BIG CEL OUT ON HORIZON? HOLLYWOOD ANIMATORS TO GATHER, GAUGE STATE OF INDUSTRY.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

Animators are seeing red over their industry's blues as they gather today for a first-ever conference addressing shifts in jobs, studio economics, consumer choice and Internet missteps.

The Animation Business Marketplace and Creative Conference will kick off at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with a panel discussion on the impending ``creative and economic revolution.''

``It's a good time for people to do a barometer check on the industry,'' said Terry Thoren, one of the scheduled panelists and president of Klasky Csupo Inc., producers of ``The Rugrats Movie.''

``What's happening worldwide is there are so many outlets now for animation that the audience is being diluted so the licensing fees are going down, which means budgets have to go down and so many artists are being laid off.''

Career counseling and a job fair are scheduled for the two-day event. About 700 independent producers are scheduled to attend what Thoren and other organizers hope to turn into an annual conference rotating to different cities each year.

``The Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening will be among the animation heavyweights joining the conference. Others include Craig Bartlett, creator of Nickelodeon's ``Hey Arnold!'' and Tom Sito, whose credits for The Walt Disney Co. include ``Beauty and the Beast,'' ``Aladdin'' and ``The Lion King.''

This is a far smaller gathering than the industry's regular convention held each August in Los Angeles, the World Animation Celebration.

The focus today will be on networking, deal-making, new technology and responding to trends like animation's changing role in movies, television, commercials, video games and the Internet.

It is the latter where most problems have occurred recently.

Many thought the Internet was a sure-fire animation platform for established artists and newcomers alike. But the general downturn among Web companies has washed away several animation and entertainment sites including Icebox.com, Pop.com and Burbank-based Z.com, which counted film producer Jerry Bruckheimer among founding investors.

Some see opportunity in these troubles. They include Kevin Bermeister, president of Woodland Hills-based animation software maker Brilliant Digital Entertainment.

``With the advent of problems that have occurred in the dot-com community and the market, has come to the realization that we're several years off before we see mainstream use of broadband, which fundamentally gives us time to improve our model,'' said Bermeister, a featured speaker on a panel today on emerging animation production tools.

Broadband refers to high-speed Internet connections that only a minority of consumers have and which are ideally suited for transmitting moving images.

Bermeister hopes the time it takes for broadband to become common, perhaps two more years, will give his firm time to catch up to its chief rival, Macromedia Inc., makers of the popular Flash and Shockwave animation software.

The Internet downturn has been all the more damaging because that's where animation activity had been migrating from more costly television cartoon production.

Studios are also being more careful about their animation projects after bombs like ``Titan A.E.'' from 20th Century Fox. Script strength, not dazzling artistry, is more of a priority now, several in the industry said.

``There's a lot of animation in production across the board at all the studios but people are being very cautious about the money they're spending,'' Thoren said.

At the same time, audiences are fragmented from a glut of entertainment choices, from television and movies to video games and the Internet.

``For both animation and actual production there's more demand than ever because there's more outlets,'' said John Hyde, president of Film Roman Inc., the North Hollywood firm that develops ``The Simpsons'' and ``King of the Hill.'' ``The only difference is that because the outlets are to a more specific audience than a general one ... you have to produce on more economic terms.''

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Animator Paul Demeyer, a sequence director at Klasky Csupo Inc., works on the ``Wild Thornberrys'' movie project. Demeyer works on a light table to develop sequences for the Klasky Csupo movie project ``Wild Thornberrys.''

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer