At the Mall

Because the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers headquarters is cheek by jowl to Imagi Animation in the fabled Sherman Oaks Galleria, I took the opportunity to bop over there during an afternoon break. (Multi-tasking, that's me.)

As I went into Imagi, two story artists were coming out with pleased looks on their faces. One of them said:

"We had a new screening for Gatchaman an hour ago, and the picture has really come together in a good way. For a long time it seemed to be two separate films, but now it forms a seamless whole. We've got some notes, but everybody agrees that it works, and works well. It knows what it wants to be."

The rest of the story crew I talked to feels pretty much the same way about the quality of the picture.

And what about the other features happening at Imagi? I got to see some impressive scenes for Astroboy on various computer screens, and Tusker (late of DreamWorks) is now on Imagi's plate. As one artist remarked: "We're getting a big DreamWorks contingent around here ..."

And as for those AMPTP-IATSE negotiations, there's a blackout on the talks, but the lunchtime bunji-jumping competition in the Alliance's three-story lobby was a hoot.

Thank God I was wearing a helmet when my turn came.