HAPPENINGS IN LA

One of things I definitely love about LA is that there's no shortage of animation related events going on at all times. Why, just last week I had the honor of being invited to the sooper big Hanna Barbera Anniversary party:


My first pilot was one of the the last few (if not THE last) project that went through HB before it became absorbed into the vast Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network juggernaut. And lucky me, both Mr. Hanna and Mr. Barbera were still around back then-- in fact, my office was RIGHT NEXT to Mr. Hanna's and only a couple doors down from Mr. B's! And you could just stop in and talk to them any time you wanted! Unbelievable...

Unfortunately they've long since passed on and could only be at the reunion in spirit. But there were hundreds of alumni and fans milling about the Paley Center, enjoying the rare HB artwork on display, catching up with old friends and co-workers, and filling their pockets with the passed hors doeuvres.

Of course I had an awesome time hanging out with Mr. Maxwell Atoms, Greg Miller (Whatever Happened to Robot Jones), Chris Prynoski (Titmouse, Inc), character design rock star Chris Battle, old school New Yorker John McIntyre, the fabulous Jennifer Hale (aka Numbuh 86, the KND Treehouse Computer, amongst a billion other voices), the incomparable Dee Bradley Baker (voice of Numbuh Four), 'evil' executive Khaki Jones and jeez... just too many awesome folks I haven't seen in ages.


Sooper old school animation director/timer Robert Alvarez, CN executive wrangler Linda Barry (and person who took these pics), Johnny Bravo creator Van Partible (who put the event together), background painter Don Watson and I'm not sure who that is in the back (sorry, dude!)


Chris Battle, me and Greg Miller looking all classy-like


That's Titmouse founders Chris and Shannon Prynoski in the front there.


Don Watson again and Billy and Mandy creator Maxwell Atoms.


CN Admiral of Studio Operations Zita LeFebvre and recently escaped CN Jay Bastian and me in the middle

Great times...

And on Friday night I made my way down to Santa Monica to a sooper special screening of Mike Judge's office space and Beavis and Butthead Do America!


For those who don't know, I was the production designer on the first season of B and B when it was done at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions. The rest of the series was done at MTV's brand new animation studio, but I stayed behind at JJSP to cause havoc there. Still, I could often be found lurking about MTV visiting my sooper pals. And even though I didn't work on the movie, I felt almost like I did since I saw so much of it going on.

It was definitely a blast from the past seeing it... and hard to believe its 10 years old. What made it extra special was the introduction by director Yvette Kaplan and Exec Producer John Andrews, two old school New Yorkers I hadn't seen in a long while.

Like I said... great times.