Monday, June 22, 2009

Through Nicktoons

This afternoon I was walking around Nickelodeon Cartoon Studios, where a management person told me that the studio is up to five hundred employees. Not all of those people are TAG members, of course, but we have our share ...

The studio is easily the biggest teevee toon producer in Los Angeles, and it continues growing.   A staffer inside Nick's Olive Boulevard building said:

"We don't have a lot more room around here. The Kung Fu Panda series has got offices up in the former Axium building at Magnolia and Glenoaks next to Cartoon Network. There's not a lot of people there yet, just the producer and a few writers, but the artists will be there in the next couple of months ..."

Nickelodeon, besides being the biggest television producer of animation in the city of angels, is the only studio with which TAG has a new three-year contract. The deal was negotiated and ratified last October, and stipulates 3% bump-ups for job minimums in each of the next three years.

The other television cartoon producers? The boys and girls haven't told us across the table what kind or pay raises they think TAG members should get (if any)), but they've dropped hints they don't think it should be 3/3/3.

We find this kind of amazing, given that's been the pattern for other Hollywood contracts, but maybe they know something Nickelodeon doesn't.

Then again, maybe not.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're soon to have twice as large a share of the market.

Cartoon Network is changing their name in the fall.

animated response said...

Changing? What to... "The Live-Action & Cartoon Network?"

Anonymous said...

Finally they admit the truth, five years after they began down this road. It would have saved talent a lot of trouble were they just honest.

Anonymous said...

the only show that has been worth watching on carton network is clone wars. that channel has been on a downward spiral for a few years now.

i wish boomerang was more readily available. that is the true cartoon network.

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy for Nickelodeon, the capital of croneyism, the tower of testing and the Acropolis of age discrimination. Maybe, if they get twice again as successful they will get to the end of their reserve of best friends, classmates and Logan's Run survivors and the rest of us can have a chance of working there. But I guess it's good news for the union.

Steve Hulett said...

Look on the bright side. They agreed to wage rates that every other conglom is resisting.

Anonymous said...

Why are the studios such scumbags to us? They clearly hate the artists and I just don't understnad why. We MADe them waht they are. We're the ones who make their content and yet they pat idiots on the back. CN scratches it's head and wonders why it's ratings are down? I can tell you why. They're clueless. If kids wanted live action programming they'd change the channel. They COME THERE for CARTOONS! Just because you can make a hit show on A&E does NOT mean you can run CN and still be the golden boy. they are two different animals.

Each year the studios get bigger and bigger and we get poorer and poorer and our Union does nothing about it. Oh sure you can say that you do and you can say that "hey at least the big guys still do business with us" but we as an industry are DYING abd the truth is we're all powerless to stop it. One day we'll actually be working for the wage minimums you set.
And age discrimination? Sheesh! It's rampant! If I thought I could win I would start a class action suit against all these studios.

Unknown said...

"Cartoon Network is changing their name in the fall."

Wouldn't have they announced something like that by now. If that was a joke or personal opinion, you should have made it clear.

Anonymous said...

Just because they haven't announced it, doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. They have writers in Atlanta assigned to rebranding the network with a new name. When I'm proven right you can reward me by disappearing.

Your posts have become more and more tiresome in here Racattack. You don't live in LA and you aren't in the union. Get a clue.

chdr said...

I know insiders (like Jeff Harris) who would have said something about a name or identity change. Also, something this major would have to have a press release by now. Rebrands like Disney XD and Syfy were announced well in advance, not 2-3 months away.

But since you are a guild member who lives in LA and is obviously superior to everyone else here, what names are these writers in Atlanta considering?

Unknown said...

Your posts have become more and more tiresome in here Racattack. You don't live in LA and you aren't in the union. Get a clue.

Just because I'm just a teenager doesn't mean I'm not allowed to state my opinion on this blog. And it was just a question, which you didn't have to answer so rudely.

Anonymous said...

...and yet, I know insiders IN Atlanta who work in the headquarters and the name change in in development.

Count on it.


Or do you really think they have overlooked the fact that 75% of their production now is reality programming and they are still named Cartoon Network.

Maybe Sorcher just forgot all of his years experience branding networks and doesn't think that a mislabeled channel will be a big deal....

They are changing the name of the network.

Anonymous said...

Yay. Another studio I can throw my portfolio on top of and watch it slide down into oblivion.

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