David Pruiksma has worked as animator in many Disney movies including Little Mermaid, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Lion king, Alladin, and many others
His opinions rapresent well the opinions of the animation staff at the Disney during those years
Here can be found other interesting articles of him
http://www.pruiksma.com/justdesserts.html#justdesserts
http://www.pruiksma.com/A%20NOT%20So...0Symphony.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, Mr. Eisner, (and I use the "Mister" not out of respect, but in an effort to remain as unfamiliar with you as is humanly possible);
We've all had our little joke, but it's really over and it's way past time for you to go. Honestly, the longer you stay, the more embarrassing it gets. You're now like a bad, stand up comedian who has bombed on stage but doesn't know how to end his act. What is even sadder is that this is not funny. It was NEVER funny. And now it is just pathetic. The truth is that you have gone from being perceived as a huge success at Disney (debatably), to being heralded as a colossal failure in view of your obvious inability to see that your time at Disney is over. And the worst part of this is that you don't even seem to know how serious it all is. At least Tom Schumacher, when he was finally removed from his position as head of Feature Animation a little over a year ago, had to know that he was despised and disrespected by the greater part of the animation community at large by the general cheering and elation that came from nearly everyone in the industry, particularly those at Disney Feature Animation. But his demise was nowhere near as spectacular as yours. I mean, let's face it, Tom was a problem, no doubt about that, but he was really insignificant in the grand scheme of The Walt Disney Company, small potatoes, if you will. But you are still in a position where you can inflict significant damage on the company and you seem to be too thick-headed to realize that the shareholders no longer want you in that position-or ANY position-within the Walt Disney Company any more. Don't make us drag you out "kicking and screaming" as Mr. Schumacher threatened to do if asked to leave.
Your comments, just a few short days ago, about all this unrest just passing away in time coupled with your obvious game plan to make the whole 'grass roots' uprising, spear-headed by Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, appear as though it was just a few loose cannons or disgruntled crackpots out there making a little noise has not worked. Do you really think that the only people that have a valid view of you and your position with the company are the handful of hand-picked people with personal and / or business connections to you, the very people that currently serve on the board of The Walt Disney Company, sitting in your little chamber with you, patting each other on the back and giving each other huge compensation packages while seeing the rest of the world out there as the ones with misconceptions? Let's not be silly, Mr. Eisner, like the "silly business" you recently said you were in. Your perception is not silly, it's disturbing and the arrogance through which you filter your decisions is also unsettling and very, VERY telling.
But, even more disturbing is your inability to hear the enormous outcry from a huge number of the shareholders, (an unprecedented number to be sure) which stated, quite loudly and clearly, that they want you and select Disney board members GONE. Not re-titled. Not moved around. Not even in the same city as The Walt Disney Company. GONE! The idea of you splitting up the most important job at the Walt Disney Company between two of the worst offenders on the board as a practical solution to the call for drastic change at the studio is, in my opinion, one of the most grossly arrogant moves you have made, publicly, in all the years you have been in my consciousness. It is akin to spitting in the face of every voting shareholder, the shareholders, I might add in case you have forgotten, that you work for and are accountable to. Your powers of underestimating your opponents must have been in overdrive when you came up with the plan to split the CEO's and Chairman's jobs between you and George Mitchell as a solution to the problem. If you thought we have been mad up until now, you haven't seen anything yet.
You were quoted by the press as saying that this move to split the job of Chairman and CEO is what you heard that the shareholders wanted from the their huge outcry and 43% withholding of support for you as well as the 21% withholding of support for Mr. Mitchell, (here I use the "Mister" in the same manner as before). Well, I am very sorry, but I'm afraid that you heard wrong. You see, I was one of the people who facilitated one of the first and biggest lists of people who opposed you in your struggle to keep hold of your lucative position as head of The Walt Disney Company and I can tell you, that I read each and every letter sent to me in regards to support for Roy and Stanley in their fight against you and certain questionable members of the board. To that end, I would like to state for you, here, quite clearly and emphatically, that is NOT the message that was sent, nor can it be, in any way, construed as such. The message was clear. YOU, MICHAEL EISNER, OUT! YOU GEORGE MITCHELL, OUT! YOU, JUDITH L. ESTRIN, OUT! YOU, JOHN BRYSON, OUT! WE WANT YOU GONE!
So don't make this thing worse. Just go, ALL of you! You have become an embarrassment to The Walt Disney Company, where you are no longer needed or wanted. It's really very simple. Leave our company alone! Take your huge profits and go home.
Yours Truly,
Mr. David Pruiksma
Proud Shareholder and Retired Disney Feature Animation Supervising Animator
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I know you receive a great deal of these kinds of "Leaving the Company" emails and will, undoubtedly, be seeing many more over the coming weeks and months. So, I will try to keep this one as light and brief as possible. Try to think of it as my final "Potts Picks" article, if you will.
Many of you may already know that I have left the studio. For some, this fact may have slipped by unnoticed. But, whatever category you may fall into, I can assure you that the decision to leave Disney Feature Animation was neither an easy or quick choice to make.
You see, I have a very deep affinity for and commitment to the medium of character animation as both a vocation and as an art form. It is an appreciation that I have cultivated since I was a child. I feel it has been a dream come true and a great blessing to have worked in the animation industry and particularly at Disney Feature Animation for the past 20 some years. The shouldering of the arduous work of Disney quality animation and the resulting characters that I have helped bring to life on the screen are achievements that I am indeed proud of. I also feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such fine fellow artists during this time. To have helped contribute to the great rediscovery of Disney Feature Animation through the success of the "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Beauty & The Beast", "Pocahontas", "The Lion King", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and "Atlantis."
But, despite the joy of having been associated with these productions, I have known for some time that there was trouble in paradise. I have watched with increasing concern and consternation as the artists of the studio were ever increasingly left out of the creative process to the point where their contribution was reduced to little more than numbers on a ledger. I helplessly watched as projects not fully developed were pushed into production, despite the warnings of animation veterans, and saw millions and millions of dollars needlessly wasted. I have seen focus groups and business people steering the path of projects and effectively stealing the soul out of an idea right before our eyes. I have endured the pain of having my voice silenced as my harmless "Potts Picks" articles in "The Twilight Bark", (Remember that? The newsletter created as an outlet and a source of information by the artists for the artists?), were stopped by the powers that be.
These things, (and many others that would be pointless to recount in this writing), I could no longer bear. To that end, I made the personal decision in 1998 when I left the ill fated "Kingdom of the Sun" that, if things did not improve in the department, I would finish out my contract and move away from Feature Animation. It is an understatement to say that things did not improve. On the contrary, conditions worsened. Morale at the studio has not been lower since I began work in the animation department some 20 years ago and, from what I understand from the old timers, it has never been lower in the whole 65-year history of Feature Animation production. I am also well aware that the majority of my artistic colleagues, from the top down, share these sentiments.
Through my final years at Disney I have made it a point to always remain professional in spite of some very unscrupulous and unprofessional behavior focused both personally and at the production staff. I continued, to the end, to honor my word and fulfill contractual obligations by offering the highest quality character design and animation that I was capable of achieving in the style, tradition and philosophy handed down to me by Eric Larson, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston among others.
I would like to thank the creative leads of the studio. By this I mean the directors of the films I have been associated with. The people who, from time to time, made things tough for me, but who helped push me into areas of greater creativity that I was not even aware were within me. I have enjoyed working as a team on the Disney animated pictures, side by side with other fine artists in an effort to make something greater than anything we could have done on our own. In the end, it is the people of Feature Animation that I will miss. It is that and the personal feeling of accomplishment in my life. The feeling of being a part of a great family of entertainment. A legacy shared with some of the great films of all time: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves", "Cinderella", "Peter Pan", "Lady and the Tramp" and "Dumbo" to name just a few.
I wish you all well in whatever changes may come to Feature Animation. And, in closing, I encourage all the creative staff left, when the smoke of recent developments clears and the damage is accessed, to return to using our hearts as well as our heads to create stories and characters that we KNOW are true. To avoid settling for what we think executives and audiences want to see, but instead to trust our instincts and our imaginations to lead the way. This is the kind of gut level creativity that I believe Walt Disney himself brought to the art of film animation and to theme parks and to television and to anything else he touched. It is what made Walt Disney Studios great, it is what made Walt Disney Studios last and it is what is most needed right now.
So, in the words of Mrs. Potts, "Back to the cupboard with you, now."
With great affection and admiration,
Dave Pruiksma