There's always room for another cartoon facility:
Stoopid Monkey Prods’ Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, creators/executive producers of Robot Chicken, have partnered with Buddy Systems’ John Harvatine IV and Eric Towner to launch Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, a stop-motion animation production facility for the quartet’s joint and individual animated projects ...
As I've mentioned before, television animation has been on an L.A. upswing the last couple of years. Existing studios have expanded -- Disney TVA is now in locations in two Southland cities, and Warner Bros. Animation has expanded from a set of trailers on the Warners Ranch to the trailers and four buildings.
We assume Stoopid Buddy Studios will be without benefit of union contract. Also on the non-union side, Wildbrain has relocated from San Francisco, MoonScoop is in a large building in Warner Center, Rough Draft still trucks along in Glendale, and Titmouse has uprooted from New York to plant itself in Holywood. (Two of these four studios have union subsidiaries.)
There's another studio cranking up in the first quarter of 2012. We have it on good authority it will be under an 839 contract.
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- Also on the non-union side, Wildbrain has relocated from San Francisco
And is working on television shows for 839-signatory Dreamworks.
... under a TAG contract.
How is it that some studios can double dip, such as 6Point Harness and the two you mention in the post with their "subsidiaries"?
And what stops Disney, CN, Nick etc. from following suit and having Non Union subsidiaries in town?
I heard Rough Draft moved into a new building, but i'm not sure if the new building is in Glendale.
"... under a TAG contract."
Steve, could you please explain how the non-Union shop has a Union contract? Does this limit the people who are allowed to touch the work on the show, or can they assign the 839-covered work to anyone available? Thanks.
Could you please explain how the non-Union shop has a Union contract?
Wildbrain has a separate company named APU. It's with this corporate entity that The Animation Guild has a contract.
Our goal is to get ALL of Wildbrain under contract. To this end, Steve Kaplan and I have loitered around the entrance of Wildbrain on Ventura Boulevard, handed out cards and flyers, talked to people as they walked in, also hosted dinners across the street at Marie Callendar's, all to to drum up interest.
The thing of it is, we have to get a majority of cards from a workforce that's motivated to bring the place under a TAG contract. That's the way it's done.
Hasn't happened yet, but when we get there, we'll let you know about it.
So if Disney or whoever bought a warehouse in Hollywood and called it Animators Inc. they could then produce cartoons and not be union, unless those who were under their payroll voted to organize?
They probably wouldn't even need to have a warehouse.
Look at Sony: Imageworks and Sony Pictures Animation are in the same building. SPA is union Imageworks is not. The visual effects are done by Imageworks for SPA films. Same workers, same place. One union, one non-union.
Of course Steve will tell you that SPA voted to go union, Imageworks did not.
Rough Draft moved all the way up to Flower Street, a short walk up the road from Disney TV Sonora.
Wrongo VFX Solider -
While SPA and SPI are on the same lot they are not located in the same building and under no uncertain terms do not share talent. That expanse of lawn that separates the two "studios" might as well be a mote - the two cultures do not mix/mingle.
- "Wildbrain has a separate company named APU. It's with this corporate entity that The Animation Guild has a contract."
Thanks for the information, Steve.
Having worked for Wildbrain, I urge the current employees to join 839. A team-player is one thing, but unpaid overtime is quite another thing altogether.
While SPA and SPI are on the same lot they are not located in the same building and under no uncertain terms do not share talent.
Not completely true.
SPI has people on the second floor of the SPA building. I get stopped by a few SPI artists now and again as I'm walking across the narrow lawn. I tell them when they ask to call me at the office, I'll give them rep cards, meet with them, etc.
(I can't hit on SPI employees about it when I'm there to see the union side. But if I'm ASKED ...)
The anonymous above also missed VFX Soldier's main point, that the Imageworks people are the primary production crew for the SPA movies. He didn't say the two divisions share the same talent, he pointed out they're working on the same films.
who cares, both sides of the lawn will be soon unemployed, after Arthur Christmas box office fail, and Hotel T. going the same way.
What studio is cranking up in 2012 as an 839 studio Steve? Please be specific about such things as we artists like to know these things and not have to guess.
--> ... VFX Soldier's main point, that the Imageworks people are the primary production crew for the SPA movies.
As a non-Union Imagworks employee, I sat in the screening room and took work-related directions for my shot from several 839 Union-covered SPA supervisors.
This situation is not right.
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