Well unfortunately the Cartoon network pilot many of us here in the south worked on didn't get picked up. This is usually the case with pilots, as they rarely make it past the pilot stage. Well at least the crew over at Turner Studios showed some real chops. The pilot was praised for it's superb animation quality and high production values which rivaled the CN studio in LA. This is a BIG DEAL as there has never been a prime time CN show completely produced in Atlanta. Most of the shows that are produced here in the durrdy south are for CN's Ultra cool, brazen, hipster, sister network Adult Swim. I guess there is always Super Jail, while not for the faint of heart, looks very well animated. Shout out to Steven Vitale, Jon henshaw, Mario Orlando, Brian Detagyos, Dawud Anyabwile, Dino Fitz, Daniel Bodinof, Bryan Capik, Jeff Brody, Les Harper and Harvey Birdman Director Rich Ferguson Hull and the Turner Studios crew.
The path of an Artist is a rugged one. A narrow windy road, bursting with ego centric folly. Some fatuous thought that your drawings can somehow change the world. Struggles for capacious expressionism. Impossible obstacles to surmount. When I first got into this business I wanted to work at Disney and Pixar. Ambitions are a lot like waves. They often recede, giving birth to new ones. Here is some various personal development stuff. I am quickly amassing a large folder of this stuff on my hardest of hard drives. More commercial work coming soon ;)
Very interesting article from Cartoon Brew.
Not so much the southpark aspect, but more so, what the internet could mean for creators owning control of their products.
"This is a must-read article in the New York Times about the new deal that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have struck with Viacom. The deal, which is reportedly worth $75 million to its creators, includes a three-year extension of the series and the creation of SouthParkStudios.com, an incubator for new projects that, I believe, Parker and Stone will have an ownership stake in."
"The most attention-grabbing part of the deal, and very likely a first for the creator of an animated TV series, is that Viacom has agreed to give Parker and Stone a 50-50 split of ad revenues on digital platforms, though not on television. The deal was made possible thanks to the duo’s lawyer, Kevin Morris, who in 1997 had the foresight to demand that the creators would share in any revenue not derived from the episode airings on cable. What was then a seemingly minor contract clause has today “created what may be a new model in the balance of power and money between creative artists and companies like Comedy Central,” as so succinctly put in this op-ed in the Times. The precedent-setting contractual victory of the South Park creators is a cause of celebration for all creators, as the antiquated exploitation-based business models of the entertainment industry crumble in this new digital age and artists slowly but surely begin to receive equitable compensation for their creations."
