Rhett Wickham: It's Baaack!
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Remember The Little Mermaid? Arguably the most solid screenplay for any Disney feature of the past twenty years. How Eisner and Stainton could have ignored the power of this duo at a time when a Pixar estranged Disney was posturing on the importance of story – well it boggles the mind. How great it is to see this brilliant and gifted duo returning to a way of working that, well, works ! What a different landscape than that of less than two years when Musker and Clements, who were directed to work with an outside screenwriting team in crafting the screenplay for Fraidy Cat, turned in a product that was and still is repeatedly reported to have been “the funniest and most promising film at Disney in decades�? only to have it given the thumbs down for production by Stainton and Eisner. The undisputed Deans of contemporary animation have returned to being treated like the real artists and creative talent that they are. Who says fairytales only come true in the movies?
Word is that Lasseter has a very smart and productive approach to getting the division used to seeing pencils in the building again: he’s approved production of two short films to be produced in hand-drawn animation (and one of them will bring back to the big screen one of the studio’s most successful short-format stars) thus creating both a production pipeline for one of animation’s most rewarding forms of entertainment and a kind of artists’ gym for getting into shape and getting ready to tackle what will doubtless be the glorious and triumphant return of the Disney of old. This is similar to the R & D attitude Pixar has toward short films, and one that Walt himself believed in right up until he died.
So, John Lasseter has united the industry leader, and in so doing may well have united the industry at large. Whether other studios will follow suit remains to be seen. Disney is undoubtedly the best situated at the moment for getting things up and running on traditional animation. The cost of putting a solid infrastructure in place is very little, as the studio still has sufficient furnishings for a traditional production unit (Pixar themselves bought several dozen of the beautiful animation desks back when Disney under the spell of Eisner and Stainton were dumping them for $500 apiece to any taker – a practice they suddenly stopped strangely enough right after the Union filed a grievance against them for “change of business�?, citing divestiture of the desks as evidence thereof.) Warners could get up and running without too much more effort, perhaps, but the one thing both they and DreamWorks are lacking is the solid creative team and authentic creative vision that Disney has in place with or without desks and the appropriate number of talented bodies to put behind them; a team that supports, encourages and motivates rather than interferes and dictates through fear. Somebody pinch me!
All hail the return of fearless creative forces on Riverside Drive! Now, if only Eberhard Faber would starting producing Blackwing pencils again.
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Rhett Wickham is an occasional editorial contributor to LaughingPlace.com. and the publication Tales From The Laughing Place. He works as creative development and story consultant in Los Angeles, where he lives with his husband, artist Peter Narus.. Mr. Wickham is the founder and principal of Creative Development Ink©® working with screenwriters and story artists in film. Among his recent projects is “I’m Reed Fish�? for Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman, which recently debuted at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, starring Jay Baruchel, Alexis Bledel and DJ Qualls. Prior to coming to California to work for studios such as DreamWorks Feature Animation, Mr. Wickham worked as an actor and stage director in NYC. He is a Directing Fellow with the Drama League of New York and in 2003 he was honored with the Nine Old Men Award from Laughing Place readers, “for reminding us why Disney Feature Animation is the heart and soul of Disney.�?
The opinions expressed by our Rhett Wickham, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted June 23, 2006