competitors, and the bigger the publicity.

And publicity, animation fans and laborers, is what drives the grosses of animated features to greater heights*, thereby inspiring our corporate masters to make more long-form cartoons and throw a few crumbs our way by employing the artists, writers, and technicians who make them.

* The quality of the product also has something to do with it, but we're talking tonight about the Oscars!

TAG Blog

Disneyana

More Rolling Heads

The Doings at DreamWorks Animation

Conventional Wisdom That's Not

Forest Madonna, by Ralph Hulett

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Foreign B.O.

Christmas -- Live/Vid Game -- Carol

The Links of Fall

The Weekend Derby

Christmas Time, by Ralph Hulett

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Layoffs and Hirings

Nick Counter, Rest in Peace

Box Office Prognostications

The End of Civilization ...

At Starz Media

Covered Bridge, by Ralph Hulett

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image. See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm. Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Why Animated Features Multiply -- Reason #423

Town Hall!

On Organizing

Better Luck Next Time, J. L.

The Warners Exprience

Rabbit's Progress

Joy Ride, by Ralph Hulett

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image. See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm. Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

Mouse Reboot

I Can Breathe Easier Now ...

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.

See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.

Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.

© 1955 by the Estate Of Ralph Hulett. Click on the thumbnail to see a full-sized image.

See Ralph Hulett Christmas card designs at TAG's art gallery, open weekdays 8:30 am-5 pm.

Here are more Ralph Hulett Christmas cards.