When Danny Antonucci decided it was time to pitch Cartoon Network on a series, he faxed a one-page drawing of his characters Ed, Edd and Eddy to Linda Simensky, vp of original animation for the cable station.

‘The fax cracked us up,’ says Simensky, a longtime friend and fan of Antonucci.

‘I was always interested in working with Danny. He was a funny guy, his drawings were funny, I knew at some point he would come up with a kids’ cartoon. By the time we had the pitch and showed it to [president] Betty Cohen, she thought it was so funny we should just do it.’

The usual route of making a short and testing it on air was bypassed.

Antonucci’s second series – Ed, Edd and Eddy – premiered Jan. 4.

The hormonally charged adolescents are friends who share the same name and live on the same cul-de-sac in the suburbs. But the similarities end there. Tough guy Ed and the brainy, polite Edd, find themselves caught up in Eddy’s wacky schemes to raise money for candy.

The inspiration for the series came from memories of summers past, vacations when Mom would throw you out in the morning and you couldn’t return home until dinner time.

The Eds are pubescent boys with an entrepreneurial streak. In an early episode, they decide to crash a pool party. Eddy’s plan is to arrive in style by raiding his mother’s wardrobe and adapting her old bikini into swimming shorts for the Eds. But when the boys burst their skimpy swimwear they end up spending the rest of the day sitting in the pool to avoid further embarrassment.

Those favored with a sneak preview are already calling the show ‘Lupo’s babies,’ after Antonucci’s cult cartoon, Lupo the Butcher.

Antonucci’s crazy characterization of an Italian butcher helped launch the irreverent Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Animation – a travelling compilation of shorts that has effectively mined Canada for its demented animators.

There is only one degree of separation among the animators of the West Coast. Antonucci once worked for Marv Newland of Vancouver-based International Rocketship. In turn, Antonucci’s background designer Rod Filbrandt is collaborating with Rocketship regular Mike Grimshaw on a pilot entitled The Huggy Show.

All of the above have frequently contributed to the two most popular film tournees produced by Spike and Mike and Terry Thorn of Expanded Entertainment.

Newland’s roots

The undisputed father of this incestuous community is Newland. Back in the early ’70s, Newland made a gory student film, Bambi Meets Godzilla. It remains a college cult classic 30 years after its debut. This year, Spike plans to rerelease Bambi as part of his 1999 festival lineup. It will be paired with a computerized send-up, Bambi’s Revenge, created by a young fan.

Newland, founder and owner of commercial house Rocketship, has generously underwritten many Vancouver shorts, including Antonucci’s Lupo the Butcher.

This year, animator Peter MacAdam is completing his independent film Explodium under the Rocketship banner. It should be hitting the festival circuit in 1999.

Newland still makes his own short films. He hopes his latest effort, Fuv, will be ready in time for consideration in the upcoming installment of Spike and Mike’s Classic Festival of Animation.

Spike and Mike have a definite soft spot for the West Coast animators. They brought Filbrant and Grimshaw’s dark vision to a wider audience. With their short Quiet Please (1989), the dynamic duo can probably lay claim to the sickest and most twisted cartoon the world has ever seen.

Their legacy continues. This season, Spike will premiere Below the Belt, a short by Vancouver Film School students Trevor Watson and Liam Hogan.

‘Whenever we have a kind of outrageous sick and twisted cartoon – which students like to make – we send a copy down to [Spike and Mike],’ says Andy Bartlett, head instructor at VFS Classical Animation. ‘Mike Grimshaw is one of our teachers and an enthusiastic supporter of these films.’

Vancouver

attracts attention

The new crop of West Coast students has also attracted the attention of Jan Cox, formerly of Spike and Mike’s and now director of the animated shorts division of Manga Entertainment. She nabbed exhibition rights to films by vfs students Tim Grant (Hell Bent) and James Wootton (Shut-up and Dance).

Newland believes that the festivals are still the most legitimate way to release a picture. ‘It’s old fashioned but it works,’ he says. ‘When Spike and Mike started showing up at [regular animation] festivals, broadcasters started showing up. Then Disney, Klasky Csupo and others came to recruit.’

‘We don’t have a formal relationship with the industry, but I’m getting more calls from broadcasters to see our reels and get our take,’ says Spike from his hotel room in San Francisco.

Over the years, the film tournees provided a much-needed promotional platform for independents. It is through commercial venues and international film festivals such as the Ottawa Animation Film Festival, that broadcasters such as Simensky first became aware of Canadian talent.

Simensky has the kind of job animation aficionados around the world only dream of. As vp of original programming for the Cartoon Network, she has ample opportunity and resources to work with some of her favorite creators.

Canadians rank high on her ‘must work with’ list. Inspired in the late ’70s and early ’80s by what she describes as the ‘cartoon auteurs’ of Canada, Simensky began to commission work from them, first for Nickelodeon, and now for her current boss, Cartoon Network.

‘I have a lifetime of calling Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back), but he was always working on a film,’ says Simensky. Other National Film Board cartoonists such as Richard Condie (La Salla) and Les Drew (Every Dog’s Guide to Home Safety) are also on her ‘a’ list.

Simensky hired the mercurial Canadian expatriate John Kricfalusi (Ren and Stimpy) to make several Ranger Smith and Yogi Bear shorts for Cartoon Network.

‘We’ve been pretty relaxed with John in terms of delivery,’ says Simensky. If he produces another masterpiece, he can take as much time as he needs, she adds.

Simensky has closely followed the Canadian independent scene for many years. Although the talent pool here remains deep, she is definitely seeking it out in different places. Whereas the nfb and Sheridan College were once prime scouting grounds, Simensky has shifted her gaze to Canadian studios.

‘[Young] animators at Sheridan are geared more towards tv production; there’s less of that auteur thing going on,’ she says. ‘Canada is becoming more like the States, the innovation is coming more from the commercial houses than it used to,’ she adds.

In addition to entertaining a series proposal from Rocketship, and signing a development deal for a short with Toronto’s Cuppa Coffee Animation, Simensky gives honorable mention to Montreal’s Pascal Blais and Ottawa’s Dynomite Studios.

For many years, the West Coast group was ignored by Canadian broadcasters. That too is changing.

‘We are not crying the blues about Canada these days,’ says Newland.