WARNER BROS. TELEVISION
SUMMER 2010 TCA PRESS TOUR – STUDIO DAY
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Warner Bros. Animation Presentation and Panel
Steven J. Ross Theater
Warner Bros. Studios
TAMMY GOLIHEW: Hi, guys. Good morning. Thank you so much for coming out today. Welcome TCA members and invited guests. I'm Tammy Golihew from Warner Bros. Television Publicity, and we are so excited that we get to kick off the TCA tour with Studio Day. I'm just going to give you a quick rundown of scheduled events for today. First off, we are going to have a special panel with the incredible people behind Warner Bros. Animation, as you can see. We also wanted to make sure that you knew that you were getting a very first look/sneak peek at two of three theatrical Looney Tunes shorts that we have done, and that is why you have your 3D glasses. And, just a gentle reminder, we do need those back when you exit the theater.
After the screening, we are going to move out to the lobby for lunch. And, of course, you know that you need that Facebook or Twitter photo op, so we will have some of our very iconic characters – including Bugs, Daffy, Scooby and perhaps the Mystery Machine – out there for that. If you didn't bring your own camera or you don't have a BlackBerry or iPhone, we do have a photographer, and we are happy to email you those photos.
Next, we are going to take a private, guided tour of the studio. We are going to condense close to 85 years into an hour and 15 minutes, but we hope to make it very relevant to you as television critics and people who enjoy and love television. And, lastly, we are going to go to the set of "Undercovers." As you know, "Undercovers" is the new action drama from executive producer J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims. There, we are going to see the amazing Bloom catering set. It's actually a working set. So you will get to see a demonstration of that by our food stylist along with our production designer.
Thank you guys so much for coming out. And now, a man who really needs no introduction. I would like to introduce Peter Roth, who is the President of Warner Bros. Television. He also oversees Warner Horizon and Warner Bros. Animation.
(Applause.)
PETER ROTH: Thank you very much. Good morning everyone. You know, two years ago, when I was unexpectedly, but very happily, given oversight of Warner Bros. Animation, I realized I had come full circle in my life because, for those of who you don't know, I actually began my career in 1975, working in children's programming. I'm sure all of you remember some of those classic shows: "Jabberjaw," "The Krofft Supershow," "Magic Monga" -- thank you so much -- "Dr. Shrinker," "Wonderbug," "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics" (makes a barking sound). It was such an honor and a privilege to be able to begin my television career working in a space that I loved so much. So when I was given this oversight two years ago, I realized two things very quickly: first, how much the world of animation and the world of children's programming had changed and how little I really knew about it; and then, secondly, I knew that I needed someone absolutely spectacular with the energy and the insight and the wisdom and the strength and the creative skills to run the unit on a day-to-day basis.
So, honestly, guys, the best, luckiest, and the most successful decision of them all for me has been the hiring of a man who I'm going to introduce you to right now … Sam Register, who is the Executive Vice President of Warner Bros. Animation, an absolutely brilliant producer, executive, and the man who has reinvigorated and re-energized this unit.
We began two years ago with one series in production, "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," with Sam helping as executive producer. Today, we have six series in production with the seventh on its way. So, in two years, we have geometrically expanded our horizons. I couldn't be more proud to introduce to you Sam Register.
(Applause.)
Is Sam not here? Okay. Now, I can do my Captain Caveman voice. The great story about Captain Caveman -- I'm going to baffle you all here. In 1977, we were trying to put together a two-hour block of programming for ABC called "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics." We had three of the four elements. We had Dynamite Dog Wonder. We had Scooby-Doo. I'm ad-libbing as fast as I can. Okay. Here's Sam Register.
(Applause.)
SAM REGISTER: We just got a little lost at Warner Bros. Good morning everybody. So I have no idea what my boss just said about me.
PETER ROTH (from the audience): Nice things.
SAM REGISTER: Oh, nice things. I'm Sam Register of Warner Bros. Animation, and I've had the great opportunity to work at this studio with this great library of characters. So, today, I'm going to introduce you to the people who are actually behind the making of these great shows. So, first, I want to introduce Jessica Borutski, who is the character designer on "The Looney Tunes Show."
(Applause.)
Jeff Bergman, who is the voice of both Bugs and Daffy in the new "Looney Tunes Show."
(Applause.)
Frank Welker, who is the original voice of Fred from "Scooby-Doo" and also the voice of Scooby.
(Applause.)
Dietrich Bader, who is the voice of Batman on "The Brave and the Bold."
(Applause.)
And finally James Tucker, who is the producer of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold."
(Applause.)
So before we start with these guys, we are going to show you guys the sizzle reel of some of the stuff we've been doing at Warner Bros. Animation.
(Sizzle reel shown.)
(Applause.)
So I'm going to start right with "The Looney Tunes Show" because that's where we left off, and Jessie and Jeff. Jessie is the character designer of the new Bugs and Daffy. One thing, a little bit about this show, is when we decided that we were going to take Bugs and Daffy from lots of 7-minute shorts into 22-minute stories, we knew we had to tell bigger stories and longer stories to get more characters involved. So we also wanted to put the character -- make the characters look a little bit different and try something a little bit new since the world was going to be new. And the story is, our producer, Tony Cervone, saw something that you had done on the Internet, Jessie, I think.
JESSICA BORUTSKI: Yeah. It was a short film I did probably about five years ago called "I Like Pandas."
SAM REGISTER: And do you, in fact, like pandas?
JESSICA BORUTSKI: Yeah, I like pandas.
SAM REGISTER: So Jessie had this great look. And I guess Tony just cold-called you.
JESSICA BORUTSKI: Yeah. It was actually kind of a funny little e-mail. It was one line. It was: "Hi. My name is Tony. Would you be interested in redesigning the Looney
Tunes?" And that was it. So I wrote back, "It's a little vague. Would you mind explaining yourself a little bit more?" I don't even know who this Tony guy is. I live out in Ottowa, Canada. And he wrote back, and he just said, "We want to do a new show, and we wanted to see how you would draw the characters."
And, at first, I was, kind of, not really even interested because I was worried that they might want to redesign them maybe looking really cool in, like, cool kid clothes or something. And he said, "No. We want to keep them as close to the original characters, the same spirits, same everything, but just with a little bit of a new freshness to them." So then I was totally, totally game to be part of the project.
SAM REGISTER: Wow. And I guess you got a lot of, sort of, instant fame after that happened?
JESSICA BORUTSKI: A little bit of fame, a little bit of hate … mostly hate, but that's all right. Like, growing up, I studied Looney Tunes. So they are not foreign to me to draw them. I love these characters. I've always just loved watching the cartoons and learning just how to be an artist from these great, great cartoons.
SAM REGISTER: Well, they look beautiful. She was talking to a lot of Internet -- a lot of people who are fans of the classics that looked at it.
JESSICA BORUTSKI: Yeah.
SAM REGISTER: So Jessie was getting a lot of love and a lot of, sort of, concern from some of the fans, but I think now, more and more, as they are seeing more, the stuff is getting better.
So, Jeff, I think the same question for you. You've been doing voices for many years, and we did a big casting for the characters, and you landed many roles on "The Looney Tunes Show." What was your first experience with working with these characters?
JEFF BERGMAN: Well, I met Mel Blanc in 1981, and I was a student at the University of Pittsburgh. And I saw him do his act. And I don't know, at the time, that it resonated with me that that's what I was going to do, but I think sometime after that I started to do some of the characters just, you know, kicking around that idea. And then just fast-forward to, I believe it was, right around this time in 1989 where I was part of the vocal ensemble of Steven Spielberg's "Tiny Tune Adventures." So that was probably the first experience that I had doing --
SAM REGISTER: Who is harder, Bugs or Daffy?
JEFF BERGMAN: Well, they present different issues, but I would say probably Bugs is more challenging because it's closer, I think, to a more natural voice. It's less exaggerated. It's a little closer to Mel Blanc's, you know, natural voice. [[Speaking in character]] "All right, Doc." "Well, I'll try to, Daffy. But, yes, I'll be your best friend." "Really? Is that so?" "Okay. Well, I'm glad that worked for you."
SAM REGISTER: So you also do a really bang-up Fred and Barney from "The Flintstones." Since I have you here, can we just --
JEFF BERGMAN [[Speaking in character]]: "Barney boy, you are a real wise guy, all right. So you think you are so smart." "Oh, gee, Fred, you know the way Wilma is (laughter). When she finds out you are moonlighting at the bowling alley, you are going to be in a lot of trouble (laughter)."
(Applause.)
SAM REGISTER: "The Looney Tunes" has been a great privilege for us at Warner Bros. Animation, and it is the hardest show we have ever worked on. I show everything I do to Peter, and it's one of the things that we all, as a studio, are very focused on making "The Looney Tunes" as best, and we are getting unprecedented support from the studio in helping us create this new show. And it's hard. We spend, I think, one-third of our time on "The Looney Tunes" arguing about the past. So, when you are doing an original show, you just move forward. And on "The Looney Tunes," they were so great that we spend a lot of time just thinking about how to make them as good as they were at one time and being respectful to them while still trying to do something.
All right. Frank, you are the original Fred from "Scooby-Doo."
FRANK WELKER: [[In an old man's voice]] Yes, I am. [[In a younger voice, in Fred's voice]]Yes, I -- yes, I am.
(Laughter.)
SAM REGISTER: So the characters -- I mean, first off, congratulations. What do you think has kept the Scooby gang so relevant for generation after generation of kids?
FRANK WELKER: Well, before I answer that question, I just want to know why I didn't get a call to audition for "The Looney Tunes Show." Just kidding.
DIEDRICH BADER: Awkward.
FRANK WELKER: Actually, you know, when you look at a show like "Scooby" -- and I've often thought about that myself and been asked that question before, and I think in any kind of drama or play, it tends to come down to relationships. And I think that you've got a great comedy foil with Scooby and Shaggy, and then you have Daphne as sort of being the fashion, and Velma with the brains, and Freddie … eh. I remember -- now, Freddie is changing, by the way. But I remember going on AOL one time, and they had a little thing where you could vote on your favorite character from "Scooby-Doo." I looked at Scooby -- like thousands. Shaggy, thousands. Velma, hundreds. Daphne, hundreds. Freddie, 40. (Laughter.) Twenty of those were mine. But Freddie is really changing. He's, you know, kind of -- originally, he was just sort of the guy who had a license and was able to drive the Mystery Machine. So he was a necessity. But I think, in this latest iteration, the writers are so good and brought a lot of, kind of, edge and fun and brought it into date. And throughout the years, there's just been different -- I think most of the writers are a new group that comes up with the ages, and so they add their, kind of, twist into it.
SAM REGISTER: It's been -- I have to say, for all of us who have been working on the show, I mean, to be able to work -- and also Casey Kasem is not Shaggy anymore, but we brought Casey Kasem back in to be Shaggy's dad. So Casey is still involved in the show, which is also fantastic.
The one thing we did on "Scooby-Doo" is the show had sort of -- over the last few years, they were sort of repeating the same stuff. We had the mystery and the unmasking. And what we wanted to do on the show is we wanted to lift it up. And what we did is we made a much bigger over arc. We added a little bit of "Lost," essentially, to "Scooby-Doo" so that you know something that's bigger that's happening with the gang. And, already, the show premiered on Cartoon Network a couple weeks ago, we are getting such great responses on doing that. Some of what the writer really wanted to do was give Fred more to do, as you've said.
FRANK WELKER: Right.
SAM REGISTER: So the character interrelations are much different to the point -- for those who may not have seen it -- that Shaggy and Velma are now absolutely an item. They are going out, but we are also going to break the characters back up. There's a strange love triangle going on between Shaggy and Fred and Velma that I won't touch upon.
FRANK WELKER: Oh, no.