Writers Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir, who wrote on two abandoned Pixar sequels incubated at "Circle 7 Animation" in Glendale, recount their parts in a very short era of Disney animation:
... How did you learn Circle 7 was closing?
BH & RM: After the buyout, various scenarios began floating around. None of these scenarios were that they would close the entire Circle 7 studio. The prevailing thought was that the sequels would continue – after all, Iger and Cook were on board – and that Pixar would send down some people to get involved in the sequels! Yippee, cool!
Then came Vomit-On-Your-Shoes Day! As writers, we always came into the studio a little later than the rest of Circle 7. On this particular day, we showed up and walked into what was typically a bustling animation studio. A huge, cool place, by the way. On this day, instead of being met by the friendly faces of the executives’ assistants, we were met with dead silence. Twilight Zone silence. There may have been a tumbleweed blowing by. We walked back to our offices, which were at the far end of the building, and couldn’t find anyone. This was not good. ...
For two years before Michael Eisner departed Disney, there was a full-bore effort to create a string of new movies from the Pixar catalogue. On multiple occasions, I went over to Circle 7 (a sprawling building owned by Disney in Glendale) to visit the crews working on the sequels. Diz Co. was recruiting artists from all points on the compass, and most had been promised long-term jobs. Many had relocated families.
But Circle 7 came to a quick end when Disney purchased Pixar. The Emervyille studio was on board, and the need for an imitation on Circle 7 Drive immediately evaporated.
I totally get why the unit was shut down, why the production of Pixar features returned to Pixar. But when I walked through the facility soon afterwards, the sadness of employees suddenly displaced was palpable. (I heard the sentence "I don't know what I'm going to do," more than once.
As the article says, many employees found jobs at Feature Animation, but most of those jobs were short-lived. There were a lot of dislocations after the division's closure, and some bitterness. (At one point the L.A. Times wanted me to get some soon-to-be-former employees to talk to Times reporters, but I quickly discovered that was a bad idea and declined the assignment.)
All in all, a less-than-happy chapter in the long history of Disney cartoon features.
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14 comments:
I was one of those non-Americans that was promised a long term job at Circle 7. After two months of visa related business, two days before I was about to get the actual working visa, Disney buys Pixar, and less than 24 hours later I was notified that there is no job for me any more.
But looking back on it all now, I'd rather have been told then, than to have arrived with my family and told there.
Yawn. The "scripts" produced were truly awful--someone's idea of "animation" instead of good writing and strong character development. I've still got these things somewhere as an example of how NOT to "write" a script. No one would confuse this as why the place was shuttered, as they didn't really matter much to the process for Disney anyway.
Yeah, I can see how hearing about people lose their jobs provokes a "yawn"...
WTF?!?
Well, we have all been fooled by those executive that knew from the beginning that Circle 7 was just being used as a bargaining tool to force Pixar into signing.
Nicely done...at a high cost unfortunately...obviously not for them...
Yawn s right. Eisner thought he could one up Pixar by hiring hack "writers" and a run of the mill crew to pump these things out. I'd like to believe it was just a negotiating ploy, but I don't think Eisner is that smart.
" we always came into the studio a little later than the rest"
....Maybe you should have come in earlier and written a better script.
I'm sorry that all those people lost their jobs. That sucks, and it certainly wasn't their fault.
But in the end, I'm inclined to think that letting Pixar be in charge of their own sequels was the right thing to do.
Circle 7 always seemed like a negotiating ploy to me. How could it not be?
I'm willing to believe that if Pixar didn't sign, they would have gone ahead with the sequels in house. It's not like they have any shame -- have you ever seen "Lion King 1 1/2"?
Some of these comments are laughable. Innocent people had lost their jobs, and all everyone can mope about is how Pixar's image would have been tarnished.
With that said, Cars 2 seems like it was made by circle seven, and Monster Inc 2 has those vibes.
I believe Andrew Millstein was in charge of this studio. The term "lush production values" came out of his mouth when describing their project. Then the studio was shut down. What he got was a lush paycheck, I'm sure, while the rest got the boot!
jester says: Will no one knows about the word..... wait.... word rhymes with bird...... bird bird bird bird bird of the word!
^ got Butterfly net?
^ ... Or a straitjacket?
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