Antonucci reveals some of the spirit that animates his work in the course of acknowledging the executives who have trusted him over the years. “Usually I’m pretty picky with the folks I work with. I go after the brave ones, like Abby Terkhule at MTV or Linda Simensky at Cartoon Network [she has since moved on to PBS Kids] — people who are looking to push borders and open new doors to animation, not just fill spots. If that kind of head-butting scenario came around I would basically say ‘f.u. and talk to you later.’ If you hired me to do something for you, you need to have some sort of trust and respect.”

In that spirit, Antonucci walked away from doing a campaign with ESPN in what he recalled as a ‘horrible’ experience with a nervous client. “I didn’t accept the job based on revisions they put forth — there’s 10,000 studios out there that can do that middle of the road stuff.” Even though it might put him in a temporary hole (“being an independent studio doesn’t mean being independently wealthy”), he prefers to stick to his guns. “People know what they’re getting into when they knock on my door. My thing is always about integrity first, cash later.”

Bill Schultz, producer/partner at Mike Young Prods.

As to Cartoon Network’s ownership of his creation, Antonucci says, “I get asked that a lot. I don’t have a problem with it because I still get to do the show. In my heart it’s always going to be my property even though legally it’s not. I’m not a stickler for holding onto things I come up. Once it’s over and done with I can easily wipe my slate clean and move onto the next project without any hesitation. I did it with the Grunts [MTV’s The Brothers Grunt] and when the time comes I’ll do it with the Eds.”

From his north of the border perch, Antonucci sees numerous co-production projects taking advantage of Canada’s film and TV production subsidies, but rejects that as a route for his own work. “Folks come up here with shows that they maintain rights to and end up doing co-pro deals where they have five people investing money from all over the world. Everything they do has to go through the boards of those companies. A guy who was selling tires is now an artist because he put his money into the show. I’m just not into that.”

“Doing a series for Cartoon Network is a perfect set-up for Danny,” said Bill Schultz, producer/partner, Mike Young Prods. All he really loves to do is make his show. He’s been working on it for a long time and any other network would be saying ‘we need these episodes quicker.’ Danny doesn’t work that way — he takes it one at a time. He’s not an ambitious businessman who wants to build a studio or a library.”

Mike Young Prods. licenses Pet Alien instead of selling the rights away. © Mike Young Prods.

But Schultz is. The former head of Film Roman is now partnered with Mike Young and Mike’s wife Liz in the Woodland Hills, California-based Mike Young Prods. The studio is producing the new He-Man series for Cartoon Network — a show the network runs as an acquisition and not an owned property. In spite of the changing economics of animation production, Schultz sees opportunities for a studio to create and own its own properties.

“Cartoon Network runs 24/7 — they need programming. They can’t finance everything on the channel — there isn’t enough capital out there — and they only have so much library. They definitely acquire stuff, they have a need for it, but they don’t pay a lot. It might cost them $20,000 per episode for U.S. rights to a show they can run the hell out of over three or four years, versus $400,000 to produce it themselves and own it outright. Only so many shows can make their cost back in terms of merchandising and foreign sales, so they hedge their bets and mix it up a little bit.

“We have a show called Pet Alien. We created and developed it, we raised the financing and sold it to Cartoon Network as an acquisition — we keep all the rights.” Schultz outlines the steps that go into creating a Pet Alien: “We’ll present an idea to the networks. They might say ‘we like it and want to own it,’ and you make that deal. In other situations you take your idea to co-production partners, co-financiers, etc. You develop a plan where you can finance it independently, including some of your own money or your own sweat equity; you defer your fees, do whatever you have to do to get it financed.”

Schultz looks back at the birth of the Fox Kids Network as the beginning of the modern system of producing animation. “In the old days independent really meant independent; the ownership was independent. FOX was the first network to own the shows that were being produced for them. You still had ‘independent’ studios, but they were really just doing work for hire for the networks.