Friday Studios

I usually attempt to stay around the office more on Fridays, but that didn't happen today, as I hopped down to Wilshire Blvd. to visit the crews on "Family Guy" and "American Dad" at Fox Animation... It was lucky that I drove down in the morning, since 80% of the staff was leaving at noon for the Lake Malibu Club high in the hills above Agoura. The studio, it seems, was throwing a Friday afternoon picnic and spirits were high. And I would have been depressed if I'd blown an hour in the car getting to the studio, then found most everyone gone to Lake Malibu. Back in the Valley, I ended up at a disciplinary meeting for a young artist (one of my favorite activities.) The supervisor had issues with the guy's work, and so wrote him up with the usual boiler plate ("If your work fails to improve, further disiplinary action may be taken, up to and including discharge.") The artist, understandably, wasn't happy about it. My advice was to seek some accomodation and a truce with the boss, because one thing I know from long observation and my own stupid moves in story departments: it doesn't help to get into a test-of-wills thing with the guy in charge. You almost always end up at the fuzzy end of the popsicle stick. This only took me fourteen years to learn. I'm not a quick study.