February 27, 2003

  • Yoram Gross Receives an Award!

    Let’s just say we do our best to be “positive” and supportive of our local animation industry on this blog (there is enough negativity and jadedness around as it is), but when we saw this news item, everyone’s first reaction was: WHAAAATT???!!!

    Kim Dalton, head of the AFC, is presenting Gross with the ASDA animation award for “Excellence over a body of work.” ASDA president Donald Crombie comments, “In honoring Mr. Gross with an ASDA, the Directors’ organization is recognizing not only his excellence over a body of work, but that he has built a major animation business that has made landmark Australian animated films and provided inspiration and employment to younger animators.” (Link: Animation Magazine news item)

    There is no doubt that Yoram Gross has established the biggest animation studio in Australia, offered employment to lots of aspiring animation artists (most of us have worked there at some point), and for producing far more TV series than any other studio in this country. But we have yet to meet any animator – young or old, who has been genuinely “inspired” by the Yoram Gross product.

    For Yoram it has always been about getting the job done as cheaply as possible (and this was never a secret) – the result: mediocre characters, stories and humour.

    And we thought ASDA (Australian Screen Directors’ Association) were a lot more  discerning and could tell the difference between “creative excellence” and “business excellence”.