You can make single payments to post by the next business day or for up to ninety days in advance, or you can set up recurring payments for up to a year. Whether or not you sign up for the system, you will continue to receive bills by U.S. Mail as you have in the past, and you can continue to send in checks or money orders by U.S. Mail; you can also pay cash in person during our office hours (Monday-Friday 8:30 am-5 pm). Contact Lyn Mantta at lyn@animationguild.org or (818) 845-7500 ext. 105 if you have any questions about this system.
Just in time for the first quarter 2010 dues bills going out next week, the Animation Guild is offering members a way to pay their dues and fees without having to write checks or pay postage or a processing fee. Just go online to http://www.animationguild.org/payments and click on the button to connect to our online payment system, hosted by Union Bank.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Pay your dues online -- without a fee!
Red Barn, by Ralph Hulett
Nature's organization of a Christmas Wreath; Winter birds outline a snow-covered barn.
© 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.
Click here to read entire post
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Animation Elsewhere
It seems that the Middle Kingdom has its own version of the Annies.
In Beijing, the 9th Animation Academy Awards of China was held last weekend ... Among the top winners are Moon Goddess for Best Visual Effects, Wind From Cypress Hills for Experimental Visuals, and Big Watermelon for Best Technique.
Distinguished for their bold imagination, exquisite production, and distinctive style, these works were all composed by undergraduates still in college. ...
Looking at the clips at the far end of the link, you realize (again) that there is a whole big Animationland out the beyond the villages of Burbank, Glendale, Emeryville and (shortly) Greenwich, Connecticut. Sometimes we tend to forget that.
Click here to read entire postMore from the party
President Kevin Koch and President Emeritus Tom Sito.
On the outside patio.
Redlands Zanja 8, the band that serenaded the festivities.
Above, Jim Hillin. Below, for no apparent reason, Jeff Massie breaks out in "jazz hands" at the gift table, as Jan Browning watches apprehensively.
Click here to read entire post
Monday, December 07, 2009
Leverage - Actors' Division
Let's now turn to one of the stronger unions in the U.S. labor movement, the organization that pioneered theatrical and television residuals back in 1960-61, when SAG President Ronald Reagan hammered out the first residuals deal.
But upfront, let's be clear on one important item. It's not 1960 anymore.
... Screen Actors Guild ... members recently rejected a proposed contract that covers voice work in the video game industry. "The concern going forward is that as these games become larger and larger and generate more income, we as actors won't see any more money when we walk out the door," ....
Attorney Scott Witlin, who represented video game publishers in the recent labor negotiations, disputes the notion that actors are being shortchanged. "If you look at the total contribution either in terms of hours that go into the creation of a game or the earnings of the people who make the games, voice talent represents a minute percentage," he said ...
The Screen Actors Guild complaints are that compensation in the video game area is going backwards not forward, and that SAG members receive no residuals for their work on video games, many of which sell in the millions of copies. Mr. Witlin makes the company's usual point, which is always:
"We paid you people for this job of work already! You don't expect us to pay you again, do you?!"
But of course we do, because sharing the wealth is a good thing. And conglomerates are ill-advised to use the limp moral argument about "paying twice" when they're paying many people "twice" already, like for instance executives who get big stock options and bonuses on top of big pay packages, and actors who get ten percent of gross on top of huge salaries. Also those nasty entertainment unions who are already getting residuals for films and teevee shows that the congloms own, because the congloms -- much as they hate it -- are saddled with paying residuals originally negotiated by Mr. Reagan.
Because it doesn't come down to morality at all. The whole deal is arbitrary, just like most deals created by humankind, and comes down to this:
The voices in about 80% of video game titles are performed by actors who don't work under a guild contract ... "It's not so much their argument is weak or strong," said Jonathan Handel, an adjunct professor at UCLA School of Law ... "The overarching issue for any union making a deal is: Who has the leverage?"
It's simple, really. You have the power to make the other party accept your fondest wish, or you don't. Period. It's not a matter of what is right or wrong, or what God wants, or what the children of Kenya believe to be the best outcome. It is only about power and leverage.
I learned this shortly after I started my first contract negotiation (when I had to think about it for the first time.) I've been receiving new lessons in the concept ever since.*
* And it's a concept I iterate over and over and over, since it can never be iterated too much,
Click here to read entire postAt the party
A few shots of Friday's holiday party. Above, before the stampede ...
And after. Below, Executive Board member Nicole Dubuc.
Below, board members Stephan Zupkas and Janette Hulett.
More pictures tomorrow.
Click here to read entire postTwilight Journey, by Ralph Hulett
The bell-gable arch and the twilight sky firm an imposing background for this strikingly beautiful oil painting of the weary travelers.
R. Hulett didn't paint very many Christmas cards in oils, but this is one of them. Most were done in the manner of Disney backgrounds.
© 1961 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.
Click here to read entire postSunday, December 06, 2009
Animation Writers and Residuals
Dave McNary of Variety writes of the Hatfields and McCoys-style feud that is the WGA vs. IATSE:
The WGA West recently told members it had processed $136 million in residuals on feature films last year, without mentioning that virtually none of that went to animation writers. Animation writing, unlike most other areas of Hollywood scripting, is a hodgepodge of union coverage and non-coverage that leaves writers with little leverage ...
Uh oh. McNary brings up the dread "l" word.
Because that's the crux of the matter. If you've got leverage, you can go someplace. If you don't have leverage, you're mired in the mud or sliding backward.
A little history: In the 1930s, Hollywood workers are divvied up between different unions and guilds. For whatever reason, the Screen Writers Guild doesn't organize animation writers, but the Screen Cartoonists Guild (not us) does.
In the 1950s, The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists (later the Animation Guild) displaces the Screen Cartoonists Guild as the principle representative of animation workers.
Still no Writers Guild in the mix.
So let's skip ahead to the the 1990s. (Somewhere in there, the Writers Guild negotiates an agreement with the movie companies that they don't/won't cover animation. I'm told the WGA has been attempting to get the language out of their contract for the last ten or twenty years, with about the same success we've had negotiating WGA-style residuals.) In 1997, the WGA negotiates a prime-time animation agreement with Rupert Murdoch's Fox. Under that agreement, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad and others are under a contract that includes WGA-style "mail box" residuals.
Since then, the WGA has negotiated animation writers' contracts that include residuals and animation writers' contracts that don't. (I'm informed that the non-residual contracts are for non-primetime animation, but I'm not a student of WGA contracts, so they would know better than I would. Generally, they don't advertise their non-residual deals.)
Both the Screen Writers Guild and the Screen Cartoonists began proposing residuals in the 1940s. By the time residuals happened in 1961, the Screen Cartoonists Guild was mainly history, and the WGA and the IATSE (the "mother international" under which TAG operates) had achieved a residual package for the television shows and features they worked on. The WGA opted for residual checks that went straight into the pockets of members; the IATSE went for residuals flowing into its pension and health plans.
Whether you think this structure is fair or unfair, it's the reality. And it's the reality that TAG and other IATSE locals have operated under for half a century.
So where are we now?
The WGA shares jurisdiction on animation writing with the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which covers most feature work at terms that aren't as sweet as the guild's. And significant titles are produced without any union contract, such as Pixar's "Up" and Blue Sky's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."
Those two titles will probably eventually sell 5 million to 10 million DVD units. If writing were covered by the WGA, the scribes would receive about a nickel per unit in homevideo residuals, so a hit film would deliver as much as $500,000.
As far as I know, the WGA covers no feature work, even as WGA members write on Blue Sky and Pixar projects. Up until now, the WGA has apparently countenanced Guild members working on non-union animated projects, but I don't know if that will go on forever.
Tom Schulman, VP of the WGA West ... had ... suggested during his VP campaign that the guild enforce Working Rule 8, which bars members from working for non-signatory producers. Under Rule 8, the WGA can fine the member for the entire amount of compensation, but it has not taken that step yet on animation writing.
It would be interesting to see what develops if the WGA starts invoking Rule 8 with members who write non-union feature animation. If this were to happen, the scenarios I can envision would include:
1) WGA members not writing non-WGA feature animation and producers getting along without them (using more board artists as writers? Like in the old days?)
2) WGA members performing the work anyway and getting fined.
3) Producers signing an IA deal that included animation writing and WGA members writing under the union contract.
My position in all this is:
A) I'm a TAG-IATSE employee, and I organize for TAG-IATSE because that's one of the things I'm paid to do. I'm not paid to organize for the WGA (east or west), so I don't.
B) I want every animation worker -- designers, animators, board artists, tech directors and writers to make the most money they can. I'm a spread-the-wealth kind of guy.
C) I agree with WGA Veep Schulman when he says: "producers will resist signing a WGA deal when an IATSE deal is available." This has been true since 1997 (when the WGA finally got into the animation game), just as producers will resist an IA deal when a NABET deal is available, just as producers will resist a NABET deal when they can get the work done non-NABET for say, $9 per hour.
Lastly. I've no clue why the WGA refuses to talk to Dave McNary. He's a very nice man.
Click here to read entire postSaturday, December 05, 2009
The Foreign Derby
And overseas, animated titles are doing a little bit of all right:
Robert Zemeckis' "Disney's A Christmas Carol" placed No. 3 for the frame, up 6% over the previous weekend in grossing $21.4 million from 5,328 playdates in 48 territories. Holiday title ended the frame with a foreign cume of $90.8 million and worldwide total of $195.7 million.
"Christmas Carol," toplining Jim Carrey, saw solid openings in France, Korea and Argentina. In France, the 3D opened to an estimated $3.2 million from 321 screens.
Continuing to be the driver was the U.K., where "Christmas Carol" declined a slim 10% in its fourth sesh to an estimated $3.3 million from 611 for a cume of $18.9 million.
In Japan, "Christmas Carol" moved up from third to second, grossing $1.8 million for a cume of $12.6 million.
Toon "Planet 51," produced by Spanish company Ilion Animation, came in a strong No. 4 for the weekend, grossing $9.5 million from 5,077 playdates in 11 territories for a foreign cume of $13.5 million and worldwide total of $42 million.
Weekend was led by Spain, where "Planet 51" launched at $4.3 million from 507 via DeAPlaneta. It took second after "New Moon," edging out "2012."
"It's an excellent opening, beyond expectations. Probably the best ever for a Spanish tooner," said one exhib ...
I'm guesstimating that Carol ends its theatrical run in the $270-$320 million range -- Bolt territory. And that it will come back for encores during Christmases future..
Click here to read entire postPearl Harbor Derby
Now with butter-flavored Add On.
Two animated features hang on to their Top Ten positions:
Disney’s A Christmas Carol" remained afloat in the top 10, grossing $1.9 million in seventh from 2,546, down 70% for a total stateside B.O. of $109.4 million. ...
Ranking tenth, Sony’s "Planet 51" beamed up $1 million at 2,904, down 75% in its second Friday, for a running total B.O. of $30.7 million.
Elsewhere among limited engagements, Disney’s exclusive Gotham and Los Angeles run of hand-drawn toon "The Princess and the Frog" continued to be strong in its second Friday, charting $233,000 from two venues, a 16% dip and an estimated total B.O. of $1.9 million ...
Worldwide, Christmas Carol is at $200 million (see above).
Still to come in the wide release department is The Princess and the Frog with Avatar -- that's animated, isn't it? -- following the week after.
Add On: The Top Ten for Friday:
1. The Blind Side (Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,326 runs] Fri $6.8M, Est Wkd $21M
2. New Moon (Summit) Week 3 [4,124 runs] Fri $5.2M, Est Wkd $15.2M
3. Brothers (Relativity/Lionsgate) NEW [2,088 runs] Fri $3.6M, Est Wkd $10M
4. Armored (Sony) NEW [1,914 runs] Fri $2.4M, Est Wkd $7M
5. Old Dogs (Disney) Week 2 [3,425 runs] Fri $2.0M, Est Wkd $7M
6. 2012 (Sony) Week 4 [3,220runs] Fri $2.0M, Est Wkd $6M
7. A Christmas Carol (Disney) Week 5 [2,456 runs] Fri $1.9M, Est Wkd $7.5M
8. Ninja Assassin (WB) Week 2 [2,503 runs] Fri $1.6M (-71%), Est Wkd $5M
9. Everybody's Fine (Radar/Miramax) NEW [2,133] Fri $1.3M, Est Wkd $4.5M
10. Planet 51 (Sony) Week 3 [2,904 runs] Fri $1.0M, Est Wkd $4M
Add On Too: At the wire, Christmas Carol has collected $115 million domestic while rising to #4 on the Hit Parade, and Planet 51 stands at $34 million in the ninth position. (Meanwhile, New Moon and The Blind Side have traded the #1 and #2 slots, with Blind Side now at #1, and Fox executives kicking themselves down Pico Boulevard for putting the picture into turnaround. Oh well ...)
Just outside of the Top Ten, The Fantastic Mr. Fox (#11) has pocketed $14 million and The princess and the Frog stand at $2.5 million prior to going wide on December 11th.
Click here to read entire postAzul, by Ralph Hulett
Azul, tho' perched majestically on his jeweled pillow, succumbs to an irresistible urge for one quick swing at the tempting bauble.
Azul was the family Siamese, and one of my favorite pets when I was a kid, and one great cat.
Azul had to be put up for adoption when my asthmatic young sister could no longer tolerate cat hair. I was sorry to see him go.
© 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.
Click here to read entire postFriday, December 04, 2009
Tonight: The TAG Holiday Party!
THE ANIMATION GUILD HOLIDAY PARTY!
Friday, December 4, 2009
7 pm-midnight
Castaway Restaurant*
1250 E. Harvard Road, Burbank
* Note the CHANGE OF LOCATION from previous parties.
Free hors d'oeuvres!
Two free well drinks per person!
Live music!
Complementary valet parking! (A tip is suggested but not required)
No RSVPs necessary; open to the community of animation and the community of labor
The Castaway Restaurant is in the hills above the DeBell Golf Course, northeast of downtown Burbank. Take Magnolia Blvd. as far east as you can go (it ends at Sunset Canyon Drive). Turn left on Sunset Canyon and go three blocks to Harvard Road. Turn right and go up the hill to the Castaway.
Tax-deductible contributions to the Actors Fund will be collected. Plan to pay by check made out to The Actors Fund if you want a receipt.
Please party responsibly and arrange for a designated driver.
Artist: Carol Wyatt
Linkorama
Another Friday fraught with links.
Disney U.K. is ramping up its TV toons.
LONDON - Disney is to boost its content production presence across Europe, trebling its investment in animation and airing five new series across its portfolio of TV channels ...
Can we say Glo-Bal? ...
Another Arthur hybrid cartoon emerges from France ....
... Animated sequences feel less crowded than in the previous film, and production designer Hugues Tissandier ("Taken") offers some nifty sets that combine small-scale models with CGI backgrounds. But the garishly designed cartoon characters, captured by d.p. Thierry Arbogast's harsh yellow and green lighting, are often hard on the eyes and not nearly as fun to watch as they should be.
Live scenes are mostly by the book, with passable performances and little cinematic inspiration, especially in the nostalgic, small-town Americana settings (actually shot in Normandy) ....
The first installment tanked stateside; we'll see how this one shakes out.
Ricky Gervais, of The Office fame, brings his new cartoon extravaganza stateside early next year:
The Ricky Gervais Show, which is due to premiere on US cable channel HBO on 19 February, is expected to air on Channel 4 [in Britain] in March.
Gervais has made the show with the US film company MRC, with whom he worked on the recent movie The Invention of Lying, and the animation house Wildbrain.
Based on his series of audiobooks of the same name, which originated in an Xfm show and later ran as a podcast for the Guardian website, The Ricky Gervais Show will feature the same banter between the comedian and his sidekicks Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, with animation accompanying original recordings of the trio.
Wildbrain, now headquartered in Sherman Oaks, is doing the Gervais show as well as "Peanuts"; yet two more good reason for TAG to secure a contract with the company ...
Director-story artist-animator and all around talent Will Finn here provides evidence why Mel Brooks should voice an animated feature:
This was just about the last really long piece of full animation I've done--the project itself was (alas) shelved. Eric's idea was to cast Mel as a certain elf with an unpronouncable name and I got to make up this animation as I went along. Eric designed the character and provided me with a custom made model sheet.
(But the hand-drawn art form is coming back, so maybe there is hope ...)
This is the year for movies with the word "Up" in the title:
... [T]he National Board of Review gave "Up in the Air" multiple awards on Thursday, including best film of the year ...
In a strong year for animated pics, the board named "Up" for animated feature kudos -- and resurrected a special filmmaking achievement award for Wes Anderson's stop-motion pic "Fantastic Mr. Fox."...
And we'll see some of you up at the TAG Christmas party this p.m. The rest of you will get to look at pictures ... when we get our wits together and put them up.
Have a joyous weekend.
Click here to read entire postThursday, December 03, 2009
Always the Movie Star
DreamWorks signs another Big Name:
Leonardo DiCaprio is getting animated for the first time in his career. He'll make his toon debut in DreamWorks Animation's "The Guardians," voicing a twist on the Jack Frost character ...
DWA signs more marquee names as voice talent, I think, than any other studio. It would be easy to get on a high horse about it, and go off how lower-recognition vocal actors give better, more energetic performances, (I've always thought that Hans Conreid as Captain Hook is the touchstone in this regard.) But if I'm honest, I need to admit that every studio has hired big stars to do animated features.
Pixar has used Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, along with film icon Paul Newman.
Blue Sky Studios has used Robin Williams. (But then, who hasn't used Robin Williams? He's been in the character voice business since Fern Gully... and his first big screen role was portraying cartoon icon Popeye.)
Even the venerated Uncle Walt, who mostly employed radio actors back in the day, hired Bing Crosby for Ichabod Crane in the 1940s, and Crosby was at that time a multi-media giant.
So not to pick on DreamWorks Animation, since every studio goes this route at some point or other, but DWA travels the road more.
Click here to read entire postPurple Procession, by Ralph Hulett
The color of royalty is used almost exclusively in this dramatic candle-lit procession honoring The King of Kings.
Add On: Christmas Card Q & A ...
When did Hulett start doing Christmas cards?
He started in the early 1950s, with a royalty deal with a card compnay named California Artists, which was bought out by a company named Designers Showcase in the 1960s. Designers Showcase was bought out in the early seventies. Hulett painted cards almost up to his death.
How many designs would he do per year?
Twenty-five to thirty designs would be published in a fat catalog each year. The books would be set up on large tables at upscale stationary stores, department stores, etc. Customers would pore through the catalogs and select the cards they wanted to order. Hulett would usually paint an extra four or five designs each season, and the company would select the ones it most liked.
Some years Hulett would go on cross-country junkets to various department stores in different cities, promoting the cards. He would give painting demonstrations in stores, garnering publicity.
Were there other Disney artists who did Christmas cards?
I can think of two. Eyvind Earle (another background painter, remembered today as the stylist for Sleeping Beauty) and Josh Meador, who was the head of visual effects at Walt Diwsney Productions for many years. Meador worked primarily in oils.
Are you going to publish these designs in a book?
Maybe. Eventually. When I get some free time. We put the card designs up at TAG blog so they are out there. This is far better than having them sit in a storage vault gathering dust.
© 1961 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.
Click here to read entire postWednesday, December 02, 2009
Of Profits and Title Changes
While we're on the subject of DreamWorks Animation, the studio's third feature for 2010 has changed its title for a third time.
... [I]t was revealed that "Oobermind" has now changed its title to "MegaMind ...."
After earlier being called Master Mind.
Well, as long as they keep "mind" in the title, we'll give it pass, yes? ...
And the studio has inked a new video game deal:
THQ, which had already been developing a game for the toon studio's upcoming "MegaMind" (formerly "Oobermind"), has inked a multi-year deal with DreamWorks to exclusively produce games for all platforms based on "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom" and "Puss in Boots," as well as the TV series "The Penguins of Madagascar."
Rival gamemaker Activision has long been producing most of DreamWorks' games, including those for the "Shrek" franchise ...
What people tend to forget as we all trundle down life's highway, is that fourteen years ago, DreamWorks had its own video game division in a big building on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. Just like it had a TV animation division on Ventura Boulevard in sun-kissed Encino.
But both of those divisions went away after a few years as they ate up lots of money but generated scanty profits.
Since those heady days, DWA has found it advantageous to partner with game companies and TV cartoon companies, thus its alliance with Nicktoons, Activision and THQ.
Click here to read entire postCan't Get Anything by These Analysts
DreamWorks had its dog and pony show for market analysts yesterday, and the green eyeshade boys and girls picked up on the obvious.
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., maker of “Shrek” movies, rose the most since May in Nasdaq trading after an analyst recommended the stock and the company predicted higher profit margins in 2010.
The Glendale, California-based filmmaker will generate “significant” amounts of cash next year, President Lewis Coleman said today on a conference call. Tony Wible, a Philadelphia-based analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, raised his 2010 profit estimate and recommended investors buy the shares.
DreamWorks Animation gained $3.36, or 9.7 percent, to $37.96 at 4 p.m. New York time. The shares have risen 50 percent this year.
So we can say that DWA's rollout of product for the Wall Street crowd at its Glendale campus on Tuesday was a success, can we not?
One analyst was so impressed by [How to Train Your Dragon] after a screening that he upgraded DreamWorks to buy from neutral, in a note to clients.
"The film is shaping up to be a major hit with a strong marketing campaign, merchandise opportunities, and franchise value." says Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible ...
This pretty much tracks with what crew members have been telling me, also my own eyes after viewing the HTTYD trailer: It's a winner.
What always amazes me is how DreamWorks haters just can't bring themselves to admit that the studio makes any quality films. Sure, not every one is a gem, but they all have something. And frankly, the Emeryville studio up in the Bay Area isn't a flawless creator of animation either. (I found the first 40 minutes of Wall-E riveting; unfortunately it was attached to a featurette entitled 2001 With Fat People which was way less riveting.)
So put me in with all those stock pickers who believes that DreamWorks Animation is going to have a banner year. Its 2010 features will do gang-busters, its Nick teevee shows will do well, and Jeffrey K. will continue doing hand-stands up there on his high wire.
Here's the L.A. Times take on the analysts' meeting.
Click here to read entire post
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Fox Keeps Cartooning Up
NBC doesn't do it. CBS doesn't do it. ABC doesn't do it (even though it's owned by Diz Co.)
But the Fox Network just can't get themselves enough of that prime-time animation ...
Fox is flipping "Bob's Burgers," handing a 13-episode order to an animated comedy series from "Home Movies" co-creator Loren Bouchard.
The project is set at a seaside East Coast town and centers on Bob, a creative grill man who runs a struggling burger joint with his tightly wound wife and their three unhelpful kids. ...
Rupert and Co. have apparently stumbled on a magical elixer that allows them to be successful with cartoons in the evening hours. They own the Sunday night block, and sell lots of DVDs into the bargain.
No wonder they keep developing animated shows. They've made a whole lot of money from the enterprise, so why not go right on doing it?
They just have to make sure they don't overwork the "off-kilter husband with eccentric wife and mega eccentric kids" angle.
Click here to read entire postThe Annies!
Since our friends at ASIFA were kind enough to ship all their nomination for '09 to us earlier this morning, we give the announcement to you here in its pristine form:
The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 37th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best animated features, television productions, commercials,short subjects and outstanding individual achievements in the field of animation.
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “The Princess and the Frog” received eight nominations, including Best Animated Feature and individual nominations for animated effects, character animation, production design and voice acting, while its “Prep and Landing” received nine nominations including Best Animated Television Production and individual nominations for character animation, character design, music, production design, storyboarding and writing.
DreamWorks Animation received 11 nominations, including Best Animated Television Production for “Merry Madagascar.”
Laika received a total of 10 nominations including Best Animated Feature “Coraline” and Pixar Animation Studios received a total of nine nominations including Best Animated Feature “Up.”
Completing the list of Best Animated Features nominated are:“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” Sony Pictures Animation, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” 20th Century Fox and “The Secret of Kells,” Cartoon Saloon ...
Nickelodeon leads the field in television with 12 nominations, including three for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children: “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “The Mighty B!,” and “The Penguins of Madagascar.” Completing the nominations in this category are Disney Television’s “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and Cartoon Network Studio’s “The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.”
Nominees for the Best Animated Television Production are “Glenn Martin, DDS,” Tornante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications, “Merry Madagascar,” DreamWorks Animation, “Prep and Landing,” ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios, and “The Simpsons,” Gracie Films.
Winners will be announced at the 37th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA ...
For a complete listing of Annie Award nominations and event information, please go to www.annieawards.org. ...
Jurying the Annie Awards takes a great deal of time and a great deal of work, and there is no compensation involved. Hats off to the members of ASIFA who went through endless hours of viewing dvds and film to achieve the current slate of nominees.
Click here to read entire postWhite Christmas, by Ralph Hulett
Ralph Hulett's specialty of background design creates a winter landscape with brilliantly defined light and shadow ...
© 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.
Click here to read entire post
Monday, November 30, 2009
'Toons' Foreign Progress
Here in Britain's former colonies, Disney's A Christmas Carol continues to roll right along. As of yesterday, CC was an eye lash short of $105 million. And the picture is doing fine overseas:
"Disney's A Christmas Carol" ... opened in seven markets, grossing $22.1 million from 5,328 sites overall in 48 territories. "Christmas Carol's" foreign cume stands at $94 million ... Holdover markets proved strong, providing $15.3 million of the weekend total, down a mild-mannered 28 percent from the previous frame. ...
So with CCearning serious coin overseas, what kind of accumulation of dollars will it have? After theater runs, dvd sales, and TV broadcasts, will it go into the black? I'm thinking yes, sooner or later. There are a lot of Christmases yet to come.
Meanwhile, there are other animated features unspooling in foreign lands.
... [A]nimation adventure "Planet 51," [had] solid openings in Spain, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil [and] produced $6.4 million on the weekend. The biggest contributor was Spain, where the title from Handmade Films and Ilion Animation grabbed a No. 2 spot with $4.3 million from 442 locations.
Spain, of course, was where Planet 51 was made. Jerry Bruckheimer also had toonage in play.
"G-Force" opened in China ($1.5 million from 300 screens), and drew $2.3 million overall during the weekend. The overseas gross for the animation title from producer Jerry Bruckheimer is $161.8 million.
So let's see. G-Force's foreign take, combined with its $119.4 million domestic gross, now runs the guinea pigs to a grand, worldwide total of $281.2 million.
Not too bad.
Click here to read entire postDreamWorks Animation Walking Tour
Though you wouldn't know it from recent posts, I've been bopping through studios at a steady rate, just not writing about it.
How many times can you say: "The crew at [Studio X] continues to work on [blank]."? Bo-ring.
Today was a hectic sprint through multiple studios, starting with Nick's Kung Fu Panda satellite unit* where the first season of KFP the TeeVee version is under way, and the wish of the crew is that there will be a second season.
Next up was the nosebleed section of Cartoon Network, followed by DreamWorks Animation in the afternoon. The story team on The Croods is driving toward a screening for the head guy in January, when they will roll out the revised storyline.
"I think it's the first time the whole feature will be up on reel. We've made some changes ..."
Meantime, the Associated Press reports that DreamWorks Animation's stock, after a pullback, is again on the rise:
... Caris & Co. analyst David Miller said investors bought up DreamWorks shares after Walt Disney Co. announced its $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. in August, fueling speculation that DreamWorks might be purchased as well.
But when the buyout possibility dimmed over the past months, DreamWorks shares fell 15 percent from a "frothy" 52-week high, the analyst said.
As such, Miller upgraded the stock to "Average" ... "The market is now resigned to the notion that a take-out of DreamWorks Animation will not happen anytime soon," he said in a research note.
I've thought for a long time that DWA was a ripe take-over target, but there doesn't seem to be any big-money takers out there at present. (Could the September 2008 meltdown put a damper on Dreamworks' acquisition prospects? Naah ...)
DWA crews have told me they think How to Train Your Dragon is a winner, and Shrek IV is almost sure to be a box office behemoth. I have no idea how Oobermind, launching in the Fall, will perform. But that's three animated features out in the marketplace in 2010, so DreamWorks' cash flow should be strong.
All in all, DWA seems poised to continue thriving as an animation stand-alone, and Jeffrey's athletic high-wire act continues.
* The Nick unit is located in a secret location in the magical highlands of Burbank. Please keep this to yourselves.
Click here to read entire postSunday, November 29, 2009
Another Fox Animation
Apparently the House of Rupert won the bidding war for this 'toon.
Fox has partnered with Matthew McConaughey to develop an animated TV comedy based on his brother's life.
"My brother's life is so unbelievable, we had to animate it," McConaughey said.
My questions are: Where will it be done, when will it be done, and can we get the series under a contract?
Click here to read entire postAAI "mini-semester" starts January 4
Artist: Nicole Duet
The American Animation Institute, TAG's education program, has announced a "mini-semester" of classes starting in early January.
Registration is now open, and we encourage you to sign up as soon as you can since many of these classes will fill up. To register, call (818) 845-7000 during office hours, Monday-Friday 8:30 am to 5 pm. After registering by phone, make out checks to the American Animation Institute and send to: 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505. You place in class is not guaranteed unless you have registered and paid. Payment is due by December 30, 2009. No refunds will be given after the first day of class.
Classes are listed in full below the fold. A PDF version of the flyer is available here. (Misteaks in the version attached to the earlier e-mail have been corrected.)
American Animation Institute Winter 2010 "Mini-Semester January-February 2010
Day classes
• Head and Figure Painting - Instructor: Karl Gnass - Fee: $150.00 - 6 Mondays, January 4-February 8, 9:30 am to 4 pm
This course deals with the fundamentals and development of head and figure painting. Attention will be given to anatomy, structure and form followed with emphasis on character, mood and action. We will examine and explore different theories of color, the value scale, direct and indirect light and procedures used by various artists throughout history. There will be a running dialogue about composition and its importance. A one-day lecture tour of a Los Angeles museum is included. Finally, a look at personal approach, inviting the student to challenge established norms and limitations.
artist: Glenn Vilppu
• Basic Figure Drawing and Anatomy - Instructor: Glenn Vilppu - Fee: $210.00 - 9 Tuesdays, January 5-March 2, 10:30 am to 4 pm
Classical figure drawing, with discussions of the application of anatomy to drawing.
• Painting The Still Life - Instructor: Nicole Duet - Fee: $100.00 - 5 Thursdays, January 14-February 11, 10 am to 2:30 pm
Painting from the still life is one of the most quietly rewarding ways for students of all levels to develop the skills of a painter. This class covers fundamentals of paint handling and color mixing, and how to create the illusion of light, form and atmosphere. This class can provide either an in depth introduction to oil painting or a deepening of the student's understanding as a painter. Demonstrations and individual attention will be given. Call for supply list.
artist: Karl Gnass
• Morphing Life Drawings Into Character Drawings - Instructor: Karl Gnass - Fee: $125.00 - 5 Fridays, January 8-February 5, 9:30 am to 4 pm
We will utilize life-drawing concepts, reviewing and clarifying them, to transform figures into characters for storytelling and animation. We will also work on character development and expression for portfolios.
• 2D (Traditional) Animation Workshop - Instructors: Alex Topete and Michael Polvani - Fee: $70.00 - 3 Saturdays, January 16-January 30, 9 am to noon
This intensive workshop in traditional animation basics will offer students practice in thumbnailing poses, staging, refining attitudes, acting and character expressions, dialogue, timing for animation, inbetweening, creating exposure sheets, and continued emphasis on drawing fundamentals. Students can expand their 2D reel in class working on an individual project or collaborating on a short team exercise. Students may work in Flash (on theirown laptops) or with pencil and paper (using classroom pencil-test equipment).
Evening Classes
• Life Drawing - Instructor: Karl Gnass - Fee: $90.00 - 6 Mondays, January 4-February 8, 7 pm to 10 pm
A basic foundation figure drawing class. Emphasis on fundamentals of observing, interpreting and describing form. Procedures used inquick sketch, construction and fundamentals of volume and structure. The goal is to develop the ability to draw with skill and imagination.
• Draped Figure and Costume - Instructor: Karl Gnass - Fee: $180.00 - 12 Wednesdays and Thursdays, January 7-February 12, 7 to 10 pm
We will take the confusion out of drapery by covering the important basic folds and how they relate to non-active folds and wrinkles. We will also explore the expressive qualities of drapery, drapery as costume, and costume as character.
• Color and Composition - Instructor: Nicole Duet - Fee: $75.00 - 5 Wednesdays, January 13-February 10, 7 to 10 pm
A workshop focusing on the basic visual and aesthetic interactions of color. Topics include developing sensitivity in color perception and intensive practice in mixing color. Special focus on color harmony, dynamic color as an aspect of composition, and learning to use color to create effects of luminosity, depth and atmosphere in a painting. Students also develop a basic understanding of color as it relates to composition and form, including discussion of historical examples of color use in painting. Call for supply list.
To register, call (818) 845-7000. After registering by phone, make out checks to the American Animation Institute and send to: 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505. Payment is due by December 30, 2009. No refunds will be given after the first day of class.
City Tree, by Ralph Hulett
The spirit of Christmas radiates from the lighted tree amid the grime and snow of the city streets.
© 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.
Click here to read entire post
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Last?
The final curtain, we're informed, is near ....
Even fairy tales must come to an end.
The once-upon-a-time spoofing that began with 2001's Shrek will conclude when Shrek Forever After, the fourth computer-animated comic adventure starring the hygiene-challenged ogre — and the first in 3-D — arrives May 21
Sorry, but I don't buy this "conclusion" thing.
Did Sinatra ever really retire? Did Cher actually give her last "farewell" concert?
Of course not. The end only comes with death, and even that won't stop Shrek. The franchise pulls down too much money.
Click here to read entire postCareer Trajectories
Sitting at El Capitan the other night watching Waking Sleeping Beauty, I was struck by how career paths often turn on a dime.
Up on the screen was the tale of Disney Feature Animation, struggling in the early eighties, triumphant in the early nineties, and starting to unravel even as it released its biggest hit, The Lion King, in 1994.
Down in the theater seats, a couple of thousand artists who had ridden the rocket sat watching their younger selves, remembering how they'd hit the heights ... only to get laid off half a dozen years later.
Most of the faces I saw, the crew members who made Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King and the others happen, aren't at Disney anymore. Rob Minkoff is doing live action and projects at DreamWorks Animation. Tom Sito is teaching college and working at Warner Bros. Don Hahn and Peter Schneider are most of the way out of the cartoon business, working on independent projects.
And others who once stood on various rungs of the Disney Feature ladder are now at television cartoon studios, visual effects houses, merchandising art, or looking for their next gig. A few work in the grocery business. (One artist I've known for decades came up and thanked me for helping her get dismissal pay from a foot-dragging studio, then admitted that jobs have recently been few and far between.)
Who could have guessed in 1994 that all those high-stepping careers would have been down-sized out of existence by 2002? As one artist said to me:
"We did everything they asked, and they still stopped making hand-drawn features ..."
After a couple of decades of observation, I've concluded the race goes to the talented and hard-working, but mainly the resilient and lucky. Because no matter how carefully you plan, no matter how many hours of labor you put in, at some point the career highway will ramp off in a direction you didn't expect, and you'll have to hang onto the steering wheel because a blowout is imminent.
(In other words: You could have been the most productive employee the Fleischers had at their Miami studio, and you still would have moved to California or New York looking for work 4 1/2 years later when the place closed down.)
That reality was on vivid display at the El Capitan last Monday night, both on the screen and in the audience, and has happened to almost everyone who's worked in animation in the last thirty years. Close to nobody finishes a career where they start it. Close to nobody ends up where they think they will. Like for instance this artist:
Born in Ecuador and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Mike Judge got a degree in physics at U.C. San Diego. Relocating to Texas, Judge worked as an engineer and also tried to forge a career as a musician, but found that animation was his preferred calling. After a Dallas animation festival, Judge's 1991 short Office Space was picked up by Comedy Central. His 1992 short Frog Baseball, featuring two sadistic teen cretins voiced by Judge, subsequently led to a 1993 MTV animated series revolving around the heavy metal-loving adolescents Beavis and Butthead ...
Or this gent ...
... [Simon Tofield's] five short films -- "Cat Man Do," "Let Me In," "TV Dinner," "Hot Spot" and "Fly Guy" -- depicting the misadventures of a demanding cat and his befuddled owner have scored more than 36 million hits [on the internet.] The first film, "Cat Man Do," in which the cat resorts to somewhat unorthodox methods to wake his master and get his breakfast, won best comedy in the British Animation Awards in 2008. Tofield wasn't planning on making a series or even releasing "Cat Man Do" when he made the cartoon. It was just an exercise to teach himself Flash, an animation program widely used in commercials ...
Like it? A career in animation by accident.
As always, there are a zillion different foot-paths into Animationland, and a whole lot fewer that zig-zag through it to the tippy top. I wish to God I knew what the ideal roadmap was, but I don't think it exists.
And if it does, I've never seen it.
Click here to read entire postFriday, November 27, 2009
Global II
Illusion Studios seems to be cooking down Argentine way. First Gaturro, now this.
Argentina’s Juan Jose Campanella, director of runaway hit “El secreto de sus ojos” (The Secret in Their Eyes), is preparing to helm his first animated film, with a E6 million ($8.94 million) budget. “Metegol” (Foosball) is about the plight of a foosball team trying to reunite after their table is dismantled and scrapped.
... Illusion Studios, a local production outfit behind this year’s hard-boiled hoodlum satire “Boogie, el aceitoso,” has arranged co-production deals with Canada, India, Mexico, Spain and other countries for the toon pics ...
There are, apparently, other continents producing multiple animated pics. Who would have thought?
Click here to read entire postHoliday Animation Derby
Now with tinsel-covered Add Ons.
As we move through the four-day Turkey holiday, animation has a lot of competitors in the race.
"Disney’s A Christmas Carol" charted sixth with $3.8 million off 3,013, a near three fold surge over last Thursday’s take, with a running domestic cume of $89.4 million.
Sony’s animated feature "Planet 51" followed in seventh with $1.6 million from 3,035 and a first week take of $18.3 million.
Fox’s expansion of Wes Anderson’s "Fantastic Mr. Fox" from four locales to 2,027 catapulted the stop-motion film into eighth with $1.35 million yesterday. Pic took in $1.1 million during its first day of going wide on Wednesday. Heading into its third frame, "Mr. Fox" counts a domestic B.O. of $3 million ....
... Disney’s exclusive run of its hand-drawn animated "The Princess and the Frog" at the Ziegfeld in New York and the Walt Disney Studios main theater totaled $430,770 since its Wednesday bow.
So how often does VARIETY report four animated features as significant box office contenders at one time? Like not too often.
6) A Christmas Carol -- $3,770,000
7) Planet 51 -- $1,595,000
8) The Fantastic Mr. Fox -- $1,360,000
13) The Princess and the Frog -- $167,000
... Like not ever, if you think about it. (And yeah, not all of the above animations are going to end up as chart busters, more's the pity ...)
Add On: Going into the far turn, animated entrants remain in the middle of the pack:
A Christmas Carol" taking $6.64 million from 3,013. ... [T]he domestic cume for "Christmas Carol" should cross $100 million this weekend; its B.O. currently standing at $96 million ...
Sony’s feature toon "Planet 51" counted $4.1 million in seventh from 3,035, up 29% from a week ago with an eight-day take of $22.4 million.
20th Century Fox’s "Fantastic Mr. Fox" doubled its domestic cume from Thursday, drawing $3 million from 2,029 in eighth yesterday for a new domestic total of $6 million.
... Disney’s exclusive run of its new hand-drawn animated feature "The Princess and the Frog," set to go wide on Dec. 11, drew an estimated $277,000 from two sites for a running three-day domestic take of $707,630 ...
Add On Too: Down to the wire, a lot of movies do well.
1) The Twilight Saga -- $65,999,682
2) The Blind Side -- $57,530,347
3) 2012 -- $25,549,508
4) Old Dogs -- $24,085,000
5) A Christmas Carol (2009) -- $22,557,631
6) Ninja Assassin -- $21,010,000
7) Planet 51 -- $13,899,974
8) The Fantastic Mr. Fox -- $9,499,685
* The Princess and the Frog -- $1,142,000
Praise be for long holiday weekends.
Click here to read entire postBrotherly Love, by Ralph Hulett
Our jolly friar, who firmly believes it is more blessed to give than to receive, cheerfully dispatches his Christmas packages.
© 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.
Click here to read entire post
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Global Animation
Now with Add On.
Gee, I'm so old I can remember when only artists working in the East San Fernando Valley cared about toonage at all. But now there's this:
Research and Markets ... has announced the addition of Screen Digest's new report "The Global Animation Industry" to their offering.
... Many countries, in particular France and Canada, are reaping the benefits of an ecosystem of financial support programmes, tax breaks and broadcast quotas that serves to bolster their animation sectors. Even these industries are not immune to a weak international market, relying on co-production, pre-sales and licence fee revenue for a significant part of their funding ...
Glancing over the report's subject matter, it appears to lay out the obvious: There's lots of sub-contracting going on; license fees aren't what they once were, and there are some big American conblomerates which dominate the cartoon industry.
There's a surprise.
On a side note: There are currently several new "independent" animation studios cropping up in the San Fernando Valley. They are independent the way Charlie McCarthy was independent of Edgar Bergen, the way that Jeff Dunham's universe of dummies is independent of him.
Almost all of the indie companies out there, from Film Roman to Bento Box to Rough Draft to Wild Brain, are dependent on the Big Boys for their continued existence. They are job shops, and as I once said to a storyboard artist who proclaimed how much he loved working for a small, non-union studio free of the hammy hand of conglomerates:
"You kidding me? Everybody works for the big entertainment congloms. They either work for them directly ... and get paid union benefits ... or they work for them indirectly, and don't. But they all work for the same Goliaths ..."
It was true when I said it a few years back; it's more true now.
Add On: Speaking of global toons, here's one example of animation beyond American shores ... animation that Americans will likely never see.
Mexico's Anima Estudios has inked to co-produce animated feature "Gaturro," which is lead produced by Argentina's Illusion Studios and Toonz Animation India. Anima will take minority equity in "Gaturro," about a cat TV star, and carry out post-production.
Anima's boarding of "Gaturro" advances a three CGI pic co-production alliance between Illusion and Anima, Latin America's foremost film/TV toon producers.
In production, "Gaturro" will bow theatrically in Argentina and India second half 2010. Pic will also have a digital 3-D version ...
Lots of animated product is created in different parts of the world that the citizens of the U.S. never know exists (it ain't all Up and Kung Fu Panda), yet there are numerous animation gypsies flying around the globe to work on it.
Click here to read entire postExpanding Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox goes wide ....
Wes Anderson's animated feature "Fantastic Mr. Fox" -- which 20th Century Fox expanded to a wide release Wednesday after a couple of weeks of bicoastal bookings -- ranked eighth for the day, with $1.1 million from 2,027 playdates.
... and it appears that Mr. Anderson's latest may not be a barn burner at the turnstiles. I expect Alvin and his chipmunk companions will be stronger competitors at the box office, as will The Princess and her frog.
Click here to read entire post
