A Sito Afternoon -- Part II

(Above, Tom Sito's history of the animation biz.)

We continue now with our conversation with Mr. Sito ...

TAG Interview with Tom Sito

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In addition to his work in Cartoonland, Tom is a historian, book author, and college prof.

Teaching at the University of Southern California since 1994, he is currently a professor in the motion picture department. (Just so you know, Tom hasn't stopped his work in animation. We caught him at his desk at Warner Bros. Animation a few weeks ago, where he was boarding on the latest Coyote and Roadrunner epic.)

And did we mention that, in between everything else, Tom spent nine years being President of this organization?

Busy man, that Mr. Sito.

Copyright © 2011, Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved.

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Promising Start

Good news for the folks at Bento Box.

... With the series debut of BOB'S BURGERS in its Sunday Animation Domination block, FOX won the night among Adults 18-49, Total Viewers, Adults 18-34, Teens and all key demos, and delivered its highest rated 8-10p animated comedy block in over three years ...

BURGERS at 8:30 p.m. delivered a 4.5/11 among Adults 18-49 and was the highest rated series debut on any network so far this season among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Teens. ...

And all the writers and artists there on Magnolia Boulevard can breathe a sigh of relief, since the show could well be picked up and extended.

Congratulations to everybody.

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Would you like to show at Gallery 839?

We're approaching the first anniversary of the opening of Gallery 839, our space set aside to show the artwork of our members outside of the world of animation.

We've just found out that the artist we had expected to be showing in February has had to drop out at the last minute. This leaves us with an opening for February, and so far none of the upcoming scheduled artists are available to fill it.

We've had some wonderful and popular shows at the Gallery, and a number of our members have profited by the experience. In fact, at least one piece has sold from every show we've put on. As a result, we have a number of members who have reserved monthly slots, so that much of the rest of 2011 is penciled in if not booked.

So if you're a member of the Animation Guild who's interested in showing in Gallery 839, or part of a group that would like to show, here's the deal:

To show at Gallery 839 you must be a member of the Animation Guild, either current or inactive. If you're part of a group of artists, as long as at least one member of the group is a Guild member we'll show the entire group.

If you take the February slot, the opening is set for February 4. All opening dates are set for the first Friday of the month except when there is a conflict with a holiday.

The Guild will publicize your show in the Peg-Board, on the e-mail list and the TAG Blog. You or your group are responsible for:

     * All other publicity

     * All other expenses, including the costs of an opening reception if you choose to have one

     * The Gallery will be open from 6 pm to 10 pm on opening night, and every consecutive Friday from 11 am to 2 pm. If you want the Gallery open at other times you will need to make arrangements with the office staff and be present when the Gallery is open.

There is no charge for showing at Gallery 839. You do not have to show work that is for sale; however, if you sell any artwork the Guild's commission is ten percent.

Send me an e-mail if you're interested, either in February or in a future slot. There's a short and simple contract for you to sign, and a set of guidelines, all of which can be e-mailed to you.

All bookings are on a first-come, first-served basis. The February slot has to be booked in the next few days or it will be canceled, but let me know even if you're just interested in a future opportunity.

And thanks to everyone for making Gallery 839 such a success.

-- Jeff Massie

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Local 891 invites Dave Rand to converse

Local 891 has been leading the visual effects organizing effort in the popular haven for subsidized effects, Vancouver, BC. They are inviting all artists and interested parties to attend an evening of discussion with Dave Rand.

Avid readers of this blog will recognize Mr. Rand's name as the artist and public voice of the Meteor Studio debacle which ended a couple of years ago in September. Dave has also commented on the current state of the visual effects industry in a letter we wrote about here. We are pround to say Dave is a member of the Guild through his tenure at IMD.

We encourage anyone within reach of this blog who is able to attend the meeting this Friday at the PAL Theater at 581 Cardero St in Vancouver, BC at 7:pm. Please send notice of your intention to attend to vfx@iatse.com.

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An Afternoon with Tom Sito -- Part I

Tom Sito has worked in most of the varied nooks and crannies of the animation industry -- animator, board artist, story supervisor, to name a few -- since the mid-1970s ...

TAG Interview with Tom Sito

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Born in New York City, Tom commenced his career in cartoons with Raggedy Ann and Andy, an animated feature helmed by Richard Williams, and has never looked back. He spent some years as a "roving gypsy" (his words), storyboarding and animating on features and television shows around the globe, going wherever the work was. That meant travel to London, Toronto, New York and points west.

Tom finally settled in Los Angeles, where he's worked for Disney, DreamWorks and Warner Bros. (among numerous others) and where he makes his home today. We spoke on a recent afternoon at the TAG offices in Burbank.

Copyright © 2011, Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved.

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The Irrevocability of 3-D ...

The Wall Street Journal interviews Jeffrey Katzenberg.

[P]eople are willing to pay a premium for the experience, [he says], as long as studios don’t put out “crummy movies and crummy 3-D.” ...

... meaning of course, the cheap-jack retrofits of flat-screen movies that the studios can't seem to resist and hurt movie-goers' eyes.

There are 37,000 screens worldwide, and lots more 3-D movies in the pipeline, so the technology is going to be around for quite a little while, cheapie fake 3-D and all.

The format is not my cup of tea, but having seen a lot of these dimensional features over the past couple of years, I do think that Dreamworks Animation does the moving View Master thing better than anybody else.

(Watch the video interview at far end of the link. I couldn't figure out a way to embed it up above, despite the buttons.)

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Climbing to Profits

The overseas derby continues apace ... with Tangled/Rapunzel swinging high in the catbird seat:

'Tangled' Knocks 'Gulliver's' to No. 3 ...

... First place openings in 10 markets plus strong holdovers in German-speaking territories put the 3D animation retelling of the classic Rapunzel tale over the top. Foreign box office cume now stands at $179.3 million from playoff in about 55% of the international marketplace. Global cume is $355.2 million. ...

B.O. Mojo lists Tangled as owning a $260 million production cost. Unless Iger and Ross are now handing out internal company data to news organizations and internet websites (and I don't think so), I would take the production expenses found on the worldwide web with a couple of shakers of salt. Companies can ... and often do ... move accounting numbers around to suit corporate needs.

Last point: never underestimate cash flow, and note that Tangled's is now excellent, with dvd's, television and ancillary markets still to come. Other foreign accumulations for animated titles:

DreamWorks Animation's Megamind continued to be a strong draw Mexico ($1.2 million in its fourth round from 450 locations; cume $11.4 million), and grossed $7.8 million overall. ... Foreign cume is $149.3 million.

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Never Quit ...

Even when it's futile:

Disney still flogging away at its 'Toy Story 3' best picture campaign

... [S]ince Disney has been going around everywhere pronouncing the film as the best-reviewed movie of the year, couldn't it have used a more serious critic to wax eloquent on the ad than Scott Mantz from "Access Hollywood"? ...

At Oscar time, you go with the reviewers you have, not the reviewers you wish you had (who failed to mention the feature's director.)

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January Derby

Now with candy-corn Add On.

The Nikkster lays it out:

1. True Grit (Paramount) Week 3 [3,124 Theaters] -- Friday $4M, Estimated Weekend $13.5M, Estimated Cume $109M

2. Little Fockers (Universal) Week 3 [3,675 Theaters] -- Friday $3.6M, Estimated Weekend $13.2M, Estimated Cume $123.5M

3. Season Of The Witch (Relativity) NEW [2,816 Theaters] -- Friday $3.6M, Estimated Weekend $9.2M

4. Country Strong (Screen Gems/Sony) Week [1,424 Theaters] -- Friday $2.6M, Estimated Weekend $7.5M

5. Tron: Legacy 3D (Disney) Week 4 [3,013 Theaters] -- Friday $2.5M, Estimated Weekend $8M, Estimated Cume $146.1M

6. Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Week 6 [1,584 Theaters] -- Friday $2.3M, Estimated Weekend $7.5M, Estimated Cume $60.6M

7. The Fighter (Relativity/Paramount) Week 5 [2,528 Theaters] -- Friday $2M, Estimated Weekend $6.5M, Estimated Cume $57.3M

8. The King's Speech (The Weinstein Co) Week 7 [758 Theaters] -- Friday $1.7M, Estimated Weekend $5.5M, Estimated Cume $32M

9. Yogi Bear 3D (Warner Bros) Week 4 [3,288 Theaters] -- Friday $1.1M, Estimated Weekend $5.2M, Estimated Cume $74M

10. Chronicles Of Narnia 3D (Fox) Week 5 [2,814 Theaters] -- Friday $1M, Estimated Cume $4.7M, Estimated Cume $94.8M

Sadly, Tangled has dropped from the Top Ten, and the only animated characters now residing high in the box office lists (not counting the menagerie in Chronicles of Narnia) are Yogi and Boo-Boo.

Add On: Mojo has Tangled at #12, with $171.8 million now in the till.

Add On Too: Box Office Mojo gives us the (almost) finals:

9) Yogi Bear! -- $6.8 million -- $75.6 million -- (-45%)

10) Tangled -- $5.2 million -- $175.9 million -- (-47%)

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The Follow Up To Tangled

Obviously an action film. Obviously with sado-masochistic overtones.

And I say $200 million, domestic.

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Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1849

(Western) clothing optional*.

Come celebrate the New Year at the

ANIMATION GUILD NOT-A-HOLIDAY HOLIDAY PARTY!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Starts at 7 pm

Entire museum open until 10 pm

Party lasts 'til midnight!

Autry National Center of the American West

In Griffith Park across from the L. A. Zoo

Free food + Cash bar + Plenty of free parking

No RSVPs necessary

Open to the community of animation and the community of labor

Here is a flyer for the party

* NOTE: This is intended as a joke. Western clothing is neither required nor expected as a prerequisite for attending this party, although most of us would probably prefer that you wear something.

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Sales Prediction

The LA Times forecasts:

• DreamWorks Animation will push for a lower distribution fee with Paramount Pictures, but the Viacom-owned studio will probably resist. That could prompt DreamWorks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg to pair up with another studio or even sell the company outright. ...

I've long thought that DWA will be sold to a conglomerate sooner or later. It's the only stand-alone studio still standing. And that fact that it's stood -- and prospered -- this long is a tribute to Mr. Katzenberg.

You have to admit, it's a challenging business model (and the one Pixar used before becoming part of the Diz Co.): Produce a hit, produce another hit, then produce another hit. Rinse and repeat.

Obviously it's a tough high-wire act, and if DWA is sold in the next 24-36 months, I won't be surprised.

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You Can't Keep a Good Andy Down

Earlier today, this bit of news caught my eye:

... [S]ignaling India's growing presence in Hollywood, the visual effects and engineering division of Indian conglomerate Tata is buying a majority share in a Los Angeles-based kids' animation firm.

Tata Elxsi, which a year ago opened a visual effects studio in Santa Monica, has reached an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in A Squared Entertainment ... "We're really trying to create an animation studio of the 21st Century,''' said children's entertainment veteran Andy Heyward, co-president of A Squared Entertainment. "The advantage for us is to have the very best of the Hollywood entertainment community and be able to produce the animation in a very low-cost, skilled environment ...

"Low cost" and "skilled" don't usually go together in a single sentence, but this is Andy Heyward talking, friends and neighbors, the long-time kingpin of DIC Entertainment, which wasn't well known for tip-top quality (although it had a towering reputation for low industry wages.)

But we're thrilled that Andy H. is back in the game. We can start working to organize his newer company. (We got halfway there the last time, this time we'll go all the way to a signed contract.)

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$300 Million

Not a real good total, especially when your previous release earned $750 million.

... Foreign ticket sales for "Megamind" ... will likely surpass its domestic gross of $144 million eventually but not by much. ... That's in sharp contrast to last summer's "Shrek Forever After," which grossed $501 million overseas. ... One person familiar with foreign distribution ... noted that its main characters were humans and aliens and that many animated movies that perform well overseas feature animals. ...

I saw MM the weekend it was released, and liked it. But I don't think the "no animals" handicap was the main problem for the under-achievement. (Despicable Me managed to make-do without them.) Rather it was:

1) Having an outside producer (Ben Stiller) father the feature's premise. (The last time it was Jerry Seinfeld -- who's a terrific comedian but a less-terrific animation wonder-worker -- with the Bee Movie.)

2) Being the second "villain as protagonist" into the pool. Unfortunately Despicable Me got there first.

3) Having a movie with an American/urban setting. Monsters Vs. Aliens was the last in the DWA canon, , and it too under-performed in foreign venues.

DreamWorks Animation's other releases in 2010 had dragons, cats and pandas, all in settings far, far away. Both performed well. Happily, the next feature out of the gate will focus on a panda in China. The odds of higher grosses than Megamind are high.

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The WGA's Grabby Demand

We noted the WGA's "Pattern of Demands" back when they happened, but a few days ago I got a call from a Higher Up at our Mother International who said:

"You know, the WGA wants grab some of 839's jurisdiction again. We're not going to let that happen. They want animation writers, maybe we want live-action writers, hm?"

I've got to confess that I didn't have much reaction when I read The Reporter's original story before Christmas. The Writers Guild always asks for animation jurisdiction, it's in their DNA.

And then, after much huffing, puffing and rending of garments, the AMPTP says "No" for the seventh time and the Guild withdraws the proposal. Because WGA members aren't going to hit the bricks over animation jurisdiction, and everyone not wearing a straitjacket knows it.

So the animation proposal is tucked once more in the WGA's bulging leather satchel labeled "Hopes and Desires" until the next contract negotiation, and the parties move on to other topics.

Meantime, the IATSE would like to represent live-action writers. And why not? Fair's fair.

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Mark Kirkland Conversation -- Part II

"Back to Neverland" by Bob Rogers and Company.

More of the discussion with Mark Kirkland ...

TAG Interview with Mark Kirkland

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Prior to joining The Simpsons crew, Mark was a key player at Bob Rogers and Company, where he was involved in several Rogers' projects. Steve Moore recalls one of them:

After months and months of dead-end development [on a Disney World short about how animation was made], producer Mark Kirkland brought Jerry Rees on to take the project in a totally new direction. Thom Enriquez was hired to storyboard, and I was hired, I guess, because I was funny.

The three of us holed up for a week in a paneled conference room at Bob Rogers' Victory Blvd. offices ... Out of those sessions, came the pitch for "Back to Neverland." ... The idea was pitched to two junior mucky-mucks at Disney Feature Animation. Jerry and Bob did all of the talking. The junior-mucks did all the screaming. ... They objected to Robin Williams as being "not Disney." They objected to animating the tourist as a Lost Boy. One muck insisted the tourist be changed into an animal, preferably a skunk. ... When Jerry pointed out that there were no talking animals, especially talking skunks, in Peter Pan, the muck's head exploded. ...

Despite the explosions, the film got made, ended up a big success for years and years at the animation exhibit at Disney World, and ultimately aided Mark in getting a job on The Simpsons a few years later.

One project in animation often becomes a stepping stone to the next.

Copyright © 2011, Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved.

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Around the Mouse House

I spent half the afternoon in and around the Hat Building, where I fell into conversatin with a Disney veteran.

"What we need around here is our own John Lasseter type. John Lasseter is down here once in a while, but he's mostly at Pixar. Here he just visits. We need a full-time guy who's the creative leader.

"We're riding on Tangled's success rignt now, but we have to keep it going. Get more stuff in development. Get people to step up and take charge. Management says we don't need an official green light to do that, that people can go ahead and do that. ..."

Me, I'm always a wee bit skeptical of pronouncements from management: "Oh sure! Just develop stuff on your own! See what sticks to the wall! Don't need any official ok from us guys!"

The problem with that is, it's like the new exec who tells you to come to his office if there's any problems, any problems at all. "My door is always open."

So you take him up on the offer, and three weeks later you're laid off ...

Elsewhere in the building, I came across a story artist who liked the art direction, animation and look of Tangled well enough, but didn't care for the story. He thought (among other things) that the girl, after being locked up for eighteen years, should have been more frightened out in the wide world.

I argued (politely) with him.

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Mark Kirkland Converses -- Part I

It's doubtful that Mr. Mark Kirkland envsioned himself directing episodes of the television show entitled "The Simpsons" two decades after starting, but that turns out to be what he has done ...

TAG Interview with Mark Kirkland

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Mark has helmed, as of this writing, sixty-seven half-hours featuring Springfield's yellow family. With luck, there will be sixty-seven more.

We sat down with Mark at his abode to record the latest of our oral histories spotlighting stalwarts of modern American animation.

Copyright © 2011, Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved.

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The Indian Connection

After hunkering down in my office for the past week (no point in going to studios; nobody there between Christmas and New Year's) I journeyed to one of our signator facilities and dragged my bag of 401(k) books up and down various stairs.

In a second-floor hallway, I was button-holed by an artist who said:

"You know, they are sending some of our television work to India now. They used to say it was just going to be commercial work that went out. Now I hear some sequences for one of the features will get done in Mumbai. In four years, they'll probably do a whole feature in India. ..."

The "It's All Going to India" meme will be hovering over us forever, like some giant bird of prey. But outsourcing has been part of the animation landscape since Jay Ward sent Rocky and Bullwinkle work to Mexico in the 1960s, and Bill Hannah discovered the oys of Korean-Phillipine-Australian sub-contracting in the 1970s and 1980s.

And don't think it's only television. I pointed out to the concerned artist that Disney sent work on Little Mermaid to Shanghai in 1988-89, Hanna-Barbera's Once Upon a Forest was done mainly overseas, and Astro Boy and Alpha and Omega were Indian-American-Chinese co-productions, neither of which did gangbuster business at the world box office.

The days of the American "protective tariff" are long gone, and not likely to be revived anytime soon. But I'll state here what I said earlier today: Outsourcing has built-in limitations. Sub-contracting studios are about doing jobs for a price, which mostly conflicts with ambitious employees focused on doing the best work possible. ("We don't want it pristine, we want it Monday ..."). An ambitious, hard-working animator, modeler or designer on the sub-continent won't stick around to continually beat his head against frustrating glass ceilings. He or she will move on to Europe, Canada or Burbank, California.

Don't misunderstand me. Short of 1901-style importation laws, outsourcing isn't going to wither away and die anytime soon. Pixar now has one studio in Canada (where Disney Television Animation earlier opened -- and closed -- two.) DreamWorks Animation uses Mumbai facilities, and Disney's Touchstone Pictures is about to release Gnomeo and Juliet, a feature animated in Toronto. And the non-signator Illumination Entertainment created the high-grossing Despicable Me in Paris.

So what does the future hold? More animation work, but sizable pieces of it spread across the globe.

Animation studios in far-away lands, with a few doing high-level work while most grind out television-quality half-hours and low-rent, direct-to-discount-bin features.

Ultimately, animation production won't remain stateside because conglomerates have some patriotic yen to employ Americans, but because spotty foreign work and rising costs for product that is not spotty will make the employment of U.S.-based production crews not just a smart business move, but a necessary prerequisite for high theatrical grosses across the globe.

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More Collusion Fun?

Strange how the world spins. Today I got a call from a vfx employee at one of our fine, larger effects houses. (Non-union, of course, like most of them.) His project was wrapping up and he was getting laid off, so he was sniffing around for other work. And he told me the following:

"I sent my demo reels to a couple of different studios who're hiring, Studio A and Studio B. Both seemed interested. Studio A made me an offer, so I told Studio B I'd gotten an salary proposal, and told them from who."

"Studio B stopped talking to me, like instantly. I've e-mailed them and called them, but I've gotten no response. A week ago they were acting as though they wanted me. Now, nothing. But they're still advertising for people in my classification. You think they're colluding with Studio A?"

I told him I was of the opinion that they were. I also said that, sadly, there was probably no direct hard evidence to prove collusion, but there appeared to be circumstantial evidence. (On the other hand, maybe I'm an just an overly suspicious guy. Because I'm also of the opinion that bears shit in the woods, the sun rises in the east, and seasoned cement is hard when you fall on it.)

I've toiled in the studio and union vineyards for a few years now, and like I've said before, I've witnessed lying, cheating, and browbeating of employees by managers. I've read studio-drafted contracts that prohibited employees from exercising legal rights. (And when that failed, I've watched the good old standby of intimidation get practiced.) So I'm not under any illusions about the ethics of large corporations.

They don't have any.

If you've been paying attention, you've figured out that the basic rule in 21st century America is "Whatever works for us, we'll do. And if we get caught, we'll deal with it. Probably cheaper in the long run anyway." Which is why I long ago abandoned the concepts of "fair" and "unfair." Maybe those words have meaning and weight in heaven, but they're mostly parrot talk down here on the temporal plane. It really boils down to these two basic tenets:

Almost everything is arbitrary ... and everything is temporary.

You end up getting what you have the leverage to get.

I told the guy that there was no easy way to nail Studio B unless a stoolie came forward. ("Yes, your honor. We've had a 'gentlemen's agreement' against poaching with Pixar for years. Here's hard-copies of all the e-mails" ... Yeah, like that's going to happen.)

But I'm telling you, Virginia. Bears do shit in the woods.

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