No lounge is complete without the means to dispense fine adult beverages.

Pictorial by Dan Sarto

Our final studio tour this year is DreamWorks Animation, a bustling campus that serves as HQ for the company's ever-growing global operations.  Having released two features, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss In Boots, since our last visit, both of which are nominated for an Oscar this year, the studio continues to expand its slate of productions.  The recently announced plans for a studio in China serve as further illustration of these expansion efforts. 

Each year on the Oscar Showcase Tour, our day at DreamWorks is always great.  The studio goes out of its way to provide a full day of demonstrations, a great lunch with executives and a packed screening of the nominated shorts.  Of all the stops on the tour, DreamWorks always shares the most detailed and intimate look at films in progress, which for an assembly of animation directors and producers, is always a welcome treat.  This year was no different.

Glen Keane, Brook Keesling, Bonnie Arnold and Shannon Gans

Written by Dan Sarto

Every year for many years now, on the Saturday before the Oscars, DreamWorks Animation hosts a fantastic brunch at the famous Campanile.  A lively mix of executives and creative riff-raff, the crowd feasted on delectable comfort food, boozing it up while speculating who the winners and losers would be the following evening.  Many noteables were in attendance. Check out some of the festivities.

DreamWorks had a full day for the Oscar nominees when they came to visit. Here are their adventures in pictures.

I was lucky enough to be included in part of the Oscar Showcase tour this year. Every year the nominees for animated short films are given a tour and luncheon at some of the animation studios here in the Los Angeles area. The organizer of these celebrations, Ron Diamond, invited me to join them at DreamWorks on the last day of the tour. Ron and I are on the Executive Committee of the Short Films/Animation Branch of the Academy, and see scores of animated shorts every year. There is always a wide range of styles and ideas presented in various mediums. It’s always interesting to see which ones will make the final cut for the Oscar nominations. This year the field was exceptionally strong, with every film being quite unique and different from the rest. Meeting the filmmakers and hearing about their thought process and methods of getting it on the screen was extremely interesting and inspiring.

Well, I just got back from the Academy screening, which closed another whirlwind day on the Oscar Showcase tour. In addition, to Roger, Don, Marcy, Geza and Tamas, Gary Rydstrom, Lifted producer Katherine Sarafian (who we’d all meet at the Pixar screening), Torill Kove, The Danish Poet’s Norwegian producer Lise Fearnley, co-director of No Time for Nuts Chris Renaud and No Time for Nuts producer Lori Forte all joined the fun. Mike Thurmeier is back in New York with his wife and we’re happy to announce their new daughter has arrived. Her named is Katelyn Ivy. She was born on Feb. 18th at 2:23 in the afternoon. She was 21 inches long and a healthy 8lbs 10ozs!!!

Thursday was an absolute whirlwind day on the tour. I couldn’t possibly write everything interesting that was said during the course of the day. So I’m going to set out to recap the day in full, but tease you with details to come later.