Disney to cut 160 workers in animation (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 2, 2006 | Joseph Menn

[abb]

Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it would dismiss about 160 of the 800 employees in its feature animation unit as the company slowed production at what once was its crown jewel.

The 20% cutback comes nearly a year after Disney purchased Pixar Animation Studios, maker of such computer-animated hits as "Cars" and "The Incredibles." Pixar executives including creative guru John Lasseter took control of the Disney group, aiming to revive an operation that was a crucial profit center before it lost ground to other studios.

"With John Lasseter from Pixar being put over the division, and the much brighter track record they've had, he's going to keep his guys and his projects first," said David Koenig, an author of books on Disney.

The number of artists, technologists and production managers in Burbank will be reduced. A separate TV animation unit is unaffected.

Employees said they were told that because the average production time for the Burbank company's animated films was expanding from 12 months to 18 months, fewer staffers could handle the workload.

"The management team at Walt Disney Animation has determined that each film will dictate its own appropriate production schedule," Disney Studios spokeswoman Heidi Trotta said. "The result of this necessitated a reduction of staff."

Hundreds of the division's employees are members of the local animators guild and are covered under a collective-bargaining contract. But management can choose whom to fire based on skill level instead of seniority, guild business representative Steve Hulett said. Notification of those affected is to begin the week of Dec. 11.

"Everybody's wondering who's going to be getting the ax," Hulett said.

Tempering the news about the layoffs is the healthy job market for computer animation.

[pterional]

Disney has always been PC. The personification of animals by the Disney Studio has led to generations of people thinking that hunters are bad and evil. The movie Bambi is a great example (" Man is in the forest").

[miliantnutcase]

Being an animator myself I can see why these people are being cut. They've been cutting since the late 90's because of the mismanagement under Eisner. Disney's in house animation was wasted on rehashed direct to video stuff that was done to recoup lost profits from their box office flops.

The animators who cannot/will not be trained in 3d computer animation are the ones being cut. Sad to see this, but you need to keep yourself marketable or you lose your job. =-(

[Tolsti]

Disney animation started losing it after Mulan, with stuff like Emperor's New Groove. It's a real shame, they had a great 10 or so years between Little Mermaid and Mulan.

[miliantnutcase]

Yeah, they were high gear with Aladdin, and Lion King.

[Neidermeyer]

FWIW I agree 100% on the Warner vs. Disney argument ... but as to the demise of witty cartoons I can only point to Simpsons, King of the Hill , and the "adult swim" lineup , particularly the less bizarre ones , Futurama & Family Guy..