Steady Growth

Steve Kaplan and I have been visiting cartoon studios in Glendale and Burbank; what strikes us how our fine, entertainment conglomerates is adding shows and expanding studios, to wit:

* Nickelodeon Cartoon Studios (on Olive Avenue in Burbank) has at last broken ground on its "new state-of-the-art five-story glass structure" on the former site of United Rentals.

* Warner Bros. Animation has expanded staff into a cluster of trailers on the Warner (formerly Columbia) Ranch, where new, yet-to-be-announced shows are in development.

* Disney TVA has newer series*, also not yet announced, in work. ...

* Dreamworks Animation continues to grow animation staff to meet production deadlines for its Netflix series. And DreamWorks Animation Feature unit is under-staffed inv various departments after its latest round of layoffs.

* Disney Toons is not extinct, but continues to occupy a corner of the Disney Toons building on Sonora in Glendale. (The majority of the interior space is filled with refugees from the W.D.A.S. hat building on Riverside Drive in Burbank.)

* Marvel Animation has two super hero series going -- one at its Glendale studio and one at Prospect Avenue studio owned by Diz Co. in Hollywood. (Spiderman, a third Marvel property, is being produced by Film Roman on hollywood Way in Burbank.

* To let you know, we won't be breaking the titles or subject matter of the shows here.