Cartoon connection: Sander Schwartz is breathing new life into the once venerable Warner Bros.' animation division, producer of the famous looney tones brand, by bringing together new ideas and repackaging popular classics to make it a leader in television programming.

JUST two years after taking over Warner Bros. Animation, Sander Schwartz has helped to reinvigorate the studio, which once had a famous "cartoon" brand, to where it is arguably the biggest animation studio producing for television once again.

While Disney with its blockbuster features continues to be No. 1 overall in the animation industry, Warner led in the number of animated television shows produced last year.

Not bad for a studio that had just two series on television when Schwartz arrived from Sony Pictures' animation operation which he started and which produced "Jackie Chan Adventures," "Max Steel," and others. Today, the Warner studio is producing nine animated series and five made-for-home video releases along with plans for animated features.

In his brief time at Warner Bros., the studio has made deals with MTV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, the WB Network and others to provide a number of new shows. They include "Mucha Lucha!," "Justice League," "Baby Looney Tunes, " and more recently, "Ozzy & Drix," "Static Shock," "What's New Scooby Doo?," "Teen Titans," and the new Daffy Duck series in pre-production, "Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half Century."

With more than 125 hours of animated shows since he arrived the studio continues to add to that total with three new shows starting this summer while developing others for future protection.

By focusing on its famous characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Scooby Doo and others, while developing new ones, the studio has revitalized the Warner Bros. brand with new shows and repackaged classic ones into a major presence on cable television.

Question: What's been your biggest challenge?

Answer: Warner Bros. had a big tradition in animation and finding a new direction to make it more relevant and more viable is a challenge.

Q: Is it more pressure to work at a studio with so much history in animation?

A: It gives you a wealth of material to draw on. For example we have a new series completing its first year on Kids WB and Cartoon Network as well, called "What's New Scooby Doo?" So it gives you access to the great characters and properties that we have. Secondarily you have to make them as good or better than they were the first time around and make sure you are protecting the franchise properties of the studio and taking them to a new level.

Q: Why was production down at the studio every year, it seemed before you got there?

A: As a company, over the last decade it's been in a great deal of transition. There's been the Warner merger with Time Inc. in the '90s,then with Turner and Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network, then of course, the merger with AOL and at this point things are getting sorted out and we're firing on all cylinders like the chairman of the studio likes to say.

Q: What are your priorities?

A: Our strategy entails three components. The first is to go with the franchise properties and continue to make them relevant. They're "Looney Tunes," "Scooby Duo," "Batman" and a wealth of others. Second is to create new properties for the studio that are derived from properties that the studio is endeavoring to launch, like our "Ozzy and Drix" series derived from the film "Osmosis Jones." We're also in the process of doing "Kangaroo Jack" direct to video which is based on the hit film from Castle Rock with a chance to grow that into a potential franchise. And lastly, it's original properties like "Mucha Lucha," which originated here. Those are the tentpoles of our business that need to be balanced for our business to be successful.

Q: How does the Internet figure into your plans?

A: The Internet is very significant to us. It's a marketing and promotional tool for us. We have a partnership with our online division, Warner Bros. Online to originate and launch new properties on the Internet. It's called "CartoonMonsoon.com" On it we solicit submissions from everyone and anyone to develop new shows. Last year we selected 10 and of those 10 properties we commissioned for production two shorts of two to three minutes.

Q: How did you see the company when you got here?

A: I looked at all the pieces of the puzzle and thought how we could strategically utilize the resources that we "had. So we revved up our development for Cartoon Network and now we're premiering two shows for the next two months. This month it's "Teen Titans," and next month it's "Duck Dodgers in the 24th and half Century," and also we're focusing more on the Kids WB relationship and we have "0zzy and Drix," "Mucha Lucha," "Static Shock and "Scooby Duo."

Q: Are you planning an animated feature for theatrical release?

A: We are producing the animation of the live action "Looney Tunes Back in Action," that's going to be released on November 14, starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin as the ever popular villain. So there's 4,900 feet of animation, so it's an extensive animation job, but we have some other projects in development.

Q: After the failure of Disney's "Treasure Planet" and some others last year there's been concern about animated films. Is it warranted?

A: It's funny to the extent that when an animated picture doesn't work, the first off-the-cuff conclusion is that people aren't interested in animated films or that animation isn't viable, but when a live action picture doesn't work nobody says "Wow, lets not do another live action picture because people don't want to watch live action pictures."

Q: With the success of computer generated image animation like "Shrek" and others, do you see that replacing standard animation?

A: Conventional wisdom is that the future of filmmaking is in CGI and that perception is fueled by Pixar's siting of successful films and such films as "Ice Age," and "Shrek." But I feel there is room for 2-D pictures. Nickelodeon had a string of success with "Rugrats" and other films and they were produced for a price that made sense and they performed well.

Q: Even standard or 2-D animation is going toward computers. Does that worry you?

A: You're still going to need drawings by hand, but you have computers that can do a lot of work. So now you have more choices. But hand drawings are not going to go away completely even if everything else is done on computers.

Q: Do you still have a lot of contact with some of the studio's veteran animators?

A: I had Joe Barbera in my office last week, pitching me three or four new ideas, one of which, I commissioned a script and he's 92 and not about to retire. We had Iwao Takamoto, the original designer of Scooby Duo, and he's here working every day and he's in his 80s.

Q: How do you see the rest of the year playing out for the company?

A: We're launching three new series this month then Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half century next month and then "Xiao Lin Showdown" in October, plus a new "Bare, an" video. But I'd love to see a great launch of these shows.

Q: What's been the key to revitalizing the Warner Bros. brand?

A: Back in the '80s, the networks didn't have that much time to schedule animation and cable wasn't really buying that much. So this wasn't a vibrant studio at the time. But cable changed all that and especially with oar acquisition of Cartoon Network.

Snapshot

Sander Schwartz

Title: President, Warner Bros. Animation

Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio 

Education: B.A. from Ohio University and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

Career Turning Point: When Sony approved his plans in 1994 to develop Sony's animation division, which became one of the most successful animation studios in the 1990s.

Most Admired Person: Veteran TV producer Marty Krofft.

Personal: Married.