EMPLOYERS SHOW ARTISTS THE MONEY.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Writer

``Artists wanted. Top salaries paid. Come one, come all.''

Wishful thinking by the earnings-impaired? A revenge fantasy by doodling dreamers? Not any more. In fact, California employers are not only eager to hire artists - they're desperate.

Production studios have not been able to hire artists fast enough since the animation boom began with the success of movies like ``The Lion King,'' ``Toy Story'' and ``Space Jam,'' as well as television shows like ``Beavis and Butt-head'' and ``The Simpsons,'' along with the explosion of digitally enhanced video games, CD-ROMs and commercials.

Animation studios have resorted to raiding colleges for semiskilled undergraduates and to employing immigration lawyers full-time to wrangle visas for talent from Eastern Europe, Korea, Japan and elsewhere.

In response to the shortage, Gov. Pete Wilson last month proposed offering $1.2 million in merit grants for 500 California students who are preparing for careers in the digital arts.

If approved by the legislature, the grants would provide up to $9,000 per student, depending on the school selected, for training in computer animation, special effects and related skills. Matching funds from private industry are required. By the academic year 2000-2001, the program would be providing about $6 million annually in grants to students.

``The governor met with a large group of studio executives at Paramount last summer who told him that one of their most pressing issues was finding trained digital artists in this state,'' said Rosalie Zalis, a senior policy adviser to the governor.

``Currently, some 60 percent of artists hired are recruited from out of the country, at great cost to the studios and to our talented young people who would benefit from these opportunities,'' Zalis said.

Grants based on skills

A key provision of the grants is that they will be awarded based on skills demonstrated in the student's art portfolio rather than on grades. ``This will open up the door to talented youngsters, including those in underprivileged communities, who may not have had the academic success,'' she said.

``It will also, we hope, go a long way toward raising awareness in the legislature that the arts are important to the state economically, and hopefully, arts funding will be increased in the coming years.''

Frank Terry, who directs the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, finds all of this a bit ironic in a state that drastically reduced funding for arts education in the 1980s and '90s.

``To dismiss arts education as an expendable expense is the worst decision that could possibly have been made, and now our private industry is paying the price for it,'' Terry said. ``The special effects and computer animation companies are the ones who are pushing the state to rectify it.''

The hiring frenzy has slowed somewhat from a year or two ago, say insiders, when Warner Bros. and DreamWorks were competing to staff new animation studios.

``It's coming down to talent now instead of bodies, and I think there's more scrutiny,'' said Aaron Berger, a talent agent at AniManagement in Valencia.

Demand kept high

But new enterprises such as the recently launched HBO Animation division and Pixar-Disney deal are keeping the demand high.

Full-page recruitment ads from every major company, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, DreamWorks Animation, Klasky Csupo, HBO Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation, Pacific Data Images, Nickelodeon's Nicktoons, Industrial Light & Magic, Fox Animation Studios and others are featured in current animation magazines.

Entry-level salaries, even for animators right out of school, seem to be falling in a range between $800 and $1,200 a week, said Cal Arts' Terry. Within a few years, some artists are earning annual salaries of $125,000 or more.

``If the generation of kids that graduated from college four years ago were told they had to be a digital animator, they would now be making more money than most doctors and lawyers,'' said Gail Currey, director of digital production operations for Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas' renowned special-effects house.

In addition to character animators with computer skills, employers are seeking people skilled in storyboarding, layout, lighting, camera operation and related areas.

``You can be a competent animator, not necessarily the best, and still earn a very solid living,'' Terry said. ``The current marketplace makes virtually every personality employable.''

Opportunities to be highlighted

At the World Animation Celebration - today through Sunday in Pasadena - much of the emphasis will be on career opportunities.

Seminars for professionals and students will be offered throughout the week. There will be an exposition of the latest animation tools, and recruiters for animation companies and arts colleges will be out in force.

``The goal is to attract youth to our industry,'' said the honorary chairman for the event, Terry Thoren, president and chief executive officer of Klasky Csupo. His company is the home ``Rugrats'' and ``Duckman.''

As part of the celebration, novices 16 and older will be able to get actual experience Tuesday in an event called World Animation 2000.

Organizers hope to attract 2,000 participants who will be divided into 200 teams for a nine-hour marathon of creating 30-second animation sequences, which will then be combined over the next several days into a feature-length film.

The sequences will be scanned into a computer Wednesday, set to music Thursday and screened at a world premiere Friday. For a $35 admission fee, participants will receive a T-shirt, lunch and refreshments, admission to the premiere screening and a copy of the completed movie on video.

``You don't have to be able to draw well to participate,'' said Thoren. ``Just immerse yourself in the process so that you begin to understand the opportunities that exist.''

Thoren said organizers preferred to register participants in advance for planning purposes, but stragglers also will be able to sign up at the door.

Information on participating in the World Animation 2000 is available from the festival hotline at [phone], or by accessing Forms By Fax at [phone], Ext. 6789.