November Studio Roundabout

This coming week will be studio 401(k) Enrollment meetings. Last week was running to facilities in the east Valley. ...

* Hasbro has switched to paying vacation on regular paychecks. This means that there is no vacation accrual for TAG and other union employees. I get asked: Can they do this?" and the answer is yes, because Hasbro has no long-term practice about how they handle vacation payments. (Some studios pay vacatin automatically every March, others accrue four or six weeks of vacation pay, allowing employees to get the accrual when they take a week or three off. There is no one way.)

* Disney Feature (otherwise known as "Walt Disney Animation Studios") is well under way on Wreck-It Ralph, with animation now in work and lighters and finalers waiting for ramp-up. Development is as mentioned previously. (And Ron and John are still not doing "Jack the Ripper" or "Rumpelstiltskin," just so we're clear.)

* Disney Television Animation has (mostly) moved into Sonora. The issue over there has been the dust and lousy air and not-great air conditioning. Early last week when I walked through, I got an earful. I contacted a labor relations person who's been quite responsive in the past shot me an e-mail back that the problem areas are being addressed. (Here's hoping. It's a bummer to have your lungs tighten up because the space in which you're employed has pollution issues.)

* DreamWorks Animation is actually hiring a few people. As best I can tell, nobody was freaked by the soft opening of Puss in Boots (which, in any event, had a nice hold through its second weekend.) Madagascar 3, The Croods, and The Guardians continue in production. Numerous others continue in development. N

Nothing else comes to mind. (Nothing that I'm going to blat out here, at any rate.) The next TAG interview should be appearing shortly.