Fred Seibert's Blog

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.
Part 3. Part 4.

It was hard hearing from Nickelodeon that they didn’t like everything about our cartoon ideas.

So, as was usual in the 80s, Nickelodeon loved our idea of how to get into original cartoons in a thoroughly original way, but they felt the need to adapt it their way, as was their right. And, also usual for the 80s, we were both thrilled to have sparked their actions, but simultaneously incredibly frustrated that they needed to change our approach.

“Change it?” you say. “How?” They listened to us carefully about how Looney Tunes did it. They loved the idea of getting fresh creative people not generally involved in the mainstream animation biz of the 80s (no Hanna-Barbera, no Ruby-Spears, no Filmation). They loved the idea of short pilots to test the ideas for a reasonable price…

Wait a minute! That’s where they veered off course. At least as far as my idea went.

What I loved about the Looney Tunes model was that the shorts they made in the 30s & 40s had nothing to do with the concept of “pilots.” The WB powers-that-be greenlit an original character picture by one of Termite Terrace teams, they made the picture, they put it in the theatres. They listened for laughter directly from the audience, and if they laughed enough they made more shorts. If not, that the was the end of the line for our hapless original character. They did not play the cartoon for a few people in a room (like a focus group), decided they liked the thing, and then start ‘developing’ it before they would make another.

Nickelodeon decided because they were in the TV business, you couldn’t really take that approach. Pilots were the way to go. Make a short film, whatever the length as long as it was short, focus group it, ‘develop’ it, and go. Now, like I said in the last post, this approach worked, and Nick changed the animation world with Ren&Stimpy, Rugrats, and Doug, so God bless them.

But, in my opinion, our approach was essentially different. In no real order:

* A filmmaker making a short that will actually be seen by an audience conceives it unlike a picture made for a group of executives. I don’t really have to explain thia thought further, right?

* A cartoon made to be played on television will be, by it’s nature, a more disciplined affair. At the very least, the network will usually set a format, a length, for the picture. Working to a parameter almost always has the filmmaker paying closer attention to the details.

* Modeling your projects on the best films ever made will invariably allow you to score better.

From my humble vantage point, the best cartoons ever made were the Looney Tunes, the Disney shorts, the Fleischers. I figure, if you’re going into a new area of creative exploration (as was Nickelodeon by going into animation), start by looking at the best. Don’t look at the Snorks and feel that’s the baseline you need to beat.

To be perfectly honest, there was probably no reason for me to be disheartened. I was really annoyed the Nickelodeon team did not follow my plan exactly. I know they were successful, but I wanted them to do it my way. And for all my whining, complaining, and rationales, for no other reason than I liked my way.

(More next time.)

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.
Part 3. Part 4.

I’ve been rockin’ in Burbank the last few days. The folks from Polygon Pictures in Tokyo (producer Rita Street, Director Hiroshi Chida, President Shuzo John Shiota, Creative Producer Kenji Ishimaru) were in re-pitching Boneheads.

The Oh Yeah! Cartoons creators often have another cartoon or two they’d like to produce with us. Kyle Carrozza’s got Weird Eddie.

Diane Kredensor & Dana Galin were in from New York, working with their art department, and with Director Yvette Kaplan (directing their incredible voice cast).

Oh Yeah! creator Adam Henry pitched another short called Pesky the Squirrel.

And the crew from Bob Boyle’s Wow!Wow!Wubbzy! welcomed me in with a great get together, violating every Film Roman alcohol-on-premises rule.

And then there was the next day.

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You all know about Adam Henry; we’re very lucky to have his cartoon Krunch & The Kid as one of the first shorts productions in the latest installment of Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

We have a history of making new cartoons with creators already in the house, so I was thrilled to get a pitch on a new idea of Adam’s called Pesky the Squirrel.

Thanks to Adam for his kind permission to post a sketch from his latest cartoon.

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You all know Eric Fogel from his great hit show on MTV called Celebrity Deathmatch. A few of you might be buying his Barbie movie for your daughters. We’ve admired his work for a long time and we’re thrilled that he pitched us a short for Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

Thank you Eric, for the kind permission to post a drawing from your cartoon pitch.

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Brian Russell is a recent animation graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He’s currently working with our friend Dave Levy at Cartoon Pizza as an assistant animator. He came in the other day to make a pitch for Oh Yeah! Cartoons; it’s an adventure/comedy called Jet & Skyy.

Thanks to Brian for his kind permission to post a storyboard panel from his cartoon.

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.
Part 3.

I am admiring of how Nickelodeon went about interpreting our suggestions for getting into the original cartoon business in the late 80s. They listened respectfully to our approach to go back-to-the-future of cartoon creation to model their entry on Looney Tunes. That is, make a single, short cartoon, with highly talented and skilled filmmakers, show it to the audience, and, if they like it, make more.

So, as the best clients often do, they took what they wanted from that advice, and did it their way.

And their way worked like crazy. Nick’s head of development & production (now Chairman) Herb Scannell enlisted the help of Vanessa Coffey and Mary Harrington, two cartoon novices (though with oodles more experience than Herb, or me for that matter). Herb, Vanessa, and Mary identified five indie studios to make pilots: John K’s Spumco, Klasky-Csupo, Jim Jinkin’s Jumbo, Joey Ahlbum, and I don’t remember the fifth. The results made animation history, and changed the game in TV animation forever: Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, and Doug, all from Nickelodeon’s initial foray into original cartoons.

(More next time.)

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.
Part 3.

Floyd Bishop owns Bishop Animation in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, “a full service animation studio, specializing in high end computer animation.” After reading about the studio on Cartoon Brew, we asked Floyd to come by and talk with us about Oh Yeah! Cartoons. After showing us the studio reel and some concept drawings earlier in the summer, today Floyd and Veronica Harper came by to show us Lost & Pound.

Here’s a download of a CGI motion test they brought of one of their characters.

Thanks to Floyd for his kind permission to post some of his pitch.

Joe Bevilacqua is the creator and producer of The Comedy-O-Rama Hour (on XM Satellite Radio and Public Radio). He created Willaby & the Professor in homage to his love of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. (Joe went on to study voice acting with Daws Butler,

and last year wrote the definitive Daws biography.)

Thanks to Joe for his kind permission to post some of his storyboard pitch to Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

Many of you love Bill Plympton’s films. Heck, many of you know Bill, since he’s one of those great filmmakers who goes to screenings of his pictures because he loves meeting his fans and other people in animation.

We’ve known and loved Bill’s movies for quite a while, so we were really happy when he wanted to show us a storyboard for Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

Thanks to Bill Plympton for kind permission to post some panels from his cartoon.

Oh Yeah! Cartoons, started in 1998, but our minds were on original cartoons as far back as the 80s.

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.

Nickelodeon loved our idea for animation shorts. So they changed it all around.

(A short aside. Alan and I had been among the original employees at MTV Networks, parent of Nickelodeon. As the first creative directors, we established the whole promotion/brand/logo scheme for MTV, and, humbly, we carried some clout at the company. When we struck out on our own and set up Fred/Alan, MTVN’s Bob Pittman hired us back as consultants. Sounded great.

We quickly found out that consultants are often respected and listened to. Sort of. Over the years I’ve come to see that a consultant will come up with a ‘Big Idea’ for his/her client, which I liken to a bright, bouncy, light balloon. The client, on the other hand, sees said idea a beautiful, fragrant, heavy loaf of bread. Which they can cut up, take the most tasteful slices, and give back the rest.)

Our clients at Nick always liked our ideas, and the notion of new, short cartoons done by new creative talent fit their sense of themselves like a hand-in-glove. So, when they told us they were moving ahead with animation pilots, they thought they were agreeing with us.

(More next time.)

Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.