Editor's Notebook
$17.22 billion in US revenues are generated by sale of entertainment merchandise [implying that much of it is animation-related]."
As animation becomes an integral part of the film and video industries, its destiny becomes increasingly integrated into the entertainment industry as a whole--subject to the same ups and downs, rather than going its own course.Thus, while the current boom will certainly end one day, that does not mean that the bubble will burst as it did in the US at the start of World War II or when animated commercials lost their enormous popularity at the end of the 1950s. All this has had and will continue to have its effect on festivals and ASIFA.
As noted elsewhere in this issue, festivals are getting away from their innocent beginnings as havens for personal animation and independent-minded filmmakers. While attempting to continue this tradition, commercial interests continue to "trample" on this hallowed ground. Studios (large and small) and networks now look to them as prime venues to recruit talent and find new ideas. Talent which once went into making independent films now come to festivals looking for work. This has indeed changed, to varying degrees, the very nature of the way festivals are run and financed. It has also changed ASIFA's membership. (For example, ASIFA-Hollywood, the organization's largest chapter, has seen its once strong base among fans dwindle, while at the same time its professional ranks have increased exponentially.)
The days when major festivals will be content to hew to a biannual schedule, lest they compete with other events appears to be ending. If Annecy does go to an annual schedule, will Zagreb, Stuttgart and Hiroshima be far behind?
NATPE's Animation & Special Effects Expo is scheduled for this May, in Los Angeles, the same month as Annecy. Though such conflicts would, at one time, have been disastrous for one or the other organization, this need not be the case anymore.
In addition, this March, Animation Magazine is reviving the Los Angeles Animation Celebration as part of its new World Animation Celebration. The festival, which was once a rather modest affair before it was suspended a few years back, will now be part of what looks to be an annual three-ring, Hollywood extravaganza; among other events, it will include an independently produced animation technology exposition, as well as an expanded versionof ASIFA-Hollywood's Opportunities Expo, that will include a series of Animation Industry Seminars run by Women in Animation!
Interestingly, ASIFA-Hollywood was approached by both NATPE and Animation Magazine to have its Opportunities Expo be part of their respective events. One of the reasons ASIFA-Hollywood decided to seriously consider these proposals was the fear that one or both of these organizations would start its own job fair instead. As a member of ASIFA-Hollywood's board of directors at the time, I really did not think any such thing would really come to pass, but it was not an idea that I could entirely ignore.
In the same way, festivals (and ASIFA) will have to continue to face up and adapt to a rapidly changing set of circumstances, circumstances which may or may not threaten to alter their essence or mission in life.
As animation becomes an integral part of the film and video industries, its destiny becomes increasingly integrated into the entertainment industry as a whole--subject to the same ups and downs, rather than going its own course.Thus, while the current boom will certainly end one day, that does not mean that the bubble will burst as it did in the US at the start of World War II or when animated commercials lost their enormous popularity at the end of the 1950s. All this has had and will continue to have its effect on festivals and ASIFA.
As noted elsewhere in this issue, festivals are getting away from their innocent beginnings as havens for personal animation and independent-minded filmmakers. While attempting to continue this tradition, commercial interests continue to "trample" on this hallowed ground. Studios (large and small) and networks now look to them as prime venues to recruit talent and find new ideas. Talent which once went into making independent films now come to festivals looking for work. This has indeed changed, to varying degrees, the very nature of the way festivals are run and financed. It has also changed ASIFA's membership. (For example, ASIFA-Hollywood, the organization's largest chapter, has seen its once strong base among fans dwindle, while at the same time its professional ranks have increased exponentially.)
The days when major festivals will be content to hew to a biannual schedule, lest they compete with other events appears to be ending. If Annecy does go to an annual schedule, will Zagreb, Stuttgart and Hiroshima be far behind?
NATPE's Animation & Special Effects Expo is scheduled for this May, in Los Angeles, the same month as Annecy. Though such conflicts would, at one time, have been disastrous for one or the other organization, this need not be the case anymore.
In addition, this March, Animation Magazine is reviving the Los Angeles Animation Celebration as part of its new World Animation Celebration. The festival, which was once a rather modest affair before it was suspended a few years back, will now be part of what looks to be an annual three-ring, Hollywood extravaganza; among other events, it will include an independently produced animation technology exposition, as well as an expanded versionof ASIFA-Hollywood's Opportunities Expo, that will include a series of Animation Industry Seminars run by Women in Animation!
Interestingly, ASIFA-Hollywood was approached by both NATPE and Animation Magazine to have its Opportunities Expo be part of their respective events. One of the reasons ASIFA-Hollywood decided to seriously consider these proposals was the fear that one or both of these organizations would start its own job fair instead. As a member of ASIFA-Hollywood's board of directors at the time, I really did not think any such thing would really come to pass, but it was not an idea that I could entirely ignore.
In the same way, festivals (and ASIFA) will have to continue to face up and adapt to a rapidly changing set of circumstances, circumstances which may or may not threaten to alter their essence or mission in life.
Harvey Deneroff
harvey@awn.com
Editor-In-Chief
Animation World Magazine
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