Gossip Guys

What with cleaning out my office and preparing for the next round of TAG contract negotiations, I didn't get out to as many studios as usual over the past week. However, I motor to a couple of larger cartoon facilities, and fell into conversation with animation artists and a director who were interested in sharing scuttlebutt, which they proceeded to do (And let's list this under scuttlebutt, not gospel truth.  Some of it is circulating on the intertubes already):

* Upper management at Cartoon Network is coming to the realization that -- gawrsh -- animation is more cost-effective and generates more profits over time than much of CN's live-action efforts. (This flies in the face of some published rumors -- see link below -- that Cartoon Network is going for more reality, sports and live action in the hear future. But how many reality shows are the small-fry supposed to gobble up, after all?)

* CN's Chowder is finished, and so probably is Flapjack. And not all of CN's management is crazy about their new, glass-walled digs in the skyscraper next to the older, CN studio in Burbank Village.

* John Lasseter wants to do more classical fairy tales with songs, of the type Walt used to do.

* The plan of Disney Animation Studio management is to have all of the hand-drawn crew from Princess and the Frog return for the Winnie the Pooh feature in several months. (And some will be retained at the end of P and F to work on a hand-drawn short or two ...)

* Fox/Gracie isn't going to be thrilled with all the new cost-cutting measures on The Simpsons because ... the show doesn't look as good as it did before the cost-cutting measures. But Richard Reynis got a raise anyway.

Like I say, some of the above is scurrilous rumor, but it's what's going around at different studios.