Seems like I have been writing too many obituaries in the last few month and even though losing dear human friends is very painful, sometimes the loss of a treasured company is just as sad.Any of us who lived in the Bay Area during the heyday of the Orphanage has fond memories of the great work they created and the exciting young animators who were given the chance to cut their teeth and expand their wings.
There is no way I can say it better than the press release I received today:
Today I had the heart-wrenching task of joining my co-founders Scott Stewart and Jonathan Rothbart in announcing that The Orphanage will be suspending operations indefinitely. We started the company ten years ago, tripled in size each year for our first three years, and worked on some of the biggest and best effects movies made. We produced shorts and even features, we spawned a commercial division and an animation company, and we hung out in the halls with Frank Miller, Ethan Hawke, and M.C. Hammer. We did DI before it was called DI, we gave birth to Magic Bullet, and we did really, really good work.
But that's not what matters the most.
It's no accident that our company's name described a place for people, people who may be thrown together, but who ultimately create their own destinies. Scott once described his vision of an orphanage as "a hundred success stories waiting to happen," and that is exactly what came to pass inside our offices. We have had the privilege of working with many "Orphans" over the years, and watching them grow and take on new responsibilities has been the single greatest part of coming to work every day.
A message to the visual effects industry: You will never find a better employee than a former Orphan.
And to the Orphans: It has been a privilege and an honor to work with you.
Posted by Stu Maschwitz at 8:00 pm on http://prolost.blogspot.com/2009/02/ten-years-of-orphanage.html
