steet :

Mmm, I'm going to add a lot of questions there, sorry by advance ;)

When did you exactly had the idea about the series? I have heard that almost all the settings and characters were created in only 3 days - can you confirm that?

How long were the pre-production and the production phases?

What was the budget of the series? (if it's not confidential)

I have read an interview to Ed Ghertner :

http://www.mouseclubhouse.com/ [...] rtner/ed-ghertner-talespin.htm

, who says that there were basically four teams working on Talespin! It seems a lot uncommon, why was it like this? Wasn't it a hell to supervise and coordinate everything in such situation?

Jymn Magon :

I've answered some of this in my previous posting.

It's been a long time - and some of this is a blur - plus a lot of the budgeting/scheduling/pre-productioning is done by number-crunchers and execs in different departments. Mark and I were focused on getting the show up & running creatively. So I'm afraid I can't answer your "production" questions accurately. But basically from "OK" to Final Cut was a year-and-a-half of non-stop work.

Like I said, I don't know the budget for the show, but I think at one point we realized that we were spending the same per episode as Star Trek:The Next Generation was spending. They were a million dollars per 1 hour episode, and we were about a half million per half-hour Tale Spin.

I haven't read Ed's interview yet, but, yes, it's true - we had 4 teams. There were 4 story editors (each with a group of writers) linked to 4 director/producers (each with a group of designers, board artists, & colorists). Ed was a director/producer until he left to go work at Features (Lion King, I think).

Each writer/artist team was responsible for getting out 1 script every two weeks (two teams delivering in tandem). That meant (with 4 teams on a rotating basis) we were churning out 2 half hour shows each and every week. It was fun, but grueling. And since Mark & I were story editing our own teams, we were even MORE swamped cuz we had to look over ALL the scripts & storyboards that were being created. We did that for 65 episodes. Yes, "hell" is a good word choice.

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Jymn Magon	July 28, 2009

If you think about footage (and not quality) we did the same about of footage as all the Disney animated features from Snow White to Jungle Book ... but in only a year & a half! Jymn

Steet	July 23, 2009
	Webmaster
	BS leader

A year and a half...Mmm...To produce 65 episodes, that's really short! (especially when compared to animated features, which most often spend 3-4 years into production) I understand better why there were 4 teams But at least it worked the right way, because it bringed much creativity to the series (it's definitely one of the series I have seen which has the most varied episodes!), while staying coherent on the characters/universe - so yes, you all did a really good job considering the situation

Jymn Magon	July 23, 2009

I've answered some of this in my previous posting. It's been a long time - and some of this is a blur - plus a lot of the budgeting/scheduling/pre-productioning is done by number-crunchers and execs in different departments. Mark and I were focused on getting the show up & running creatively. So I'm afraid I can't answer your "production" questions accurately. But basically from "OK" to Final Cut was a year-and-a-half of non-stop work. Like I said, I don't know the budget for the show, but I think at one point we realized that we were spending the same per episode as Star Trek:The Next Generation was spending. They were a million dollars per 1 hour episode, and we were about a half million per half-hour Tale Spin. I haven't read Ed's interview yet, but, yes, it's true - we had 4 teams. There were 4 story editors (each with a group of writers) linked to 4 director/producers (each with a group of designers, board artists, & colorists). Ed was a director/producer until he left to go work at Features (Lion King, I think). Each writer/artist team was responsible for getting out 1 script every two weeks (two teams delivering in tandem). That meant (with 4 teams on a rotating basis) we were churning out 2 half hour shows each and every week. It was fun, but grueling. And since Mark & I were story editing our own teams, we were even MORE swamped cuz we had to look over ALL the scripts & storyboards that were being created. We did that for 65 episodes. Yes, "hell" is a good word choice.