Monday was a two-studio day: Disney Television Animation on the Disney lot in the morning, and DreamWorks Animation in sun-kissed Glendale through the middle of the afternoon ....
The Phineas and Ferb crew in Disney's Frank Wells building is busy with the new season of the Mouse's biggest hit show. As one of the staffers said:
"The execs let Marsh and Povenmire [show creators] do a lot more than producers are usually allowed to do on Disney TVA shows. It's not too often the lead guys are allowed to write songs and do character voices around here, but when you make a successful series, you get leeway. Hopefully management won't top out the number of shows anytime soon, and we'll go on the way SpongeBob Square Pants has gone. Be great to do years of half-hour episodes."
Elsewhere on the floor, Fish Hooks continues in work as it nears its Fall premiere*. I was told that Disney TVA moves lock,stock and barrel to Glendale when the building next door to the fabled Sonora Building becomes available sometime next year, but everybody is vague about the month and the day that will occur.
Over at DreamWorks Animation, Katzenberg was roaming the studio having meetings, and one of the development artists in the Lakeside Building told me:
"They had a screening of Megamind at an outside theater last week, and everybody was happy with audience reactions and results. There were notes and the crew will keep tweaking things, but the screening went well."
A couple of sequences of The Croods are now in layout, and some of the story people informed me the picture is shaping up nicely.
I had a discussion with a storyboard veteran about how boarding has changed through the years, how story reels now require more poses than in earlier times (a result of digital boarding and the demands for faster pacing.) Some story crews at DWA are now putting up just the main story points of their sequences first, then showing them to the directors to make sure everybody is on board with the overall flow of story, and then putting in more detail.
I'm told this approach helps speed things along and reduces heartburn.
* There are a few other items being developed at DTVA/ Frank Wells, but since they haven't seen the light of studio press releases, I will maintain a discreet silence.
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29 comments:
It seems to me that all audience screenings go well. I'm not sure that I've ever heard of an audience screening that (at least according to the directors) didn't go well. If a screening didn't go well do you think the directors would tell that to the crew?
I just want Tangled to be as good as some here are saying. Not just in terms of quality, but box office. It would be a great burden off WDAS's shoulders if they finally had the hit that they were expecting when Lasseter was brought in.
I hope it lives up to Clay's hype. I do, I really do.
I've always wondered how WDAS would be faring right now had Lasseter not chased away Chris Sanders (and Dean Deblois by extension). They were the last guys to give WDAS a bonafide hit, and they've proven their movie-making skills with the breakout hit, How to Train Your Dragon (which Disney really could have used - not necessarily the same movie since Dreamworks had the rights, but something that those two could have provided). I still wish we could have seen Sanders' version of American Dog (Bolt)...
And who knows, maybe if WDAS had a few Sanders/Deblois projects in production, maybe there wouldn't be so many layoffs and firings going on over there.
I wonder when WDAS will have another hit?
For digital storyboards, what software does Disney (or any other studio for that matter) use? Is it off the shelf or proprietary?
"I still wish we could have seen Sanders' version of American Dog (Bolt)"
No. No, you don't.
I've seen it, and despite all the fanboy dreaming it was not good.
No matter how much you guys loved the art, it doesn't mean the story was as good. It wasn't. It was a mess. Please stop dreaming about seeing the masterpiece that it wasn't. It was collection of weird situations and awful scenes set to pretty characters.
Chris is a great talent, but his idea for American Dog would have been his Istar or Heaven's Gate. He couldn't have begged Katzenberg to hire him for something after that came out.
Lasseter was right to stop it. It wouldn't have worked. Sorry to burst your bubble. Chris seems to have learned from the ordeal after having moved to DWA. Dragon was a wonderful film, but if you think that is what you would have got with American Dog?
Please wake up.
Please.
Just to offer another point of view, haven't we all seen a film in development that was deemed by all to be a piece of crap - only to eventually go on to become a runaway hit?
American Dog may very well have been a dog, but now we'll never know will we?
Maybe it's just me, but somehow I don't think that Sanders and DeBlois suddenly got lucky at DreamWorks.
I'm just sayin'
see above.
Floyd Norman speaks the truth...
Um, lilo and stitch was a mild hit, and not a terribly good film.
and both Chicken Little and Bolt made more money.
Dean Dublois wasn't working for Disney when Sanders QUIT because he couldn't stand the heat in the kitchen. His film was a complete mess, and everyone knew it.
Yeah, I was just about to point out that Dean was not involved with ADOG, and without Dean, Sanders wanders helplessly...
Dean's lack of involvement in ADOG cannot be underestimated.
Actually Dean was involved with ADOG, toward the end.
Anyway, since we're having this conversation again....
I actually liked ADOG a lot. It was a mess, though.
That said, still very very good in places. The emotional impact was quite something. Never saw a messier film make such an emotional impact in some of its scenes. I found myself moved by the brokenness of Spig. He's a hilarious character... angry, mean, a huge jerk... but his relationship with Buttons comes through after a wreck of a scene. But then weird stuff just happened and you lost those characters in long, drawn-out bits of business that never went anywhere.
I think when we made Bolt, we swung perhaps too far in the other direction, and made a film a little too conventional. We traded overly quirky for overly safe, In my opinion. (And that's all it is, an opinion.)
We still made a damn fine little film, and I'm proud of it.
Dreamworks was both smart and lucky to grab such a gifted team. I love what they did with Dragon. Beyond the problems of ADOG, I wish a solution could have been found to keep that team together at Disney.
Not many people can make hit movies that are good movies. Here's to those who can.
That pretty much sums it up!
Before Floyd mentioned it more eloquently than I could, I was going to bring up the exact same point. What, it's impossible for films to get fixed before being released? I mean, didn't they retool ADog completely and turn it into Bolt in a couple of years? All I'm saying is I wish Sanders and Deblois got to fix American Dog themselves. Obviously they know how to make quality films.
And all I'm saying is Sanders and Deblois could be working on something for WDAS right now if they worked it out, and that studio would likely not be struggling for material to work on right now.
- The original Anon who brought up American Dog
If Sanders had not quit, he might very well be doing just that at Disney.
Fired, quit, who knows the real story and is willing to sign their name?
Because I've known some people pretty close to the incident who still won't say.
This blog has become a joke.
Way to go Steve.
signed,
Anonymous.
Steve, don't listen to the haters, keep up the good work.
Sure there might be crud among these comments, but one can glean trends and themes over a whole range of comments.
The blog is a joke because everybody's name happens to be, "Anonymous."
Of course, I understand why no one dares use their real name. And, that's a sad commentary on our business, isn't it?
Easy for you to say when you're not in the game anymore.
I think I'm done visiting this blog.
^
Please don't let the door hit you on the backside buddy...
I happen to like the studio updates that we get from Steve but I'm not so hot on the hyper-partisan comments that somehow always accompany those updates.
I'm still very much in the game. But, now I'm playing by my own rules not theirs.
Did you ever announce what that "secret project" you were working on was, Floyd?
We know it's for Disney, but I hadn't heard you mention anything lately and was wondering if you'd made it public?
Sorry, but there will be no more talking about upcoming Disney and Pixar projects from me. Wish I could, but I took some heat for letting something slip a while ago.
You'll have to wait until the Big Mouse is ready to make whatever announcement they're going to make.
But when will you draw something that is used?
Floyd, you've mentioned it quite a while ago, is it at least close to coming out???
It sounds so secret. Film project or book? C'mon, man! Just a tease... we want to know so we can support it!
Let me guess, you're one of the new directors on that new animated feature?
@Floyd Norman: I can't believe you took some heat by just saying here that "Newt is dead". Big deal. What's wrong with them?
"Anonymous said...
Um, lilo and stitch was a mild hit, and not a terribly good film.
and both Chicken Little and Bolt made more money. "
Not really. Do the math. Lilo & Stitch cost a little less than $80 million to make. Bolt cost $150 million, and with the ramp-up costs for Chicken Little it had to have cost at least that ($150 mil) if not more.
Box-office take is measured against what it cost to make it in the first place.
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