Disney/Pixar/The World

Whew! It was quite a week for the animation industry, as it was announced Tuesday that Disney is buying Pixar. There probably hasn't been a bigger buzz in the animation industry since... well, I don't know when. People are reeling on every side - those at Disney, those at Pixar, and the rest of the animation world as a whole. The minute I heard the news I talked to friends at both companies. It seems the Disney artists are ecstatic - why wouldn't they be? They now have amazing people that everyone respects driving their company. The Pixar people, well, they trust their leaders when they say it will work well for both companies. I think people in general are worried that John Lassetter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are going to be stretched too thin between their duties at both Pixar and Disney. But, let's face it, these are creative geniuses who will probably be able to rise to the occasion. Nonetheless, Pixar will undoubtedly be changed by this, hopefully in an only positive manner.

The fate of Circle 7 is in the air. Here's what I posted about it at (Animation Nation):

Talked yesterday to an artist who was freelancing for TS3. He said
nobody at Circle7 was picking up the phone or returning calls. Guess we know why
now. What a wild week, everything's changing very quickly.Whether the C7/TS3
thing was a whole bluff or not, we'll never know for sure. A lot of people
predicted it would be shut down eventually one way or another. Sad for the
artists who got caught up in the process. I have a friend who was being strung
along by Disney for TS3 for quite some time. He was excited about TS3 and passed
on some offers waiting for that position. Granted, I'd never advise that route,
but usually when shows are hiring, the show actually exists... Only a handful of
the top brass will ever know for sure what was planned.

A couple of people have emailed me responding to my post saying the same thing happened to them. It's really too bad. Maybe Pixar will start a division in LA. Only time will tell how this all plays out, but it's definitely an exciting time.