Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 3.
Oh Yeah! Cartoons, started in 1998, but our minds were on original cartoons as far back as the 80s.
Blog History of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Part 1. Part 2.
Nickelodeon loved our idea for animation shorts. So they changed it all around.
(A short aside. Alan and I had been among the original employees at MTV Networks, parent of Nickelodeon. As the first creative directors, we established the whole promotion/brand/logo scheme for MTV, and, humbly, we carried some clout at the company. When we struck out on our own and set up Fred/Alan, MTVN’s Bob Pittman hired us back as consultants. Sounded great.
We quickly found out that consultants are often respected and listened to. Sort of. Over the years I’ve come to see that a consultant will come up with a ‘Big Idea’ for his/her client, which I liken to a bright, bouncy, light balloon. The client, on the other hand, sees said idea a beautiful, fragrant, heavy loaf of bread. Which they can cut up, take the most tasteful slices, and give back the rest.)
Our clients at Nick always liked our ideas, and the notion of new, short cartoons done by new creative talent fit their sense of themselves like a hand-in-glove. So, when they told us they were moving ahead with animation pilots, they thought they were agreeing with us.
(More next time.)
