Animation helps 'little Mexican kid's' dream come true: the rise of Film Roman.

This history of Film Roman is a true Horatio Alger story. It began when Phil Roman, an 11-year-old "little Mexican kid" who picked grapes in Fresno, saw Walt Disney's "Bambi." Thrilling to the animator's art, he decided that all he ever wanted to do was draw.

In 1984, a grown Phil Roman decided it was time to pursue his dream of starting his own studio. He started Film Roman with three animators in one room drawing "Garfield" specials. The staff of three has grown to 270, occupying three floors of an office building in North Hollywood; and the company has successfully diversified across multiple production disciplines while maintaining its appreciation for quality.

Today, independent Film Roman is one of the largest animation houses in the U.S., competing on the same level as huge studios Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, Universal and Disney. The beginnings couldn't have been any more humble.

Phil Roman came to Los Angeles with $60 in his pocket, a burning desire to be an animator, and a letter of introduction from a Fresno theater manager where he had ushered. The kindly, perceptive proprietor of Hollywood Art Center School took young Phil in as a scholarship student. He paid half of his tuition, covered the rest doing two hours of "grunt" work nightly, and then worked the late shift at a movie theater to cover his living expenses. He left to serve in the military and returned to the art center to continue his education.

In 1955 his dream, since childhood, to work at Disney came true when he was hired to work as an assistant animator on Disney's "Sleeping Beauty." He observed that advancement was slow and limited so he left the security of the animation giant two years later to work as a full animator at a small commercial animation studio in San Francisco.

The '60s, the 'breakthrough decade,' found Phil directing such memorable commercials as StarKist's "Charlie the Tuna," among others. Then it was back to Hollywood and stints with top animation shops, including MGM, Warner Bros. and UPA. He also worked with such icons as Jay Ward and Chuck Jones.

In the '70s, Phil Roman began a long association (13 years) with Bill Melendez and the "Peanuts" gang. Somehow, he made the time to work with Ralph Bakshi on "Lord of the Rings," an animated feature. The Melendez connection had Phil co-director, then director, of a total of 16 "Charlie Brown" specials, 15 of which were Emmy Award nominees, and three of which won the Golden Lady.

When Roman decided to open is own business, producer Lee Mendelson convinced Jim Davis and CBS that Roman was the right choice to produce Garfield. Mendelson advanced Roman some of the network license fee which he combined with his own personal savings to open his shop. "I had to do everything: the directing, the bookkeeping, scheduling, budgeting, post-production, animation," says Roman.

In the first year, the studio made a Garfield special and a commercial, earned $300,000 in sales and an Emmy award for the special. By 1990 the studio had grown to 50 employees and $7.1 million in sales, and in 1993 increased to 250 employees and $27 million in sales.

Born into a large Spanish-speaking family, Roman is listed in the Who's Who of Hispanic America. Hispanic Business Magazine named Roman among the country's 100 most influential Hispanics, and his company among the Top 500 Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. His studio is the largest Hispanic-owned business in the San Fernando Valley and was recently awarded the Latin Business Association's award for "Growing Company of The Year."

He never asked for, nor did he receive any special help for being a Hispanic. "Since the '20s, animators have competed on a creative level, regardless of race. Animation, in particular, has been a big career draw to Hispanics." He recognizes that drawing ability knows no ethnic or gender boundaries. Film Roman reflects a rainbow coalition of animators. "We have African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, women managers and directors -- it breaks out all different ways," Roman said. "The only way we can judge people is by their talent and ability, nothing else counts in our business."

The success of Film Roman is not based only on pluck and luck. Its under-pinning is the ability to deliver quality with predictable reliability, not falling victim to the fatal cost overruns or missed deliveries that have plagued other animation independents.

"Our strength is good, solid entertainment," explains Phil Roman, acknowledged to be one of the very few genuine animators to be running a major animation studio. "With my background, I try to bring that kind of energy into our shows. The only way we can compete with the majors is on a creative level. We strive to put the entire production budget on the screen. What's on the screen is our resume. And it continues to work for us."

As the company has grown, it has reached out internationally, establishing its own distribution arm, and into other business arenas such as licensing its own characters via its own licensing/merchandising division. In a major coup, Film Roman acquired the animation rights to Izzy, the Olympic character mascot for the 1996 Centennial Games in Atlanta.

Internationally, Film Roman is one of the larger producers of animated programming. To fill global needs for animation, Film Roman is utilizing cooperative ways; co-development, co-financing and co-production.

Cooperative business relationships have been established in the U.K., France, Germany, Japan and Russia. Film Roman has partnered with Argus Studios and Brownstone Productions to form a new production studio in Moscow, employing 200 people who specialize in theatrical quality production in the classic tradition. There are also support troops in a half-dozen international animation studios to which Film Roman farms out parts of its diverse productions.

The studio's animation portfolio includes: prime time series, theatrical features and shorts, daytime network series, first-run syndication programming, TV specials and commercials.

Some of Film Roman's most successful productions include the Fox primetime weekly series "The Simpsons," the hour-long "Garfield and Friends," the anchor of CBS's Saturday morning lineup; and comedian Howie Mandel's innovative "Bobby's World," airing weekdays on Fox.

Another example of Film Roman's impressive diversity was the theatrical release, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie." Film Roman was the personal choice of Joe Barbera for producing the film -- high praise from the co-developer, with Bill Hanna, of the original "Tom and Jerry" characters.

Certainly, the "Garfield" character and TV specials put Film Roman on the map, establishing it as a major player and giving it a reputation as a place for quality. Virtually each of 10 "Garfield" primetime specials produced by Film Roman, beginning with "Garfield in the Rough," has been nominated or won Emmy awards. "Garfield and Friends" became the number one Saturday children's TV program in the 1988-89 season and has maintained a leading position.

When Phil Roman started, he was forthright about his goals. "I don't want to be the biggest studio in town--or even the busiest,' he says. Instead, he explains, the objective was to control growth so as to turn out careful, quality work. Roman's goal for the future is to develop properties that he completely owns and controls. (The company now owns a percentage of most of the shows it produces.)

Roman believes the future is bright for animation. "We're enjoying the greatest, longest boom I've ever seen. There are new channels coming up all the time, so the demand just grows and grows."

The Emmy nominations and awards galore, the success with commercials, the expansion to being a global company, developing new areas of distribution and production, strongly suggest that Phil Roman has created his own "Roman Empire," and done it his way, without making the serious compromises many other companies have had to make. The "little Mexican kid" from Fresno continues to realize his dreams.

Sarah Baisley is publicity director for Film Roman, Inc.