Steve Speaks!

I was honored recently to be interviewed for The Tiara Talk Show, a podcast series created by Tammy Tuckey.  The show is about all things Disney, though it is not a Disney production.  Since its premiere in August of 2013, Tammy has done 103 interviews, with the likes of Debbie Reynolds, Ed Asner, Don Hahn, Jerry Rees, Gary Trousdale, and now me.  Slow news week, I guess.

We Worked At Disney Animation In the 80's and 90's

Back in the day

In this era of digital saturation it is not often that a mere Facebook Group stops you in your tracks, grabs your attention, and won't let you go.  Less than a week ago Disney producer Don Hahn started a Facebook Group titled We Worked At Disney Animation In the 80's and 90's. I won't post the URL here because the group is a closed group: open only to, well, people who worked at Disney Animation in the 80's and 90's. Already it has well over a thousand members and a ridiculous number of posts. Like many of its members, I can't stop reading it.

Roger Rabbit Reunion Party - Friday August 16th

Calling all Roger Rabbit alumni - on Friday August 16th Tom Sito, Don Hahn, and Max Howard are hosting a Roger Rabbit reunion party at the King's Head Pub at 12969 Ventura Blvd, in Sherman Oaks. So if you fancy reminiscing about the good old days of hand-drawn animation then grab your Rabbit memorabilia and head for Sherman Oaks on Friday.

The bulk of the animation of the original Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was made in Camden Town in London. On Friday nights almost everyone on the crew would head down to the local pubs for an evening of drinking, often followed by a trip to a local club. The Electric Ballroom was a bit of a favourite.

After the film ended in the Spring of 1988, many of the crew found themselves in Los Angeles, where Dave Spafford continued the friday night drinking tradition by turning his house in a very passable imitation of an English pub, complete with bar, darts board and pinball machines (well, maybe that last bit wasn't so authentic).

For years, any animation Brit or Rabbit veteran who found himself at a loose end in LA would head for Spaff's on a Friday night. I went myself a few times, though the last time I went I remember I didn't recognise anyone there. Dave closed it down soon after - it had had its day. But only after a long, excellent run.

Me in 1987, with Caron Creed

Anyway, head down memory lane this Friday and hang out with your Rabbit kumrads and muse over the perennial unanswered (and apparently unanswerable) question -

Why has no-one ever made a sequel?

---Alex

http://yeoldekingshead.com/

Degrees of Talent

On occasion, I get e-mails from young adults looking for entry positions in animation.  They see my company listed somewhere and, unaware that my studio is just me and my wife, they send resumes and links to their reels.  But I'm not hiring.  I don't plan to expand.  So if you're an art student or recent graduate - don't write.  I have no job for you.  

When I get these e-mails, I check them out as long as they don't seem like spam. Sometimes, their work is good.  Sometimes it is just dreadful.  I got one such e-mail just this week, from a young woman who wrote, "I am a recently graduated Animation major from the Maryland Institute Collage of the Arts".

Stop right there.  You may be an art major, but you really should know how to spell "college" by the time you graduate such.

ToonTown Reunion - 25 Years after The Rabbit

See how many Toon Town graduates you can spot in this Roger Rabbit re-union photo just posted on Facebook by Producer Max Howard (5th from left on the back row). I can see Tom Sito on the left, as well as Producer Don Hahn, and master animator Andreas Deja in the back, among many other familiar faces and old friends. And I think I see director Bob Zemeckis standing next to Nik Ranieri, fourth from right in the back row.

Roger Rabbit 25th Anniversary Toontown Reunion

On April 4th there will be a 25th Anniversary screening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences of a digitally restored version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,  at the Sam Goldwyn Memorial Theatre in Los Angeles. 

An Interview with animation producer Don Hahn

Don Hahn is an animated film Producer whose credits are almost a roll-call of the Second Golden Age of Animation. His films include Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beauty and The Beast, and The Lion King. He is currently producing the much-anticipated Maleficent, due out in 2014.

He has also published many books on animation, the most recent being The Alchemy of Animation, and he also found time to direct Waking Sleeping Beauty, a documentary about Disney and the creative process. FLIP asked Don to reveal the secret of juggling so many interesting and varied projects.

From the Disney Vault - A Screening of Rarities

From Disney Studios' Dave Bossert:

"Don Hahn and I will be doing another evening of Disney Rarities at the Newport Beach Film Festival this Wednesday, May 2, 2012.  This is our 5th year doing the festival and we have put together a great show with some rarely seen Disney bits.  If you are around Newport Beach on Wednesday, drop by for a fun screening at the Lido Theater, at 7:30."

Dave, Don, and Roy Disney screened my short "Redux Riding Hood" back in '07 - the first screening in nearly ten years.  This may be your only chance to see these films on the big screen.  If you're in Southern California, don't miss it!  - Steve


Click here for more information and to buy tickets.