48th Annie Awards Winners: Soul & Wolfwalkers, Hilda

 https://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/soul-and-wolfwalkers-dominate-48th-annie-awards-204408.html

48th Annual Annie Awards

Annie Awards Live
Watch it LIVE! April 16th, 7:00pm PST

 

https://annieawards.org/watch-it-live

Studio Showrunners and Talent jumping to Streaming Services

New gold rush? New brain drain? Streaming (a.k.a. the new cable TV) seems to be the technology we should focus on. The L.A. Times reports on how showrunners are leaving TV production for the streaming service companies. This is concerning since good animation jobs will depend on these new studios. On Star Trek, the Next Generation, commander Data mentioned that television became obsolete by 2040 as a popular form of entertainment. Looks like it will be much sooner than that.

 (By Thomas Suh Lauder and David Ng)

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-et-netflix-job-report/?fbclid=IwAR0cF6erLuldRlG_jD92KuistK69yGS_7ZMyW0b8TRyhop2VPCVPAIgJa00

In the meantime, Carl Beu created this nifty chart showing how timers form the heart, or maybe the backbone of TV animation employment.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10102690632423247&set=p.10102690632423247&type=3&theater

Carl used Gephi to create this cool chart.

https://gephi.org/ 

Streaming Animation - Rights for Artists and Viewers

Credit where credit is due: I think this article by Alex Dudok de Wit on Cartoon Brew gives a thorough rundown on the situation of streaming sources and their rates. Excellent research.

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streaming/the-ultimate-guide-to-streaming-animation-comparing-netflix-amazon-prime-video-hulu-disney-apple-tv-hbo-max-177645.html

 Alex's article took me back to my concerns about the rights of animation artists working in new media, and the rights of consumers. It looks like we have simply gone back to paying for a new type of cable TV, on top of paying our internet bills. And will the new media studios try to continue in nickel and diming the artists to death? My Spidey-Sense says yes.

https://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/search/label/corporate%20mergers

And then there's this: After months of negotiations with ShadowMachine, animation artists finally succeeded in signing a Guild labor contract on Bojack Horseman. Now, after a six year run, Netflix is pulling the plug on the show.

(copyright Netflix)

https://ew.com/tv/2019/09/28/aaron-paul-says-netflix-decided-end-bojack-horseman/

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/bojack-horseman-final-season-netflix-1203351456/ 

https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2481223/why-is-netflixs-bojack-horseman-ending-aaron-paul-seems-to-have-a-different-explanation

With the financial and technology situations changing so rapidly, I can see why the studios want to hedge their bets on labor and other production costs. But I still think animation artists and technicians need representation in new media, and citizens still need a Digital Bill of Rights. Especially when it comes to our savings, and our privacy. And just our plain old satisfaction when we plunk down in front of whatever screen we choose for entertainment.

https://www.awn.com/news/bojack-horseman-crew-votes-unionize

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/breaking-bojack-horseman-crew-is-victorious-in-unionizing-with-animation-guild-176148.html

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflixs-bojack-horseman-animators-push-union-wages-1205833

Lightbox Expo photos

Some snapshots from the first Lightbox Expo held at the Pasadena Convention Center. They had a good sized crowd on Friday. It looks like ProCreate from Apple was a major sponsor. Fun time, lots space, many demos going on. The hosts went all out for a big convention. This may be a rival to the CTN Expo this year.

The burning question: who are the organizers of Lightbox?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/artist-centric-lightbox-expo-debut-september-2019-1155037  

Jim Demonakos, founder of the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington, and Bobby Chiu, who set up Imaginism Studios in Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

https://www.imaginismstudios.com/

https://www.emeraldcitycomiccon.com/

 

I thought this was going to be a much smaller venue, but animation artists, students, schools, studios and vendors were all in attendance. Good mood, lots of energy there. And I only heard about it through Facebook. This event seemed to be arranged and promoted solely through social media. I was just used to the buzz generated around CTN.

Procreate from Apple had the largest display, promoting their artistic app for the iPad.

 Alan Bodner had his table there with his original art, and art from his time as art director at Warner Classic Animation.

Almost continuous demos going on in the hallways...

 Wacom, with their latest Cintiq tablets...

 Sony pictures, with their Oscar winning
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!

 

 Warner Brothers Animation Group, and their beloved heroes of old...

 ASIFA-Hollywood had a good position with their table...

Netflix, looking for talent, and/or pitches...

 And an amazing amount of crowds in the other hall, waiting for demos and lectures!

Again, to me, this convention seemed to come out of the blue.
And yet, it got some decent media coverage:

https://variety.com/2019/artisans/news/lightbox-expo-spotlights-industry-artists-1203325672/

https://www.animationmagazine.net/events/lightbox-expo-brings-the-ultimate-art-celebration-to-pasadena/

Some more fun stuff:

 From left to right, artwork above by Tuna Bora and Pernille Ørum.

 And from left to right, artwork above by Robert Kondo and Stephen Silver.

Why the giant pug means death, maybe because Hasbro has aquired Death Row Records. 

Whatever you do, don't stare into its eyes too long!

Good mood, and a great creative vibe!

I applaud Jim Demonakos' and Bobby Chiu's success, 

and looking forward to next year.